Bora-Hansgrohe's Emanuel Buchmann – who finished fourth overall at the 2019 Tour de France – will attempt to complete an 'Everest Challenge' later this month, riding 8,848 vertical metres, the height of Mount Everest, to raise funds for a German children's charity.
The 27-year-old German climber will be raising money for the Deutsche Kinderhilfwerk – the Children's Charity of Germany – who are supporting children's needs more than ever during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
Buchmann is attempting to raise at least €88,848 – that's €10 for each vertical metre – and while most of the money will go to the children's charity, a small portion will also go to Buchmann's childhood cycling club, the KJC Ravensburg.
"This period without racing has gone on for quite a while now, and so there's been a lot of time for contemplation," Buchmann said in a Bora-Hansgrohe press release. "You realise that you have it relatively good as a professional rider, yet there are people in our society who need our help now. So I decided to start a project that on the one hand serves a good cause, but on the other hand also provides me with extra motivation for daily training.
"I chose the Deutsche Kinderhilfswerk as the partner and recipient of the donations, as I believe that children may have somewhat slipped out of the focus during the current health crisis," he continued.
"A small part of the donations will also go towards my home club, the KJC Ravensburg, where I started cycling. Several people work very hard there to help the up-and-coming generation, and so I'd like to be able to give something back to them," said Buchmann.
Last month, Trek-Segafredo's Giulio Ciccone completed an Everest Challenge indoors on his home trainer on the Zwift training platform, and Bahrain McLaren's Mark Cavendish and Team Ineos' Luke Rowe did the same earlier this month.
Rowe's Ineos teammate Geraint Thomas, meanwhile, completed three back-to-back 12-hour rides on Zwift in April to raise funds for the British National Health Service (NHS) smashing his goal of raising £100,000, and almost quadrupling it to raise £375,000, with the GoFundMe page still open for donations.
Israel Cycling Academy's James Piccoli also recently scaled Mont Royal in Montreal, Canada, as many times as he could in 12 hours to raise funds for medical supplies for local hospitals, raising over Can$20,000.
"This challenge itself is undoubtedly new territory for me," said Buchmann. "So far, I have never ridden over 8,000 metres of elevation in training or in a race. We will see how my body reacts, but I think I'm going to have to manage my efforts carefully."
