Race Wrap Up

ICYMI: 🥇 Jochen, 🥈 Sofiane, 🥉 Markus

We have a bouncing dot!

Jochen enters the final 50km

What's Markus up to?

BREAKING NEWS (literally)

Into the (final) night (for some)...

Day 3 summary

While you were sleeping...

Day 2 summary

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](https://dotwatcher.cc/profile/Jochen%20Boehringer) stopped for 9H 29M. [Sofiane](https://dotwatcher.cc/profile/Sofiane%20Sehili)'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](https://dotwatcher.cc/feature/five-minutes-with-jochen-boehringer)

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](https://dotwatcher.cc/profile/Christian%20Beyer), finished about 7H after him and I'm not sure his error warrants a 7H+ penalty based on other races' systems.

![screencapture-strava-activities-3665947394-2020-06-26-09 09 04](//images.ctfassets.net/6hyijb95boju/2Pw953RpEQuUziMF1U0JHl/ee04b5decaf60193852e7b2d1bfa3d85/screencapture-strava-activities-3665947394-2020-06-26-09_09_04.png)

[Adrien Liechti](https://dotwatcher.cc/profile/Adrien%20Liechti) (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](https://dotwatcher.cc/profile/Lukas%20Franciszkiewicz) commented on Adrien's shake-down ride yesterday to congratulate him 😂

![Screenshot 2020-06-26 at 09.16.06](//images.ctfassets.net/6hyijb95boju/6DoKyyQUsUH4FX5i3UZ2G6/4fc84a02236ab616550330c616acfb6b/Screenshot_2020-06-26_at_09.16.06.png)

### 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](https://dotwatcher.cc/profile/Lisbeth%20Hofstetter) 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](mailto:info@dotwatcher.cc).

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

![WhatsApp Image 2020-06-24 at 06.26.48](//images.ctfassets.net/6hyijb95boju/5nPu8k2dBTLiastefypGcW/196f233d89c5090792d7412026436cd9/WhatsApp_Image_2020-06-24_at_06.26.48.jpeg)

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.

![WhatsApp Image 2020-06-23 at 23.44.32](//images.ctfassets.net/6hyijb95boju/3SzlXXW5gfKUlEt4ZpVvSw/58854600e2fdfe2f02fd473cbd7d6bc6/WhatsApp_Image_2020-06-23_at_23.44.32.jpeg)

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](https://www.instagram.com/michelemiani/). 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 <strike>line</strike> 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.

<iframe src="https://www.facebook.com/plugins/post.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fmark.lauzon.543%2Fposts%2F10221847402829775&show_text=true&width=552&height=400&appId" width="552" height="400" style="border:none;overflow:hidden" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" allowTransparency="true" allow="encrypted-media"></iframe>



![bouncing dot](//images.ctfassets.net/6hyijb95boju/6pQ0yCwErh8iRkhb5zuatU/3ade9ed34a74fca8b7413c734003d1a5/bouncing_dot.gif)

## 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!

![Screenshot 2020-06-23 at 15.34.56](//images.ctfassets.net/6hyijb95boju/uWpiW8XsD7HMB2nuXl6ln/4b8dc4d6c6311f08442e07e18a48ebec/Screenshot_2020-06-23_at_15.34.56.png)

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.

![Screenshot 2020-06-23 at 15.38.00](//images.ctfassets.net/6hyijb95boju/5Vuor8yd8CHTrTIFIGXOZF/d2e74eb5f6a784012c5eb230e79db19e/Screenshot_2020-06-23_at_15.38.00.png)

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](http://www.hope1000.ch/Startliste/Startliste_2020) 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

![Screenshot 2020-06-23 at 16.01.58](//images.ctfassets.net/6hyijb95boju/247e5oGZTxjjvCT0mBUKsw/f092bdf2ab787177bfef890df4a416e1/Screenshot_2020-06-23_at_16.01.58.png)

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

![screencapture-strava-activities-3654425194-2020-06-23-16 09 45](//images.ctfassets.net/6hyijb95boju/50nJNzoR9EvyngO1CSwCyl/248782f1f3351e63571e3f445edb1edf/screencapture-strava-activities-3654425194-2020-06-23-16_09_45.png)

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](https://www.strava.com/athletes/23817260). She is currently on the route detour near Marbach around 60km behind Emma Pooley.

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.

![broken bike](//images.ctfassets.net/6hyijb95boju/5ZG3QknosW71oUeENoZNI4/0e34365a629d82087bf51ab709aadb94/broken_bike.jpg)

Always pack zip ties, kids.

