Final day - Last 2 are in and we reminisce over the past 2 weeks' events 

Day 14 - All pairs are in, and solos are spilling in with a special dedication 

Day 12 - Finally a good view from CP9 and some more legs are relaxing in Bilbao 

Day 11 - Nine more medals dished out - and 3 after an incredible nighttime battle

Day 10 - The finisher party is gaining momentum and some strange goings on in the Spanish villages 

Day 9 evening - nine riders are enjoying a beer in bilbao while others are pushing on

Day 9 Morning - No sleep until Bilbao… or maybe just a little

Day 8 evening - Another rider is happy to see the puppy - and the race continues!

Day 8 morning - Bilbao is back - Congrats to our first rider to arrive in basque country!

Day 7 evening - The puppy is calling its master home

Ulrich Bartholmös

Pawel Pulawski

Justinas Leveika

Bruno Ferraro

Simon De Schutter

Yves Conen

Gert-jan Staelens

Manuel Villalobos

Fanny Bensussan

David Herranz

Wilson Oliveira

Radoslaw Rogoz

Raúl Peralta

Luis Manuel Silva

Julio Velayos

Nils G. Kamminga

Francesc Alcobet

Malte Hager

Roberto Fernández

Tózé Trindade

Billy Ehrenberg

Stephen John Butcher

Thomas Brandi

Cezary Urzyczyn

Harald Lenud-pilc

Jacobo Sánchez

Kike M.g.

Juanfran Garamendi

Ustymenko Ihor

Douglas Migden

Andre Alves

Víctor Bouman

Hippy

Raphael Grau

David Mcneill

Nuño González

Miguel Álvarez

Niall

Erik Van Der Post

Kevin Stuart

Albert Gallardo

Ana Orenz

Bart Vrancken

Fabian Wurm

Florent Mabon

Paulo Jorge

Rainer Dobrinkat

Alejandro De La Maza

Eric Cooper

Florian Thiessen

Gernot Stenz

José María Navarro

Matteo Bucciol

Media 1

Media 2

Media 3

Media 4

Richard Gate

Sam Gate

Ralph Cullen

José Ángel Díaz

Juan Diego Díaz

Eddie Kouiss

At 5.08am this morning, __Ustymenko Ihor__ reached the glimmering sights of the Guggenheim to signal his finish after 2714km around the route in __13d 8h 8m__. Spurred on by the prospect of the finish line, Usti cycled through the night, only allowing himself a few short stops along the way to make it under the 14 day mark.

__Douglas Migden__ was the final member of the pack to finish at 11.27am this morning. With less than 100km to go at 11.30pm last night he decided to rest and enjoy the final rolling hills into the city this morning, getting going again at 6.30am for the last 5 hours of his Transiberica experience. Douglas finished in a total of  __13d 14h 27m.__

__Huge congratulations to Douglas and Usti on their finish today!__

### Looking back

Transiberica 2021 was as unique as it was hot! 

The pointy end of the race was dominated by five main riders: __Ulrich Bartholmös, Piko Pulawski, Justinas Leveika, Bruno Ferraro__ and __Simon De Schutter__. 

In the first 36 hours as riders settled into their rhythm, the top 5 stayed close and the positions switching between riders. However, by this point in the race, Ulrich had already put 740km behind him, and it was the point where Ulrich really started to rocket away from the rest of the pack. He didn't stop increasing his lead, sleeping only an average of 2 hours a night, and optimising his time on the bike. His dominance did not falter throughout the race, except for 21 hours where gremlins did their worst, showing why he is the rightful first finisher of Transiberica 2021.

![ulrich Bartholmos transiberica win 2021](//images.contentful.com/6hyijb95boju/2iiVTHwqrrU1nOuV16s5Rt/6a1b0e47dc88517c1f03271fe91ffdb6/239486609_166895128857575_1757522237193051627_n.jpg)

Piko Pulawski is a seasoned rider, and organizer of Race Around Poland. His experience showed throughout the 7 days he was on the road. Piko rode one of the most consistent schedules of all the riders in the race, truly racing his own race and not being impacted by the others. His focus allowed him to stay close to Justinas, rarely lose his place behind Ulrich in the rankings, and be able to finish confidently in 2nd place. 

Justinas Leveika was a formidable opponent, but was hindered early on with a Di2 battery failure leaving him stranded before CP2. Despite his lack of gears, he miraculously only lost 1 place in the rankings during this time, so impressive was his first 40 hours. Knee pain on top of mechanicals caused him some issues which impacted his final days on the route, yet he secured a fighter’s 3rd place on arrival in Bilbao.

Bruno Ferraro was a slow burn into the top 5. For the first third of the race he was tucked up amongst the latter half of the top 10, and sometimes slipping below. As a veteran to Tranisberica (and other) events he knew how to play the long game. In the next 1000km, he started to make his mark, using the cooler night hours to eat up miles, until there was only 1000km to go. He was firmly in the rhythm by this point, and the shuffle in the rankings moved between him, Justinas and Simon De Schutter.

Simon De Schutter (race organiser of Race around Rwanda) was the pioneer of a few different route choices that added a few extra kms, but were strategically strong to save his legs from extra climbing. He also recognised that Type 2 fun is not his thing. After only 17hours, he switched to Type 1 fun with regular showers, hotels, good food and clean cycling kit. And it worked. He made his way up to the top 5 and stayed there, challenging Bruno up checkpoint climbs and until the last night when a very large screw went right through his tyre and rim, coupled with a freehub issue, he declared the fight for 4th over and settled for a very respectable fifth place. 

__Fanny Bensussan__ showed up to the race after three months of touring around Spain and France cycling her way to the start line. The analytics tell an incredible story of a rider who embraced turning the pedals over all else - on the race flow she has the straightest line of all the top 10, and the ratios confirm her commitment to movement with only 1D 8H 28M (17%) stopped including the time her bike was repaired due to a snapped gear cable resulting in her pedalling in the smallest gear to Segovia. Her focus allowed her to make steady progress from 19th place at CP1 to a finish as 1st Female and 9th solo rider overall in 8D 0H 39M. 

The Pairs race was dominated by the British father and son duo __Richard__ and __Sam Gate__. Richard (a veteran to Tranisberica as a solo rider) brought along his son who was a seasoned cyclist but a rookie to ultra-cycling events. The duo struggled with the heat and the climbs in the first couple of days, but held a 100km pairs lead from the beginning. Their goal was clearly to do the best they were capable of, and around day 3 they acclimatized to the weather and the cycle of ultra racing - nothing could stop them now. Fuelled by McDonalds and hotel sleeps, the pair convincingly took the 1st Pairs finisher title after 9D 18H 2M - 3 days faster than the next pair.

The leading 5 weren’t the only ones fighting it out. The longest duel in the race was between two belgian riders in the top 10: __Yves Conen__ and __Gert Jan Staelens__. The two riders' dots were so close together from CP4 at Albarracín onwards that we needed to fully zoom in on the map to be able to see the 2 names. The determination of the pair to not give up on their race and the chase on each other, despite a tyre mechanical for Gert that led to the reverse mullet tyre pairing, was tantalizing. In the end, Yves took 6th place and Gert 7th with only an hour between them.

### Route planning

Route planning is a deciding factor in the success, and enjoyment, of Transiberica. Two main areas on the route allowed for rider diversion, the first being the choice of hills vs less hills between CP5 and CP6, and how the riders wanted to tackle the crossing of the Picos de Europa between CP8 and CP9. 

Estimated at around 3000km in distance, the longest route of the finishers was 2960 km by __Stephen John Butcher__, and the shortest ride was Piko at 2604 km to reach all 9 checkpoints.  

### Adversity by the bucket load

No rider was left untouched by adversity in this year's edition of the Transiberica. 

Mechanicals were rife with early-on Di2 batteries failures due to heat, derailleurs breaking by the dozen, bottom brackets cracking, crank arms loosening, freehub freezes, shoes breaking around cleats, carbon frames chipping and wheel rims cracking. Not to mention the 10s of punctures the riders dealt with. 

