
It's been an eventful weekend for the remaining riders of RATN 2024.

Things started early on Saturday morning, when after resting in Roosendaal, Wendy van Roosmalen Cap 254 set off just before 0430. Leaving Roosendaal Wendy had just under 490km to go to reach the finish. Including all of the hills of Limburg, and just 37.5 hours to complete it. While nearly all the other dots rested, Wendy progressed towards limburg. 

Ahead of her Bermudan rider Jonah Jones (cap 142) who had stopped for the night in Bladel also made an early start. He was on the road by 0545.

Further ahead, Tessa Spaan (cap 237) and Laura Rommelfanger (cap 165). Set of at 0750.

For all those watching the dots through Saturday it was nerve wracking, trying to work out which riders would be able to make it by the cut off time at 1800 on Sunday. Who would suffer a debilitating mechanical? Would the weather gods decide to play with the riders? Or would the exhaustion of riding 1900+km in <202 hours catch up on them? 

By the Time Wendy hit the Keutenberg just after 1830, the heavens had opened, and the hill had turned into a stream. While not quite as severe as Thursday evening when Nathalie Hoogeveen (cap 193) had shared her video of the torrents running down the Keutenberg, it's never pleasant to be walking up a 22% gradient stream of water. Made even harder by Wendy's bike weighing in at 30kg. 

Messages were going back and forth between various dotwatchers, speculating over which riders could still make the finish in time. Comparing where the riders were, to where they had been on their successful (if close to the cut off) rides in previous years. Wendy hit the Drielandenpunt at 2136. It's all down hill from there. Except for the bits that are up... but those don't go as high as this does. 

Jonah stopped for the final night in Sittard. Wendy passed him at 0110. He was awake and off in persuit just after 3am. Would he be able to catch, and then pass Wendy with his better rested legs? By this stage Wendy was approaching 24 hours awake. 0340 at Roermond Wendy passed four riders, including Tessa and Laura. Jonah passed them 100 minutes later. A similar interval after that Laura and Tessa were off, this time in persuit of Jonah and Wendy. Werner Velis (cap 20) started his Sunday just after 7am. Charlie Cox (cap 22) joined the persuit just before 0830. 

In total 9 riders left Limburg on Sunday morning with a chance of making it to the finish before the cut off. What order they would arrive in, and if they would arrive by the 1800 cut off remained to be seen. 

With 127km to the finish, the tyre boots Jonah had fitted to his bike tyres both failed. That early on Sunday morning it was questionable if he would be able to find replacements. Would he be able to fix this? It's not known how he managed to, but he got on the road again. Tho this wouldn't be his last battle with tyre pressure, and when he eventually reached the finish, he did so with a flat rear tyre. These mechanicals would mean that Jonah was over taken by a few riders, finishing in 123rd, with a time of 200 hours and 9 minutes. 

The weather wasn't fully done with the riders, giving them the joy of a headwind for the final kilometres. Riding 7km on the Waalbandijk feels like riding 21km when the wind is in your face, according to an instagram story post from one rider. 

Despite everything the Dutch weather had to throw at them, 125 solo riders would make it to the finish within the time limit. The last solo riders to arrive were Charlie Cox (cap 22) and Werner Velis (cap 20) in 200 hours and 23 minutes. Fourteen minutes behind Jonah and his flat tyre. (a note, the tracker shows Andrew Matthews (cap 54) in 125th place. This is not quite correct, he finished in a little over 199 hours, but because his tracker did not update at the finish, which usually happens if a rider turns it off too soon after arriving, it's last logged position is a km or so from the finish, and put's his finishing position wrong. He arrived somewhere around 120th-122nd, it's not possible to say for sure just from the tracker site). 

Two pairs made it back on Sunday, Berend Groeneveld & Peer van Wijk (cap 837) came in at 196 hours 42 minutes, eight minutes later Martin & Trudy Scholte Lubberink (cap 3142) arrived as the last pair to finish within the time limit. 

