Taiwan KOM Challenge

The Taiwan KOM Challenge is a one-day road cycling race held annually in Taiwan. Created in 2012, the event is recognized as one of the most difficult cycling races in the world due having nearly 3500m of climbing over a 105 kilometer course.^[1] Vincenzo Nibali, the 2017 winner, holds the record for the fastest time, with a time of 3:19:54.^[2]

Taiwan KOM Challenge

John Ebsen in the 2020 edition, which he won
Race details
Date	October/November
Region	Taiwan (Qixingtan Beach -> Wuling)
Local name(s)	臺灣自行車登山王挑戰 (in Chinese)
Discipline	Road
Type	One-day race
Organiser	Taiwan Cycling Federation
Web site	www.taiwankom.org/en/
History
First edition	2012 (2012)
Editions	12 (as of 2023)
First winner	John Ebsen (DEN)
Most wins	John Ebsen (DEN) (5 wins)
Most recent	Ben Dyball (AUS)
History (women)
First winner	Eri Yonamine (JPN)
Most wins	Eri Yonamine (JPN)  Emma Pooley (GBR) (2 wins)
Most recent	Shoko Kashiki (JPN)

Route

The route starts in the coastal eastern city of Hualien at around sea level, heads north on Highway 9, and turns left into Highway 8, where it enters Tarako National Park, which is a deep gorge. The route gradually gains elevation as it goes westwards, ultimately ending above the clouds in Wuling, near Mt Heuhansan, which at 3275m (10,744 ft) is the highest paved road in Taiwan.^[3] Because of the significant increase in elevation, altitude sickness is a concern as well as the sudden change in temperature and weather.^[3]

Winners

Men

Year	Winner	Second	Third
2012[4]	John Ebsen	Peter Pouly	David McCann
2013[5]	Rahim Ememi	Amir Zargari	Wang Yin-chih
2014[6]	John Ebsen	Ronald Yeung	Ariya Phounsavath
2015[7]	Damien Monier	John Ebsen	Mark Dowling
2016[8]	Óscar Pujol	Jai Hindley	Ben Dyball
2017[9]	Vincenzo Nibali	Óscar Pujol	John Ebsen
2018	John Ebsen	Ben Dyball	Damien Monier
2019[10]	Anthon Charmig	Ben Dyball	Pierpaolo Ficara
2020[11]	John Ebsen	Christian Trenchev	Huang Guan-Lin
2021[12]	Feng Chun-kai	Lu Shao-hsuan	Huang Kuan-lin
2022[13]	John Ebsen	Huang Kuan-lin	Lu Shao-hsuan
2023	Ben Dyball	Jesús David Peña	Sohei Kaneko
2024	Race cancelled due to risk of landslides.

Women

Year	Winner	Second	Third
2013	Eri Yonamine	Tiffany Cromwell	Lian Yin Yi Ch
2014[6]	Marg Fedyna	Qin Xin	Guo Nian Wen
2015[7]	Eri Yonamine	Marg Fedyna	Tseng Hsiao-chia
2016[14]	Emma Pooley	Yumiko Goda	Cheung Zi Yin
2017	Emma Pooley	Hayley Simmonds	Emily-Grace Collinge
2018	Lucy Kennedy	Emma Pooley	Edwige Pitel
2019	Ashleigh Moolman	Marianne Vos	Kate McIlroy
2020[11]	Kuo Chia-chi	?	Sandra Boesiger
2021[12]	Zeng Ke-xin	Wang Hsin-hui	Chen Tzi-yin
2022[13]	Chiu Xen-xin	Cheng Shi-xuan	Wang Xin-hui
2023	Shoko Kashiki	Tsubasa Makise
2024	Race cancelled due to risk of landslides.