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I thought the finish line had always closed at the end of the party. Hadn't realised it was extended in other years.
Need Chris White to do the analysis!Anyway, if that's not the right measure, it was hard measured by km and metres, and how long past riders took this time vs previously.
A big difference is that the parcours mainly used to be a few hours, like in 2017 you went to the Transfargasan and rode up it. Now they tend to be most of a day. So instead of just riding up the Transalpina, we had to go up both ways then do 6-8 hours mountain biking to get down again.
frank9755-
i think you're right that this is the toughest TCR though, just that that can't be determined by number or %age of finishers.
I also think that riders are stronger and better prepared throughout the field, not just at the front.
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In 2019 Fiona spent 16 hours on cp 3 parcours and 8 on cp 4. I spent almost 21 hours on the cp 3 parcours as I slept there, as I think most did, which meant many spent closer to 24 hours on it. But cp 3 was on proper roads so you could cover a lot more distance, it was 164 kms. The combined length of the parcours was also more than twice as much as this year.
But yeah anyway this seemed like the hardest one yet.
boomboom
Samuli
Hmm, not sure it's quite that simple.
I was the first rider home after the finish party in TCRno5. Just looking at the results i think there were 72 riders at the finishing party that year. Yesterday there were 92 at the finishers party.
Then the finish line closed a few days after the party, whereas this edition it closes ~24 hours, that probably has a much higher bearing on %age of finishers.