Whilst the GC time limit cut off has come and gone, three riders are still out on the course, pair Inaki Fernandez & Martin Dressel (cap 1930) are stopped in Roermond, they have approx 150km to go. 

The last solo rider on the road is Lars Gottwald (cap 164). He's currently stopped in Valkenburg, just before the Cauberg, he has 280km to go to reach the finish. 

This has been the biggest ever edition of Race around the Netherlands. 125 solo riders, and eleven pairs have made it to the finish within the timelimit. 56 solo riders and six pairs scratched. Each one of them has had an adventure, they've learned something about who they are, they've learnt about the Netherlands, and hopefully they've enjoyed it. It's am achievement to make it to the start line, and for every pedal stroke that carries them closer to their destination they have done something special. 

Once finished riders can enjoy a well earned rest, some good food, and recover from the ride. Hopefully some of them will come back in two years to have another go. Or maybe next year, to see the Netherlands as many never get to see it, with the Race Around The Netherlands Gravel Edition (RATN-GX). (If you've read these race updates with a feeling of FOMO, now's a great time to get training for RATN-GX, which has both a sprint (~1200km), and full distance (~1900km) version.) 

See you all at Cafe de Proloog, Amerongen, next year!

Times up


Friday has been a day where the effects of last nights storms have continued to be felt by many riders. Dutch news reported that the emergency services were called out to over 70 different incidents relating to the storm, from flooding, to landslides, to lightning strikes. 

This has made the already challenging hills of Limburg that little bit harder. Kastytis Banys (cap 156) posted a video showing roads fully underwater. Conditions like this can be treacherous as it's impossible to know what's below the surface of the muddy water. Or how deep it is. 

Fortunately the majority of riders have passed the worst of Limburg. Just 17 riders/pairs have yet to reach the Drielandenpunt. Furthest back are Ben Sandee & Elizabeth Jesse (cap 614), they continue to make steady progress through Noord Holland. Ahead of them recumbent rider Marian Bobko (cap 41) unfortunately scratched, leaving Lars Gottwald (cap 164) to pick up the Lantern Rouge. Ahead of Lars, Wendy van Roosmalen (cal 254), the women's Lantern Rouge, has stopped for the night in Roosendaal. She has just under 500km remaining. 

Jonah Jones (cap 142) shed some light on his choice for a short day yesterday, he's been battling back pain. Jonah posted a video from Zeeland this morning showing the backside of the wind turbines. Something no cyclist wants to see. If you can see the back of the wind turbine, it means headwind. In this case headwind such that Jonah was only making 9kph into it. It looks like he's managed to find a way to manage his backpain, and escaped the headwinds of Zeeland, he has just 400km to the finish.

With the vast majority of Riders past the worst of the Limburg hills, Friday's flood of finishers has made it a great day for the pairs. At the time of writing 5 pairs have made it to the finish. Birgit & Kai Fuegel (cap 1029) were first back in 147 hours 22 minutes. They were followed by Paul Enders & Istvan Penzes in 155 hours 08 minutes. The podium has been rounded out by Jan Coussement & Kristof Cool who finished in 158 hours 46 minutes. While not as fast as the solo riders, the pairs race has still been incredibly close by ultraracing standards. Just over 11 hours covering the first 3 pairs. Practically a photo finish. 

There's now just over 1.5 days remaining until the cutoff on Sunday at 1800 CEST. Which of the riders still on the road will make it to the finish in time remains to be seen. It's a long lonely road that stretches ahead. Fatigue, exhaustion, aches, & pains all fight against the shear force of will to keep going. Finishing, even overtime is still a fantastic achievement. It might not earn a place on the general classification. But there's more to making it to the finish than a spot on GC. 

Good luck to all those still riding, you're doing amazing!

(next race update will be Sunday after 1800). 

A flood of finishers.


