The Dirty Dozen - last day of racing

Race report lite as at Thursday 26 August 11:30am KGT

Race Report as at Wednesday 25 August 11:30am KGT

The Scratchers’ Wardrobe

Race report as at Tuesday 24 August 11:30am KGT

Day 9 - were's the party at?

Race report as at Monday 23 August 11:30am KGT

The race for second

Second Place strategy

First to the finisher's post

It’s the last day of racing left on the Silk Road Mountain Race, the Dirty Dozen - not the star studded film with Lee Marvin, Charles Bronson or Ernest Borgnine - but the remaining riders pushing to the finish. Two weeks out in the remote mountains, no kit washing services or hot showers, dusty trails or muddy single trail will have left a mark on these riders. As they remove their helmets at the finish-line, Tiger strips adorn their foreheads, laughterlines around their eyes are filled with fine particles of dust and sweat. Their shines tanned with a fine dust thrown up from the front tire, embedded grease and grim congregate under fingernails. This bunch are pretty dirty but they are going to make the finish-line before the shutters come down on the 2021 Silk Road Mountain Race.

Lets get their names up in lights, they’ve been out in the elements for the longest, some with mechanicals, most with an underlying fatigue making gravity feel like a bag of cement is being dragged off the back of the bike. The soles of their feet tender from pushing and hiking.

I present the Dirty Dozen:
Martin Pisaćka
Frederic Laforge
Edgar Stafford
Edmond Whitmore
Hendra Wijaya
Brian Lautenschlager
Allison Felley
Sébastien Jacquemont
Robert Sirre
Ulukmyrza Osmonov
Phil Shirley
Frédéric Sohlbank

Absolute stars for taking this challenge to the max!


Twenty riders remain on the route, giving it everything to get to the finish-line. CP3 closed at 16:23 without fanfare as all the riders cleared out before the shutters came down. Frédéric Sohlbank made it to CP3 with 6 hours to spare, lets hope that bodes well for him to make it to the finish-line before the party winds down.

Dmitry Makarov was 20km from the finish at 2am and continued to push through the early hours to put his race to bed. Six riders are camped out before the hike-a-bike section, at this stage in the race riders are pulling on reserves to make the last push to the line, running out of energy towards the end of the day. A good nights sleep where the muscles can replenish themselves will help keep them on track to finish. 

Four riders are progressing along the Chong Kemin valley, while two are on the descent from Kegety. The remaining riders are making their way from CP3 to Kegety.

There are only a few days left to Dotwatch this race, lets keep the support going for those who are out in the elements for longer, they’ll definitely be suffering more to, so an extra few days of your time will definitely keep their spirits up. 

Race Commentator: [Peta McSharry](https://www.instagram.com/petamcsharry/ "Peta McSharry Instagram") 


Race report lite as at Friday 1:51am (in the small hours of the morning

This report is brought to you from the comfort of a bivy bag up the side of a mountain, listening to the sound of cow bells. Without the analytical ability derived from a computer, it will be a short report. But one of significance as riders poured over the line all day.

## Pairs’ podium
Before the day was out, all three stairs on the pairs’ podium were stood upon and the much coveted Kyrgyz hats handed out. It’s no mean feat to finish this race - hats off to Jacob Hora you took second, is undoubtedly the youngest rider to finish and did so with a great degree of maturity. Whats more is the willingness of more experienced riders to invest in the youngsters - so a hats off to Jay too. 
- 1st: Janis Viskers and Toms Alsbergs
- 2nd: Jay Petervary and Jacob Hora
- 3rd: Phillip Markgraf and Markus Weinberg

## Women’s race
Jenny Tough finished in the early hours of the evening, beating her previous time by two days, finishing in 11D 14h 6m and will be the only solo woman to finish as Bernarda scratched due to issues caused by the altitude. 

## Virtual Broomwagon
The Virtual Broomwagon is marching its way to the 1,487km mark and will time it’s arrival for the closing of CP3. To its disappointment there will be no one to sweep up. Three riders currently are camped at CP3, Allison Felley and Sébastien Jacquemont, and Robert Sirre. 
They’ll move on before the broomwagon arrives. 

Frédéric Sohlbank is at 1,458km mark and is currently making his way towards Moldo Pass and then onto CP3. He has 6 hours before the closing of CP3, so will definitely make it through before it closes. He also currently takes the honour of Lantern Rouge in the race.