The biggest mechanical story is clearly that of Ulrich. After destroying his rear derailleur after CP5 in the middle of nowhere he was faced with a choice: find a solution or scratch. Not an easy choice when derailleurs are in very short supply.

Ulrich beat the odds by determination, positive attitude and luck. After taxi-ing to the Merida Distributor in Guadalajara, they delivered the bad news that they didn't have any in stock. With the prospect of scratching getting closer, he decided to try one more thing before deciding and that was to get the train to Madrid. He was 1 minute late for his train to Madrid when he arrived at the station - and it was a good thing. A few minutes later the owner of the shop in Guadalajara turned up with a derailleur he had found in the shop. And that was all Ulrich needed to get his bike fixed and claim back his 1st place. Who knows what would have happened if he had made his train to Madrid...

Unfortunately, there was one very serious injury this year. __Ana Orenz__, one of the favourites for the 1st female place, hit a wild boar while descending at 65 km/h in the hills near Pamplona on the first night. A descent any rider would take at that speed. Luckily 2 riders had chosen the same route as she, and found her some time after it happened. __Nuño Gonzalez__ and __Raphael Grau__ delivered first aid and stayed with her for over 2 hours until an ambulance arrived and took her to hospital. Her injuries are life changing, and thankfully not life threatening. It will be awhile until she is back walking and on a bike, yet with her positive attitude and fighting spirit her rehabilitation doctors won't know what has hit them. As a single mother, with no sponsors, a gofundme has been set-up to support her return to normal with her daughter. If you would like to support it, please donate [here](https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-for-ana-orenz-after-a-horrific-cycling-crash "https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-for-ana-orenz-after-a-horrific-cycling-crash"). We wish her the speediest recovery possible.

Ulrich dedicated his win to Ana.

Juanfran Garamendi was suffering very badly with stomach issues and vomiting regularly leading to him passing out. After spending a night at Bilbao hospital under the order of his wife, he made it back to the road and completed the route.

Raphael Grau suffered a very bad case of food poisoning thanks to a suspect burger on day 2 making him stop every 20 minutes for an enforced break. Things got better gradually, but combined with the heat made his following days on the bike very difficult. 

### A brompton for your bike of choice
At TCR no6, Roger Seaton attempted to ride the event on a Brompton. He scratched after 1052km. Not to be deterred by history, __Thomas Brandi__ brought his brompton to the show and succeeded in completing 2614 KM and finishing in 23rd place.

Why would you bring a brompton to an ultra-cycling race?
We caught up with Thomas (a British Cycling level 2 coach) after his finish and the answer was very simple - it is the bike he has the most fun on and the one he has been using the most.

However it was not all roses and unicorns. Brompton bikes are not really made for long distance travel and vibrations were an issue. Thomas had anticipated this, securing bolts with some loctite before leaving the UK, but things inevitably worked their way lose a few times. 

Small wheel size also meant that he felt every bump on the many gravel roads and still doesn't have the feeling in 4 of his fingers a few days after finishing.

His biggest problem came when he chose to take the alternative route down from CP2 which started as a difficult gravel path and turned into a hard mountain bike downhill at the end. Despite this, he cycled down the route but hit a large boulder at the end and put a hole in his sidewall, which led to daily punctures. He quickly ran out of puncture repair supplies and tubes, and still had a hairline hole that he couldn’t fix but kept going. It became so bad after CP9 that he had to stop every hour to pump up the tyre to make it to the finish.

To add to this, his GPS popped off his bike in the desert, and a van following behind ran over it putting it out of service definitively. He was left with his phone in his pocket to navigate.

Punctures and navigation not being enough adversity, he also had a collision with a wild animal. As he was descending at 50 km/h, a hare sprinted in front of him from the side of the road and then turned around and ran back, causing him to sharply swerve off to the side of the road and land in the boulder-filled ditch. Hitting his head badly with lots of bleeding, he managed to get down the hill to the first house where the owner drove him straight to the hospital for 4 stitches to close up the wound. He was urged not to ride for 48 hours (words that fall on deaf ultra-cyclists ears), and so he returned to his last point and started cycling again only to have a very high fever. He made the decision to head towards the hospital and sleep nearby in case it got worse. Happily, when he woke the next morning he was feeling good enough to keep going.

Yet through all this he never thought about quitting. His motto was ‘Always forward, nothing is impossible’

This was his first ultra-cycling event, and he promises to be back with his brompton (after a couple of modifications) for some more. 

![Thomas Brandi Brompton transiberica 2021](//images.contentful.com/6hyijb95boju/2SPnGvwMvI4H7KRP8sXSdw/886044f68399d0383b6305ddac675b4d/Brompton_.jpg)

### The terrain
The diversity of terrain across the 9 checkpoints this year was a treat for the riders, taking them to glacial lakes, african desert landscape and wind blasted open climbs. 

The most loved checkpoint and area was the final one on the list, especially including the greater Picos de Europa area. CP2 came in a close second in rider love, and __Hippy__ declared the route would be great to do another time when not racing. 

This year CP7 Bragança in Portugal was not a hit with the riders, getting a definite 1-star review from __Malte Hager__.

However the non-compulsory climb up Puerto Vizcodillo taken by many riders motivated them to unanimously declare it as the most boring climb many of them had ever done. A word of warning if you are ever nearby.

### The humans behind each ride

It is not just the bikes or the route, but the people behind the journey. To name but a few: 

Ulrich showed us what it means to keep going when things get tough and that nothing is ever out of reach.

The resilience of Ana Orenz post crash.

The first-timers who braved 3000km and 30,000+m climbing in Iberia in August as their first ultra-cycling race: Kike M.G. Harald Lenaud-Pilc, Thomas Brandi, David Mcneill and others…

Juanfran Garamendi, who despite passing out from vomiting was not going to be defeated this year, and finished to honor his father.

And not forgetting the race organisers, who shared their passion for their country, ultra-cycling and the community. Working tirelessly to deliver a beautiful and challenging route despite Covid looming large over the race calendar. 

Getting to the start line is a win for each rider - anything after that is gravy. __Congratulations to all 56 riders that started in Bilbao 2 weeks ago!__

A big thanks to the Transiberica Ultracycling team and the riders from around the world who came together in the breathtakingly beautiful Iberian landscape, came face to face with who they are, and put on such a fantastic race and dot-watching show! 

Transiberica 2022 can not come soon enough!

Friday feelings abound for five more transibercanos who are enjoying the basque capital after a tremendous tour around 9 checkpoints.

With nearly 2 weeks out on the road, __José__ and __Juan Diaz__ woke up and were moving at 7am cet on their 2nd Friday in the race, keen to reach Bilbao and claim their medals as second finishing pair. Eastwards motion was priority with only a quick stop in Castro-Urdiales before rolling through the last few kilometers to the end. José arrived at 3.17pm and Juan’s tracker pinged its final signal 3 minutes later to stop at  __12d 18h 17m__ finish time for the pair.

__Jacobo Sanchez__ was the keenest of the solo bunch to get to Bilbao and only stopped for about 1.5 hours during the night after reaching CP9 at 11.22pm local time last night. A slog through the night, a couple of coffee stops before 9am, and then a long push to the end. It all paid off as he arrived in Bilbao at 7.07pm after __12d 22h 7m.__

__Kike M.G.__ decided that he wanted to savour his last night out on the road, and took a very leisurely start at 9am. Once moving though, he only rewarded himself with 2 short stops through the day, and flew along the northern coast to reach the puppy at 7.42pm after __12d 22h 42m__ routing his way around the northern Iberian peninsula.

__Juanfran Garamendi__ had some very bad stomach issues yesterday that forced him to stop and take a visit to the hospital. The tracker movement we saw was the caring support of his wife who came and got him to take him to get some treatment. Having entered Tranisbercia last year, he unfortunately finished after the cutoff. This year he is determined for that not to be the case. 

Today he returned to Medio Cudeyoto to complete the remaining 80km and claim his finish. As we are typing he has just reached the Puppy in Bilbao, and with it his opportunity to dedicate the ride to his deceased father who was a keen cyclist. 

