That's a wrap for this week's coverage of the Three Peaks Bike Race. There are of course a number of riders who will finish in the coming days and we urge you to will them on and support them via their social media channels.

If you've enjoyed the coverage, please let us know. Similarly, if you have any constructive feedback then we're always looking to improve. You can email us any time here.

My thanks go to Michael Wacker for putting on such an incredible event. It was really great to watch dots again after such a strange year so far. I also want to thank the riders who contributed to the coverage throughout the race either via their social media channels or directly to us. It's so helpful and I'm grateful you took the time out of your race to keep everyone informed.

We have GBDURO commentary happening right now and we'll be back later in August for Transpyrenees. Hope to see you then!

The second woman finishes TPBR and what a race it was. She was close to catching up with Fanny Bensussan at a couple of points in the race, which added to the excitement. We just discovered her Facebook page on which she posted updates throughout the race - better late than never!

Jana and Alex Lenz chase each other to Nice

We've highlighted Alex Lenz's (cap 3) ride a few times but it's about to get even more fun: he's on a mission to catch Jana!

https://www.instagram.com/p/CDTKeKajs7c/

Met Jana and her media crew when i rested a bit at col graille. She looked a bit tired but just normal after 6 days biking. I felt super good at the first half and then my usual for this week pain in knees and achilles came back. I never felt that great on a climb this week really. On the downhilll Jana punctured.

I had then a typical situation for me 😂. Just was happy to find a still open supermarket but after collecting all the stuff (30€ Just for the food and drinks for this night + morning 😮) I had a really funny conversation with the 2 security guys waiting in front of the shop. In the end i restarted biking after nearly 3 hours, but had also already eaten some stuff 😂

I think Alex's chase might be hindered by the fact he loves a chat. That, and perhaps his equipment might begin to fail...

The two are currently around 15km away from each other, so it really is anyone's guess who will finish first in Nice. Jana has 120km left until she reaches the finish line.

Ivan Brown & Tomas Zaplatilek scratch

We're sad to report that Ivan Brown (cap 29) has had to withdraw from the race but it looks like it's for the best after receiving stitches.

Tomas Zaplatilek reported Shermer's Neck a couple of days ago and was resting in Geneva to see if he could continue. He managed to reach Mont Ventoux (amazingly!) but has conceded defeat and will meet the riders for the party in Nice tonight without riding the last stretch. Kudos to him for battling it out for so long!

We'll be back tonight with more from the TPBR when hopefully we'll have a women's podium with Jana rounding it out. Enjoy your day!

She's the first woman to the finish line in Nice and the 14th rider overall. An amazing ride from her in spite of less-than-ideal temperatures over the course of the last 48 hours.

Top 10 are home

https://www.instagram.com/p/CDS-WwhIpzE/

The times are all around a day quicker than last year's TPBR but of course it's hard to compare each edition given it's mostly free route.

Yet another scorching day on the tarmac of France today as riders forge ahead from Mont Ventoux to Nice. The heatwave that was reported a couple of days ago is really beginning to take its toll and it's not about to get any better as Dotwatcher David informs us it's due to be 40ºC tomorrow and 29º overnight.

Lisa Grützmacher (cap 100) succumbed to the rising temperatures today booking a hotel to cool off. It must be nigh on impossible to sleep even during the night in those kinds of temperatures (those who did TCRNo5 during the Lucifer Heatwave know I'm talking about!), so mod cons are required.

Robbie Britton (currently in contention for 10th place) has left us a voice message saying his GPS computer read 47º at one point today. Water refill points and hard climbs will definitely be taking their toll on our riders, so we wish them all the best.

Tyre troubles

If you follow us on Instagram (which you should!), you'll have seen that we posted a picture of someone's quite bald tyre earlier asking you whether the rider should keep going or go to the nearest bike shop.

Well, our survey says Andrew Phillips (cap 90) should keep going and that's exactly what he's done. We're almost convinced sparks will be flying as he heads down the the final kilometre of the parcours to the finish!

Elsewhere on TPBR

https://www.instagram.com/p/CDRnkQgFD64/

Markus Zimmermann is slightly ahead of our first woman, Fanny. He's ridden a great race and the two have do-si-do'd throughout the race.

Slovakian duo Juraj Slamka and Livia Stofilova have been front and centre of the Swiss heat today and are now at the foot of CP2. Hopefully they're able to climb to the top in slightly lower temperatures.