As the drying fish gently swing the the breeze, split in half with their guts taken out, hanging row after row on little strings under the cover of a faded tarp, riders making their way to the finish-line can’t help but empathise with these once succulent, full-of-life fish. It’s pretty much how they feel and look, and smell, most likely they smell a lot worse. Hung out to dry in the Kyrgzy landscape, their guts ripped out by the weather and terrain, kit faded under a fine layer of dust and the final six hour hike-a-bike reducing their eyes to the equivalent of the shrivelled up ones looking back at them from those little strings handing under the tarp.

The finishers ‘strings’ are slowly filling up as riders make the final push to the end, coming in thick as fast as the bulk of the race moves to the finish-line.  The first pair made it home and as Jenny starts the six hour hike-a-bike, she’ll be in before the day closes out. 

## Race Podium and finishers
- __1st:__ Sofiane Sehili (France) - 8D 14h 35m
- __2nd:__ Axel Brenner (Switzerland) - 9D 2h 51m
- __3rd:__ Adrien Liechti (Switzerland) - 9D 5h 25m
- 4th: Christophe Dijkmans (Belgium) - 9D 12h 50m
- 5th: David Gambuli (Italy) - 9D 13h 37m
- 6th: Radu Diaconescu (Romania) - 9D 14h 42m
- 7th: Lubos Seidl (Czech Republic) - 9D 23h 43m
- 8th: Arno Crous (South Africa) - 9D 18h 35m
- 9th: Max Riese (Austria) - 9D 23h 8m
- 10th: Samuli Mäkinen (Fnland) - 10D 3h 23m
11th: Théo Daniel (France) - 10D 6h 50m
12th Lukasz Ugarenko (Poland) - 10D 8h 1m
13th Allan Shaw (united Kingdom) - 11D 1h 45m

### Pairs

- __1st Pair:__ Janis Viskers (Latvia) and Toms Alsbergs (Latvia) (208) - 11D 1h 0m

__Note:__ Places 4-13 + the Pairs are provisional - times taken off Maprogress - once verified, times will be updated.

- Finishers: 15
- Active riders: 40
- Scratched: 41

## Women’s race

Jenny is making her way through the final hike-a-bike, based on previous riders’ times through this section to the finish-line, it leaves her with around 6 hours of racing to claim the first women's spot in the race.  Bernarda stopped in the small town just before Baetov. After a 7 hour break over night and fuelling up in Baetov, she made onto on the first bit of smooth tarmac since leaving Naryn and powered her way to Zany Talap, stopping in for a coffee to fire her up for the ascent on Moldo Pass and onto CP3. She’s bound to make CP3 before dark and no doubt will take advantage of the warm shelter and hot food. 

1. Jenny Tough - 1,616km
2. Bernarda Juric - 1,440km

## Pair’s race
Janis Viskers and Toms Alsbergs (208) finished as the first pair home, the look of relief on their faces was palpable and the smiles pretty broad. Jay Petervary and Jacob Hora (207) are making their way over the six hour hike-a-bike and no doubt Jacob is relieved to be pushing his bike after breaking his rear derailleur and needing to convert the bike to a single-speed. Let’s hope his young knees can withstand the forces needed to haul a bike up the steep climbs with only one gear. Markus Weinberg and Philipp Markgraf (211) made it through the Chong Kemin valley and are approaching the six hour hike-a-bike section, leaving them around 8 hours to the finish-line. By night fall the Pairs’ podium will see a rider on each step, adorned with a fresh, traditional Kyrgyz’ hat. 

1. Janis Viskers and Toms Alsbergs (208) - 1,859km - Finished - 1st Pair
2. Jay Petervary and Jacob Hora (207) - 1,842km
3. Markus Weinberg and Philipp Markgraf (211) - 1,787km

## Virtual Broomwagon

The Virtual Broomwagon sits at 1,363km, sweeping along quietly until it absorbs riders. CP3 closes on Thursday 26th August 18:23 KGT with a distance of 1471km from the start. 

### Riders being chased by the Virtual Broomwagon:
- Charles Garrett 1,304km - 167km to CP3
- Frédéric Sohlbank 1,315km - 156km to CP3
- Philippe Villepontoux 1,303km - 168km to CP3
- Robert Sirre 1,349km - 122km to CP3

It’s a day and half’s riding still to go until CP3 closes, given these riders made the CP2 cut-off time, there’s a good chance they will make it to CP3. They’ll need to make it over Mel’s Pass first and then it’s easier riding once through Baetov where they’ll make up good ground over this section of the route. 

