As the Tour de France reached its crescendo on the beach in Nice instead of its usual mecca of the Champs-Élysées, it was at another holy site of racing where arguably a contest requiring equal fortitude set off.
A lap of the Roubaix velodrome saw 302 riders set off on 2024 Transcontinental Race, a 4,000 km self-supported journey to Istanbul. TCR is largely self-selected in terms of route, but riders must travel through certain mandatory route sections called ‘Parcours’, and must also pass a number of mandatory Control Points (CPs) to get their Brevet Cards stamped for the 10th running of one of the world’s toughest ultra-cycling races.
The race headed out from Geraardsbergen at 8 pm local time, flaming torches lighting the way for riders up the Muur van Geraardsbergen as they rode off into the night. They would then make their way to CP1 in Slovenia, CP2 southwest of Sarajevo, Bosnia, before heading to Kosovo for the first time in the race’s history in the ski resort of Prevallë for CP3, before a final CP4 just east of Istanbul before the riders loop around to reach the city and their finish line.
The last time TCR finished in Istanbul was nine years ago at TCRNo3, won by Josh Ibbett who returns to the race this year alongside last year’s podium of Christoph Strasser, Robin Gemperle and Tim de Witte.
What follows is a condensed summary of thousands of kilometres raced by hundreds of bike riders, collated from the excellent, on-the-ground reporting of the Transcontinental Race’s own media team, who have been following the race in a support car, tracking rider’s dots and catching them at café pit stops to give us glimpses inside the race. A blend of old-school adventure in the internet era.
Day 1
As day broke for day one of the race, riders either set off south towards Luxembourg before heading east along the French-German border, while others stayed north, aiming for Cologne to hook up to the Rhine river before heading south themselves.
Italian adventurer Omar Di Felice, known for his attempts to cross Antarctica by bike, crashed after 35 km and damaged his derailleur but still managed to clock more than 400 km as lunchtime approached.
On that southern route, 22-year-old and Transcontinental debutant Victor Bosoni led his half of the pack through Bavaria and towards the Alps. On the more easterly path, last year’s runner-up Robin Gemperle had covered 752 km after 22 hours 52 minutes, only stopping for eight minutes and averaging 31.63 km/h as he too made for the Austrian Alps. Behind, Di Felice and defending champion Christoph Strasser were in the northern-route chasing pack who’d passed Munich also heading towards the border.
Day 2
Gemperle held a 50 km advantage over Strasser and Palestinian Abdullah Zeinab, with Di Felice a further 20 km behind, as the race leader tackled the Obertauern before the 15% gradients of the Katschberg Pass, cutting across Austria to arrive at the Slovenian CP1 after 2 days, 5 hours and 59 minutes, having ridden 1,370 km and extending his lead to 80 km. The fastest woman, Jana Kesenheimer, was in the top 20 riders and battling power issues as she headed toward the Parcours 1 on the road to Control Point 1.
Bosoni had also still been near the front, 50 km from Parcours 1, when he realised he’d left his passport and wallet at a petrol station in Innsbruck. Turning around to climb back over the Brenner pass, he would now face an extra 550 km to get back to the point when that chill presumably ran down his spine upon realising what he’d left behind.
By this point a few other riders had unfortunately been forced to pull out, or “scratched.” Jesper Avén had “an accident with a vehicle” and was in a safe condition in hospital, while former winner Ibbett DNFed due to knee pain.
Day 3
While 50 riders had also now trickled through CP1, Gemperle had reached Croatia en route to CP2 in Bosnia. Jaimi Wilson reached CP1 13 hours behind leading woman Kesenheimer.
Back down the dots, mid-pack rider Ranulph Steiger was forging ahead. “It’s just really hard, you get used to your dot moving but to make it move is flipping painful,” he told the Transcontinental Race media team. “You have to put in the massive distances just to stay competitive.”
Meanwhile, there was joy for Matthew Lay when he happened upon six other riders who’d also been drawn to the golden arches of a McDonald’s on their route.
“Can you imagine it?” he said. “Seven riders on complete autonomy found this one McDonald’s after the rain.”
Further ahead, Strasser was struggling with his navigation and had made consistent wrong turns, also forced to use his backup phone after his main one stopped working a few days into the race.
There were regrets too for Gemperle, who headed through Zagreb towards the Bosnian border, wishing he’d not chosen the Croatian capital as a route for the second year in a row. “Zagreb by bike is not so nice,” he lamented.
Day 4
Gemperle had continued into Montenegro, with Zeinab now second and within 50 km of the leader. Strasser and Di Felice were now part of a chasing group around 40 km further behind, with 15 total riders passed through CP2.
