The 3rd Tour de France Cycling Challenge Sun Moon Lake Station debuts, with legendary rider Sagan leading the ride

The “2026 L’Étape by Tour de France – Nutrilite Sun Moon Lake Station” makes its grand debut today. The scale of the third event has reached a new high. It also welcomes Peter Sagan, the world’s only legendary Tour de France rider who has completed three consecutive victories in the men’s elite road race of the UCI Road World Championships, to participate in the grand event, leading domestic and foreign riders to enjoy the beautiful scenery of the place.

After the gun was fired in the early morning, Peter Sagan from Slovakia and his long-time Italian comrade Daniel Oss stood at the starting point of the Tour de France Cycling Challenge - Nutrilite Sun Moon Lake, and challenged Sun Moon Lake with 2,700 participants. This is the most unique spirit of L’Étape by Tour de France, which brings the competition culture of Tour de France to all over the world, allowing ordinary cycling enthusiasts to share the same track with legendary riders.

Sagan from Slovakia won the UCI Road World Championships men’s elite road race championship for three consecutive years from 2015 to 2017. He also won 12 Tour de France single stage championships in his career and wore the Tour de France green jersey, which symbolizes the points leader, 7 times. Riding into Sun Moon Lake for the first time has become the most representative and classic scene of the third event.

In terms of competition, the performance of the 103km challenge group was equally exciting. In the men’s group, Alex Destribois Coudroy of Laos successfully defended the title with a time of 2 hours, 38 minutes and 56 seconds. In the women’s group, Xu Shuwei, who participated for the first time, won the championship with a time of 3 hours, 2 minutes and 4 seconds. The two also won the 103K group championship and the mountaineering king and post-climbing titles respectively, showing their strong climbing strength.

This year, Sun Moon Lake officially received the Tour de France "Cycle City" certification, becoming Taiwan's first and Asia's only certified bicycle tourism destination in 2026. It is also listed among the 25 certified cities in 2026 together with world-renowned cities such as Barcelona, ​​Spain and Lausanne, Switzerland.