A busy day at the border

CP1: Col de la Pierre St Martin

With the majority of riders through CP1, you'd think it'd been a fairly easy day for them. You'd be wrong. The tough weather conditions have challenged everyone up the mandatory parcours with no views with which to be rewarded.

Second placed, Sami, had a cheer squad awaiting his arrival at CP1 (above).

Everyone's favourite ultra-endurance personality, Hippy, has maintained his sense of humour so far despite an early lapse up the climb.

And it turns out, the descent was worth it.

https://twitter.com/firsthippy/status/1168572178872356869

The only pairs riders, Sandra and Stefan, are making great progress and working well together.

Leader of the pack

Ulrich Bartolmös has strengthened his lead today extending it to around 100km at the time of writing. We mentioned earlier the poor weather but this doesn't appear to have slowed down Ulrich who is wearing only shorts while other riders are reaching for insulating layers as the temperatures drop at altitude.

What's next?

CP2 is ~100km as the crow flies for Ulrich. The Pico Javalambre is a bare summit with nothing more than pines and rocky outcrops to greet riders. The only buildings are communication towers and to get there, they will need to put some gravel under their tyres. How the conditions will be once riders are there is anyone's guess but the forecast is promising thunderstorms and heavy rain during Monday night.

Will Ulrich make it to the top and back down with nothing more than his summer kit? Will the other riders catch up to him and challenge his lead? All will be revealed in the morning as we stay glued to the tracker.