As a steady flow of riders continue to arrive at the finish. Thursday saw lots of riders making their way through the hills of Limburg. At the time of writing over 20 riders are Riding, or stopped for the night in the area of the Limburg hills. 

After a few days of beautiful sunshine, and for some, tailwinds. The weather decided to mix things up a bit. Nathalie Hoogeveen (cap 193) posted a video on Thursday evening of the Keutenberg showing the road rendered unpassable by what can only be described as a river. The heavy rain coupled with the hill's 22% gradient makes the perfect conditions for localised flooding. Looking at her tracker, Nathalie backtracked to the Edge of Valkenburg. Sjoerd Meijerink (cap 225) shows a similar strategic retreat manoeuvre. Seven riders are currently in Valkenburg for the night. Hoping for better conditions to tackle the hills tomorrow. 

Further back the hotel in Stein mentioned in last nights update continues to be popular, hosting 4 riders tonight.

Even further back. Thursday brought the news that lantern rouge rider Karthik Raj (cap 155) had scratched at Almere. Looking at the trackers, in theory Bart van den Akker (cap 65) is the new lantern rouge. But as their tracker has not updated since Wednesday morning. It's more likely that recumbent trike rider Marian Bobko (cap 41) is the mens solo lantern Rouge. 

Ben Sandee & Elizabeth Jesse (cap 614) continue to make steady progress through Noord Holland as the pairs Lantern Rouge.

For the women, Wendy van Roosmalen (cap 254) had a late start from Hoek van Holland. Before she hit the road, Wendy posted a reminder for all dotwatchers. 

![Screenshot of Wendy van Roosmalen's instagram story.](//images.ctfassets.net/6hyijb95boju/V6aPac5FaLUlbO5fKtxB7/d99b1498263967b72c2df0c9f3c0c2ad/Screenshot_20240502-141437-2.png)

Please do not message unsolicited tips and advice to riders. It counts as support, and they are not allowed to accept it. Just as they can't accept it if you stand at the side of the road and offer them water or food. By all means offer messages of encouragement i.e. "You're doing great!" type of thing. But hints, tips, advice, crosses the line and puts the riders in a difficult situation. 

Having been passed by previous lanterns rouge Tessa Spaan (cap 237) and Laura Rommelfanger (cap 165), Wendy had a short day today, stopping in Zeeland, saying she needed to get some proper rest before continuing.

Jonah Jones (cap 142) had a similarly short day. It's possible his detour from Lemmer a couple of days ago is catching up on him. 

We now have 45 riders who have made it to the finish, including in the last few minutes Hana Uhlikova (cap 119) who rounds out the women's podium, after Sylwia Kuropatwa (cap 236) finished earlier this evening in a time of 129 hours and 43 minutes. Hana finished in 138 hours 35 minutes. Congratulations to all three rides. Exceptional rides!

Earlier riders back have started to post updates and race reports as they begin their recovery. In a Q&A on instagram earlier Julio Greff (cap 67) who had lead for some of the early stages of the race before finishing in 5th, when asked how much sleep he actually got replied. "3 hours during second night, 1 hour during third and another during the last. Was to sleepy still so added an emergency 10 minutes nap right before the last sunrise to make it to the finish". For the very honest answer about his saddle sores, you'll have to seek out the instagram stories yourself...

There's just over 2.5 days of the race left, and with lots of riders still to tackle the hills of Limburg, there's plenty that can still happen. Weather wise it looks like the worst of the rain has now passed, and the final showers should clear Limburg by mid morning. 

Good luck to all riders still out there. Ride strong.


Riding the rivers


Since the filling of the men's podium last night there has been a steady trickle of riders into the finish at Cafe de Proloog. At the time of writing 17 riders have completed RATN 2024. A notable finisher today is Jan-Willem Bobbink (cap 133) who put in a mighty effort to recover from 32nd up to finish tenth overall. Sleeping just 2 hours in the last ~700km in order to catch and pass other riders.

