Uzbekistan's northwestern region harbours the images that might come to mind, when one thinks of what "the middle of nowhere" looks like. Sure, the capital Nukus of the region Karakalpakstan, where the race takes place, houses the second-largest collection of Russian Avant-Gardist art in the world. But the "Louvre of the West" seems far away from the mudswamps of Shege, where this day 18 race starts.
Had the Soviet l...
Read moreUzbekistan's northwestern region harbours the images that might come to mind, when one thinks of what "the middle of nowhere" looks like. Sure, the capital Nukus of the region Karakalpakstan, where the race takes place, houses the second-largest collection of Russian Avant-Gardist art in the world. But the "Louvre of the West" seems far away from the mudswamps of Shege, where this day 18 race starts.
Had the Soviet leadership of the 1960 had a little more regard for the environment, or a little less appetite for exporting cotton, this race would have only about 34 kilometers, which is the distance it takes to get to the former port city of Moynaq. Once a regional hub of fishery-propelled wealth, the irrigation that was needed to supply the growth of cotton dried up the once massive Aral sea, retreating the coastline many kilometers, depleting the wealth of the town and lengthening the road the peloton has to cross to the finish line.
The riders will pass between the abandoned ships that dot Moynaq's coastline as they enter the dried up lakebed, on their way to the water that remains. This is where the riders enter the longest, desolate chapter of the race, a more than 100 kilometer-long traject northwest over the toxic sands of the former lake.
When the silhouette of the far-spreading Ustyart Plateau start to loom on the horizon, any rider that hasn't fallen behind because of a flat tire, sunstroke or toxin-induced shortness of breath knows it is time to get focussed: the shore is near. The rugged clay desert of the Ustyart Plateau provides the parcour with a couple of hilly turns, to seperate any remaining rider who is not keen on a sprint. Passing the ruins of Kurgancha Qala, a 12-century caravanserai on the Silk Road, the riders make the short descent towards the shore, where the winner will emerge lonesome from the hills or emerge victorious from a dusty sprint.
