A 44-year-old French cyclist was arrested and detained in Russia, accused of illegal border crossing.
According to diplomatic sources, the cyclist is Sofiane Sehili, an ultra-distance rider who was in the final leg of his attempt to break the world record for crossing Eurasia, from Lisbon to Vladivostok.
As revealed by Le Monde, Sehili was arrested in Vladivostok at the end of his journey and is now charged with illegal entry into Russia. French authorities confirmed the incident, requesting “consular protection” for their citizen.
Border difficulties
The cyclist had declared via Instagram on September 2nd that he faced obstacles at the Sino-Russian border, attempting twice unsuccessfully to enter Russian territory.
Sofiane Sehili, a former employee of Telerama magazine, has competed in more than 25 ultra-distance races since 2016, winning 11 of them. In 2017, he completed a 16,000-kilometer journey from Paris to Taiwan in three months.