Race Commentator: [Peta McSharry](https://www.instagram.com/petamcsharry/ "Peta McSharry Instagram") 


Unexpected additional time off the bike - not something racers plan for at the start of an event. Keeping the mind strong and focused is needed to finish these events. As the organisers draw a line through your name on the tracking site and with the sinking feeling of quitting a race you’d spent a year training and planning towards, comes the realisation that you can’t spend another day in these really smelly clothes not suited to taking a long lunch without your bike and surrounded by normal everyday folk. 

Word soon spreads among the Scratchers where to get the best and cheapest social regalia to set foot into the real world, but only after hiding in your room for a few hours, licking your wounds. Emerging back into the real world, these  previously cocooned cyclists require an attire fit for an emerging butterfly. 

Scanning the racks at the local market, you happen on an affordable item, it’s in your size - you’d not really wear that back at home, under any circumstances - but you’re too tired to keep looking and it’s in your size.

You’ve not washed your kit in several days, so washing some new, clean clothes - I mean who cares that 50 people have tried it on before you - they’re not cycling clothes and they smell pretty fresh. You make it down to the only cafe in town serving food that looks like a home cooked meal your grandma would server, and there sit several other Scratchers. 

Horror of horrors, there are two other people wearing the exact same clothes as you! Do you:
1. High five them, saying good choice
2. Sulk, because this is your party and you should the one to shine
3. Slink into the far chair, you’d not be seen dead in the same outfit as someone else.

A few years pass and you discover these 'Scratches outfits' are now a part of your everyday wardrobe and they invoke some wonderful memories everytime you pull on their slightly out of shape construction with a few loose threads peaking out from the hem.

Riders came in thick and fast into the finish on Day 9 filling up the Top 9 places before the day was out. The last spot for the Top 10 was filled in the early hours on Day 10. 

## Race Podium and top 10
- 1st: Sofiane Sehili (France) - 8D 14h 35m
- 2nd: Axel Brenner (Switzerland) - 9D 2h 51m
- 3rd: Adrien Liechti (Switzerland) - 9D 5h 25m
- 4th: Christophe Dijkmans (Belgium) - 9D 12h 50m
- 5th: David Gambuli (Italy) - 9D 13h 37m
- 6th: Radu Diaconescu (Romania) - 9D 14h 42m
- 7th: Lubos Seidl (Czech Republic) - 9D 23h 43m
- 8th: Arno Crous (South Africa) - 9D 18h 35m
- 9th: Max Riese (Austria) - 9D 23h 8m
- 10th: Samuli Mäkinen (Fnland) - 10D 3h 23m

Note: Places 4-11 are provisional - times taken off Maprogress - once verified, times will be updated.

Why not report beyond the Top 10, it’s not like these guys didn’t race hard and face the same tough conditions, so here are those who just missed out on a Top 10, but nevertheless rode a fantastic race. 

- 11th: Théo Daniel (France) - 10D 6h 50m*

What a great mix of nations, not just making up the finishers, but across the whole race. 

## Current race stats

- Finishers: 11
- Active riders: 56
- Scratched: 41

## Women’s race

With all the excitement yesterday at the finish-line, the closing of CP2 passed without a mention, but perhaps it was ‘covered’ under the Virtual Broomwagon. Anna Petters was hindered in her progress to CP2 with some stomach issues, making slow progress off Tosor Pass. It’s one of the most common reasons riders scratch in the race, unaccustomed to the variety of bacteria not available at their local supermarket. Bernarda camped out at Chatry-Kul, a common overnight stop in the race. The weather doesn’t look too good in the Tash Rabat region, with really cold temperatures and rain on the forecast, that can only mean snow at that altitude. It would seem Bernarda is getting all the snow at the high passes. She’s up and over the Tash Rabat and faces two 3,000m climbs before she can make it into Baetov. Jenny passed through CP3 without stopping, making down to the A367 main road, taking a small detour off route to a town and a Guest House. She’s currently heading up Kegety Pass, making her way through during daylight. This was on her wish-list - in 2018 she summited in the dark and was hoping to see it during the day. Job done! It leaves Jenny with 242km to the finish-line and if all goes well, she’ll be in around 12 days. Her target for this race was to improve on the 13D 5H 42M of the 2018 edition - not forgetting the 2021 edition is longer course and with more elevation. 