Further back Nicole van Batenberg (cap 195) is ~60km away from being the first woman home. Nicole has been battling severe saddle sores, as well as needing to put tubes in both of her tubeless tyres whilst in Limburg. Sylwia Kuropatwa (cap 236) has managed to close the gap to Nicole to about 150km, but short of major issues, it's not enough to stop Nicole being first woman to finish this years race. Sylwia has just passed the Drielandenpunt in Limburg, so it's all down hill from here. 

Behind Sylwia, Hilde Geens (cap 125) has stopped for the night in a hotel near the town of Stein. This hotel has been popular among riders of RATN over the years as well as Hilde. Posititioned just before the hills of Limburg, with 24 hour check in, and allowing bikes in the room. All the things a tired ultra cyclist needs... Aaron Lang (cap 49) has stopped in for the night in the same hotel. Hilde is being chased by Hana Uhlikova (cap 119) who is still moving ~30km behind her. With all the climbing of Limburg ahead of them, the 3rd spot on the women's podium is still very much yet to be decided. 

Further back cargo bike rider Wendy van Roosmalen (cap 254) rode through the night, with the occasional nap in a bush, or sheltering from the rain under a porch, to reach the Hoek van Holland. Wendy is just 20km ahead of Lanterns Rouge Tessa Spaan (cap 237) and Laura Rommelfanger (cap 165). All three riders have been able to enjoy the rarest of RATN weather conditions today. The tailwind. 

Even further back yesterday's Pairs lantern rouge Wietse & Wouter Slob (cap 4345) have unfortunately scratched in Harlingen, promoting the American pair Ben Sandee & Elizabeth Jesse (cap 614) to the title of Lantern Rouge. Ben and Elizabeth have made it as far as Lelystad and are currently stopped for the night. 

Just ahead of them in Almere, the men's Lantern Rouge, Karthik Raj (cap 155) continues to make steady progress. 

Recumbent rider Marian Bobko (cap 41) successfully passed the lockgates at Edam, looking at the tracker he didn't try to carry his recumbent trike over the narrow gates, instead opting for the longer diversion round via the nearest bridge. He's currently stopped in Den Helder.

There's still three full daya, plus most of Sunday remaining for the riders, lots can happen in that time. With many riders in, or approaching Limburg, the weather forecast for Thursday is for substantial rain in the evening, complete with thunder and lightning. The hills of Limburg are bad enough without them turning into a stream. The storm could shake things up for riders in the area. On the plus side it does look like there will be tailwinds during the last few days of the race for riders heading up the Maas towards the finish. 


Starting to finish

As the race entered into it's fourth day, the focus for the majority of the field has been on the slog down the west coast of Holland. Riders by now have left behind the worst of the sheep, and now get to experience this significiantly more built up region of the Netherlands. On the one hand it makes it easier to find resupply, but it also means more stopping for things like traffic lights, traffic, and in Rotterdam for many, Open bridges. 

It's almost not a ride in the Netherlands if you haven't had to wait for an open bridge at some point. Somehow the time table on them is always to be open when you're most in a hurry.

Not all water crossings present the same difficulty. Just north of Vollendam, near Edam, and surprising many riders, the route crosses a canal via the lock gates. This crossing is very narrow, this presents varying levels of difficulty for the riders, depending on how loaded they are. Those with a more traditional Pannier setup struggle a lot. But for cargobike rider Wendy van Roosmalen (cap 254) this presented a particular difficulty. Looking at the tracker Wendy was forced to take a detour of almost a kilometre to the nearest road bridge in order to get past the canal. Bermudan rider Jonah Jones (cap 142) had similar issues at the lock gates with his panniers requiring the removal of the bags from the bike and transporting the bike and luggage in several trips. Based on tracker update points, it looks like it took almost ten minutes to get bike, rider, and luggage across the lock gates. What recumbent trike rider Marian Bobko (cap 41) will do at the gates remains to be seen. 

