What a race, hey?

Jochen unstoppable

As the winner of last year's race, we named him as a favourite for this year, but with Sofiane Sehili also on the startlist we weren't sure how it'd play out.

Throughout his 3D 17H 16M trial of the Swiss Alps, Jochen stopped for 9H 29M. Sofiane's stopped time was 3H 21M and Markus' was 5H 40M. It's therefore safe to say that Jochen can afford to stop more frequently because he has the upper hand on fitness over his competitors. This enables him to be better rested, perhaps better refuelled and an overall more efficient rider.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CB2wrOSKOnp/

It wasn't all plain sailing for him though. Tragedy struck when his bike frame snapped after a car collided with him with just 130km to go. Lucky for him, a kind stranger on a balcony leant him her bicycle and her (too small) shoes for him to continue.

I'm pretty certain I've read of others completing bike races on borrowed/rented bikes, though I can't recall exactly which race. I can't see Jochen being DQ'd for this incident though: he didn't know the lady personally i.e. he couldn't have arranged the borrowed bike in advance, and the bike is unlikely to have given him an advantage beyond the ability to finish.

From the official rules:

Swapping bikes along the route is only allowed in exceptional circumstances and with prior consent from the organisers.

What do you think?

Five Minutes with... Jochen Böhringer

Markus' detour near Saanen is likely to hurt his final time and we suspect a time penalty is in order, though to what magnitude we'll have to wait and see. It's unlikely to affect his ranking as the fourth placed rider, Christian Beyer, finished about 7H after him and I'm not sure his error warrants a 7H+ penalty based on other races' systems.

Adrien Liechti (9th) has uploaded his Hope 1000 activity in one go for you to look at. I wonder if he forgot to start his GPS again at that long flat bit! Anyway it's great to see the other stats on Strava: 44,000 calories, an average temperature of 14ºC and and average speed of 13.6kph. Looks like the riders will be feeding that calorie deficit for some time 🍰

Fellow finisher Lukas Franciszkiewicz commented on Adrien's shake-down ride yesterday to congratulate him 😂

The women's race

Only three women completed the Hope 1000 course this year and Lael's record from 2018 still stands. Emma Pooley withdrew herself from the racing aspect of the race due to picking up a bike from a nearby friend after hers broke. She went on to complete the course in a little over 6 days and has posted about her joy of bikepacking across Switzerland.

Lisbeth Hofstetter has the crown for first woman in a repeat of last year's event, though we can't actually determine what her final time was. Trackleaders hasn't updated her location for over a day, but we're certain she's finished now.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CBz1zoSFFMc/

We would've loved to have covered the women's field in much more depth, however we couldn't find Lisbeth on social media and Anne de Smet didn't update her Instagram profile throughout the race.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CB-LPGll2Lx/

The runner

Amadeus Wild decided to run the Hope 1000 course but scratched after 400km. That's still a huge effort and I for one would not like to run that for that long on that terrain! Perhaps he'll try it on a bike next time...

Until next time

We're anticipating commentating the Italy Divide at the end of July followed by GBDURO at the start of August so please join us for those.

It's been an absolute pleasure to bring you live coverage from the Hope 1000 race over the last week. We hope you've enjoyed it too. Thanks again to David who kickstarted the coverage over the race's first weekend.

If you have any feedback or want to get involved in the future, do get in touch.

We're still puzzled how Jochen managed to finish the race on a borrowed bike and he sent across some extra photos this morning.

Here he is in front of the Freddie Mercury statue with his new bike. Wir sind stolz auf dich, Jochen!

Note: all riders must take a picture at the statue as proof of their finish.

Rounding out the podium

Sofiane and Markus managed to get into Montreux just as we predicted (in the early hours of this morning) and it looks like Sofiane created a strong lead between them in the end.

Sofiane Sehili finishes second in 3D 19H 44M

Markus Hager finishes third in 3D 21H 37M

Top 10 to finish tonight

Hannes Meyle is just about to crest the final hill before descending into Montreux. Once at the summit, he'll be greeted by his cheer squad as seen here with Jochen last night.

Philippe Vuilloud and Jonas Vuille are tied for seventh both having slept for the same amount of time last night too. It's anyone's guess who grabs that position!

