BEIJING, July 14 (Xinhua) -- The tour of Qinghai Lake cycling race celebrated its 18th birthday this year, with the race spearheading the growing popularity of the sport in China.

The past eighteen years has witnessed surging growth of the Tour of Qinghai Lake, a race born in Qinghai-Tibet Plateau region which had previously been hindered by a lack of development and harsh weather conditions, making it difficult to hold sports events in the region. But Qinghai Province managed to overcome these difficulties and to hold a first-class cycling race despite all of the obstacles.

The Tour of Qinghai Lake is China's leading cycling race, making it possible for Qinghai Province, Gansu Province and Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region to jointly build the "Silk Road Corridor for Sports."

In addition, many similar cycling races have taken place in China, such as the Tour of Hainan Island, the Tour of China, the Tour of Tai Lake, the Tour of Fuzhou, and the Tour of Guangxi.

The Tour of Qinghai Lake runs close to 2,370km, the longest length of a continental level cycling race in the Union Cycliste Internationale. As one of the two continental cycling races in Asia, the Tour of Qinghai Lake also stands out as the world highest altitude cycling race, one of the most beautiful races in the world and boasts the most valuable prize pot of any cycling event in China.