- [Mark] For decades triathletes and cyclists
have been flocking to the island of Lanzarote
for its mild weather, its smooth roads,
and its climbs.
Arguably the most famous of them all is this one: Tabayesco.
It's just shy of 10 kilometers
with an average gradient of 5%
and an elevation gain of 607 meters.
Fraser and myself have cycled it many times.
We've even raced it many times,
but this one might be our toughest attempt yet.
(dramatic drum music)
(heavy breathing)
- Yeah Mark we've, I'm really actually not sure
what we've let ourselves in for this time.
- Yeah I mean what started out as a bit of banter
between us and a couple of pro athletes,
well, it's turned into quite the showdown now
between GTN and some of the best triathletes in the world.
- Yeah I mean Mark, look, I really wasn't that good
at climbing when I was racing professionally, let alone now,
so I'm not sure what we've let ourselves in for,
but we're going to have to try and think outside the box.
- Well, it's probably time to show you guys
what we have let ourselves in for
and those athletes that we're up against.
Reece Charles-Barclay, professional triathlete,
husband to Lucy Charles-Barclay,
and practically a resident of Lanzarote.
Andi Dreitz, IRONMAN 70.3 European Champion,
and an animal on the bike.
Matthew Bottrill, bike coach to a number of the
top pro triathletes, and a TT Superstar.
Lucy Charles-Barclay,
(record scratching)
who insisted on doing a karate kick.
I mean fine.
Who are we to say no?
And Tim Don, who actually missed the photoshoot
because he was in the van, eating sweets.
Oh, and not forgetting Gary, Lucy and Reece's mate
who, well, seemed to back himself.
Yeah. Go on Gary.
- OK guys, the race is simple.
First one to the top is the winner.
And obviously this is all just a bit of fun,
but when you see the winner's trophy
you may decide to lay it all down out there.
Fraser, bring it in!
- I think you'll agree this is worth climbing for.
- Yeah.
- But what we will point out is that Mark and I
are at a little bit of a disadvantage here
so we're giving ourselves a 60 second handicap.
Lucy and Reece you get 30 seconds after us,
and then the rest of you are following.
- Now personally I don't think 60 seconds is quite enough
considering half of them are on road bikes,
but, guess we should forget the excuses.
- Yeah let's just give it a go.
- Is that made from the golden fleece?
- [Fraser] Maybe.
(all laugh)
- Do you want to feel it?
(all laugh)
(ethereal music)
(upbeat music)
- It's a tight close one.
I think, if Lucy gets her tactics right,
I think she's got a good chance.
LL Cool Frase, never discount him.
So, where's the smart money?
I don't know.
I just don't know.
Who do you think is going to win Andi?
- Well, the guys of GTN are,
they look really, really serious,
and I think with their advantage it's tough to catch them.
So, the plan is to get them in the sight,
so if we see them, and hopefully we work together
at the beginning to close that gap,
and then everything is possible.
(dramatic drum music)
- [Mark] Spirits are high.
The athletes make their way over to the start line.
It's all smiles now, but the tension is building.
GTN take pole position on the grid
with the best pros in the world behind them.
- [Race Announcer] Four, three, two, one.
GTN!
Let's go GTN!
Come on boys!
Come on!
- [Tim] Bloody hell I'm not starting like that.
It's in 30 minutes.
We're never going to catch them! (laughs)
(exclaiming)
- They take it, they probably take it serious.
- [Mark] Up next from left to right:
Lucy Charles-Barclay, Reece Charles-Barclay,
and Gary, looking rather nervous.
I'm not sure he realizes what he signed himself up for here.
- [Race Announcer] Come on!
Look at that triple push off from Lucy.
Come on, pedal the wheels, pedal the wheels!
- All right, we're not going that fast, are we guys?
(all laugh)
- Let's move up. Move up to the line.
Everyone behind me.
- [Mark] Interestingly Reece is already surging ahead,
and he's, um,
already dropping his wife.
- [Race Announcer] Three, two, one, go team!
(upbeat soft rock)
- [Mark] Well that's it, we're all on the road.
It's game time. 10K to go, Andi Dreitz is on a mission.
(rock music)
- [Mark] Equally, Reece appears to be on
a bit of a mission himself, too.
We are being hunted (both laugh)
- [Fraser] First pass of the day,
and it's not even five minutes in.
(upbeat drumming)
- Time to shake the boys, time to shake the boys!
(shouts) So hard!
So my game plan is how I always race,
which is to go hard from the gun,
leave everyone for dead.
So I'm going to try and beat the boys today
by going out super hard and never looking back.
- [Mark] Yeah, Andi had different ideas.
(rock music)
- Yeah, it's tough.
We can see them, we are close.
But they are setting a good pace.
But yeah, we still have
a lot of time to go.
Well, my game plan for today is to start solid
and it's the, yeah, one of the last days of
the training camp.
I have really no clue what the legs are able to do.
But then when I feel somebody struggling I will attack.
And yeah, just give it all and uh -
yeah, push whatever I can
(acoustic guitar)
- They're coming.
- My game plan is to not let my wife beat me.
I'm going to set off pretty much a consistent pace
throughout and then try and hopefully
save a little bit for a sprint finish at the end.
