Trans Siberia Extreme

[Salvatore]

If you're wondering why Kristof Allegaert is not riding the Transcontinental this year, it's because he's riding this. Moscow-Vladivostok, following the route of the Trans-Siberian Railway. It's being run as a stage race, total length over 9000km with stages up to 1300 km (if I understand it correctly). Supported, with following cars. Web page here with live tracker, pictures, latest news etc.

There was a 28-hour limit on the 945-km stage from  Yekaterinburg to Omsk

The teams are riding neck-and-neck. The German duo edged the Russians and the Italians, who finished in joint-second. It’s much more complicated in the solo category. Eduard Fuchs chased birthday boy Steve Harvey and they finished level on the fourth stage. Kristof Allegaert was two hours behind.

They are currently at Irkutsk, well over half-way. Currently the overall is very tight, with Kristof just behind British triathlete Steve Harvey.  Kristof has pulled pulled back a lot of his deficit in the last two stages.



Twitter feeds
https://twitter.com/AllegaertK
https://twitter.com/Ultratristeveh
https://twitter.com/hashtag/redbulltranssiberianextreme?src=hash

[LittleWheelsandBig]

965km in 28hr max. = 33.75km/h, better than evens!

[Salvatore]

That 28-hour figure must be wrong. Harvey and Fuchs finished that stage in 31:27.6, Allegaert in 33:32.15 (and Madjara (now retired I think) in 66:29.59 I think this must include a time penalty for not finishing in the time limiy).

Still that's 30 kph for the winners of this stage.

Ah, got it. The limit must be 28 kph rather than 28 hours, because I think Kristof tweeted to say he'd only just made the time limit. For 945 km the limit would be 33 hours 45 minutes.

There are  apps specifically for the event for apple & android, easier to navigate than the website I find.

[mrcharly-YHT]

That's bonkers!

28kph minimum over that distance? Blimey, that is travelling. Utterly, utterly bonkers.

[Salvatore]

On stage 9 ('only' 382 km) all 4 averaged over 32 kph. I think they must have ridden together most of the way, but still, as you say, bonkers.

Just looking at the route on the tracking map and the vast distance covered fills me with awe.

Most of know Kristof Allegaert's palmares, but there's a Q & A on the website for individual riders. Steve Harvey does things like Deca (10x) Ironmans, and Tri Decas (Ironman a day for 30 days).

[Salvatore]

The official bulletin for stage 10 makes it sound like a clubrun, with all but one rider finishing together ...

The red bull Trans-SIberian Extreme peloton has successfully finished the tenth stage reaching Ulan-Ude. the riders asked the organisers for a stop at the lake Baikal for a swim and crossed the finish line in a pack keeping their places in the rankings

... except unlike a clubrun they covered 454km at 32.4 kph.

Stage 11, 659 km from Ulan-Ude to Chita, was won by Kristof Allegaert, with Ed Fuchs 34 minutes behind, but more significantly he gained 3 hrs 50 on Steve Harvey, and now has a lead of over 3:38 hours on GC.

Sounds like a big lead, but there are still over 2.5 PBPs before they reach Vladivostok. Tomorrow's stage 12 (beginning middle of the night GMT) is a monster 1342 km from Chita to Svobodny "through the Yablonovy Mountains along the border of China, with dense taiga forests and swamps on the side of the road. Sudden changes in temperature (up to 40 degrees), mosquitoes and long climbs make this stage a serious endurance challenge." No kidding. They'll have to grab some sleep somewhere as well on a stage of that length.

In the duo category the leaders are the Russian pair Ivan Kovalev (current world scratch champion) and Mikhail Ignatyev (5 Giri, 2 Tours, 3 Vueltas completed) .

[Cudzoziemiec]

Truly bonkers to the max, in a very impressive way.

 

[mrcharly-YHT]

their endurance is one thing, but I'm absolutely gobsmacked at the average speeds they are managing over those distances.

[Mr Larrington]

I'm wondering what the roads are like out east as well

[andrew_s]

In the duo category the leaders are the Russian pair Ivan Kovalev (current world scratch champion) and Mikhail Ignatyev (5 Giri, 2 Tours, 3 Vueltas completed) .

Not any more.
They've been stationary for well over a day, and still have 800 km to do whilst the other pairs have finished the (1380 km) stage.
Either that, or they dropped their tracker.

Kristof has about 100 km to go, with a lead of about 75 km over Eduard Fuchs and 175 km over Steve Harvey.

[Salvatore]

I suspect tracker trouble.

DUO teams finished all together in really nice and fair team work the 1340 km in 42 hours with an average speed of 31,9 km/h and are now sleeping in the Sports complex of Svobodny

From what I can gather Kristof got by with one hour's sleep and is now having a 'big nap'.

[Salvatore]

02-08-2015 14:26
The German duo of Thomas John and Johannes Rosenberger were the first to cross the finish line in Svobodny, just eight seconds ahead of the Russians who   the Italian team into third. Belgium’s Allegaert prevailed in the solo category, with second-placed Eduard Fuchs of Austria more than 30 minutes* behind. Briton Steve Harvey completed the podium as Madjara got the wooden spoon.

I can't see any official classement yet but Kristol Allegaert won with such a massive margin that he'll be starting the next stage with significantly more rest than the other solo competitors.

* edit: actually more than 3 hours

[Salvatore]

Stage 13 415km from Svobodny to Obluchye. No change to the overall. Average speeds way down - very strong headwinds, apparently, plus I guess they must all be pretty knackered by now. Only 4 hours rest before the next stage (343 km to Khaborovsk) begins.

[andrew_s]

standings at the end of stage 14:

Overall rankings:
Russian Duo 259:06:09
German Duo 260:31:38
Italian Duo 262:56:33
Kristof Allegaert 291:59:23
Eduard Fuchs 303:49:49
Steve Harvey 305:45:05
Denis Madjara 367:20:59

They should be finished by tomorrow morning. It looks like Kristof will add another 2 or 3 hours onto his lead.

[Salvatore]

Kristof now approaching the outskirts of Vladivostok.