Cycling up Mount Murdjadjo: the Oran Mediterranean games showcase Algeria's mountain jewels

From June 25th to July 6th, the Algerian city of Oran will be the capital of Mediterranean sports. It will host the 19th edition of the Mediterranean Games. In this “Road to” series, we take you right there to follow the preparations and discover some amazing sites.

The 19th Mediterranean Games in Oran, Algeria, offer 12 days of sport, emotions, and celebrations. And among the 24 sports on show will be cycling.

221 cyclists are going to compete in Algeria's second city, between June 30th and July 2nd. The programme includes two disciplines for both women and men: an individual time trial and an individual road race.

The time trials are going to take place on June 30th: 18km for women and 25km for men. As for the road race, the women’s event is going to be an 80-kilometre race with 469 metres of climb. For the men: 147 kilometres with climbs of 926 metres.

"We have chosen a hilly course in a natural environment," says Kerim Gherabiou, President of Oran’s Cycling League. "We'll leave Oran and go into Aïn Témouchent province and then come back to Oran.”

At only 18 years old, Nesrine Houili has every chance of a medal. She has already been crowned this year's African Champion in three categories: elite time trial, U23 road race and U23 time trial.

The young Oranese knows the course perfectly, she's trained on it over the last few months and has good reasons to be particularly motivated.

"Firstly it's in Algeria, second it's in my place, Oran. And it's close to my home, my family. I hope to get a good result," she tells us.

Nesrine hopes that these Games could inspire youngsters to take up cycling in the future.

"We don't have a lot of champions here," she says. "We don't have the cycling ‘idea’, and I hope we're going to share that