Emmanuel Buchmann, competing in the Tour de France, was initially ruled out of an attempt to climb Everest due to a technical rule violation after the German and his Bora-Hansgrohe team were declared to have set a new record.

Beulah and Buchmann had declared a new record for the 8,848-meter-high (the height of Everest) climb. Buchman finished in just over 7 hours and 28 minutes, 14 minutes faster than American mountain bike champion Keegan Swenson. However, Andy Van Bergen of the Hells 500 confirmed to Cycling News via email that Buchman's challenge was not accepted and that Swenson still holds the record.

"Unfortunately, Buchman's challenge did not stand as a record for two main reasons," Van Bergen wrote in an email.

"We look at elapsed time, not travel time. It is unfortunate that this rule was not followed. Simple enough, the ride required a repeat of the same section, and his first repeat was on the other side of the mountain. It's a real shame because it looks like it was very close!"

Buchman's elapsed time was actually 7 hours 51 minutes, more than 10 minutes slower than Swenson. Buchman also did not use the same climb for the entire trip.

The 27-year-old, who finished fourth overall in the 2019 Tour de France (opens in new tab), is raising 10 euros for every vertical meter (opens in new tab) climbed for Deutsche Kinderhilfswerk, an organization working for underprivileged children. He took on this challenge with the goal of collecting 10 euros for each vertical meter (opens new tab) climbed.

Buchmann's ride was uploaded to Strava (opens in new tab) and covered 162.19 km, climbing at a VAM of over 1,500 mph and reaching a maximum speed of 75.3 km/h on the descent. Buchmann, however, started the climb from Otz and descended the other side toward Heimingerberg, repeating the steep grade eight times.

"It was one of the hardest things I've ever done," Buchmann said in a team press release. I didn't expect to be in so much pain at the end."

"I found a good rhythm early on and then decided to push hard, and after 7000m I started to feel the muscles," Buchman said in a team press release. I'm not used to this much load, so it started to hurt a lot. The last 1000m was brutal. But there were some fans there, and their support pushed me towards the finish."

Buchman is the newest in a string of riders to take on the Everest Challenge, with American Katie Hall setting the fastest known women's time at just over 10 hours.