1. Jenny Tough - 1,616km
2. Bernarda Juric - 1,307km
3. Anna Petters - scratched at 1,255km

## Pair’s race
The positions in the pairs race remain unchanged and barring issues, looks to remain as such until the finish-line. Janis Viskers and Toms Alsbergs (208) are at the start of the six hour hike-a-bike, giving them a finish time in the Kyrgyz evening. Jay Petervary and Jacob Hora (207) are about to make it into the Chong Kemin valley before tackling the six hour hike-a-bike - if they push through to the finish-line they could tackle the hike-a-bike in the small hours of the night. The weather forecast is warm and sunny, so they should see good conditions to push through. Markus Weinberg and Philipp Markgraf (211) made it over Kegety Pass and are on their way to Kegety Town. They face the last 220km, leaving them a day and a half on the road to the finish-line.

1. Janis Viskers and Toms Alsbergs (208) - 1,798km
2. Jay Petervary and Jacob Hora (207) - 1,734km
3. Markus Weinberg and Philipp Markgraf (211) - 1,637km

Race Commentator: [Peta McSharry](https://www.instagram.com/petamcsharry/ "Peta McSharry Instagram") 


## Hunting in packs
By this stage in the race, when the top riders are starting to cross the finish-line and the field thins out, patterns of movement among the other riders, become a little more discernible. Each rider falls into their routine and invariably riders find themselves travelling in similar patterns and speeds to other riders, naturally forming small group who will find themselves at the same stoppage points along the route. While they may not arrive at the same time, they’ll be in the same places for a few hours at a time or pass each other as riders take breaks at different times.

There’s a huge camaraderie in the field and it grows each day the riders are out there battling the terrain and elements. Swapping stories is good for the soul, knowing someone else is suffering as much as you somehow makes it easier to tolerate.  Knowing you’re still travelling at the same pace as other is reassuring and knowing others are still coming up behind you means perhaps the Virtual Broomwagon isn’t going to get you just yet.

## Virtual Broomwagon

As the Virtual Broomwagon sweeps along quietly, riders will be making the calculations of how feasible it is to continue all the route to the finish. The Virtual Broomwagon currently sits at kilometre 1,240km (as at Tuesday 24 August 4:23am KGT), the riders still at CP2 and those who left earlier today are at risk of being swept up. Allison Felley and Sébastien Jacquemont (202) are at 1,193km, they’ve been covering good ground given their late start to the race and proved they could ride like the wind to get in before CP1 closed, so they may still be able to pull something out of the bag.

Riders at risk are:
Charles Garrett 1,173km (CP2) - 141km
Frédéric Sohlbank 1,173km (CP2) - 124km
Philippe Villepontoux 1,173km (CP2) - 139km
Robert Sirre 1,173km (CP2) - 77km (185km day before)

Riders needed to be averaging around 124km per day to finish before the cut-off (from the start of the race), those now sitting behind the Virtual Broomwagon are looking at an average of 137km per day for the 5 remaining days left until the race cut-off on Sunday 29 August at 04:23am KGT.

From the riders passing through Tash Rabat, we know this is not an easy section, once through its a fairly easy ride (relatively speaking) until the six hour hike-a-bike before the finish.

The Virtual Broomwagon is nipping on the heels of Phil Shirley and Ulukmyrza Osmonov, who both appear to be riding alternate days of bigger miles followed by a lower milage day. Ulukmyrza and Phil are around 40km before the peak at Tash Rabat, and still have two big climbs before making their way to Baetov where the riding will get a little easier - they look to be riding together for the moment, so their race report is lumped together. Bikesutras is around 11km ahead of Ulukmyrza and Phil and from his daily riding averages, he looks safe to stay ahead of the Virtual Broomwagon.

Sadly it looks the Virtual Broomwagon took out the riders I mentioned yesterday, with Anna Petters, Abel Schooleman and Andy Offenbacher scratching in Naryn. This broomwagon stops for no bikepacker and Nayrn is a sensible place to call it a day, beyond that it becomes harder to make your way back to Bishkek or the finishers’ party easily - should we be renaming the party given the organisers make it extremely hard to finish for half the field?

## Where's the party at?
The mid-pack riders are always hard done by in bikepacking reports, so lets see if we can find where the party’s at. Looks like CP 3 is getting much of the action, with five riders hanging out overnight in the warm yurts along Son-Kul lake, the food laid out by the hosting family is a feast for riders - their pastries, hot tea and soups are a particular favourite among the riders.
### The CP3 Overnighters are:
Kenneth Bruun Jorgensen (Denmark)
Dmitriy Makarov (Kazakhstan)
Andris Balodis (Latvia)
Liudas Dabkevičius (Lithuania)
Maxim Sotnikov (Kazakhstan)

## The Baetov Party
Things are raving in Baetov too, with seven riders wrecking their rooms with smelly socks, well smelly everything really. Bikepacking bags strewn over all the furniture and perhaps a hapless rider took to washing some kit and it hangs on coat hangers off the door handle.

