Transcontinental Race No. 7 - TCR7 - #TCRN07 - 2019

Fiona Kolbinger has won TCRNo.7 in a time of 10 days, 2 hours and 48 minutes.

But as always with Fiona, those numbers only tell half the story.

For the rest, you have to look at how she rode. She has raced TCRNo.7 on her own time and at her own pace – never chasing, simply outlasting every other competitor. For the first 9 days of racing, Fiona never looked anywhere close to her limit, the first cracks only beginning to show on the final push through the dark. “Last night,” she said, “was too long, too dark and too grim.”

And yet, she admits at the finish “…I think I could have gone harder”.

Fiona is not the first woman to excel in the world of ultra-endurance cycling, and while having our first female winner is a landmark moment for the Transcontinental Race, it is not the remarkable part of this story.

What is remarkable is that she won the TCR as a rookie, in her first-ever bike race and without ever really breaking a sweat.