![juanfran garamendi](//images.contentful.com/6hyijb95boju/6OaudVGs1ZKxdedmNLTMEL/6b85de5bcb61cd1b411dceadac94e275/juanfran.jpg)

__Congratulations to all the riders celebrating their finish tonight in Bilbao!__

Only two riders remain out on the course tonight, both reaching the tops of CP9 during daylight. __Ustymenko Ihor__ scored the last checkpoint off his list at 9.24am, and __Douglas Migden__ was a few heavy pedal strokes behind him at 9.40am. They were both lucky enough to be served up a beautiful view from the top as they claimed the title of the last riders to reach CP9.

Route choices differed as the two reached the bottom of the descent, with Douglas taking the main road east through Benia de Onis which allowed him to jump ahead for a while and pass the lanterne rouge to Usti, who had headed directly for coast following in the trails of Ralph Cullen.

With only 80km to go, and both final riders being very experienced Ultra-cyclists, we could see the last two medals being claimed during the night. 

### Daily Scratch
Another day with zero scratches as all remaining riders battle through adversity to taste the finish line that is so close. #scratchcount remains at 16.

Tomorrow is the last official day of the evet, and the two riders are in good standing to arrive before the clock reaches 14 days of travel time. Saturday also signals our last day of reporting and will feature a retrospective with some highlights from the race, data dives, adn a couple of exclusives from behind the scenes with the riders. See you back here tomorrow to celebrate 2 weeks of incredible dotwatching!

4.13am this morning the 22nd place finisher spot was taken by __Stephen John Butcher__ after __11d 7h 13m__. Moving through the night with only a short rest at the border between Cantabria and the Basque Country, Stephen was fully embracing the adventure racing rhythm he had perfected as the days went by. 

He was not alone in the last hours of his journey, racing in against __Thomas Brandi__ who had taken a rest earlier in the night and was chasing him down along the coast. Only nine minutes later, in the dark hours of the early morning, the Puppy welcomed Thomas in as the 23rd solo finisher, and 1st finisher on a folding bike after __11d 7h 22m__.

While Thomas and Stephen were racing to the finish in the night hours, the other riders were using the darkness to rest. At 5am this morning, __Ralph Cullen__ woke up at his accommodation with views of the surrounding hills. After tucking into some tomatoes, blueberries and bananas for breakfast at his bivvy spot (we assume the can of Mahou beer was from the night before). His reactivated cycling legs propelled him across the northern coast, before finally arriving in Bilbao ready to eat his way around the city after __11d 18h 22m__ on the road.

![ralph cullen bivvy](//images.contentful.com/6hyijb95boju/KyIXzEFYRrp2K3F8MAgfS/7b20a8779fcbaa754f4bf9c2db76f14a/240697686_1441267219593816_3138846755857707768_n.jpg)

Ralph met up with __Cezary Urzyczyn__ who started his last day at about the same time but took a different route. The two riders were very close throughout the day, each taking some small stops for a morning coffee, but a couple of extended stops close to the basque country border around lunch time, meant that Cezary’s entrance to Bilbao was 34 minutes after Ralph at 3.56pm today. Cezary has the title of 24th solo finisher in a time of __11d 18h 56m.__

One more rider has snuck in under the 12 day mark, arriving at 6.58pm CET __Harald Lenud-Pilc__ was very happy to stop cycling and clutch the finisher medal he had earnt during his __11d 21h 58m__ on the road.

Most finishers can now be found either giving out beers to new arrivals, or happily swigging away on a cold one in close proximity to the Guggenheim. 

__Congratulations to today’s finishers after an incredible journey around Iberia!__

Further along the coast, the second pair __José__ and __Juan Diaz__ (veterans of previous Tranisberica and Badlands events) are currently stopped in Comillas enjoying the seaside vibe after clearing checkpoint 9 this morning. We will be watching to see if they chose to pedal through the night or decided to take in the coast with some sunlight. 

There is no rest for the wicked, or ultra-cyclists who are taking on the last climb. __Jacob Sánchez__ is fighting gravity up the climb to CP9 in the dark. He must have heard the view isn't great from the top.

![jacob sanchez](//images.contentful.com/6hyijb95boju/6iQnfehZBEaXvM1VltQB4B/eba95ccac2eebfd148d448e554628015/Photo_from_Wendy__4_.jpg)

__Kike M.G.__ beat him to the top at 8.26pm local time, but at least it might mean he won’t be alone for another night.

__Ustymenko Ihor__ and __Douglas Migden__ are also bearing down on the final big climb of the route, after checking in at CP8 during the night and taking a well earned nap before sunrise.

### You can take a rider out of the Transiberica...

Some of the riders who have now made their way back home after having to scratch or thanks to an early finish are having some seperaton anxiety. Photo evidence has been submitted of both Bruno Ferraro and André Alves visiting gas stations to keep the memories alive. 

![bruno gas station](//images.contentful.com/6hyijb95boju/76KSGTKLBEMR5uRLxuP09t/0c94beec9ca6169c0a8259bcb53f8200/Bruno_gas_station_.jpg)
![andre gas station](//images.contentful.com/6hyijb95boju/4IgaWEWkRuVv0RwE5tQYZL/37b783e875bcbd18766afca378cc8ecb/Andre_gas_station_.jpg)

### The Daily Scratch
There are no new official scratches today, however some strange dot inactivity from __Juanfran Garamendi__ today looks like there was something unfotunate happening. He stopped around 11pm CET last night in Medio Cudeyo, and did not move again until 3pm today, and his dot then made an exceptionally fast journey to Bilbao. He had been suffering from some bad knee pain, and it may be that he took a train this afternoon to return to Bilbao. 

Without confirmation we assume the #scratchcount remains at 16.

Tomorrow is the penultimate day of Transiberica 2021, and the remaining handful of riders powering through are getting closer to the end by the minute. We’ll check in tomorrow to see who is spending their last night out on the route, and who wants to see Bilbao on a Friday night.

Day 13 - More night time racing and the pack is edging closer

Wednesday has been another big day of progress in the western half of the peninsula and two more riders have made it to the relaxing gaze of the Puppy under the eleven day mark.

Tuesday night was all about getting to the end for __Tozé Trinidade__. We left him peddling east when we published last night, with the hope of some pizza and beer on arrival. He chose to take the inland route south of Santander, and then rejoin the coast at Colindres to keep moving and head straight for the Guggenheim. His determination and stamina proved to be all he needed, and he reached the finish line at  2:50am with a finishing time of __10d 5h 50m__. We don’t know if there was a slice of pizza waiting for him with his medal.

__Billy Ehrenberg__ reached the summit of CP9 at 8.21pm last night and sped back down the hill to curl up under his covers and get a good night's rest ready for his last day. At a very comfortable 7am, Billy was moving again with one objective: to get to Bilbao. A long day over the inland climbs of Cantabria with a stop for lunch in Torrelavega, and a jaunt along the coast of the Basque country, and Billy made it to Bilbao in __10d 22h 35m__ at 7:35pm local time tonight.

__Congratulations to today's triumphant riders!__

With still a lot of riders kicking about Bilbao, the front of the Guggenheim is starting to look like a bikepacking parking lot, with a healthy dose of ice-cream, pizza and Estrella Galicia thrown into the mix. 

Three more riders are edging closer to the ‘don’t-ask-me-about-my-saddlle-sores’ convention in Bilbao, with 100km still to go. __Stephen John Butcher__ took an early rest last night before reaching CP9, which allowed him to move fast today and catch-up with __Juanfran Garamendi__ who also bedded down in the late hours taking the chance to rest weary legs. The third cyclist in the pack travelling east is __Thomas Brandi__ who chose to keep his smaller wheels rolling through the night with limited breaks. Today he ascended the mountain road to CP9, checking in with his Brompton at 12.11pm before swiftly turning around and continuing on towards the finish line.

All three are still moving, and look to be following Tozé’s example to make it to the end before sleeping.

