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@cliveo
Well yesterday was an exciting day as riders sought to complete the race within three weeks of the start.
#175 Dimitry Kumundzhiev, #127 Shiela Woollam and #Alina Kilian finished comfortably in the time.
#33 Rafael Martinez Gonzalez finished in the dark before the three week mark but did cause some consternation by appearing to miss the final parcours and arrive at the end by a different route.
#91 Caroline Item appeared to be on the cusp of making the three week point with 24 km to go and an hour to ride it. And then she took a wrong turning. It was some time and a number of extra km before she realised her mistake and backtracked adding a couple of hours to her time.
#184 Michel Vandermeerschen is now riding the last 40km or so with #131 James Illman. James' gastric issues are still causing him trouble and his Twitter feed has shown a wonderfully determined spirit. His completion on the race will be bitter sweet; on the one hand it will be a relief that he is finished and safe, on the other, his tweets will be missed.
#163 Denis Uzadiaev rode a big 205 km yesterday and now has just 88 km to go. He is already riding and should hopefully arrive for lunch.
Today's finishers should all enjoy the final descent in daylight and will hopefully not miss turnings.
When he arrives, there will only be two riders on the road. Those who have just arrived or are arriving today have averaged a little less than 200 km a day for three weeks over mountains and on rough surfaces. They have faced dogs and heat, torrential downpours, lack of food and drink, illness , injury and the daily struggle to find somewhere to sleep. Riding 200 km a day for three weeks is demanding. To do it in those conditions without easy facilities for recovery in between each exertion is a feat of endurance that deserves applause. Chapeaux!
#44 Lionel Bobb is the next man on the road. He is 33 km from CP4 and I am hoping will manage to conquor that today.
#171 Neil Matthews, now up to around 184th position of 249 starters, is pushing on. Yesterday he rode 105 km. |He is still not quite half way. His average daily ride is somewhere around 80 km which is considerably less than today's finishers (which is why he is so far behind). His riding appears to be done at strange times.
Over the next few days we can focus more on Lionel and Neil.