Sofiane Sehili wanted to set a new world record for the transcontinental bike ride from Lisbon to Vladivostok. His planned route was to cover 16,287 kilometres across Europe to East Asia. His goal was to break the Eurasia world record set by Jonas Deichmann in 2017. "I've had this record in mind for four years," he revealed in the run-up to the race. He started his Unsupported ride through Europe in Lisbon on 1 July. He had to reschedule several times in the run-up to the event due to political tensions and armed conflicts. His attempt was monitored by the World Ultracycling Association (WUCA) and was to end up in the Guinness Book of Records. Despite a much longer route than planned, he was close to the finish line at the beginning of September. He had already covered 18,000 kilometres, almost 300 kilometres a day, when he arrived at the border after 63 days. "You have to understand that he was already very tired," his girlfriend Fanny Bensussan told the daily newspaper Le Monde. She is therefore very worried about the conditions of detention.
Arrest of Sofiane Sehili
He was arrested in Russia for crossing the border illegally - just a few kilometres before the finish line. Only 200 kilometres separated Sofiane Sehili from the new record, but at the border with Russia, despite having an electronic visa, he was not allowed to enter the country by bike, but only by train. The problem was probably a strip between two border posts. Sofiane Sehili tried to cheat his way past the first border post and reported to the second. There, however, the 44-year-old was arrested for illegal entry into Russia. According to reports in the "Moscow Times", a local court has ordered him to be remanded in custody for several weeks. "The Russian lawyer tells me that it is very strange that he is in custody, that normally, if he has money to pay, he has the right to wait for his trial elsewhere. He doesn't have to go to prison. It is a fairly minor offence. The Chinese often cross the border illegally in this way. But now that he is not Chinese, because he is a foreigner coming from much further away, I fear that this will take on diplomatic proportions that are not at all the origin of the journey and the world record," explained Fanny Bensussan.
Sofiane Sehili had already shown in advance that he was aware of the difficult situation in many countries: "It would be very inappropriate to complain when people are dying or seeing their homes destroyed for another senseless war. If planning this has taught me one thing, it's that all of us living in the western world are very lucky to be able to do what we want and go where we want."
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About the person
Sofiane Sehili is an ultracycling athlete and cycling adventurer from the south-west of France. He has already travelled to over 50 countries by bike. He has already taken part in 25 ultra-cycling races and won 11 of them. He has won the Silk Mountain Race three times and also won the Atlas Mountain Race and the Tour Divide.
Kristian Bauer
Editor