__Ralph Cullen__ (of the now disbanded dutch pair) was the other rider making use of the night hours to pedal on, reaching CP9 at 3.51pm CET today. He has followed the calling of the coast, and joined the seaside route much earlier than other riders, where we find him now close to Llanes. 

__Harald Lenud-Pilc__ reached the last checkpoint at 6.46pm and was one of the few riders to actually get to enjoy the spectacular view on the way up with an atmospheric cloud inversion, instead of the cloud invasion the other riders received. He is now a stonesthrow behind Ralph heading for the coast.

![CP9 view harald](//images.contentful.com/6hyijb95boju/1reikmYYDjA1AVkxx3nWk5/78303a3815e3512a7754e119e9a37274/1629921474646.jpg)

__Cezary Urzyczyn__ was the last cyclist welcomed to the top at Lagos de Covadonga tonight and is also moving in the Bilbao direction along the inland route. With about 220km still to cover, it is not sure if he will choose an all nighter to reach the finish for tomorrow morning.

The second pair __José__ and __Juan Diaz__ are about to start the 35km climb to get their last stamp. Having had a consistent race, we hope the final stretch will be uneventful and we can celebrate the 2nd pair to arrive tomorrow some time.

__Kike M.G.__ is staying on brand with the last few nights and is between checkpoints, alone. He is making his way through the plains currently south of Léon. Jacob Sanchez is the other rider to have collected his CP8 stamp, but decided to head towards Oviedo.

__Douglas Migden__ is still the faithful lanterne rouge, and is on the final stages of the climb up El Morredero with __Ustymenko Ihor__ just in front. Ustymenko has been making slower progress than he had hoped, due to some late starts in the morning, and today involved some steep gradients that are faster to push than to pedal. With CP8 in their sights, a downhill should brighten their spirits as they pass into the 12th night of the event.

Luckily all the riders have now passed the Puerto de Vizcodillo which received a scathing review from __Nils G. Kamminga__:

![nils review puerto de vizcodillio](//images.contentful.com/6hyijb95boju/6lmKuVNbkMh4rFxgcB559Q/46cd02573e2f4606ee1c1fb03050a4d4/nils.jpg)

### The Daily Scratch

Today is the second day in a row where the number of new scratchees is a joyful zero, keeping the __#scratchcount__ at 16 as of publishing. 

The finisher medals are gradually finding all their owners, with a few more ready to be handed out tomorrow. With all riders back into Spain and (almost) only the final checkpoint to go, the finisher count is getting closer and closer to closing. We will be back tomorrow to see how the remaining riders endured their 12th sleep on the trail.

*Header photo from Tozé Trinidade*

Celebrations were plentiful today as more battered wheels and bruised riders rolled into Bilbao to finally unclip and collect their medal. 

__Nils G. Kamminga__ arrived at 9.01am to a sunny Puppy diligently waiting to greet him, as he was too efficient moving with limited stops through the night and no one else was there. After a triumphant __9d 12h 1m__, Nils claims the 16th finisher place.

![nils lonesome bike](//images.contentful.com/6hyijb95boju/5Qk0kqNatdqP6m8m8R04ej/0acc4a287e6666080321d64481d00361/Nils_bike_finish.jpg)

__Francsc Albocet__ was luckier when he arrived and stopped moving his tired legs in font of the giant dog, Simon De Schutter was waiting for him to celebrate his impressive completion time of __9d 16h 34m__.

At 3.54pm CET, __Malte Hager__’s rubber came to a halt on the stone slabs in front of the Guggenheim, with Simon De Schutter playing host extremely well to greet him with a cold beer. Malte logged a total time of  __9d 17h 54m__, always on the hunt after Francesc and only finishing 1h 20m behind him

The final ultra-cyclist to reach the end today is __Roberto Fernandez__, who had a welcoming party ready for his arrival and to take the last photo he needs to officially claim a finishing time of __9D 23H 37m__, slipping in just under the 10 day mark.

![roberto fernandez](//images.contentful.com/6hyijb95boju/5gmbdn3JbpQwu04uArQ4o0/014d457f505c7532817d3e84f77b4ed8/roberto.jpg)

Solo riders were not the only ones that can’t believe their Transiberica experience is over.  The leading pair __Sam__ and __Richard Gate__ posed in front of the puppy to celebrate their first placed pairs title and the completion of the route in __9d 18h 2m__ at 3.02pm today. 

![richard and sam gate finish](//images.contentful.com/6hyijb95boju/1R5JPGfGpLWdV1liGZnh8w/8b447dca2a3d74d03ebe13b0ebaadd3a/pairs_winnera.jpg)

### The race to the finish we all slept through

During the night however, oblivious to us all, the closest race to the finish so far in Transiberica 2021 happened after the sun had set, and it all started around CP9.

After __Luis Manuel Silva__ and __Julio Velayos__ reached the summit of CP9, it appears that Luis is the only rider that took a different path back down from Lagos de Covadonga than the one he took to go up. Route planning showed him a small stretch of gravel and footpath that would link him to another road that then descends on the east face of Corona EL Cantu, which he adventurously conquered. This allowed him to return to the main road at Benia de Onís saving him approximately 20km, but not really gain much lead as Julio Velayos rejoined him on the road heading east having redescended the way he went up.

Meanwhile, __Raúl Peralta__ was riding like a man on a mission and rocketed up the climb to CP9 and descended back down at a furious speed - but still with a gap to Luis and Julio. This is where each rider went all-in to get to the finish first.

Luis took a route inland from the coast, and Julio clung to the seaside in the early evening. Raúl was in hunt mode and followed the same route as Julio, rapidly gaining on him. By 10pm he was not much more than 30km behind Julio and Luis, with about 120km to go. At Medio Cudeyo the two in front split again: this time Julio favoured the southerly inland route into Bilbao after being drained by the headwinds along the coast, and Luis took the more coastal route - along with Raúl who was now mere kilometers behind. 

Raúl pulled on everything he had left in the tank despite no sleep since 7.30am Monday and finally caught Luis at 1am as they were approaching the border to the Basque country. Julio was making good progress on the more direct inland route and almost the same distance away from the finish line as the two on the coast. 

Raúl was not leaving anything to chance, and powered down like a madman out of hell, leaving Luis in his tracks on the final push to Bilbao, and not showing any mercy to Julio who was solely focused on arriving in Bilbao. 

In an unbelievable finish, Raúl arrived at the Guggenheim museum at 2.33am today, joined by Luis at 3.09am and incredibly only 3 minutes later Julio was at the Puppy finishing at 3.12am. 
Congratulations to the 3 finishers who can claim the following total ride times:

__Raúl Peralta - 9d 5h 33m__; 
__Luis Manuel Silva* - 9d 6h 9m__; 
__Julio Velayos - 9d 6h 12m__

*Luis is not showing as reached controlled points  6, 7, 8 and 9. The organisers are checking, however have preliminarily confirmed it seems to be just tracker issues.

### The smell of finisher party pizza at the puppy is a strong motivator
14 riders are continuing their ride to the end with everyone north of CP6. The Portuguese rider __Tozé Trinidade__ is closing in on the Bilbao and cold beer, with approximately 75km to go. He may find the finishers still at the puppy with some pizza left if he can keep pushing over the final coastal hills.

__Billy Ehrenberg__ was the last to reach the misty tops of CP9 at 8.21pm local time, and has now headed back down to keep moving east and roll over the final 250km to Bilbao. There will be no contention of Billy's arrival at CP9 as his check-in was validated by many independent locals:

![goats cp9](//images.contentful.com/6hyijb95boju/2180WSDqPTP0IHK4ivkIRW/43cafba8c660df2325507357586d74e6/Photo_from_Wendy__3_.jpg)

A group of 10 riders are spread between CP8 and CP9, split between the 2 different routes well worn by their predecessors, choosing whether to head for Oviedo or across the plains via Léon.

__Kike M.G.__ is alone in no mans land between checkpoints 7 and 8 (we hope there are no wolves tonight), __Jacob Sanchez__ has just reached CP7, and __Ustymenko Ihor__ and __Douglas Migden__ are bringing up the rear now over the border into portugal.

