Lennart Nap

Richard Jansen

Julio Greff

Jason Schreurs

Moritz Banerjee

Gregor Towers

Niels Ihrman

Bram Den Hertog

Timo Kreule

Jan Recker

Belle de Gast

Steffen Dirkwinkel

Mathieu Kalia

Sterre Witteveen

Willem Van der velde

Tim Ahrens

Benjamin Van Vianen

Julian Boer

Matthijs Beerepoot

Kris Lafleur

Kai Oczko

Nicolas Stathoulis

Francesc Varkevisser

Till Menges

Maartje van Gestel

Jelle Fokkema

Jesper Wever

Mathijs Hoek

Andrew Matthews

Sander Goossens

Jan-Hinrich Klindworth

Julius Verhees

Richard De Boer

Uladzimir Mihura

Marianne Thissen-Smits

Shewit Tareke Ghebremichael

Bart Dikken

Jurriën Voor in t holt

Mischa Kummer

Devin Solleveld

Frans van Helvert

Lars Haringsma

Dominik Engelke

Julien Taveau

Frederic Heyfelder

Lars	Lipman

Felix Kühlewindt

Wouter Gerritsen

Lamri Adjis

Frank Schünemeyer

Jarco de Jong

Hielke Rijpstra

Martijn de Boer

Peter van der Noord

Daniel Wirtz

Dirk Rietberg

Tobias Glimmerveen

Joost van Leeuwen

Grace Pyne

Paul Ashman

Ben van den Brand

Nick Lettink

Christoph van Dülmen

John van der Wolff

Marjan van Galen

Jorn Gerrits

Gert-Jan Tinke

Myra Canoij

Tuur Deeleman

Eric Block

Job Langenhuijzen

Robert Ophoff

Roald Joosen

Eveline Kaethoven

Jasper Kelm

Brian van der Veen

Chris Sims

Seán Kelleher

Laurie Collingwood

Edward Mulder

Florian Dietrich

Helen Bindels

Nuño Gonzàlez Rebaque

Sabine Emunds

Oliver Trewavas

Mirjam Boltjes

Anne Roeloffs

Ernst Huijboom

Anna Verhulst

Evelien Vanderstraeten

Luke Murphy

Sebastian Murphy

Frank Grießhammer

Dmitry Ivanov

Eric Mooij

Diederik Bronsveld

Finn Joosten

Kemal Arslan

Higor Cesar Rufino Ramos

Marie Beulig

Bob Janse

Berend Janse

Bob Van streun

Jasien Haridy

Bart Ridderbos

Nick Stuifbergen

Antoine Lagasse

Jean-François Schmit

Roel van Ekeren

Natalie Brik

Eryk Stolarz

Domien Van Waes

Charlie Van Waes

Omar Lahoud

Noa van de Graaf

Rudy Bouwmeester

Erik Van kooten

Roel Goossens

Norbert Münch

Alexander Fiedler

Hanna Fiedler

Genevieve Hull

Tycjan Trzpiola

Heike Sturm

Dennis Beukelaar

Damian Murphy

Thomas Bogaard

Mike Gattas

Bas Stegehuis

Jeroen Nieuwenhuyze

Frank Visser

Sebastian Weier

Melissa Flammang

Crew 1

Crew 2

As the clock struck 10pm in Utrecht. The second edition of the Utrecht Ultra came to an end. 93 of the 94 solo finishers made it back to Brewpub De Kromme Haring before the cut off at 2200 CEST. GC solo Lantern rouge goes to Frank Grießhammer (cap 66) who crossed the finish line at 1934 in 97 hours 24 minutes. With Frank finished, the only solo rider left on the course was Dmitry Ivanov (cap 118). Dimitry reached the finish at 2259 CEST for a final time of 100 hours 44 minutes. 

In the pairs Alexander Fiedler (cap 130) & Hanna Fiedler (cap 131) were the last pair across the line, finishing in 98 hours and 32 minutes. For a total of 12 pairs finished in time. 

In all 118 riders made it to the finish. A high success rate for an ultra distance cycling event. The mix of fixed and free route lead to an interesting choice of routes, each of the top three male riders took a different route on the free section. For the top three women, while they had some sections of the free route in common also managed to diverge significiantly, with Sterre being one of the few to ride back up the CP3 parcour before turning round to ride down it. 118 riders finished. But every rider who started had an adventure. 

Hopefully riders can now look forward to recovery, a hearty meal or three, and maybe start training for Utrecht Ultra 2025. 