A few kilometres behind them, there's a gripping battle going on for 10th place right now between Philippe Stoessel and Michele Miani. They've been switching places for some time and it must just be the social distancing measures separating them at the moment. It'll be exciting to see who can claim a top 10 finish later today and whether or not there'll be a sprint for the line statue.

Further back

Mark Lauzen has been posting video updates to his Facebook page. Even if you're not fluent in Swiss German, the views and sounds of the cowbells will cast your mind into the heart of Switzerland's countryside.

Jochen Böhringer wins the Hope 1000 race in 3D 17H 16M

He's broken the course record by around 10H, the last 130km on a borrowed bike ridden in borrowed shoes. 👏

We expect Sofiane and Markus to finish in the early hours of Wednesday morning, too. They're currently tied for second place (notwithstanding Markus' earlier detour) and we suspect the winner will be whoever crests the final climb first.

All results are of course provisional and subject to the organisers approval.

We'll be back in the morning to bring you finish times as the riders reach Montreux.

Emma Pooley withdraws from the race

https://www.instagram.com/p/CBypgtulA6r/

She's down but not out as her Instagram post explains. It looks like she's going to have an adventure outside race conditions and what a great adventure she'll have. We're sending our best wishes to her and also hoping the bike gods bless her with no further mechanicals.

Jochen has just 50km to go on his trusty steed. I wonder how it handles on the rough stuff? Check out the speed he was tracked at earlier - this is so great!

Astonishingly he's increased his lead to 43km though whether that's his new bike giving him that extra power or whether Markus has slowed down it's hard to say (see race flow below - the gradient indicates how fast a rider progresses through the course). All that remains for Jochen is a descent, a final climb and a final descent into Montreux.

Andreas has been sending across some intel that latest revealing an even bigger feat of endurance...or should that be feet?

Fahre in den zu kleinen Radschuhen der Besitzerin

(I'm riding in the owner's cycling shoes that are too small)

Sofiane catches Markus

At around 892km into the race, Sofiane managed to catch Markus Hager and move one place up the leaderboard into second. Bear in mind that Markus started 20 minutes before Sofiane so the Frenchman has managed to make up that time also. It's likely we'll see a jostle for position for a few hours yet until one of them can break free. It's Sofiane with a slight upper hand at the moment but you never know.

Even if Markus manages to be the second rider home, a potential time penalty relating to the skipped section of the route earlier could cost him that position.

Elsewhere on the leaderboard

Jens van Roost, Hannes Meyle and Christian Beyer are all within reaching distance of each other still meaning fourth place is still up for grabs. Jens appears to have stopped for 40 minutes or so at the time of writing so we're wondering whether he's napping or fixing a mechanical. Philippe Vouilloud and Jonas Vuille are also tied about 20km back for seventh.

Lisbeth sweeps up some Strava trophies

Lisbeth has been uploading her activities as she goes and in doing so has earned herself some personal records and positions on segment leaderboards. You can follow her on Strava here. She is currently on the route detour near Marbach around 60km behind Emma Pooley.

This dotwatcher makes a valid point on Facebook. Of course it's important to recognise that the tracker may be a bit dodgy as they can be in the mountains but with so many pings reported off the route, this does look suspicious. The cluster of dots is near a cheese shop and I'm not about to deny a man his fair share of Swiss cheese but the rule is: if you leave the route, you must rejoin where you left it which certainly hasn't been the case for Markus here. He rejoined the route at Saanen further down the road.

For comparison, here is Jochen's trace along the same stretch of the route.

If anyone has any news on Markus, get in touch.

Jochen's bike has broken! His wife posted on Facebook that he collided with a car and his frame broke and it is now unrideable.

He had an accident this morning where he collided with a car. Nothing happened to him except a few grazes, but the frame of his bike was broken. That means his bike is no longer usable. When looking for a bike rental, he spoke to a woman who was on the balcony. Unfortunately, she was unable to name a bike rental company, but offered Jochen her old mountain bike for the onward journey. So he packed the most necessary things in his backpack and is now riding on with her bike. He now has no cell phone holder and can therefore no longer go online.

You can see from the picture below that he had to use a splint to get to the nearby town and he's now riding the final ~130km on his new hot rod.

Always pack zip ties, kids.

New wheels!