### New wheels!

![new bike](//images.ctfassets.net/6hyijb95boju/4eHFetYYKkLHWNZGBoboLd/80d5c5399342fbd2eac2c3b4d6e29d2f/new_bike.jpg)

It has come to our attention that while leading the Hope 1000 race, Jochen has also been uploading daily YouTube videos to his channel. The English speakers among you may struggle to follow but our trusted source (Torsten Frank) reassures us he's charming throughout!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dg21DnPm7ao&list=PL_gPc93WddedCSCIbGzl_Hzj3Bsm4WDmf


https://twitter.com/tfrank_de/status/1275338204409970689?s=20

That's right folks...he's leading an ultra-distance MTB race by a cool 30km and is in contention to break the course record but he still finds time to make YouTube videos 👏

While you're here...

![Night 3](//images.ctfassets.net/6hyijb95boju/6tINOGDpff6qZn0FhpD9ER/a694623853f7c38361a328d0fbaa21c3/ezgif.com-gif-maker.gif)

It looks like my estimates were off for Jochen's progress and he's messaged us to say it had a pretty difficult night and is glad to see some daylight. I won't pressure him for context on that right now but needless to say I'm looking forward to the post-race debrief already. From the pictures he sent across it looks as though there was some pretty narrow singletrack which, when you're tired, will be difficult to navigate requiring a lot of concentration.

![Jochen night 3](//images.ctfassets.net/6hyijb95boju/60kOPfAphW9PfbZiDOBR60/5c1fd9218de41360a2873007969944b7/WhatsApp_Image_2020-06-23_at_07.13.09.jpeg)

Jochen found a fan yesterday in a place called Suld at the Pochtenfall Restaurant! Pieter Wilbert emailed in with this cool picture of them both before Jochen jumped back in the saddle.

![DotWatcher Jochen](//images.ctfassets.net/6hyijb95boju/5TJJQ0loDLN4d47qijiGN7/1738c8817ac280e5a91eca4e2d46cdc1/DotWatcher_Jochen.jpg)

__If Jochen continues at his average moving speed, we could have a winner later tonight!__

Sofiane has homed in on Markus overnight it seems - just 13km separates them which equates to just over an hour based on Markus' average moving speed. If he decides to nap, it's entirely plausible that Sofiane could catch him.

Further back, it looks like Christian Beyer took a few hours' rest last night and is now 15km behind Jens van Roost and Hannes Meyle who are currently neck-and-neck for fourth.

### Emma Pooley pushes on

Overnight, Emma has increased her lead to the tune of 50km. Lisbeth and Anne are going leap-frogging each other on the trail. Interestingly, all three have maintained good sleeping routines getting a solid rest each night.

![Sleep women](//images.ctfassets.net/6hyijb95boju/4cFE3uEN5TGBQp0LAB8qPs/983ac00b2d9c848649c5961538f7bcd3/Screenshot_2020-06-23_at_07.48.10.png)

Emma managed 4.5 hours last night which is pretty good in these kinds of events. Lisbeth's strategy is quite different though: she gets a really good sleep but appears to be faster on wheels so is able to catch up with Anne when she wakes. 

Remember, Lisbeth is a veteran of this race having completed it last year in 7D 18H 15M. Based on her current progress, I'd say she's on track for a similar result this year too.

A big day in the mountains beckoned for just about every rider today with about half the field getting stuck into the latter half of the race meaning the climbing ramped up a notch.

### Jochen for the win?

![Jochen Yoghurt](//images.ctfassets.net/6hyijb95boju/22Dv5njYKj6B3NE9k3kjOB/305d009c4f4a50453ad838f41309c288/WhatsApp_Image_2020-06-22_at_11.36.02.jpeg)

Now Jochen is leading the race by a casual 20km and that allowed him to stop for frozen yoghurt at the top of the Kleine Scheidegg, the second highest point along the route. If you're in the area he recommends you do the same!

A reminder that the course record is 4D 4H 51M and at the time of writing the elapsed time was 2D 14H and Jochen has just over 200km remaining with around 7500m of gravity to defy.

Tick tock!

### Fan club in Lauterbrunnen

DotWatcher Peta McSharry has been on the road hunting down the lead riders and she spotted Markus Hager in the wild. A little behind him was Sofiane in his natural habitat. We love being tagged in these pictures of you meeting the riders so do let us know if any of you bump into them.