All done.


Tuesday has been a day of finishes. Since the last update was published 52 more riders have made it to the finish at Brewpub De Kromme Haring. Fifty two riders, with fifty two different stories of the same race. 

Coming in a couple of hours after the last update was published, Maartje van Gestel (cap 35) rounded out the women's podium with a time of 59 hours and 49 minutes. Eleven minutes ahead of the 2.5 day mark. An incredible ride. Maatje was joined just under four hours later by Marianne Thissen-Smits (cap 60). Marianna is a veteren of Race Around The Netherlands, and that experience has served her well in an excellent strong ride around the Ardennes. 

The first pairs also made it to the finish on Tuesday, with Berend Janse (cap 142) & Bob Janse (cap 143) finishing in 63 hours 24 minutes. Bart Ridderbos (cap 158) & Nick Stuifbergen (cap 159) are showing on the tracker as next home as a complete pair, in 78 hours 26 minutes. Between them Bob Van streun (cap 146) and Jasien Haridy (cap 135) are both showing as finished, but their partner is not showing in the tracker table. In both cases their partner's tracker has not moved for at least 16 hours. The final standings of the pairs will only become clear once the official results are published. 

CP3 is now closed, and it looks like all riders still moving got through in time. The title of Lantern Rouge is currently held by Dmitry Ivanov (cap 118) who has passed the Drielandenpunt and is heading down the Camerig. This gives him about 270km left to complete, and 20 hours left to do it in. Not easy, but hopefully doable. There's a handful of riders left in Limburg, with the remainder spread along the Maas and the Nederrijn. 

Good luck to everyone still riding. 

Final update Wednesday evening after the race is finished. 

The mid pack


Monday saw the first riders arriving at the Brewpub De Kromme Haring. Belle de Gast (cap 86) was the first woman to reach the finish. She had been in a tight race with Sterre Witteveen (cap 16) for much of the event. After reaching CP3 first, Belle took rested for nearly four hours before getting back on the road around 0500. Sterre who had rested on the before the CP3 parcour, arrived at CP3 three hours after Belle. Sterre also rested at CP3 and was on the move again by about 0630. With 90 minutes seperating the two women, the chase was on. After the CP3 parcour the routes diverged, with Sterre opting for a larger main road from Roetgen to Aachen, while Belle took the small road via Raeren. When the two routes converged at the Drielandenpunt, the gap was maintaining at about 90 minutes. But by the time pair reached the Maas-Waalkanaal, it had increased to two hours, and would increase further to about 2 hours 10 minutes at the finish. Belle completed the course in 48 hours 27 minutes, with Sterre finishing in 50 hours 51 minutes. An amazing effort from both riders. At the time of writing Maartje van Gestel (cap 35) closing in on the finish to claim the third place on the podium. She has crossed the Nederrijn and is on the home stretch now. 

With the men, Lennart Nap (cap 26) was the first rider to reach the finish, missing his goal of 36 hours, but achieving an incredible 38 hours 46 minutes. An incredible effort. At the finish Lennart commented that he thinks a road bike may have been better suited to the climbing and small amount of gravel he encountered, than the dedicated TT bike he used. Lennart had a stopped time of just 41 minutes. Lennart was followed 4 hours later by Richard Jansen (cap 105). Richard has been a bit of a dark horse on this race as tracker issus mean he has not shown up on the map very often, and so his progress was not as obvious to dotwatchers as it might of been. 

Julio Greff (cap 15) was actually the 2nd rider to reach the finish, but as has been a common theme with this race, Richard starting in a later wave, and arriving 1 minute after Julio, claims the 2nd place by 14 minutes. Julio had just 1 hour 39 minutes stopped time and averaged approximately 24.7kph for the 1022km race. Julio had one minor fall into the mud at some point in the race, the evidence of the fall still visible on the side of his tailfin when he reached the finish, fortunately it doesn't seem to have slowed him down too much. 

At the time of writing 19 riders have reached the finish. 

Alas Monday saw a number of dots turn black on the tracker, as the ordeal of trying to race 1000km in four days started to take it's toll on riders and their equipment. Reasons for scratching are often not revealed, although Megan Bagley (cap 97) posted that she was plagued with flat tyres, she hopes to be back next year, possibly with a tubeless setup. 

Else where, pair Tycjan Trpiola (cap 154) and Eryk Stolarz (cap 155) were suffering from navigational issues. They rode straight past the check point at CP1, and did the same again at CP2. Here's hoping they don't make the same mistake at CP3. 