### The Baetovers are: (see what I did there)
Justin Ashford (Australia)
Jakub Gsela (Czech Republic) 
Tobias Koepplinger (Germany)
Martin Moschek (Germany)
Jakob Carlsen (Denmark)
Tim Roberts (United Kingdom)
Jakob Dieckmann (Netherlands)
Edgar Stafford (United Kingdom)*

*It’s uncertain if Edgar is hanging around for the party, he’s been stopped at a junction for around 23 minutes, with sound knowledge of this junction, there’s isn’t really anything other than a statue there - perhaps he’s found a little shelter for the night finding no room at the Inn given the massive party happening in town. 

Word got out to Steven Geelen (Belgium) that there was no space at any of the Baetov Inns, so he stopped short of Baetov, taking up night shelter in the town just before Baetov. 

(As always some creative license is applied to the analysis of a bikepacking race, so I hope you’ll enjoy the humour and it get’s us focusing of some of the forgotten riders in these races.)

Race Commentator: [Peta McSharry](https://www.instagram.com/petamcsharry/ "Peta McSharry Instagram") 

## Leader’s race
Now that we have dispatched with the podium riders, there’s time to focus on those still out riding. The remaining top ten riders are coming in thick and fast, lead by Christophe Dijkmans, I imagine he is grinning from ear to ear having cleared the hike-a-bike section at 11:49am and is now descending to the finish-line, with around two and a half hours of clear air between him and 5th place riders David Gambuli and Lubos Seidl, it looks like 4th spot will go to Christophe. David is holding a 15 minute lead over Lubos, they’ve been holding the same pace throughout the hike-a-bike, so it could come down to who can descend faster and who is faster over the flat to the finish-line. The contest for 5th and 6th could come down to a sprint for the finish-line.

Already through the Chong Kemin valley and making their way to the hike-a-bike section are Arnos Crous (1,790km) and Radu Diaconescu (1,788km), with such a small margin separating them, a small mistake at this point in the race could cost them a place and again descending skill and who’s retained a little extra energy for the final sprint, could decide on 7th and 8th place. 

Max Riese is currently in 9th place at 1,760km and Allan Shaw is 10th at 1,746km. Allan holds a lead over 11th placed Lukasz Ugarenko of 29km, so needs to keep his powder dry and keep pushing forward without issue to hold his 10th spot.

## Race Podium
1st: Sofiane Sehili - 8 days 14 hours 35 minutes
2nd: Axel Brenner - 9 days 2 hours 51 minutes
3rd: Adrien Liechti - 9 days 5 hours 25 minutes

## Women’s race
Jenny cleared CP3 just before lunch-time after overnighting in Baetov, she has around 356km left to the finish-line. Bernarda also overnighted at a check point, making it to CP2 at 09:20pm on Sunday night. She was up and moving by 5:30am making her way towards the Tash Rabat. Unfortunately my predictions for Anna making it to Nayrn didn’t happen, with a slower passage than I predicted and the misfortune of head down the wrong way at the intersection towards Naryn - this junction is where riders joined the same part of the route heading to Arabel Pass. It’s an easy mistake to make, especially with some navigation devices not giving directional arrows to the track on the display. When descending at night it’s easy to take the obvious track before realising you are going in the wrong direction. Anna made camp once she came back onto the correct trail, sending and “OK” message from her Spot Tracker to alert her close contacts that she was all good. Anna continues towards Nayrn with 889km remaining until the finish-line.

1. Jenny Tough - 1,506km
2. Bernarda Juric - 1,239km
3. Anna Petters - 970km

## Pair’s race
Janis Viskers and Toms Alsbergs (208) made it over Kegety Pass at 11am and are now in Kegety town, stopping for lunch and resupply before the push to the Chong Kemin valley. Jay Petervary and Jacob Hora (207) made it to CP3 at 9pm (Sunday night) and stayed over at the Yurt camp hosting the check point. It looks like Jacob’s tracker is giving trouble, marking him still at CP3, but no doubt he is with Jay as they make their way to the last villages before the ascent of Kegety Pass. Markus Weinberg and Philipp Markgraf (211) arrived at CP3 for just before lunch and have pressed on not stopping to take advantage of a warm, home cooked meal. The weather must be good up there currently. They are 5km from the small climb off the Son-Kul plain, before they descend and start making their way along the relative flat road that leads to the base of Kegety Pass.