Jonah Jones (cap 142) caused raised eyebrows among those carefully monitoring the map with a rather circuitous detour from the course at Lemmer, through Leeuwarden to the north coast and the 682km point of the course. He hung around for about 15 minutes, and then headed back the way he came to rejoin the course at Lemmer. We don't know why he made this extra detour, but it added about 130km to his race. Jonah is back on the course and currently resting in Hoorn. 

With the lock gates successfully passed, Wendy is at the time of writing sheltering from a rain shower on someone's porch just east of Hoorn, having passed Laura Rommelfanger (cap 165) and Tessa Spaan (cap 237) who are both resting on Hoorn. In so doing Wendy hands the women's Lantern Rouge title to Tessa and Laura.

Further back in Friesland, Indian rider Karthik Raj (cap 155) carries the men's Lantern rouge. Karthik stopped for a couple of hours in Harlingen,  before pushing on into the night. 

In the pairs lantern rouge Wietse & Wouter Slob (cap 4345) have bedded down for the night in Harlingen. They are making steady, albeit slow progress bringing up the rear of the very stretched out pack.

At the pointy end current leading women Nicole van Batenburg (cap 195) has made steady progress after stopping last night in Rotterdam. She's pushed through to 1510km mark, where it looks like she's stopped for some rest. Ready to push on into Limburg. With just over 400km to go, including all the climbing of Limburg, a good nights rest will be most welcome. Nicole's closest rival is Sylwia Kuropatwa (cap 236), who's currently resting 200km behind in Haamstede. 

Now for the part those who have been following the map closely have been waiting for. We have a first riders home. 

![Job Biersteker and his bike at the finish of RATN 2024 - Photo credit: Jakub Kopecky](//images.ctfassets.net/6hyijb95boju/6bYvkNhyPRmcf6DEVhLpSW/d8ec828986739503c679f25604262556/RATN2024-winner_jacob_kopecky-1.jpg)

Finishing in 85 hours 31 minutes, Job Biersteker (cap 138) crossed the finish line just after 2130 this evening. Job's time is over an hour faster than Lennart Nap's 2022 time. Daan Maarsman's 2020 time of 3 days 9 hours 30 minutes still stands as the course record. 

After passing Lennart Nap (cap 1) as he slept on Sunday night, Job was able to pull out a 30km lead, and hold onto it to the finish. Lennart reported he was having some issues on Monday night, posting a photo on his instagram story of him huddled in a space blanket. A further update on Tuesday afternoon showed him pedalling with his feet on top of his shoes as he battled hot foot. 

Job took a slightly different strategy to the other front runners, stopping for about 4 hours on Sunday morning in Groningen, then pushing to the finish with just a 2 hour stop in Hargen on Monday morning. A fantastic ride by Job. Congratulations.

Lennart Nap crossed the finish line 3 hours 50 minutes after Job. As the hills of Limburg started to bite, it looked like David Tschan (cap 85) and Thomas Günsel (cap 107) might catch Lennart. And while Lennart wasn't able to catch Job, he was able to hold off the chasers to come home in 2nd. At the time of writing, David is only a handful of kilometres away from making me have to rewrite this paragraph, whilst Thomas is approaching Nijmegen, he has only 60km to go. (Edit: David reached the Finish in 3rd place at 02:30 in a time of 90 hours 20 minutes)

With riders spread over more than 1200km of the course. The race is far from over, lots can still happen in the remaining days of the race. The weather forecast looks to continue to be warm, and in what feels entirely wrong for Race Around The Netherlands, riders heading south from Den Helder tomorrow may even have a tailwind. 


Job done.


We're now two and a half days since the race started on Saturday morning. 

With the largest starting field yet, the riders started in three waves, each ten minutes apart. The organised chaos of getting over 220 riders out of the square in front of Cafe de Proloog safely among the crowds of supporters over. The riders settled in for the long road ahead. 

