All change

LEADERBOARD SCRAMBLE

You may have noticed the leaderboard has changed fairly dramatically every day so far (save for Ulrich's position, obviously!). It's interesting to see second place be so hotly contested with no clear advantage to any rider. At first the Finns looked to be strong enough to pull away from the main bunch but they've since slid down to midway and it's now the American, Brian Mitchell, forging on. Hot on his tail are the other riders with around 40km between second and eighth places.

CABO DE GATA

Leader Ulrich Bartholmös reached the top of CP3: Cabo de Gata at around 09:00. He reached CP2 12 hours ahead of the then second placed Bruno so we're not expecting the other riders to reach Europe's only hot desert before nightfall this evening. The 10km gravel mandatory parcours is sure to bring some action for dotwatchers and we look forward to seeing it all play out.

In the meantime, make sure you familiarise yourself with Pico Veleta, Europe's highest paved road and the fourth checkpoint on this incredible adventure.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XFJ_1-HPcYo