The tradition and history of cycling tours in Albania

The first cycling tours date back in the end of the 19^th century and reached their peak during the twentieth century in the European continent and other countries. They are exciting competitions that highlight the abilities of the cyclers to ride fast and break the previous record set by previous winners. As every other state, even Albania has its own tradition and history of cycling, which dates in 1925 when the first cycling tour took place in the country.

The first cycling tour was held on September of 1925 and was organized as an official activity by the Albanian Cycling Federation. The tour of Albania is ranked the third as the oldest one in Europe after the Tour of France and the Giro d’Italia (Italian Round).

The length of the first tour in Albania was 1300 kilometers and its itinerary passed throughout Albania, starting from Shkodra northern city, in southern cities as Fier, Vlore, Tepelene, Gjirokaster, Korce and the final destination was Tirana capital.

Based on the old photos and documents, the organizers hosted a grand reception and ceremony for the participants of the tour in every city they passed through and the first three winning cyclists were awarded with special prices.

Still nowadays, cycling tours in Albania are organized by the Albanian Cycling Federation which is preparing to participate in the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. Since then, the Federation has organized 71 cycling tours. The last one was held on October 2014 (the 71^st Tour of Cycling in Albania) with participants from Albania, Kosovo, Macedonia and Serbia. The winner of the third stage of the tour was the Macedonian Stefan Petrovski.

Except this, Albania has been included in the European cycling tours’ itineraries by many cycling organizations.