### The daily scratch
We have no new scrathes to report (woohoo!), keeping the #scratchcount to 16.

The day is not over, and medals await the remaining riders. With 4 more days before the end of the offical race, all remaining riders are on target to get to the end in time. There will be undoubtedly more excitement tomorrow as the riders make it through humpday on the road to Bilbao.

*Header photo Roberto Ferandez*

Bilbao is now home to 3 more riders who completed the journey after midnight. __David Herranz__ greeted the puppy at 12.03am today, taking the last top 10 spot after __8d 3h 3m__ of riding.

__Wilson Oliveira__ was next to Bilbao, choosing to arrive with the Monday morning commute at 07:08am local time and claim a finishing time of __8d 10h 8m__. Happily now recovering from his incredible journey around the north of Iberia, his next job is to find __André Alves__ who scratched a few days ago, and give him a lift back to Lisbon.

The day went past with the finished riders enjoying the sights of Bilbao, and eating many ice-creams (and broccoli for __Fanny Bensussan__), before the last rider today turned up for his medal. __Radoslaw Rogoz__ arrived to greet the puppy at 6:20pm CET keeping his finisher time under 9 days at __8d 21h 20m__.

__Felicidades to the new finishers today!__

__Julio Velayos__ has been making good time today, reaching CP9 just after midday and continuing on at full force to Bilbao through the afternoon. Meanwhile __Raúl Peralta__ has had an eventful 24 horus after tyre shopping in a shoe shop.

It started all with a cosy night in another welcoming foyer of a bank, and then on his way today (using my limited ability to understand Spanish recorded while riding) he seems to have experienced time travel back to 2018 with some villagers. Or something. Maybe this has contributed to his epic effort to close the gap on Julio as he is now only about 20km behind him tracking east for Bilbao, after a four hour gap at CP9.

CP9 is displaying its full mountain-side today for the 3 more riders. __Francesc Alcobet__ stopped in for a quick chat with some of the cows, but only after consuming a sizable cordon bleu. Let's hope he didn't tell the cows about that whilst on the top.

![francesc cordon bleu](//images.contentful.com/6hyijb95boju/2ncTRr3z9xuQJbiWljBNnx/1a2e4b694236f64930f7f5f4586ee9bd/240585368_357940535885327_2926105411646796607_n.jpg)

__Nils G. Kamminga__ has been ploughing through the day and jumped a few places to be the next visitor to CP9 at 7.46pm. 

25 minutes later, __Malte Hager__ reached the top of CP9 waiting for the beautiful views but the mist that had shrouded the mountain all day was still clinging on. To add to it, the bar was also closed by the time he got there. He did get to see the full moon and venus 8 hours earlier when he cleared CP8 at midnight, so not all was lost.

__Roberto Fernadez__ is now making his way up the climb to the last checkpoint. After publishing last night, we did receive his checkpoint photo around midnight, to which __Carlos Mazón__ (the race organiser) replied ‘watch out for the wolves’. I think Carlos conveniently left the wolf detail out of the rider briefing…

Travelling east post CP9 mist and cows, is our leading pair __Sam__ and __Richard Gate__. They are currently stopped in Las Arenas, potentially for the night. With the finish line coming in focus more with each kilometer, we can expect a simultaneous early start and a McDonalds in Bilbao to receive an order at sunrise for an afternoon pick up.

__Tozé Trindade__ has cleared the plains through Castilla y Léon that __Billy Ehrenberg__ is now starting, both heading for their final stamp after a lot of climbs in the Picos de Europa mountain range.

Many of the remaining riders are grouped between CP7 and CP8 including the 2nd placed pair __José__ and __Juan Diaz__ who have been quietly making their way around the incredible Iberian peninsula, along with __Thomas Brandi__ who is still on his folding bicycle.

__Jacob Sanchez__ and __Kike M.G.__ are all making their way to Portugal, while __Ralph Cullen__ along with __Harald Lenud-Pilc__ are slightly further ahead and ready to take on the climb up to Bragança. Now into the last quarter of the race, Harald decided to take a moment and enjoy a beer (or four) along with some cured meats to keep him moving.

![harald 4 beers](//images.contentful.com/6hyijb95boju/46xwZKrfjd6hPjoVdknFh6/9e4d9a194b93dd47a32fa03e651cbed9/240496975_360469475721525_4076113447594206816_n.jpg)

__Douglas Migden__, the lanterne rouge, reached CP5 at 9.53am this morning. He progressed along the centre of Spain today and caught up with __Ustymenko Ihor__ nearing the start of the CP6 parcours.

### The daily scratch

Day 10 on the Transiberica route is the day we say bon voyage to __Raphael Grau__ who scratched today due to time constraints to get back home. Raphael suffered from a particularly bad dose of food poisoning, and was the first rider to find Ana Orenz who suffered a terrible crash on the first night of the race, delivering first aid while they waited for the ambulance. Infinite gratitude goes out to him from Ana's family and the community, and we wish him a safe passage home after enjoying a few beers with some riders in Bilbao. 

![Raffa bilbao](//images.contentful.com/6hyijb95boju/56pMhQH42AsLFgeixdyZ63/08c259117b931cc329365b206737c17a/240420842_1042527306572765_3784410445118070842_n.jpg)

The __#scratchcount__ is now 16.

With 12 riders relaxing post finish and 16 scratched, only 28 remain on route to finish before Saturday. A handful of riders are due to come into the finish starting in the early hours right through to the end of the day. On arrival they will be able to join the multi-day rider-organised finisher party in Bilbao. 

Back tomorrow with more stories of rider tales from the road.

*Header photo of Ralph Cullen and his bivvy site kit explosion *

The tourists crowding around the Guggenheim in in Bilbao were oblivious to the incredible achievement that 5 more cyclists can claim along with their shiny Tranisberica medal.

A heartfelt congratulations goes out to the following riders:

5th place finisher - __Simon De Schutter__ and his expert repair skills that successfully got him through the final kilometers to arrive back in Bilbao after __7D 15H 57M__.

6th place finisher - __Yves Conen__ who had been relentless in the battle with his belgian colleague.  Arriving at the puppy at 3.41pm CET, he had not separated from his bicycle for nealy 7 hours. A colossal effort that gained him a finishing time of __7 d 18 h 42 m__

7th place finisher - __Gert Jan Staelens__ was a worthy component for Yves, overcoming adversity that only a race like the Tranisberica can deliver, to come into Bilbao after an incredible __7 d 19 h 43 m__. A true competitor, from 6.32am onwards he only stopped pedaling for 10 minutes today until he came to a stop at 4.43pm. He is currently the rider with the longest continuous movement on the final stretch into Bilbao.

8th place finisher - __Manuel Villalobos__ was selfie-ready in front of the puppy at 8.52pm tonight, and also being the last rider to collect an official race finish time just under eight days at __7 d 23 h 52 m__

9th place finisher - __Fanny Bensussan__ has claimed her worthy ninth place and was also the 3rd fastest from CP9 to the finish completing the route in just over 13 hours (Ulrich 1st and Piko 2nd fastest) arriving at 9.21pm tonight. Her total race time is __8d 0h 39m__. And it looks like she won the bet with Sofiane being 14 hours faster - we look forward to hearing what she gets as the winner.

The last spot in the top 10 is still unclaimed, however __David Herranz__ is making good progress towards Bilbao in the dark with approximately 20km to go before he can place his gloved hands around his metal square and turn off the garmin.

Following on behind, __Wilson Oliveira__ has had a good day. Having reached CP9 with one of the most beautiful views in Asturias, he did have time to stop and take a picture that we are sure the Asturias Tourism board will be buying the rights for as soon as he has finished:

![view CP9 transibierica](//images.contentful.com/6hyijb95boju/3slCpXRiUfTjZqlEwh3vJ9/c73bb4989b2732a53ec635ea14084f5d/malte.jpg)

He is now well on his way to Bilbao, just about to pass Santander. A night time finish could be on the cards for him.

