Transcontinental Race No. 9 - TCR9 - #TCRN09 - 2023

It may not have been just one. In 2016 Karl Speed got a similar GC delisting. He didn't seem to have worked out a route and just rode with several other riders for navigation as well as company.

I met him a few times and rode up part of the the Giau with him, and Paul Buckley, who he was basically riding as a pair with at that point.

None of the other riders he rode with were de-classified, although maybe Paul Buckley would have been if he hadn't DNF'd.

He didn't seem to have worked out a route and just rode with several other riders for navigation

Interesting 'strategy' :D

Jesko really doesn't want to scratch https://www.instagram.com/p/Cva0vO_I4B_/

Yeah it's good to remember each dot has this kind of shit going on! I'm watching for Sherry and Gereon to finish next, bet she is worn down too.

She seemed a bit happier this morning, but the thousand yard stare is definitely there

Rode side by side with another rider.

No time penalties then?

EDIT: Jeezo, late to the partay.

One of the Race's youngest riders, we are confident he will learn an enormous amount from the experience of traversing the continent, and look forward to following Anatole's dot at future editions of the TCR, and elsewhere, for many years to come.

Can't argue with disqualifying him if he breaks the rules, but no need to patronise the poor guy!

I don't read it as patronising.

Did you report them?

I witnessed something similar with someone riding with someone who looked far less keen on riding together. The dynamic made me uncomfortable but not to the point I did anything about it, besides they were out of GC already. It did make me realise if someone wants to ride with you not always a whole lot you can do about it and some people will find this easier than others.

It still seems quite vague the rule generally. Loosely from what I’ve gathered with Anatole they rode up part of the parcours, with someone else who has now been cut from GC.

If you are on a gravel parcours like the Romanian one last year where Josh Reid was moved out of GC and you have arrived on the parcours at the same time and are about the same speed, presumably it is difficult not to be riding close together.

Sebastian Sarx (139) is our next finisher of TCRNo9, in 9 Days, 18 Hours, 57 Minutes. He, like Anatole (232) earlier, sits outside of GC, but with an official TCRNo9 Finish. Congratulations, Sebastian.

1 Attachment

First female race is strong between Jaimi and Maria.

1 Attachment

not always a whole lot you can do about it

I've jammed my brakes on and given them a piece of my mind. Plus then stopped. Or dropped them.

There's a difference between close, and together.

I wonder how easy it is to tell for the organisation simply by looking at the tracker.

You couldn't tell very well just from the tracker. Or at least I'd want more data if I were making a call.

They are looking at longer sections than just riding together for a while when you happen to have a similar pace, the most obvious indicator is having breaks together, stopping and then leaving again together, as that wouldn't be a coincidence if there is a pattern in both your riding pace and the length and location of your stops. At least that's how it was when I was volunteering.

I haven't looked into the details more than this, but it seems like they had the same pace for one and half days at the beginning of the race.

1 Attachment

And indeed TCR and Nelson's races are more strict about this than many other bikepacking races. Nelson has left some riders out of the results because they rode together and as said above that's happened in TCR too, but in other races like Tour Divide, TransAm and Northcape-Tarifa it has been OK to do so.

I don't read it as patronising.

I felt they were saying things to him that they wouldn't say if he was older.

And they are assuming that he will want to ride again. He may (or may not) be a bit pissed off about the situation - we don't know.

It seems he's very unhappy and rejects it. And I see your point, in that way it's patronising yes.

It's a shame it's 'tolerated' at the TD in my opinion.

I agree.

Did you report them?

I witnessed something similar with someone riding with someone who looked far less keen on riding together. The dynamic made me uncomfortable but not to the point I did anything about it, besides they were out of GC already. It did make me realise if someone wants to ride with you not always a whole lot you can do about it and some people will find this easier than others.

It still seems quite vague the rule generally. Loosely from what I’ve gathered with Anatole they rode up part of the parcours, with someone else who has now been cut from GC.

No.

Partly because I rode a fair bit with another guy, who was more keen on riding with me than I was with him! We met by chance about half a dozen times and I quite enjoyed the occasional short chat, but I did once pretend I had to stop at a chemist to get away from him. We never started or stopped together - he rode faster but stopped more so he would catch me up then slow to my pace.

I didn't get DQ'd so I was clearly OK, but I asked Mike about it later as I wasn't sure where the line was (at the start I thought I wouldn't ride side by side with anyone at all). He said what they looked for was people taking breaks and overnight stops together, but an hour side by side was fine. And I never actually saw Karl doing more than the ride up the Giau with someone else - just pieced it together from speaking to others afterwards. I wouldn't rely on that being the rule now though - things may well have tightened up since Mike's day. Also they probably have more dotwatchers so are able to spot more things.

I agree.

Me too - it would be a lot simpler if it was really clear.

I sent Nelson a message of support when he DQ'd Kim and whoever else it was. It was a good call but would have been easy not to make it.

It’s definitely a tricky area, I rode up I think Timmeljosch maybe Galibier very close to someone. Different stops but whether that’d really be noticeable on a climb I’m not sure. We then summited at a very close distance and it was torrential rain, so both went to the cafe at the top to shelter and left when the rain stopped. I don’t recall seeing him on the decent I stopped at the first supermarket off the mountain seems feasible he would have too.

Whilst those actions @skinny are fairly sensible it’s also pretty obvious that you doing that to someone will create a different response from say me doing that to someone.

There is also something about hierarchy of knowledge that makes me a little uncomfortable here too that they don’t communicate at the earliest opportunity that someone is out of GC. I understand that there are pros and cons here but it’s swayed when it seems very much a judges decision is final and little chance of appeal.