- Think that the Tour de France looked tough?
Well this might make you think again.
Recently at GCN we've been talking about
how the Tour de France has changed over the last few years,
but it's certainly a far cry from it's first edition
back in 1903.
Back then there were only six stages,
but each of those were over 400 kilometers long.
Riders were almost entirely self-supported,
certainly without teams,
and the very final stage started at 9 o'clock at night
the day before the final.
Could that be the inspiration for the modern
Transcontinental Race?
(upbeat music)
We're here on the iconic cobbles of the
Muur van Geraardsbergen in Flanders.
A climb that is steeped in cycling history,
and it's the start of the Transcontinental Race.
Arguably the toughest race of all time.
Forget the pro teams, the cars, mechanics,
team buses and caravans.
This is a totally different type of race altogether.
(upbeat music)
- [Female Host] The Transcontinental is a self-supported,
ultra-endurance race from here in Belgium
crossing the entire continent to Meteora in Greece.
And it's not just the mega distance that challenges
the 240 riders,
but the format of this race.
Rather than providing a fixed route,
the riders must plan their own routes
taking in the four control points along the way.
And they're not exactly easy either.
This year year featuring the Bielerhohe Pass in Austria
and the Karkonosze Pass in Poland
as well the checkpoints in Slovenia and Bosnia,
and that last one is gravel too.
- Now in it's sixth year, the race is organized
by the very close friends and family
of the race founder, and ultra-endurance legend, Mike Hall.
They call themselves The Lost Dot,
and together with a team of over 50 volunteers
both marshal the control points
and will be watching out for the riders online
through their spot trackers.
Something which they call Dot Watching.
(upbeat guitar music)
- The 240 riders are just about to set off
from here on the Muur
and with the finishers party on the 14th of August
that only leaves just over two weeks
to complete the entire route.
Some of these riders will be racing
as hard as they can,
but others set their sights simply on finishing
which is no mean feat in itself.
If previous editions are anything to go by,
only 50% of these riders will make it
to Meteora at the finish
and only half of those will make it within
the two week window.
There are 10 rules of the race
and they put rider safety at the forefront.
Really the most important is the 10th rule.
Ride in the spirit self-reliance and equal opportunity.
Which means that once they leave here
all riders are completely self-supported
unless they take assistance that's commercially
available to all.
So whether that's getting your bike fixed in a shop,
taking a meal in a restaurant,
or staying the night in a hotel.
So we're here with Stefan,
who is arguably one of the most important people
here at the start.
You've got a very important job both today,
the lead-up to the race, and tomorrow.
Can you tell us what that is?
- I try to fix things for people who are in need
of something getting fixed.
- It's not your first year doing this.
I understand you've done it for.
- Five years. - Five years.
And in that time, what's the, sort of,
most obscure thing that you've fixed
or what are some examples of the things
that you've been able to help people with
here on the start line.
- Well, I remember
a girl called Katie, coming in with a broken carbon bike.
And we managed to fix it within one day.
Get it repaired and she rode all the way to,
in that, at that time, it was Turkey.
She made it.
- Out of the 500 people that applied
for this year's Transcontinental,
240 of them are here at the start.
20 of which are in pairs.
They age from 21 to 66 years old
and they hale from 34 different countries.
From as far as India, China, New Zealand
and America.
For me, one of the coolest things about this race
is you certainly don't have be pro to race it.
And you can be any ability level really.
We're here with the 2015 TCR winner
and friend of the channel, Josh Ibbett.
Josh, what would be your best piece of advice
for the riders about to set out tonight?
- My best piece of advice would be
ride within your limits
and know yourself, know your body
and don't try to push yourself further
than you think you need to.
Especially on the first night,
because if you push too hard too early
you would definitely pay for it later on.
So, yeah, hold back a little bit.
- That sounds very sensible.
And from your 2015 experience, when you won.
What was your best memory?
Can you think of just one?
- There's probably no one set memory.
It was pretty, very specific moments.
I think actually, yeah,
the very best memory that always sticks in my mind
is when I got to the checkpoint three
and I knew I'd, kind of, taken the lead
for the first time.
And that's the one, kind of, ecstatic memory
'cause I felt like it was, you know,
it was working.
- Yeah, I bet you're pretty stoked
after that to get to the finish.
In the lead.
- Well, yeah.
I was just glad to survive and get there in one piece
and actually be able to stop riding my bike.
It's pretty miserable really.
- And finally Josh, who are your top three riders
to watch this year?
- Top three.
I think is experienced riders.
There's probably going to be some new riders
who will be very fast,
but experience counts on this race.
So I think, in reverse order,
Bernd Paul,
he's proven.
Bjorn, I think he'll be second,
and I think James Hayden will win.
But I think it'll be very close,
but I think James will come through in the final
in the final few days.
I think he'll get it.
- Well, we'll just have to wait and see, yeah.
- Yeah. - Thank you.
(bell ringing)
(crowd cheering)
(upbeat, exciting music)
- If you want to follow the Transcontinental Race,
we'll put a link to the website down in the
the description and you can follow on social media
using the hashtag, #TCRNO6.
If you're after some more bike packing content,
click just down here and stay tuned
for our racing news show and GCN show
where we'll have updates from the race
and until then, happy dot watching.
(cheering loudly)