The odyssey of four Argentines who will travel 11,000 kilometers by bicycle for seven months to attend the Qatar 2022 World Cup

That Argentine fans can do unusual things to accompany the National Team in a World Cup is proven. For years, hundreds of fans have been dealing with economic and logistical difficulties in order to encourage Albiceleste in the place where it is due to compete. But the challenges are undoubtedly overcome every four years. This time, a group of four people from Córdoba will travel for 7 months by bicycle, covering about 11,000 kilometers, until they reach Qatar.

Silvio Gatti, one of the members of the quartet, spoke exclusively with Infobae to give all the details of the journey that is about to begin and will include excursions to 15 countries in the Middle East and Africa. He abandoned his office job at a travel agency in Barcelona to embark on this adventure. He knows many countries and does triathlon, so he is physically prepared for this odyssey.

“I think I'm going to bank it well. Lucas is a physical education teacher and is prepared; Lea played rugby all his life so he has a good base, which we are polishing in recent months with full training. He is also a traveler for many years, he knows more than 40 countries and his greatest feat was to have left Cordoba for Alaska. The most complicated one is Seba, the audiovisual producer, who is going to document the entire trip. It is also courageous, so we are going to push it”, introduces Silvio to the rest of the adventurers, who announced that they have already got several sponsors to stock up during the trip and asks for support from people on the @atodopedal page, where they will upload content to tell details of the journey. The public can contribute money or whatever comes to mind to make the goal fulfilled.

The one who started this madness eight years ago was Lucas Ledezma, who traveled to Brazil 2014 and Russia 2018 (also to the Americas Cups in Chile 2015 and Brazil 2019). Now the goal has become more extensive and complicated, although it will be accompanied by slopes that will make the journey more enjoyable. “We plan to do an average of 70 or 80 kilometers per day. There will be days when we will not cycle to see places, but others when we will drive more than 150 kilometers to try to equalize and complete the trip,” says Silvio, who sets the arrival date for November 20, the day before the opening match.

On Sunday, May 1, they will depart by plane from Cordoba and make a few days of stopover in Sao Paulo and Dubai. In the presentation of the travel plan, they stated: “Although the road map is always subject to possible contingencies, the original plan is based on cycling the distance between Cape Town (South Africa) and Addis Ababa (Ethiopia): 7,556km. A flight will take us from there to the city of Cairo (Egypt), at which point we will resume our pedalling with the aim of arriving at the port of Nuweibaa (Egypt): 1,297km to take the ferry that will take us into Jordan. Once there, we return to the bicycles to complete the final stage of the journey, crossing Iraq, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, reaching the ultimate destination: Doha (Qatar) 2,646km.” In total it will be more than 11 thousand kilometers.

They will carry tents, inflatable mattresses and sleeping bags. In addition, it cooks with fuel to be self-sufficient. Those elements will be useful during the days of pedaling in deserts, forests or directly “in the middle of nowhere”. When arriving in cities with greater infrastructure, they will stay in hotels or hostels to have a better rest. “We will bathe in some river or lake, we will get water anywhere. The route is already planned: we will try to touch the most important points of Africa. There is a jump that we will make by plane because it is a complicated area between Sudan, South Sudan and Ethiopia, since they overthrew the government. Land borders are closed and we do not want to be in serious danger. We're crazy, but not that crazy,” he clarifies as he smiles.

Football and the World Cup Festival will be the final prize after the tour and that is why they applied to win places, although they were not drawn: “We are going to try to grab a ticket. On his last trip, Lucas contacted some close to the National Team and we hope they find out that there are four crazy people pedaling through Africa to get to the World Cup so we can go to a match or training. Our godfather is Julián Álvarez, because he is from Cordoba”.

With a high awareness of the environment, they plan a process of reforestation that consists of planting one tree per kilometer traveled in the Sierras de Córdoba. That, of course, will be the second goal behind Qatar 2022.

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