![Wendy van Roosmalen on her Cargo bike starts RATN 2024](//images.ctfassets.net/6hyijb95boju/2J7mqgwOT1pP1abr773LFn/4871c5bdb25aac53129fb013a75e46e8/XT1A1037.JPG)

Within an hour or so the tracker map started to calm down with riders spreading out across Province Utrecht, and into Flevoland. Five riders reported being stopped by the police about 70km in after they missed the cycle path and took the road for 500m. This earned each of them a €70 fine. 

The first rider though timing point 1 was Julio Greff (cap 67). Julio has proven to be a surprise contender at the front. Passing the timing point 13 minutes ahead of last years winner Lennart Nap (cap 1). 

Nicole van Batenburg (cap 195) was the first women past timing point 1, 27 minutes ahead of Hana Uhlikova (cap 119). At this stage things were still pretty close, with the first 32 riders seperated by just 1 hour. 

As the sun rose to start the second day of riding, riders were spread from the Veluwe to past the 675km mark on the north coast of Friesland. Those at the pointy end had not stopped. While further back others opted for various sleep stops ranging from hotels to... picnic benches... 

![Erik Frans (cap 17) sleeps on a picnic bench (Photo credit: Jakub Kopecký)](//images.ctfassets.net/6hyijb95boju/7gmEWriGUfCQ4qLarRbTYu/331670e5bb56030ebfc56fa1514243bd/RATN-1427.jpg)

The north coast of the Netherlands once again proved to have a sting in it's tail in the form of a brutal headwind. This would prove too much for some, and Sunday afternoon saw the surprise scratch from 2021 winner Bas Vlaskamp (cap 2). He withdrew at Lemmer, having completed 785km. Bas had not been feeling great since before the start, and didn't want to plod on slowly without enjoying the ride, and with a risk of getting sicker. We wish Bas and all other scratched riders all the best with their recovery. Scratching is one of the hardest things to do in ultra racing. It's never an easy decision. Lennart reacted to Bas' DNF by posting that he would "push more watts, and not shift" in Bas' honour. A reference to Bas riding previous editions on a single speed bike. Alas switching to gears doesn't seem to have helped Bas this year. 

With one of the race favourites no longer in the running, another of the front runners Bernhard Ritter (cap 3) who had passed timing point 4 just 2 hours after Bas, scratched at the 820km point. 

Sunday evening it became a question of who would stop for a rest first. Race leader Lennart Nap (cap 1) passed half distance at Enkhuizen. Here he also stopped for the first time on the trip to resupply from the vending machine at the station. They had to stop soon. Surely? (Note to self, don't try waiting to write the dotwatcher report thinking they gotta sleep any moment now, giving a nice tidy point to write the first report... they're gonna just keep going!) 

Nicole van Batenburg (cap 195) eventually stopped for the night in Bangert at about 0430 having completed 970km. By this stage Nicole was 4th overall. She was on the go again just after 9am.

Further up the road. Lennart Nap (cap 1) eventually stopped just after 4am in the Village of Limmen. He had completed ~1070km. The question then came will Julio Greff (cap 67) be able to catch up and pass Lennart while he sleeps? Julio had chosen to stop in Medemblik just before 1am. He had completed 980km. He was on the road again by 4am. 

Opening the tracker on Monday morning to see which of Lennart and Julio was in the lead lead to a surprise. Neither was the first rider on the road. Job Biersteker (cap 138) had passed both to pull out a 20+km advantage. Job had been over 3.5 hours behind Lennart at the Amsterdam timing check. A lead he had got down to under two hours by the timing check just before the Dunes after Den Helder. Job has taken the approach of resting even less than everyone else. He stopped for about two hours in Hargen at 1060km. 

Monday put Lennart in chase mode once again, better rested, but at times 30km behind Job. It becomes a question of if they will need to stop again, if so when, and for how long. Will Job's gamble pay off? 

