HTC unveils inspiring cycling film to celebrate the Tour de France and encourage members of the public to get on their bicycles

LONDON – July 11, 2011 - HTC, a global leader in the mobile phone industry, today lifts the curtain on ‘HTC Detour’, a cycling film with a twist. Released to celebrate the Tour de France racing season, the film is designed to encourage people to get on their bikes and explore their local surroundings in different ways. Following the HTC Detour team, which is made up of cycling professionals including record breaking German cyclist and HTC Highroad member, Erik Zabel, plus sponsored talent and enthusiasts from all around the world, the film takes you on on a cycling ‘detour’ through Warsaw exploring some of the city’s most unusual places to which cyclists are not normally given access.

Shot in Poland at night, the film sees the HTC Detour cyclists exploring and cycling through ten unusual and hard to reach locations across Warsaw. As part of the route, cyclists travelled through a car wash in full action, a dazzling fairground, the underground, a tram tunnel, the famous PKIN building, the Palace of Culture and Science and one of Warsaw’s busiest city flyovers.

In addition to Erik Zabel, the cycling dream squad was made up of some of the sport’s most talented riders, including Leigh Howard, Charlotte Becker, Kate Colclough and Frantisek Rabon from the HTC Highroad sponsored team. Other professional riders included names such as John Shewsbury, Joshua Boothby, Thomas Ohler, Felix Mucke and Jakob Santos all of which compete globally in cycling disciplines spanning from trial, street to fixed gear. And that’s not all, locals from Warsaw equipped with ‘insider’ knowledge of the city and its secret routes, were also part of the film. These included cycling enthusiasts or those whose jobs rely heavily on cycling, such as couriers and messengers.

Throughout filming, cyclists were equipped with HTC smartphone devices, the perfect on-the-go accessory, to provide them with the necessary tools to get them from A to B and ensure their cycling experience was as stress free and fun as possible.  Features used along the planned route included superfast internet connection, GPS and preloaded maps, in addition to camera and video features for capturing fellow team members enjoying  HTC Detour. Cyclists were also able to push updates and ‘check-ins’ to Facebook via HTC devices, including HTC ChaCha and HTC Salsa, whilst they were on the go, keeping friends and family updated on their whereabouts along the way.

Stefan Streit, HTC’s VP of Marketing and Retail, EMEA, commented, “HTC shares its passion of being ‘quietly brilliant’ with cycling, an activity which is accessible to all - whether you’re looking for an eco-friendly mode of work transport, wanting to get fit or simply riding for leisure and fun.  The HTC Detour film is designed to inspire our customers to embrace cycling by organising ‘detours’ in their own surroundings’ and encourage them to use their HTC devices to enhance these experiences.”

The HTC Detour film and additional backstage footage can be viewed at htcdetour.com