Susann Becker (cap 21) looks to be carrying the Lantern Rouge for the pack. She is currently stopped on the CP2 parcour. The bulge of riders are in the CP3 to the first stages of the Finish Parcour. But with riders spread from near the French border, all the way to North of the Rhine. There's lots still to happen in this race. 

Next update Tuesday evening. 

Over already


It's now 30 hours since the start of Utrecht Ultra 2024, and a lot has happened. With a 1800 start, riders got just over three hours of day light before the sun set, and night began. The night brought with it some rain, although nowhere near as bad as last year, and seems to have been pretty uneventful. 

Sterre Witteveen (cap 16) was the first woman to make it to CP1, arriving there in just 12 hours and 16 minutes. She was followed just ten minutes later by Belle de Gast (cap 86). The two have been chasing each other extremely closely for the whole race, with the same ten minute gap at CP2, except with the order reversed. It's interesting to see the differences in routes the two riders have taken. For a lot of the route they have been following the same path, diverging only in a few places to take adjacent, roads, Belle's route being slightly more direct, tho there's not a lot in it. But in the approach to the CP3 parcour things have changed. Sterre opted to pick up the Vennbahn, including a stop for a couple of hours near the village of Weywertz, while Belle opted to climb up and over Signal de Botrange, this is more climbing, tho the descent from the signal down to Eupen can be done very fast on a wide relatively low trafficed road. Sterre's route involved riding along the CP3 parcour in the reverse direction to pick it up and ride it in the forward direction. Belle's lower stopped time has allowed her to take the lead, arriving at CP3 in a time of 30 hours and 29 minutes. A position of 9th overall. After her rest stop, Sterre is back on the move and currently making her way along the CP3 parcour towards the check point. Will either rider need to stop again? Will the extra rest allow Sterre a faster moving speed in the final stages of the race? time will tell. 

Elsewhere Megan Bagley (cap 97) reported suffering three flat tyres and being chased by a dog on the way to CP1. She's been making strong progress, and is currently stopped for the night near Huy. 

There seems to be some gremlins in the trackers, so it's hard to tell exactly who's currently holding the lantern rouge title, but it's likely one of the dozen or so riders who have chosen to rest for the night in Huy, having made it to CP1. 

Mathieu Kalia (cap 122) was the fastest rider to CP1, arriving in 10 hours 32 mintues, but he was not the first. Lennart Nap (cap 26) who started in wave 1 arrived at 04:41, whilst Mathieu, who started in wave 4, twenty minutes later, arrived at 04:47. Perhaps Lennart was slowed slightly by his collision with an owl in the middle of the night. Lennart and Mathieu were persued closely by Julio Greff who arrived at 4:51. Lennart left CP1 with Julio in hot persuit. By the time the pair approached the check point, they had built quite a lead on the road over the rest of the field. Lennart was first to CP2, at 0851, followed half an hour later by Julio. Matthieu would arrive after Julio, but his later start wave means technically he was 2nd at the CP. Julio and Mathieu took very similar routes from CP1 to CP2, whereas Lennart opted for a more westerly route, which took larger roads. 

Whilst Lennart appears to have cemented a lead by CP3, arriving at 19:21, a full two hours before any other rider. (that's wall clock time, and doesn't take into account different start waves). The battle for the rest of the podium is very open. Julio has slipped back slightly, although he was second to arrive at the control, arriving at 21:21, the later start wave of Eric Mooij (cap 96) who arrived two minutes later, means Eric is second. The same for Moritz Banerjee (cap 80) who started in the same wave as Eric, and arrived at 2134. With about 15 minutes spanning 2nd through 4th. What order the riders will reach the finish in is still anyones guess. 

At the time of writing, Lennart is well out in front, on the finish Parcour heading towards Nijmegen. He's had just 30 minutes of stopped time, vs 1:14 for Julio, 1:48 for Moritz, and 3:53 for Jason Schreurs (cap 100), who has passed Eric to take 3rd position on the road. Erik having chosen to rest at CP3. Lennart has about 150km of the course remaining, with less than three hours until his target of 36 hours. But the race isn't over, and a lot can happen in those 150km. In order for Lennart to finish first, first he has to finish.

Whilst those at the pointy end will be hoping to arrive at the finish before breakfast, there's plenty of adventure ahead for those further down the pack. Riders are spread across three countries, and a lot can still happen in the next few days. Good luck to all those still riding!