__Radoslaw Rogoz__ who has been close to Wilson through many of the last days of the race, slipped behind reaching CP9 at 8.04pm tonight and has since descended and is just starting the course eastwards to Bilbao.

CP8 El Morredero, has welcomed 7 Transibericanos amongst the tourist throng throughout the course of the day. First up was __Julio Velayos__ at 3.25pm who is now cruising over the plains north of Léon towards the beautiful mountain chains that are home to the final checkpoint. 

Next up was __Francesc Albocet__ to arrive at the top at 4.19pm, after quite a struggle. In an attempt to see as much of the mountain as possible, he chose an unpaved route down, and his tyre paid the price. His tracker synced 1 hour ago in Astorga that we can only assume is home for the night until bike shops open tomorrow, and he can continue on his way to CP9.

![francesc route](//images.contentful.com/6hyijb95boju/6WMGkjgwDhXQUqPKJpqdZV/c6224db4f1ce570c9fe20513d553725f/239997491_4188306747883167_6656782694681290482_n.jpg)

__Raúl Peralta__ reached the top at 18.21 today, but not without drama. After 2,250km a hole developed in his tyre which sent him on a treasure hunt to get a new one - on a Sunday. Phone calls were made, questions asked, and he was sent to a shoe shop that sells bikes!? Good news is, the virtual ultra-cycling community sent good vibes and he is the proud owner of a new tyre, and rolling forward towards CP9.

El Morredero was then the target of the leading pair __Richard__ and __Sam Gate__ who reached the top at 7.22pm, but not until they uncovered a new world fact: according to their riding today the longest straight road is not in Australia but half way up the Puerto de Vizcodillo. There was also caution shared: in the event of a small tailwind when travelling here, do not let any of your own tail wind escape for risk of suffocation. Sam is a Dentist so we can only assume this was scientifically proven.

__Nils G. Kamminga__ was next to get his 8th stamp at 8.36pm CET, and is currently near the leading pair travelling to Luyego de Somoza.

The last caller to CP8 tonight was __Roberto Fernadez__ at 9.52pm. Diligent in his photo sharing to prove checkpoint completion, he has yet to send in his photo for CP8. Maybe the dark skies made it not really worth it, or he will share once he has made his way a bit further along the route to Oviedo, being the only rider of this group to take this route.

__Malte Hager__ is closing in on CP8 and looks to be aiming for a sign-off before bedding down tonight. He has been using his time wisely while completing the Tranisberica route. Yesterday’s tourist review of the castle Bragança at CP7 was conclusive: 

![malte tourist review](//images.contentful.com/6hyijb95boju/7AtdnhIljX3sVJpAHbQLGx/c035d334ea7e37c251040b970ca88c92/240122161_2600124736800788_6723426203333711365_n.jpg)

__Tozé Trinidade__ made it up to Bragança at 6.16pm tonight and has kept going but is now a lone rider midway between CP7 and CP8, at the Puebla de Sanabria. __Billy Ehrenberg__ is the only rider close to CP7 tonight. His tracker shows he is still moving so he may be considering a nighttime climb after ready Malte’s review to not waste daylight on the castle.

The other riders are strung out between CP5 and CP6. __Ustymenko Ihor__ is in breathing distance of the CP5 being the penultimate rider to reach the midway point. __Douglas Migden__ is the lantern rouge of the race and is stopped a little further down the parcours with one final 1,700m climb to face before checking off CP5. 

__Juanfran Garamendi__ had a bottom bracket sever mechanical earlier on in the race, and it seems his own mechanics also had a bit of a breakdown. Some taping up and he was ready to go again and is in 23rd place heading towards CP7.

![jfgaramandi knee tape](//images.contentful.com/6hyijb95boju/3Hmpg23hnAy5m8huAWVVAw/626531b82f9254a3aa0ea4ef49908eeb/1629667758683.jpg)

__Thomas Brandi__ who is conquering the route on a folding bicycle, has so far been relatively free of the host of mechanical issues plaguing the other riders. However the folding bicycle is not immune to all mechanical issues and he has been experiencing quite a few punctures and has ran out of tubes. With 16inch tyres, it might not be so easy to come across some spares as he continues, yet we find him in 25th place and over 1,800km into the race still moving forward.

### Daily Scratch

__Hippy__ is now on the train after officially scratching this morning. 

We also say goodbye to __Eric Van Der Post__ who is training his way away from the Transiberica despite becoming the pro at puncture repair en route (header image from him in tribute to his mastery). He shared a sample of the host of issues that happened in close succession: 

*blow out your back light in the first serious descent, revert to battery powered (which came in handy when repairing a flat along the highway at night), have some of your routes wiped from your GPS device and no possibility to get them back, revert to Mobile device trackstetting, have Google taking a sewer for a railway underpass and have your backlight ruin your powerbank, revert to Maps, loose hours and hours through all that but keep your cool*

We wish them both a comfortable train ride to their next destination and to see them competing  again soon on their bikes. The #scratchcount is now at 15.

Tomorrow’s sunrise brings with it the second Monday the remaining cyclists will live as they push through the north of Iberia instead of sitting at a computer (or fixing someone’s smile). The sleep, cycle, eat, cycle, flow is well worn, and we will no doubt see some more riders flow into the finish as the day progresses. We will be back tomorrow evening with a once daily recap and celebrate the next wave of finishers.

Sunday morning and we awakened to 2 more Transibericanos back in Bilbao with their butt no longer attached to their saddle.

The Lithuainian rider, __Justinas Leveika__ was the first to make it to Bilbao at 5.41am CET after a long hard night pushing through with no sleep. After 7D 8H 41m he completed the figure-of-8 loop around the north of the Iberian peninsula, secured his 3rd place finish, and reached his 7 day goal. A job well done!

__Bruno Ferraro__ was in fighting spirit to reach Bilbao through the night and the early morning. At 9.16am local time, after a power nap in the early hours, the puppy was waiting for Bruno to confirm his fourth place finish of the Transiberica 2021 edition in 7D 12H 16M.

![bruno finish tranibserica](//images.contentful.com/6hyijb95boju/74IdzWqeVxUCgQjl5g9GOc/b7168367ab8ccb84ca7401f3cd9bb693/240436212_260261035932500_7080183600817785080_n.jpg)

Congratulations to both Justinas and Bruno for a great ride, battling against the elements and the challenges they lived through, and giving us something to watch for a week!

The Asturian and Basque coast is the place to be for many of our riders, and they have the will of the wind gods on their side today. Although no tailwind to help things fly by (that would be too easy) they have a relatively calm weather day predicted. 

After a long break to refuel, fix his bike, and rest, __Simon De Schutter__ got an early start free rolling again at 4am to make his way to Bilbao. The significant hole in his tyre appears to be holding as he pedals through the green wonderland of the coast, which we hope will hold the final 50km. 

He must have been sensing the arrival of __Yves Conen__ (6th placed rider) and __Gert Jans Staelen__ (7th placed rider) when he set off as the Belgian duo had chosen to experience the night view of CP9 with limited stopping on a Saturday night.

Yves was first to reach the top at 1.10am CET, but Gert (with his new party-up front wheel combo) was only 19 minutes behind. They both descended quickly back down the route they travelled up, and headed east until a power nap was on the menu. Yves bedded down for just over an hour until 6.15am. Gert took a little extra time to receiver after an emotional rollercoaster of a day with a luxurious 90 min sleep until getting going again. 

We find them now less than 100km from the finish line, with Yves holding a marginal lead. The race will not be over for these 2 until they are standing in front of the giant flower-covered dog. We will be watching how this plays out over our Sunday lunch.

In eighth place, __Manuel Villalobos__ used the dark hours to get to the base of CP9. Having taken the most direct route, and therefore most hilly, he recovered for 3 hours until 3.30am, and made it to the top of the cow lined climb to watch the sunrise at 6am. Now gunning for Bilbao, he hasn't stopped and is enjoying the coastal views as we type.