At the end of Monday Nicole van Batenburg (cap 195) is stopped in Rotterdam. She posted on instagram that she wanted some rest in the hope of being able to go faster having done so. She also posted an important reminder. In Dutch it read:

"En nog een laatste keertje: ik mag echt NIKS aannemen en ook niet uit de wind worden gehouden in het wiel. Het is super lief maar dat zijn de regels."

And translated to English:

"And for the last time. I'm really not allowed to accept ANYTHING, or even be kept out of the wind. It's lovely what people do, but those are the rules."

With so many local riders racing in RATN it's very easy for friends and family to come out to show their support for riders. But as Nicole points out. Riders are not allowed to accept any help not available to all riders. So unless you want to be offering shelter or water to 200+ riders, don't offer it to one. By all means come out and cheer, Chalk your messages of support on the fietspad. But do not give any one rider material support. It could risk that rider getting disqualified. 

That concludes the first two and a half days of the race. Twenty eight riders have scratched so far, and the remaining riders are spread over 600km of the route. There's a lot of road still ahead, lots can still happen, and as this race has proven time and time again. In order to finish first, first you have to finish. Who will be leading when the sun comes up to start the 4th day? 


It begins


Race around the Netherlands returns once again. A solid fixture in the ultracycling calendar since 2018, the race has proven to be a worthy challenge for all who ride it. Normally starting around the beginning of May, the race has given every type of weather, from snow, through to scorching sunshine. This year however the race starts slightly earlier than usual, which brings us a new forecast for the event. Widespread outbreaks of orange...

![Screenshot from Buienradar showing the country all in orange.](//images.ctfassets.net/6hyijb95boju/2dKSM6QadHq3yeu6M2UJDf/52a7cdd1635ef1e6a5f07232fd7150fa/OrangeForecast.png)

This year the race starts on Kingsday, aka April 27th. For those not familiar with this annual Dutch custom, Kingsday is a nationwide public holiday to celebrate the birthday of King Willem-Alexander. It's also a nationwide party. In the cities in particular hundreds of thousands will converge for street parties, nearly all of them dressed in orange. Lots of people will setout stalls selling all sorts of stuff, kingsday is the one day of the year that people can setup a stall on the street without a permit, and without needing to pay VAT. A nationwide flea market. Good areas for stalls will be claimed weeks in advance, marked with ducttape, or chalk on the pavement.

So what does this mean for the race? Being a public holiday lots of places will be shut. This is going to impact the availability of resupply, and repairs (bike shops will very likely be shut on Kingsday). It's also likely to make it slower going through any built up area as there will be people out in the street celebrating. Riders cannot assume they can easily buy anything on the route on the first day of the race. Advertised opening hours will be unreliable. This is unlikely to have much impact on those at the pointy end, they won't be expecting to stop for much at all in the first 24 hours. Dutch riders can be expected to be prepared for this, they know what happens on Kingsday. But for riders from outside the Netherlands, it could take them by surprise if they haven't done their research. With riders for this years edition coming from as far away as India, the US, Canada, and Bermuda, those who have done their research are going to have a big advantage. For those who haven't, once again the Race Around The Netherlands offers up unexpected challenges. 

If you're new to RATN, and want to know a bit more about the route, take a look at the [preview for the 2020 edition](https://dotwatcher.cc/race/race-around-the-netherlands-2020?post=6nPxjQGK6ii0XZlq2qbh3r#posts). The route hasn't changed much since. 

A post about the riders will go live on Saturday once they are underway. Race updates will hopefully be published daily. Until race end 1800 CEST, on the 5th. 

Windy with widespread outbreaks of Orange.

Julia Freeman

Race around the Netherlands RATN tracking: Race tracking and commentary for Race around the Netherlands 2024

Race around the Netherlands RATN tracking 2024

Fast and flat; what the Netherlands lacks in elevation and terrain it more than makes up for with its wind and characterful villages. Don't let the elevation profile fool you, this is not an easy race. What doesn't go up, can't come down.

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