Qom, Iran - Iran on Saturday held its first international cycling tour with eight foreign and five Iranian teams. The Cycling Federation of Iran (CFI) said that the five-day tour features teams from Germany, Japan, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, New Zealand, Qatar, Switzerland and Uzbekistan.
On Saturday, some 70 cyclists started from the religious city of Qom, 135 kilometres south of the capital Tehran, and cycled the Qom-Tehran highway.
Finishing line under pouring rain was the mausoleum of the late supreme leader of the 1979 Islamic revolution, Grand Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.
The winner of the Qom-Tehran tour was the Iranian cycler Mehdi Sohrabi.
The so-called Presidential Tour with a modest prize money of 50,000 US dollars is aimed at exposing cycling in the Iranian sports scenery which is mainly dominated by football and wrestling.
According to sports circles, Iran wants this tour to be acknowledged and registered within the calendar of the International Cyclist Union (UCI) as an international cycling event.
CFI head Asqar Khaleqi however said that due to lack of big sponsors, the level of the tour could not be upgraded but the current level could be improved.
Iran has one of the leading cycling teams in Asia with Qader Mizbani and Hossein Asgari as the two stars of the Iranian team.
The logistics for the Iranian team are mainly provided from Taiwan, some also from European countries.
According to Khaleqi, Iran is also taking doping quite seriously and two local champions were suspended after their tests returned positive.
One social controversies in the recent years in Iran has been women's cycling which is also the main reason why Iran has no woman's team.
Sports officials and women activists in Iran have constantly pushed for promoting women's sports but has so far faced an antagonistic approach from some influential clergy circles.
The clerics consider the women's body movements made while riding a bicycle to be provoking to men and therefore not compatible with social rules.
Women in Iran are obliged to wear scarves and long gowns to hide their hair and body contours. Female athletes must also follow this rule and participate in sports, even international events such as the Olympic Games, wearing scarves and gowns.
Iran reportedly made a plan last year to have special bicycles designed for women with a cabin to cover half of the rider's body and hence not exposing their body movements while riding.
The new bicycles, which were supposed to be compatible with Islamic regulations, have not yet reached the market.