__Fanny Bensussan__ was next to the top, but with reduced sleep. Only taking one hour during the night she battled through to clock-in at 8.22am. Relentless in her forward motion she hasn't stopped yet and is holding 9th place on the way into the iconic finish.

Currently claiming the last top 10 space at 9.34am this morning, CP9 saw __David Herranz__ (hopefully without his squeaky brakes) after a few shorter breaks through the night until 7am CET this morning when he stopped for approx 2 hours on the climb. Having logged the final checkpoint he is now heading east as a member of the top 10 Transiberica caravan.

__Wilson Oliveria__ and __Radoslaw Rogoz__ have been battling over the 11th and 12th spots for a couple of days. After CP8 yesterday they split to take a different route towards their final check-in, Wilson headed through the plans and bedded down at the base of the mountains for a couple of hours last night while Radoslaw took the Oviedo route slightly behind him. He also opted for some night time rest in the early hours. After 7 days of intense racing, legs will be running empty and watching how the route choice for each rider will play out is going to make for a fun afternoon.

Portugal was a Saturday night destination, with CP7 Bragança seeing __Julio Valayos__ reach the city at 9.39pm, followed by __Raúl Peralta__ an hour later at 10.36pm CET. First to the city for a Sunday morning coffee with his CP7 stamp was __Francesc Albocet__ at 7.30am.

Looking over the nighttime movements of the pack heading from CP5 to CP6, the majority of the crowd grabbed some down time in the night hours, except one dot that was mobile in a sea of calm. __Stephen John Butcher__ (a social media recluse) had his shortest night of sleep yet on the race, taking only 4.5 hours of downtime. It seems he has been refining his race process as the days rolled by, reducing stopping time and sleep, and embracing the night time hours checking in at CP5 st 4am today. His race looks to be shaping up to a game of two halves.

The Pairs race has been dominated by __Sam__ and __Richard Gate__, who hold a 250km lead (as they clear CP7) on the second pair Juan and José Diaz. The pair have levelled up over the night and are really embracing the race rhythm, the aches and pain that come along with it, and acclimatising to the heat - that alone is quite an achievement for two Brits.

The pointy end of the race makes it look easy, but the aches and pains the riders endure, along with self-imposed sleep deprivation, random fueling and decision fatigue from never ending days in the saddle require you to be in top form before starting to be in with a chance to make it to the end. For __Hippy__ this was not the case, and after a few indicative tweets last night, the decisive communication was made this morning that he is scratching:

![hippy scratch](//images.contentful.com/6hyijb95boju/59iO1sY9klPO4wm6SK9QSp/c34b0206d428e34fae65ec67c2f2a68b/Screenshot_2021-08-22_at_11.50.19.png)

We wish him and his derriere a speedy recovery.

Today will serve up a few faces of relief at the Guggenheim as riders collect their finishers’ medal and let it sink in what they have achieved and experienced over the last week. For more the simplicity and beauty of the race has them in its grasp as they continue to enjoy what the Iberian peninsula has to offer. Check back tonight to see how the remaining top 10 spots stack up between the fighting few at the front!


Seven days ago a pack of 56 riders rolled out of Bilbao at the dawn of a new adventure. Tonight two of those riders have made it back to celebrate an incredible loop of northern spain.

__Piko Pulawski__, after a tough morning start taking on the last 11km of the CP9 climb sans breakfast (and coffee!), has snaked his way back along the basque coast to reach the final stop and relish in a well deserved __2nd place finisher at 11:01pm CET__. 

After __7D 02h 01m__, Piko can finally take a break for longer than a couple of hours and rest his body. As last year’s first place finisher, he was always going to be one to watch. He has been relentless in his rhythm of constant movement and limited stopping time. In the final push to the finish line, he hasn’t stopped at all since 4pm. His grit, focus and motivation show why he is this year’s 2nd placed finisher.

__Justinas Leveika__ is not going to give up third place easily. Pedalling tirelessly since 7am CET today, he made his way to the top of the final checkpoint just before 4pm. Speeding back down he crossed the 2 riders that were still playing tug of war with 4th place. Limited stopping time has been registered from his tracker as the lure of the big city lights of Bilbao pull him to the end. His aim was to finish in 7 days, and with about 120km left to go, a finish before tomorrow night is well on the cards if his knee doesn't fail him.

After the previous day's battles, __Bruno Ferraro__ and __Simon De Schutter__ have been chasing each other through the night and into the day, even up a 35km climb to CP9. Neither wanting to be the first to give in, Bruno Ferraro marginally kept his lead and checked-in at 5.40pm at the summit with only 5 minutes of solitude before Simon came by to collect his stamp. 

The desire for fourth place didn't shrink as the day passed, both favouring pedalling over stopping, until the worst happened to Simon when an oversized and very strong screw not only punctured his tyre and tube, but also went right through the rim into the spoke hole. We have photo evidence of the offending piece of metal:

![simon de schutter screw](//images.contentful.com/6hyijb95boju/36seSi029Cst8YjPp0uamX/0324f80abf5f1c76c9c1a36b8fc5ddfc/Simon_metal.jpg)

Simon has patched up everything, and in doing so noticed he now has a broken freehub to boot. Alas, he has conceded his Bruno chasing days are over. Happily he is still pedalling on to Bilbao, but has stopped to try and fix the freehub in Las Arenas as well as eat a large portion of blue cheese with an Estrella Galicia (naturally).

__Bruno Ferraro__ is not stopping despite the absence of Simon biting at his heels, and is focused only on the arrival in Bilbao. Currently not much more than 20km behind Justinas, and with his nighttime repeat behaviour, we can't discount a final night of battle to try and stake claim on 3rd place, which has always been just out of his grasp. 

The chasing pack in the top 10 split into 2 groups taking different routes from CP8 to CP9. The Belgian racers __Gert Jans Staelen__ and __Yves Conen__ were the first to pioneer the route via Oviedo before heading east to CP9. Gert left CP8 in the lead this morning, however had a full gremlin attack on his tyres, eating through all his puncture repair spares, and causing some really low moments. Despite this (and with the help of many coffees) Gert displayed his characteristic resilience, got himself to a commercial centre in Oviedo and has found a solution: a new tyre was needed, and all they had was a 30c tyre that he is now sporting up front, with his original 25c up the back. A reverse mullet of sorts. He is happily moving east again and chasing down his pall Yves.

![gert tyre trouble](//images.contentful.com/6hyijb95boju/72PeVtCblxJ2Mnn8gAz5RT/5cafd9bbd498953572e1fbaaee15c7a7/240349177_374393167488699_872463100453299767_n.jpg)

Yves avoided the gremlin attack that his Belgian counterpart was victim to, and was able to continue on the same route and jump ahead. He is now heading towards Cangas de Onis in preparation for the climb to CP9.

Behind them, __Fanny Besnussan__ decided the Oviedo route was also the route of choice. Before starting, she had joked that the real competition was between her and Sofiane: could she do 3,300km of road faster than he can do the 1,805km off-road in Kyrgyzstan. It is going to be a close one, after reaching CP8 in 9th place (only 20 minutes behind Manuel Villalobos) she hadn’t stopped much throughout the day until now for some food and is on the approach to Oviedo.

__Manuel Villalobos__ is following the leaders’ routes through Léon and onto the beautiful Neuvo Riaño, before he will reach the base of CP9 climb. Although hard to say definitively due to different route choices, it looks like he is still in 8th position and going strong. It seems Manu’s ice cream sandwich fuelling strategy has served him well as he has been a recurrent face in the top 10 and giving up nothing since the start.

Taking the same route a little further behind is __David Herranz__, who is about to get his introduction to the Pico De Europa climbs. David had some musical entertainment today as his SRAM disk brakes declared the Spanish heat to be too much, and sang to him in a pitch only dogs should hear with each wheel revolution along the iberian tarmac. Getting through the Transiberica is hard enough without this - he is probably accepting all good podcast recommendations for the rest of the journey. 