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

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

### The heat is on for fourth

A cluster of riders has met and engaged in a battle for fourth place. Hannes Meyle was riding solo for some time but has recently been caught by Christian Beyer and Jens van Roost. They're all at the top of the Kleine Scheidegg right now perhaps taking a leaf out of Jochen's book and tucking into some frozen yoghurt.

### Migg packs up

It looks like Migg Scherrer has decided to err on the side of caution and has decided to scratch citing hand and wrist pain.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CBu1FdfB3K8/

This is common in ultra riders as the pressure of being in the same position gradually wears down on the nerves. Sometimes you'll see riders with aero bars simply to enable them to switch positions to relieve the pressure.

### Meanwhile in the pink

The women's race has taken a big upswing! Emma has doubled her lead which we earlier reported from 20km to 40km. Anne de Smet is still in second position. Unfortunately we don't know much more than what's on Trackleaders because we can't find Anne or Lisbeth on social media. Any clues anyone?

### A look forward

So overnight we expect Jochen to make pretty good progress while we snooze in our comfy beds. Some quick maths says around 160km if he doesn't stop between now and 9am CEST. __To beat the record, he has to finish before Wednesday 24th June at 11:26am* CEST__ 

*This assumes his time will be adjusted given he started at 6:35am CEST

![Skipped route?](//images.ctfassets.net/6hyijb95boju/6ANaVzUKhfX3U7crS6tYM6/ace325ab907d5339a5c0c8d68ed0bca0/ezgif.com-video-to-gif__1_.gif)

Morning all, welcome to day three of the Hope 1000 where riders have been continuing their journey across Switzerland.

There's been no real change to the top 10 but we did get multiple reports last night that some riders had skipped a section of the route which raised an alarm. In the gif above you can see riders following the red line then diverting via a town called Marbach before rejoining the route at the end of a valley. The difference in distance and elevation is negligible and as we've seen so far in the race, SPOT trackers are struggling to ping as regularly as we'd like.

<iframe src="https://ridewithgps.com/embeds?type=event&eventId=131117&title=Hope%201000%20Riders'%20Detour&metricUnits=true&sampleGraph=true&defaultShowAll=true" style="width: 1px; min-width: 100%; height: 700px; border: none;" scrolling="no"></iframe>

Since so many riders have completed this detour, I'm not suspicious yet but we'll wait to see if there's a reason later on. We get regular updates from Jochen but as this race is unsupported, we won't be questioning it with him during the race as this would not be fair on the other riders.

__SOLVED__ Detour as per the race website:
> The climb to Hürndliegg is not passable due to logging. Our detour now leads from the Hilferenpass all the way down to Marnach and back up to point 1303 where we continue on the original route. Distance and vertical meters remain roughly the same.

![Jochen view](//images.ctfassets.net/6hyijb95boju/1zUQ6uks1v9e1e9VEJBmaM/f37651ffd972cc5dce2ca085cbec53f2/WhatsApp_Image_2020-06-22_at_07.06.25.jpeg)

### Emma Pooley seeks help

It's a rider's worst nightmare: Di2 failure in the middle of nowhere. It looks like Emma took her nightmare with a good dose of humour though and she looks to be rolling again.

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

Scroll through the images to see the deterioration and subsequent rise of Emma's bike. She's still leading the women's field with a ~20km lead.

### Migg's sleep strategy

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

Swiss rider Migg Scherrer has chosen to minimise his sleep over the past two days for 4 x 13 minute naps! Incredible!

In similar news, Trackleaders has a field for riders' stopped time. I'm not sure how accurate this is with the lack of pinging trackers but it's interesting nonetheless. Jochen has stopped for a total of 4H 13M while Sofiane (notorious for his lack of sleep) has stopped for just 1H 33M meaning Jochen is a faster or perhaps more technically able rider who can afford to pause more frequently.

### Scratch update

While Trackleaders isn't showing official scratches, we're basing our speculation on when the trackers last pinged. Andy Müller looks to have conceded his race as have Stephen Hasler, Joseph Marshall, Dimitry Pangalos (last ping 8.5 hours ago) and Jens Dillen (last ping 12 hours ago).

### Got any questions?

If you have any comments you'd like to add to the commentary let us know. You can email us [here](mailto:info@dotwatcher.cc).

Jochen Böhringer

What was the NAVAD 1000, is now the Hope 1000 and 2020 sees the race in its sixth year. During this unprecedented scene for events, we're excited to bring this event live to your screens.

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