Saint Petersburg-Turku cycling race

The Saint Petersburg-Turku (Finland) cycling race dedicated to the 300th anniversary of the Russian Northern capital will start on Saturday.

The 600 km long route is organized so that even non-professional cyclists shall be able to successfully reach the finish line. The race participants will visit Finnish cities, will have meetings with representatives of public organizations of the country. A bus will take cyclists back to Saint Petersburg.

According to the committee on physical culture, sport and tourism of the administration of Saint Petersburg, one of the objectives of this cycling event is to draw attention of Saint Petersburg authorities and mass media to problems of the cyclist movement. In addition to that the event will assist to demonstrate that the King's road which connects twin cities Turku and Saint Petersburg is an interesting and promising tourist route.

The King's road is the first route to connect Russia with Scandinavia, and travels along the road started back in the 15th century. The route unites cultural heritage of Sweden, Finland and Russia, world famous architectural monuments of huge cultural value are located along the road, including the cathedral of the Finnish city of Provo, the museum house of composer Ian Sibelius, as well as a medieval castle and an ethnographic museum under the open sky of the city of Turku.