Next update on Monday evening. 

Day One.

# The Route

Returning for the second time, the Utrecht Ultra is brings a mix of fixed and free route racing round some of the finest scenery the BeNeLux has to offer. Starting from Brewpub De Kromme Haring, the race starts with a 234km fixed route start parcours, heading mostly south, this section crosses the main distributaries of the Rhine, the Lek and the Waal, as well as the Maas, as they head west towards the North Sea. The route seems to go out of it's way to avoid large population centres with Gorinchem being the largest city on the route. Normally this would present problems for resupply, but with an 1800 start time, most riders are doing this section during the night and with a fully stocked food and water supply. The start parcour while not having any real climbs does peak at 100m just before it's finish, a very long almost imperceptible climb. Along this start parcour there are two sections which require deviation for during the hours of darkness due to being a nature reserve (marked on the tracker map in black). 

Once riders leave the start parcour in the village of Gellik they are free to choose their own route towards the start of the CP1 parcour. While only about 35km as the crow flies, the route between the two is likely to be a bit longer for riders, depending on what trade offs they have chosen to take. Those at the pointy end are likely to favour larger faster roads, as they will hit them in the middle of the night while there's not much traffic. 

The CP1 parcour is when things start to get properly lumpy, the headline numbers of 690m of climbing in it's 47.3km don't seem to bad, but looking at the climbs, it's going to hurt. The Ardennes are geologically speaking a very old mountain range, and while the highest point, Signal de Botrange isn't particularly high at 694m (tho there's a tower built on top to get visiters to a nice round 700m), what the climbing here lacks in overall height gain, they make up for by with gradients. After descending into the city of Huy to stamp their brevet cards at the CP, riders will be faced with tackling the Mur de Huy. Translated to English, the Wall of Huy, is a 1.2km climb with an average gradient of 10.3%, but topping out at 18.8% gradient. The climb has been made famous by the Flèche Wallonne race. As well as being the finish of a stage of the Tour de France. The Mur complete, riders face one more short, sharp, punchy climb with 11% gradients to finish the parcour. 

To get to CP2 and the start of the CP2 parcour is about 80km as the crow flies, and this is where we are going to start to see the big divergence in routes, with some favouring lumpier, but more direct routes, vs those wanting a flatter, but longer route. CP2 itself is at the start of the 52.4km parcour, which as it criss crosses Semois valley, visiting picturesque and historic towns such as Bouillon, manages to pack in 1190m of climbing. While not as steep as the CP1 parcours, the unrelenting up down of this parcour, esp with the amount of distance in their legs is going to start to burn. Especially for those further down the field. 

107km as the crow flies from the end of the CP2 parcour to the start of the CP3 parcour, there's quite a few disused railways that have been converted into cycle routes in the area that can make for relatively flat routes to connect the two, but that comes at a cost in terms of extra distance. For those wanting a more direct route, this is going to mean climbing. One option may include the climb up to Baraque Michel (674masl). Baraque Michel was the highest point in Belgium until the borders changed in 1919. The parcour itself looks more gentle than the previous two, but with 910m of climbing in it's 44.1km length, it's not gonna be easy. Especially with the short climb out of Monschau, which tops out at 23%. 

From the end of the CP3 parcour to the start of the finish parcour is just 38km as the crow flies, but here an opportunity presents itself in the form of the Vennbahn. A disused railway converted into a cycle route, it runs from Aachen in Germany to Troisverges in Luxembourg, and due to curious quirks of history, it's length from the start in Aachen to when it joins Belgium properly near Monschau is entirely Belgian land. A narrow ribbon of Belgium surrounded by Germany. More importantly, it's maximium gradient is 2% and it has a good smooth surface. From it's highest point at Lammersdorf, riders can freewheel all the way down to Aachen before climbing up to the Drielandenpunt (Three Country Point), and the start of the finish parcour. 

Starting at the highest point of the Netherlands, it's literally all downhill from here. Except there's a small sting in the tail, as the finish parcour takes in a greatest hits tour of Limburg climbs, including going down the Camerig, and the Gulpenberg. Eventually after briefly crossing Germany, the riders descent to the Maas, and can follow the river almost all the way to the finish, with just a few small bumps in the Utrechtse Heuvelrug, that after everything riders will have completed upto this point, barely need considering as a climb. The climb of the Amerongseberg out of Amerongen does go to the highest point of the Utrechtse Heuvelrug. All sixty nine meters of it. The use of the Dutch word for mountain in it's name belies delusions of addiquacy... The hills done, the riders follow the Amsterdam Rijn Kanaal into Utrecht and back to where it all started approximately 1000km ago. 