1. Janis Viskers and Toms Alsbergs (208) - 1,660km
2. Jay Petervary and Jacob Hora (207) - 1,590km
3. Markus Weinberg and Philipp Markgraf (211) - 1,510km

Race Commentator: [Peta McSharry](https://www.instagram.com/petamcsharry/ "Peta McSharry Instagram") 


It’s was a closely contested battle guaranteed to fill the remainer of the podium with a Swiss rider. Even to the last day, neither rider seemed willing to concede, not even going into the final 6 hour hike-a-bike section in the dark. The riders swapped between second and third place in the last few days, keeping Dotwatchers guessing as to who would come out ahead.

Hampered by Shermer’s Neck over Kegety Pass, Adrien Liechti fought on, taking the lead, but losing it again. Neither wanting to stop, knowing at this point in the race, if you sleep too much you lose. But sometimes you just have to lie down, shut your eyes, even if it’s for 20 minutes.

Coming through the last town along the Chong Kemin valley, where mobile phone service was still available, no doubt both riders checked Maprogress to see what margin they held over the riders behind. At this point Axel held a lead of around 4 hours over Adrien and if the battle between the Swiss wasn’t enough to keep them going, Christophe Dijkmans certain was. Trailing by around 5 hours, it would only take a few hours of sleep for him to close in on the Swiss duo, so there was no option by to push on through the depths of night into six hours of hike-a-bike.

Well aware of the four hour lead he held over Adrien, Axel pressed on into the hike-a-bike section around 10pm, making good progress until 1:22am when he stopped for 30 minutes. Enough to either catch a nap or to fix a puncture, but not enough time for Adrien to overtake him.

Adrien took to the hike-a-bike close to 2am and made good progress until he hit a spot of bad luck, he lost the trail just at the end of the hike-a-bike section, going off track and then double backing along the trail before finding the correct line again. When you’re moving so slowly, the navigation devices struggle to orientate themselves and point you in the right direction, it can take a few goes to find the correct trail. This cost Adrien around 30 minutes off-setting the stopping time of Axel. 

Going into the hike-a-bike Adrien was trailing Axel by around four hours, however coming out of the hike-a-bike he was only 1 hour 45 minutes behind, indicating he was faster pushing the bike than Axel. Unfortunately the Shermer’s neck meant he couldn’t keep to his usual pace once on the bike and conceded defeat to Axel by two and a half hours.

Congrats to them both, they kept the excitement going right until the finish-line.

1st: Sofiane Sehili - 8 days 14 hours 35 minutes
2nd: Axel Brenner - 9 days 2 hours 51 minutes
3rd: Adrien Liechti - 9 days 5 hours 25 minutes

![Adrien Liechti 3rd place. Source SilkRoadMountainRace](//images.contentful.com/6hyijb95boju/4UlzpOVSorhobOZZbsY3Eb/4c19541af3559217588c405858a1e2d4/Screenshot_2021-08-23_at_08.36.36.png)

Race commentator: [Peta McSharry](https://www.instagram.com/petamcsharry/ "Peta McSharry Instagram")

As the final night of the podium places draws to a close, what strategic decisions could the riders - Axel Brenner and Adrien Liechti - be facing?

Both riders are through the Chong Kemin valley and are tackling the six hour hike-a-bike section before the descent to the finish. Axel Brenner is  in second place, around 3 hours ahead of Adrien Liechti. The pass goes up to 3,317m with the weather looking dry but cold. Axel is halfway through the hike-a-bike section and is scheduled to get to the rideable descent around midnight. While Adrien faces the full six hour hike-a-bike bringing him to the rideable section at 3am. Even though the weather looks dry, micro-climates in the mountains can bring weather not seen on the forecast and could hamper riders if it turns for the worse.

There is a lake and stream along the hike-a-bike section, where the riders could potentially bed down for the night, if they so choose, but with a hard fought battle in the lead-up to this final section, it's unlikely either will conceed and take a break, unless misfortune strikes.

Morning will reveal the outcome and the riders' strategies - finalising which way the Swiss pair will line up on the finishers podium.


Kyrgystan offers one of the wildest and most inhospitable environments for a bikepacking race, which is all the more reason to dotwatch! With some of the world's finest racers targetting this race as their 2021 halo event, we're sure to see some blisteringly fast racing. But don't forget, this is Kyrgystan. And, anything can happen.

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