The Transiberica 2021 has been brutal on the riders bikes and equipment. Punctures a daily staple, derailleur malfunctions frequent, and now even freehub freezes. __Billy Ehrenberg__ has been the target for 2 days in a row, as yesterday one of his cranks decided sideways motion is what it has always been missing, and today finding out his bike is a little lighter than he would hope around the headset: 

![billy frame damage](//images.contentful.com/6hyijb95boju/7KCAozYAZxFhgLlh52q2o3/e6133d9813c0803a626a19f3c3b14945/billy.jpg)

You know a race is rough when the riders are regretting not having bought a steel frame to make sure they can get to the end. 

It probably has not registered with the riders that today is Saturday, but for many of us folks that means no work and more time for dotwatching in real life. __Kike M.G.__ had a very enthusiatic driver find him on route today, and the british leading pair, __Richard__ and __Sam Gate__, were cheered on at the roadside, giving all 3 a little boost to keep going.

### The daily scratch

This morning we reported on __Nuño Gonzalez__ and __André Alves__’ exit from the race, and unfortunately we also say goodbye to __Victor Bouman__ tonight despite reaching CP6 today. He had been having a great race, and we don’t have the details of the reason, but we are sure it was a very hard decision to make. In seven days of racing, the Transiberica has given us a #scratchcount of 13.

We are only halfway through the official duration of the race, and with all remaining riders now west of the start of the CP5 parcours, they are tracking to make it back to Bilbao in time. The race is far from over, with gallons of fighting spirit in the top 10, chasing groups that won’t give up, and many riders resilient to the efforts of vicious mechanical gremlins. As riders creep closer to Bilbao tonight, with the full moon lighting the way,  it promises to be eventful and deliver a Sunday morning with a couple of surprises. Until tomorrow!

*Header image of Sam Gate by Richard Gate*


Lit by the Sturgeon full moon last night, __Ulrich Barhtolmös__ arrived at the glacial lakes of CP9 at 11pm. In his quest to reach Bilbao for breakfast he kept moving through a hard night  battling the mental demons whispering for him to stop. With sunrise came the promise of a new day, and motivation bounced back to help his final 80km fly by.

__At 11.11am CET, after 6d 14h 11m, Ulrich’s tracker pinged out his location in front of the Guggenheim and signaled the first finisher of Transiberica 2021.__ An incredible ride where Ulrich showed us not only his physical capacity to make kilometers dissolve under his wheels, but a depth of resilience and mental fortitude to not be stopped by the many challenges thrown his way. Not to mention his capacity to keep Burger King in business. We can only wonder what an alternative finishing time would have been if he had not taken a pool vacation mid race…

__Congratulations to Ulrich for a great race and finish!__

__Piko Pulawski__ kept moving under the light provided by the moon through the night hours, reaching the base of the climb to CP9 around sunrise this morning. After 6 hard days of racing a chase through the night, he has elected to rest for a couple of hours before taking on the climb. 

__Jusitnas Leveika__ reached CP8 at 8.48pm last night  - only seven hours after stamping in at CP7, which was the fastest path yet between the 2 checkpoints. His friday was spent on bumpy roads causing him to lose a bidon (not a desired outcome in a spanish summer) and backtrack for a while to try and find it. Luck turned around for him as the day came to a close however, and he found an almost perfect bivvy spot with nice flat ground, running water (from a watering can), and even an outdoor power outlet. Currently resting at the foothills of the Picos de Europa, CP9 will be in his sights today. 

The tussle for 4th place continued through the night, with __Simon De Schutter__ making it to the top of CP8 to claim this spot at 11.12pm. Simon kept moving and took a different path back down heading for La Bañeza. After passing through the town around 3am Simon let sleep take over and bedded down - unfortunately for a little longer than intended as he slept through his alarm. He is back moving now but has slipped to 5th place in the rider flow.

At 11.46pm CET __Bruno Ferraro__ reached the heights of CP8 in fifth place, and descended in a north-easterly direction heading for Léon. Bruno has been strong through the night hours consistently making up the miles when the others are sleepy, No change last night as he passed Simon to take the 4th place before finally also relinquishing to the powers of sleep just south of Léon where we find him snoozing now. 

The final rider to check in at CP8 is __Gert Jans Staelen__ at 8.08am local time today. Gert has broken away from __Yves Conen__ this morning after many days of the 2 riders not giving up the fight to claim the best spot available in the top 10. Gert now stands at 6th place and is starting his descent down to the plains. 

__Yves Conen__ is also moving though and in the final kilometers of the climb. Although there is a gap forming between the two, it is not over: route choices and grit will see how the two riders battle it out today. The persistence between the 2 riders to not give up over many days of side by side riding has been exciting to watch.

__David Herranz__ was in 6th place leaving CP7 at 5.33pm  last night. After a day full gas, rest took over and he stopped for an early night at 10pm CET, and had a glorious 7 hours break. During this time, some of the other riders in the lower top 10 spots have caught up with him. __Fanny Bensussan__ checked in to CP7 at 9.30pm, 20 minutes after __Manuel Villalobos__, and they have pedalled through the night and are now traveling with David as a three-pack.

The varied sleep tactics in the lower half of the top 10 spots has been creating a daily shuffle. However, last night both Manuel and Fanny opted for nearly 5 hours rest. Today is serving up some fast plains with no winds before the mountains begin and we will watch as the riders fight for the final places as they creep closer to the finish.

The roads form CP5 parcours to the heights of CP6 were very busy with Transibericanos last night. The most hardy among the riders towards CP6 were __Victor Bouman__ and __Julio Velayos__ who have been building momentum as the race progresses each day. They are now waiting at the bottom of CP6 and its epic 35km switchbacked climb.

__Nils G Kamminga__ was a also a rider pushing to reach CP6, taking only a 4 hour break in the night. He had a good day yesterday progressing along the route, despite 350km of flat straight road with a headwind (sounds delightful). Later on an incident involving his numb fingers and his nose led to some bodily fluid extraction that was not intended:

![nils kamminga bloddy nose](//images.contentful.com/6hyijb95boju/1fXvCWrcOGqQoVij1Zfk0p/864b9664cd3df9572e97abb6bc488ed6/239527998_273915877452385_5621955805928409004_n.jpg)

A unique event arrived between the hours of 4am and 5am CET this morning, when a rare moment of synchronized quiet fell upon the Transiberica as the trackers of the groups between CP5 and CP6 stayed still. It conjures up images of a chorus of gentle sleep sounds eminating from some very tired ultra-cyclists, floating along in the nighttime breeze of central Spain, to the background of chirping cicadas.

### Food
After a start to the race where Italain cuisine was the order of choice, it is good to see some local dishes getting some love from the riders. Nils slected the all faithful gazpacho for its ability to be easily consumed from the tetrapak whilst riding, cool and refreshing for the day's heat and very easy to digest. A smart choice some other riders may want to explore. 

For __Wilson Oliveria__ though big is better and sometimes the food is so abundant and amazing it deserves a jamón-selfie:

![wilson oliveira and jamon](//images.contentful.com/6hyijb95boju/2lwjEk88HA3U0WESJTvq3u/10a49117921e07fd85fb2d52978b7a89/Photo_from_Wendy__2_.jpg)

Unfortunately 2 riders have had to call an end to their Transiberica 2021 experience, __Nuño Gonzalez__ had been suffering with knee pain since Sunday, and considered scratching many times. Yesterday it was just a bit too much though and he has made the definitive decision to scratch. 

__André Alves__ received a call with an unplanned personal commitment requiring his return home. As he is close to his home country of Portugal, having completed CP6, he will now turn his bike west without his tracker pinging. This is his second time in the race, and it will not be his last.

Ulrich’s impressive performance has given us all something to watch for a week, and we celebrate with him today as he will now eat his way through a bar full of pintxos. The good news for us is that the race is still on, and the battle for top 10 places is fearless in its fight. Stay tuned as we watch los locos de bici continue their route around Iberia.

*Header image fom Nils G Kamminga*


2,750km of diverse Iberian riding awaits riders at the start line of this year's event. There are 9 checkpoints to self-route between through some of the Iberian Peninsula's most beautiful and scenic spots. 

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