# The Riders

This year see's an increase in field size, with 165 people signing up. A few DNS's leave about 150 riders setting of from Brewpub De Kromme Haring. This year's field also see's thirty women looking to take the start. 

![Women of Utrecht Ultra 2024](//images.ctfassets.net/6hyijb95boju/52dUd69i8LRCKadbHXBR0G/16c6e856e60847155dde36b2968463fe/XT1A2046.JPG)

This includes returning rider Megan Bagley (cap 97). Megan rode last year's Utrecht Ultra competing with a pair. This year she's riding solo. Other veterens of Dutch ultra cycling races include Marianne Thissen-Smits (cap 60), who competed in Race Around The Netherland 2020.

![Megan Bagley (cap 97)](//images.ctfassets.net/6hyijb95boju/4khAEkLQIk6C62m7h92pBH/daf810817e61b2ecf8fa9fb0f1038e40/XT1A2120.JPG)

For many tho UU2024 is their first race, some with more planning than others. British rider Grace Pyne (cap 91) has just six weeks of preparation time ahead of the race. 

![Grace Pyne (cap 91) at the start](//images.ctfassets.net/6hyijb95boju/3L6uqRzenc1iZfPesDNNQF/262027087cf7f84c53dfcadf3d9961d7/XT1A2112.JPG)

Other returning riders include Ernst Huijboom (cap 12) who started last year but had to scratch following the particularly cold and wet weather. Before the start he commented "I've bought a rain coat this year". Here's hoping he doesn't need to use it. 

![Lamri Adjis (cap 102) deep in thought at the start](//images.ctfassets.net/6hyijb95boju/6BdDKppqVDwzr6tFlwP1Qa/516a0d60d3daeada8bb3f79f416b5408/XT1A2132.JPG)

Meanwhile Lamri Adjis (cap 102), a veteren of Race Around The Netherlands, Japanese Odyssey, and Morocco Bike-Adventure, his leg taped up for support, was looking to complete in 55-60 hours. 

![Lamri Adjis (cap 102)'s taped leg.](//images.ctfassets.net/6hyijb95boju/PKoeeL222qdJ2bCzmQZoU/aa9655cf2482a9321f1f6fbd7142e4a9/XT1A2128.JPG)

Julio Greff (cap 15) has had a fantastic season so far this year, finishing fourth in Race Around The Netherlands, Julio has completed his third Ardenne monster ride. He's going to be a rider to keep an eye on at the pointy end of the ride. 

And finally, Lennart Nap (cap 26) caused quite a stir at the start, arriving on a time trial bike with deep section wheels, deep section tubes, and very little luggage. Dressed in a black skin suit wearing an aero helmet with integrated visor. Lennart is aiming to complete the race in 36 hours. Lennart has rather a lot of experience of doing big distances very quickly, he's won Race Around The Netherlands in 2022 and 2024. As part of the 28 hour project, Lennart has also completed 852.1km in a time of 27:01. Whether the climbing will put a spanner in the works of this ambitious target, time will tell. But for now it's laying down one hell of a gauntlet for other riders to pick up. 

![Lennart Nap (cap 26) at the start](//images.ctfassets.net/6hyijb95boju/YNjrlWpz22biD8ATKaa2g/914fbbf7a4420af06305a1e859a7c949/XT1A2036.JPG)

At the time of writing, the riders are well under way forming a trail of dots across The Netherlands and into Belgium. The next update, covering the first 24 hours of the race will come on Sunday evening. 

Goodluck to all the riders. Ride strong! 

Once more around the Ardennes

Julia Freeman

Utrecht Ultra 2024 Tracking + Commentary: Utrecht Ultra has a 50:50 mix of free and fixed route: a set route out of Utrecht guides riders south into Belgium, followed by three checkpoints and corresponding parcours in the Belgian Ardennes and the Eifel region in Germany. The finish parcours takes riders back to Utrecht.

Utrecht Ultra 2024 Tracking and Commentary

Utrecht Ultra has a 50:50 mix of free and fixed route: a set route out of Utrecht guides riders south into Belgium, followed by three checkpoints and corresponding parcours in the Belgian Ardennes and the Eifel region in Germany. The finish parcours takes riders back to Utrecht.

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