Tour of Nilgiris

Tour of Nilgiris
Race details
Date	December
Region	South India
English name	Tour of Nilgiris
Discipline	Road
Type	Stage race
Organiser	Ride A Cycle Foundation
Race director	Sridhar Pabbisetty
Web site	tourofnilgiris.com
History
First edition	2008
Editions	12 (as of 2019)
Most wins	Nils Eigil Bradtberg (DEN) (5 wins) Lena Mareike Josephine Robra (GER) (2 wins)
Most recent	Naveen John (IND) (Men) Katja-Lill Jansen (DEN) (Women)

The Tour of Nilgiris is a bicycle tour in India[1] organised by the RideACycle Foundation.[1]

The tour has been held every year since 2008.[1] The aim of the tour is to promote cycling within the Nilgiris region and to revive the cycle culture by popularising cycle as a mode of transport for the twin benefits of easing traffic congestion and being environmental friendly.[1][2] The event caters for both charity riders and those looking to move into competitive professional cycling.[1]

The Kalhatty challenge

The hardest part of the tour is the famous and gruelling Kalhatty climb. 12 km of climbing gradients and 36 hairpin bends to gain an altitude of 1,230 m. The average elevation gain is around 10 per cent with a few stretches going up to 15 per cent gradient.

Kalhatti is considered a Hors catégorie climb, which in cycling terms means "something that is beyond categorisation". It is perhaps one of the toughest climbs possible in the sub continent.

Participation

Tour snapshot
Year	Dates	Distance	Participation
2011[3]	Dec 9 - Dec 16	860 km	70 Cyclists from 3 countries. 3 women riders. Cyclists from India, Italy and US.
2012[4]	Dec 16 - Dec 23	860 km	85 Cyclists. 8 women riders.
2015[5]	Dec 16 - Dec 23	876 km	109[6] cyclists from 8 countries. India, China, Germany, Nepal, Netherlands, Singapore, UK, and the USA.
2017[7]	Dec 10 - Dec 17	1000 km	128 Cyclists from 8 countries. 18 international riders and 8 women riders. Cyclists were from India(110), Australia, Denmark, Germany, The Netherlands, Sweden, Russia and the USA.
2018[8]	Dec 9 - Dec 16	950 km	110 Cyclists from 13 countries. 29 international riders and 17 women riders. India (81), Denmark(7), USA(4), Australia(3), Germany(3), UK(3), Belgium(2), Canada(2), Austria(1), Greece(1), Malaysia(1), Philippines(1) and Poland(1).
2019	Dec 8 - Dec 15	850+ km

Winners since 2012

Men's general classification (1–3)
Year	First	Second	Third
2012	Lokesh Narasimhachar (IND)	Naveen John (IND)	Richard McDowell (IND)
2013	Nils Eigil Bradtberg (DEN)	Mark Bruce (UK)	Christian Graver Larsen (DEN)
2014	Nils Eigil Bradtberg (DEN)	Vivek Radhakrishnan (IND)	Paul Dipankar (IND)
2015	Nils Eigil Bradtberg (DEN)	Vinayak Gaonkar (IND)	Rajat Subhra Roy (IND)
2016	Nils Eigil Bradtberg (DEN)	Jamie Anderson (AUS)	K. Kiran Kumar Raju (IND)
2017	Nils Eigil Bradtberg (DEN)	Naveen John (IND)	K. Kiran Kumar Raju (IND)
2018	Naveen John (IND)	Nils Eigil Bradtberg (DEN)	Leong Clinton Ian (HKG)

Women's general classification
Year	Winner
2012	Shailja Singh Sridhar (IND)
2013	Vicky Nicholson (UK)
2014	Vicky Nicholson (UK)
2015	Dr. Belinda Viegas-Mueller (IND)
2016	Lena Mareike Josephine Robra (GER)
2017	Lena Mareike Josephine Robra (GER)
2018	Katja-Lill Jansen (DEN)

References

"Montra Tour of Nilgiris 2013 – The mother of all Indian cycling tours". thealternative.in. The Alternative. 7 December 2013. Retrieved 4 March 2014.
"Tour of Nilgiris to pass through Mysore on Dec 16". Deccan Herald. Deccan Herald. Retrieved 6 December 2013.
M. R, Subramani (12 December 2011). "Tour of Nilgiris to get tougher this year". The Hindu Businessline. Retrieved 25 September 2019.
"US cyclist wins first day 'Tour of Nilgiris'". The Deccan Herald. 16 December 2012. Retrieved 24 September 2019.
"Tour of Nilgiris - cycling gaining fans especially in corporate world". The Economic Times. 29 December 2015. Retrieved 24 September 2019.
"Indian Terrain Tour of Nilgiris cycling event from Wednesday". The Times of India. 15 December 2015. Retrieved 25 September 2019.
"Tour Of Nilgiris (TfN) Jersey Unveiled". The Star of Mysore. 9 December 2017. Retrieved 24 September 2019.
"Annual cycling event 'Tour of Nilgiris' draws 110 cyclists from across globe". The Hindu Businessline. 2 November 2018. Retrieved 24 September 2019.

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[theAlternative-1] "Montra Tour of Nilgiris 2013 – The mother of all Indian cycling tours". thealternative.in. The Alternative. 7 December 2013. Retrieved 4 March 2014.

[Deccan_Herald-2] "Tour of Nilgiris to pass through Mysore on Dec 16". Deccan Herald. Deccan Herald. Retrieved 6 December 2013.

[3] M. R, Subramani (12 December 2011). "Tour of Nilgiris to get tougher this year". The Hindu Businessline. Retrieved 25 September 2019.

[4] "US cyclist wins first day 'Tour of Nilgiris'". The Deccan Herald. 16 December 2012. Retrieved 24 September 2019.

[5] "Tour of Nilgiris - cycling gaining fans especially in corporate world". The Economic Times. 29 December 2015. Retrieved 24 September 2019.

[6] "Indian Terrain Tour of Nilgiris cycling event from Wednesday". The Times of India. 15 December 2015. Retrieved 25 September 2019.

[7] "Tour Of Nilgiris (TfN) Jersey Unveiled". The Star of Mysore. 9 December 2017. Retrieved 24 September 2019.

[8] "Annual cycling event 'Tour of Nilgiris' draws 110 cyclists from across globe". The Hindu Businessline. 2 November 2018. Retrieved 24 September 2019.