Zeinab stopped for 12 hours while Gemperle opted for a 19-hour rest. Things were more stressful for Strasser, who punctured on the descent from CP2 and found his pump to be broken. Strasser blew air into a new tube and continued down to the next town, resting for only four hours on the road to Montenegro. “The TCR is really testing me, the series of problem solving doesn’t stop,” he said.
Day 5
120 riders had now made it to CP1, with more still sprinting to arrive before the cut-off at midnight. This included Bosoni, now reunited with his passport and wallet.
“I want to honour the race, for me it’s a dream to be here,” Victor told race organisers at CP1. “People say to me that I am writing a legend, but I don’t think so. I just made a mistake and I’m just riding my bike. I caught a lot of riders behind me, and I think they are more deserved [of the praise] than me.”
Bosoni had ridden a total of 1,900 km, while Gemperle had managed 2,300 km and was now at CP3, two countries farther across. Gemperle arrived in Kosovo at 21:54, with Zeinab then coming in at 01:27 and Strasser third at 05:54.
Day 6
With temperatures reaching 35°C / 95°F in North Macedonia, Control Car 1 spotted Gemperle with a Calippo ice lolly tucked down the back of his jersey to try and keep him cool. Zeinab was doing much better in the heat, briefly overtaking Gemperle for the first time in the race at 06:00 in the capital city of Skopje as Gemperle rested, but when the Swiss got back on his bike he soon retook his race lead.
As Bosoni battled with brake issues, a rider ahead of him, Mark Kowalski, experienced the dread that Bosoni had a couple of days ago.
“I went to pay for my two banana ice creams and orange soda, and realised I didn’t have my wallet …” he said. “At CP2 I visually remembered putting my passport in my bag, and thought it’s fine, I’m not going to check because I know it’s in there,” before turning around for a 70 km round trip with 1,200 meters of climbing to retrieve his money.
Day 7
Gemperle led the race from Europe to Asia, arriving at CP4 in Turkey at 15:05, 100 km and nearly four hours ahead of Zeinab, with Strasser a further five hours behind before later closing to within 30 km of the Palestinian. First woman Kesenheimer was also Turkey-bound from Greece, still a fair way ahead of second-place woman Wilson.
Gemperle arrived at CP4 off the ferry from Greece, suffering from the heat and a ligament in his left knee that caused him pain whilst walking, but crucially not while riding. Zeinab tried to nap for 20 minutes at CP4 but sleep evaded him, so he headed off instead in search of food, having suffered multiple punctures, a broken pump and low water supply. Strasser only made the ferry five minutes before it left, replacing his pump in Çanakkale and then heading to a hotel for a few hours of shuteye. “The guys at the front are going so fast,” he said. “I don’t know how they are doing it. It is a great race.”
Day 8
A total of 220 riders had reached CP2 before the cut-off at midnight last night, with Gemperle heading north to the finish line in Istanbul. Behind, Zeinab had five flats on the final Parcours, Strasser beating him in that regard with 6.
“I’m really lucky I had enough spares to fix everything, and enough to eat and drink,” Strasser said. “But nothing must happen anymore because otherwise I have a big problem, I need a shop soon.”
With Zeinab stopping for rest, Strasser finally overhauled him, while Gemperle located some new sunglasses after his were run over by a car. “I am starting to smell Istanbul, but let’s not curse it,” Gemperle said.
Curses abated, as Gemperle made it to Istanbul with the very satisfying time of 8 days, 23 hours and 59 minutes. Strasser was next in, after 9 days 4 hours and 32 minutes, with the Belgian Tim de Witte sneaking into the final podium place with a time of 9 days 13 hours and 11 minutes, an agonising 32 minutes ahead of Zeinab, who had turned back to cover a section of the final Parcours that he had missed.
“It’s my third really big race and last year was the very first attempt in actually going for a win in a major race,” Gemperle had said before the start in Roubaix. “I think it just makes sense that now with the third attempt, chances are way higher than they have been last year.”
His premonition was correct, and now adds the TCR to his Atlas Mountain Race and Hope 1000 victories, reversing the result of TCR 2023, where Strasser beat him by 6 hours and 17 minutes in a time of 8 days, 16 hours and 30 minutes.
Nearly 24 hours after Gamperle reached Istanbul, only four other riders have joined him at the finish line, with 200 dots still strewn across the Balkans making their way eastwards, races within races unfolding as all forge on for their own slice of deserved glory after crossing a continent by bike.
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