Updates from Morten

https://www.instagram.com/p/CDP0VllJMp6/

When he's not clicking away on his camera, he's clicking over kilometres on his bike. Morten Schrøder is gracing our instagram feed with some top shelf photos. You'd be silly not to give him a follow to support him throughout the race and beyond.

Rider 97 in hospital

Get well soon, David! Here he is during better times at the top of CP2.

The award for rider with the greatest sense of humour must go to Alexander Lenz (cap 3) who has had quite a hilarious few days. He's been tagging us in his Instagram Stories and it's brought a few laughs to us through the race.

Today, he's mountain hunting and would love nothing more than to climb a bunch of Cols in the heat of a French summer's day. He's had flat tyres in the dead of night, a few minutes cooling off in Alpine lakes to combat the heat and even bought some cheap trainers for hiking up the path to Col du Sanetsch and he's now on his way to Ventoux! Give him a cheer from the comfort of your armchair today.

(He even finds time for a beer at checkpoints with fellow riders)

Dotwatcher duty

We've been tipped off by a dotwatcher keeping tabs on the midpack and have discovered an interesting trace from cap 111, Jurgita Lemesiute. The time stamp at Sanetsch says 07:45 (local) but the dot you can see that follows the cable car line says 09:54, so we're wondering what's happening here. Other riders' trackers are recording along the hiking path, so we can't see a good reason why Jurgita's wouldn't do the same. 🧐

Stefan Blum reaches CP2

Before the race began, we had a chat with Stefan (cap 70) after he sent through his bike setup, so we thought we'd share a bit more about him. TPBR is his first race and he's planning to finish in under 9D 2H 0M. His longest trip before this event was in 2008 when he rode 1800km in 12 days during the Tour de France. While on this journey he had a laid back approach to his days on the bike. "I preferred being at small hotels, taking a long breakfast and starting around 10:30 am or even 11:00," he says. He's completed the Ötztaler Radmarathon nine times, so he's certainly no stranger to the terrain. He lives near the Austrian border in the south of Germany and he's hoping his mind doesn't wander back home as his route almost passes his front door.

You can give you suppport to Stefan on his dedicated Facebook page.

Familiar faces

https://www.instagram.com/p/CDPOD-9lxVU/

Torsten Frank is a rider with a long palmares. You will have seen him during the Atlas Mountain Race and previous editions of the TCR. He's also one of the few riders who have completed (pending this race) every edition of the Three Peaks Bike Race. Tomas Zaplatilek and Marcis Martinsons are the other two.

🥈 Sofiane finishes TPBR2020 in 4D 6H 24M

His phone died and his powerbanks were empty on the last day hence the lack of updates in his final hours of racing. Someone get this man a dynamo! Anyway, an incredible ride from Sofiane and he says he's happy to finish second in this race. I mean I can think of worse things than coming second to Ulrich!

https://www.instagram.com/p/CDPk5wRIdaw/

🥉 Björn finishes TPBR2020 in 4D 9H 27M

Björn arrived just after midnight last night. Unfortunately no word on his thoughts just yet - we'll let the man sleep - but we'll update you if and when he announces he wants another showdown with his podium pals.

Crunching Ulrich's numbers

A few things to note here:

• His total stopped time was 13.5 hours
• Average speed 24.3kph
• 43,658 calories (that's equivalent to 190 mars bars)
• 27,000m elevation over just less than 2,000km

Fourth for Théo

It looks like Théo Daniel broke away from Adam Bialek at some point, though the trace is missing some points so I can't tell exactly when he managed to create the gap. At one point they were riding around 10 minutes apart but Adam much have succombed to a case of the dozies.

Dotwatcher David uncovered this video from him saying he's lost 4kg in weight so far. Easy to see how when realise how many calories rides like this require. Unfortunately there are no subtitles for our non-French dotwatchers.

Fanny summits Ventoux

Just as Björn arrived in Nice, Fanny began her descent of Ventoux. She has around 340km to go and she says she's unlikely to finish tonight, though she is determined to fight until the very end. We can't wait to see her at the finish line in Nice and we'll bring her celebrations to you right here on DotWatcher when she gets there.

More info on the climb to CP2 from Gstaad

Urs Kutschera emailed us some photos yesterday which puts the hike-a-bike path in perspective. He took his bike with him by the look of it, though he points out that the race manual did not say you have to.