It's been 24 hours of German domination 🇩🇪!

Patrick Stumpf (#7) added to his nation's palmares late last night in a time of 72H 46M.

Belgian rider Simon De Schutter (#44) reached the finish in the dead of night at 4am local time to achieve a finishing time of 77H 56M.

Women's Winner

German Ana Orenz (#49) has triumphed in the women's field in a time of 80H 23M which also places her 8th overall. An incredibly strong ride and she even packed a little extra weight in the form of her mascot...

Rounding out the top ten were Spaniard Dennis Sorondo (#41) in a time of 85H 03M and Brit Andrew Allday (#5) just 9 minutes behind him.

Unlucky 13

Devastation struck 50km before the finish for Italian Mirko de Angelis (#13) who suffered two destroyed tyres and ended up walking for some time in the middle of a cold night on the outskirts of Donistia. We hope he returns next year to settle this unfinished business.

All photos: @peterofthespoon

21-year-old Frenchman Clément Clisson (#38) rolled into San Sebastian earlier this afternoon in a total time of 67H 04M. This was his first ever long-distance race and if that performance is anything to go by, we'll be seeing a lot more of him in the future.

British rider Chris Hinds (#42) followed a couple of hours behind Clément in 69H 18M and just 20 minutes later Australian Mitchell Luke (#43) dismounted his bike for the final time. Both congratulated each other on their completion after bunny hopping each other for the last day or so!

Photo: @biziosona

Ulrich Bartholmös (#15) has won the Transpyrenees Ultracycling Race in an astonishing 50H46M. With over 24,000m of climbing, that's some moving.

Photo credit: @peterofthespoon

Hot on his heels was fellow German Christoph Fuhrbach in 57H 23M. Yet another admirable time given the terrain.

Barring any mechanicals or incidents, it looks like Clémont Clisson will roll in for third in about 5 hours' time.

Ana Orenz has made good progress overnight and increased her lead by 40km on Aoife Henry but both still have a number of cols to pass, so anything could happen yet.

As usual, it's been another hot and climby day in the Pyrenees and for some, a day of two halves.

Adam Aldum (#52a) entertained his instagram followers with a few stories today, screenshots of which are below for wider amusement. Both he and his fellow rider, Ben Clay, seem to have paused at around 335km.

Bagnères de Luchon is a hive of activity with a bunch of riders either fuelling up pre-Superbagnères or refuelling post-Superbagnères.

Elsewhere, Ana Orenz continues her lead but with fewer than 40km between her and second placed woman Aoife Henry (#39), both will need to push on into the night if they're to battle it out.

Up front, Ulrich (#15) has completely dominated this race from the start and is now within 50km of the finish though there are still a couple of spikes to go according to the elevation profile. 900km in 48hrs is fast by anyone's calculations but add to that the 20,000m of climbing and you're looking at a superhuman effort!

Fighting for fourth place is Frenchman Clément Clisson (#38) who is just 21 years old. Transpyrenees is his first long-distance cycling event, so he's proving that a big future awaits him.

Sadly, there were a few scratches today:

• #34 David Herranz
• #56b Pedro Neves
• #61b Santiago Ciges

Both partners of the pairs have decided to continue their race so we look forward to seeing how they progress on the course.

We're in for a long night of dotwatching tonight to see if Ulrich manages to finish in the next few hours.

Ulrich (#15) decided to pause for 3h ahead of taking on the mighty Tourmalet in the early hours this morning. His chaser, Christoph (#8), spent six hours getting some much needed respite from the heat in Arreau before ascending the same Col just a few hours later. They're currently the only two to have passed over the Col du Tourmalet but Chris Hinds (#43) is at the foot of the climb now.

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

The antipodean wonder that is Hippy (#20) has been active on twitter claiming he's struggling in the weather. His short break near the Col de Mente seemed eventful...

https://twitter.com/firsthippy/status/1145571071879450624

British rider Ana Orenz currently leads the women's field. She spent a couple of hours close to Porte d'Aspet before continuing this morning.

We've had reports from HQ about riders suffering some degree of sunburn. Luckily today looks to have a little more cloud cover than yesterday with fog looming higher up some mountains.

Feast your eyes on these incredible images courtesy of Carlos and Peter:

Rider pictured: Javi Gamallo

Rider pictured: Clement Clisson

Let's see what happens over the next few hours as the front runners hit the slopes of Port de Larrau on the border of France and Spain.

☀️🔥🥵

It's been a tad warm for the Transpyrenees riders during this first day of racing. While the mercury rose and sun beamed down on the tarmac, two German riders (#15 Ulrich Bartholomoes and #8 Christoph Fuhrbach) took it all in their stride and managed the first 500km and 13 cols in less than 24 hours!

The fight for current third position jostles between a number of riders: #38 Clémont Clisson, #42 Mitchell Luke* and #43 Chris Hinds.

You can see details of the route and the climbs the riders have covered so far here. The biggest is yet to come!

*Mitchell Luke is actually listed as Luke Mitchell on the tracker.

https://twitter.com/firsthippy/status/1145191027382378496

https://www.instagram.com/p/BzVtKGSoE6X/

Follow @transiberica for the latest from the race.