- [Mark] Hmm. Interesting that Lucy didn't feature
in that game plan, Reece.
♪ I used to have a wife ♪
♪ But she said she had enough ♪
- My plan is to get from A to B as quick as possible.
And survival. I'm pretty smashed in the moment
but I'm really looking forward to having a good hit up.
It's my second time up the climb.
I've got a factor 30 suncream on my nose,
which I probably don't need, but always be prepared.
- [Mark] Well, we lost him almost straight away,
but as the footage shows, he wasn't lying.
It looks more like a ride to the shops than a race.
Meanwhile, Gary was still in good spirits,
but sadly, this is the last we'll see of Gary today.
(upbeat music)
- My tactic is always to take victory.
I'm going to go out as hard as I can,
and keep going faster.
I'm going to smash it up today, big time.
(upbeat music)
- [Mark] As you can see I've been dropped.
Fraser and Reece are up the road,
and I'm about to be passed but
(exclaims)
I have a trick up my sleeve.
(wind rustling)
(cheerful music)
- Trying some cheater tactics to try and
get myself on to Andi Dreitz but I didn't really succeed.
And now I'm around, well,
we're about half way up this climb.
I know this climb inside out, which is good
and bad in some ways because I know what I've got to come.
Because after this we hit the switch backs.
Which, just really hurts, that bit.
And you know you're so close to the end
Every turn hurts.
But I think that's going to be the bit
that really change the race up the front because, well,
assuming Andi and Matt catch Fraser,
maybe they don't, he's riding well,
I think Andi or Matt, one of them,
is going to really kick on out of one of these corners.
But yeah, be exciting to see.
(upbeat music)
- Mark's just dropped off half the pace.
Back to, I think, I think Reece is just behind
but I know that Andi is,
he's climbing quick.
I can see there in the hairpin that we just went through
that he's not that far behind.
So, I'm kind of just,
doing my best to stay
in front for as long as I can really.
Waiting for Andi to catch.
Which
Will be soon.
- Bit of a tough time now, I'm on my own.
But not because I'm off the front, no.
I've had to let Fraser go.
And Reece.
They're just going a little bit too hard for me.
I had a funny feeling this might happen.
I'm a little bit out of my comfort zone today.
For me, now, I'll just try and hold off Lucy!
♪ I did run out of time ♪
♪ Faced with your advice ♪
♪ To get her back in line ♪
♪ Struggled to suffice ♪
♪ Weighed down by all your pride ♪
♪ Had to break my stride ♪
♪ Then get back on my feet ♪
♪ With nothing left to ensure ♪
♪ Safe trips ♪
(upbeat pop music)
- [Mark] Well it's probably time we caught up with Andi,
who is on take-down number three.
(upbeat music)
- [Mark] So here's where we currently sit.
Lucy and myself are riding together,
as are Matt and Reece just up the road.
Whilst Fraser is still clinging on to that pole position
but Andi is in hot pursuit.
(upbeat music)
- [Mark] Whilst Fraser is having his own battle as am I.
But I'm a gentleman.
I'm going to let Lucy go ahead.
(country music)
- Right, so, it's so tough here.
(breathes heavily) Trying to keep the gap.
We are in the final stage now.
Maybe four minutes more
and then it's over.
(intense rock music)
(heavy breathing)
(exclaims)
- Mother (bleep)!
(heavy breathing)
- Well done!
- That was some crazy in the beginning.
- Well done guys.
(heavy breathing)
Well done Lucy!
- (bleep)
- That was emotional.
I, uh, couldn't hang on to Fraser's wheel.
A bit hopped.
Recovered a little bit again.
And then Lucy came past.
Thought I was doing all right,
and then just blew up catastrophically.
- Oh my god. (laughs)
Yeah, game plan kind of fell apart from the gun.
My husband decided to just leave me straight away,
so what's that for love?
Thought we were working together?
(Lucy and Reece laugh)
- Yeah, it's a little bit of a
poor handicap on our behalf.
I'm quite glad I got a minute.
Yeah, it felt really good, so I just kept going.
- I got confused
I went up to Mirador.
(all laugh)
I've done like 14,000 meters of climbing.
Oh my god.
And I got burned - sun.
- [Mark] The first ever GTN versus pro challenge
and I say that was quite a success.
At the prize giving Andi cried
and said what an honor it was to receive such a trophy.
It was beautiful.
- Mark, I don't think Andi wanted his trophy.
Look, Andi didn't even take the trophy back with him.
- Ah, well, that will fit perfectly in the GTN set.
And you did come second after all
- I did, I did, I did. Perfect.
- That's going to look beautiful, look at it.
- Yeah, pride and place. Center piece.
- And now, on that note, you went a little bit too fast
for my liking. That was pretty impressive.
- I, to be honest, surprised myself with that, Mark.
I actually thought I would be out at the back door
pretty much straight away, so.
- I think a few more videos for tonight,
a year down the line and we'll re-do that one.
But yeah, if you like this video today
hit that thumbs up button.
I'm not sure I liked it too much
but it was good fun really.
Hey if you'd like to see more from GTN
you can click on the globe and subscribe.
And, we've done a pretty good challenge
out here before as well.
- We sure did. So if you want to look at that one
you can click here.