This page contains information about the 2013 Transcontinental Race No1. See the Overview page for a general introduction to the Transcontinental Race (TCR). See also the official TCR page.

Route Summary

The race started on Westminster Bridge, in front of the houses of parliament in London, UK on 3rd August, 2013, at 8:00am. Everyone then rode to Dover to take a ferry across the English Channel to Dunkerque or Calais. The first checkpoint was one of the steep cobbled climbs often used in the Tour of Flanders professional bike race: the Muur van Geraardsbergen in Belgium. The leaders arrived before the end of the first day after riding about 275 km and doing the ferry crossing.

There was only one more checkpoint, which was at the top of the Stelvio Pass – the second highest paved pass in the Alps at an elevation of 2,757 meters. To get there, most people stayed to the north of the French Vosges mountains, but there was then a division between some people riding via Germany and Austria whilst others went further south via Switzerland. The leaders climbed the Stelvio in dry conditions, but much of the field experienced cold and wet weather. Unfortunately, two people were not aware that they should climb the Stelvio from the more famous east side, and took the more direct route from Switzerland via the Umbrail Pass, so did not receive the control stamp.

The Stelvio Pass was less than halfway to Istanbul. Many people took the longer, but flatter route staying further north heading towards the Drava river valley and into the Balkans, others took a slightly more direct but hillier southerly route, passing close to the Adriatic Sea. A few people used the option of riding down the Italian coast and taking a ferry across the Adriatic. Only one person entered Turkey via Greece, all others took a more northerly route via Bulgaria. The typical total distance ridden was 3200 to 3400 km. The map at the bottom of this page shows the simplified routes.

To view specific rider tracks, go to Trackleaders and select All Rider Tracks in the Map Layers menu. Here is the simplified map:

Results Highlights

The official results are here. Everyone who registered was given a starting place, with 30 people making it to the start line. 20 people officially finished in Istanbul, 18 of whom arrived before the party at the end of the 15th day.

Kristof Allegaert (Belgium) won, with a time of 7 days, 13 hours, and 45 minutes. He lead at both Control Points and had a lead of more than 24 hours by the finish. Richard Dunnett (UK) had been 3rd at CP1, but moved up to 2nd by CP2 and kept that position at the finish. 3 other riders spent time in the top 3, with Matt Wilkins (Australia) getting the final step on the podium at the finish.

Juliana Buhring (Germany) was the only woman to start, and finished in 9th place overall, in just over 12 days. See the Complete Results section below for some further analyses. This figure shows the progress of each rider, click to enlarge it.

Race Reports & Media

Official reports:

• Fuel for Body and Mind on the TCR
• Bikes of the TCR
• The First 24 Hours
• Leaders Pass Through the Alps, Navigation Separates the Field
• Finito at the Cima Coppi
• TCR Enters Istanbul: We Have a Winner
• Tales From the Block
• Official TCR video

Media/sponsor reports:

• Road.cc: Launch, Preview, Start, Men’s winner, Women’s winner
• Brooks: blog post 1, blog post 2, blog post 3, Bugle magazine
• Specialized’s Melons, Trucks, & Angry Dogs video: Part I, Part II, Part III, & Part IV

Others:

• Video from the start
• Always Riding blog post

Complete Results & Individual Ride Reports

Notes:

* Official placings for CP1 were only available for the first 10 people, other placings determined via tracker data and so are unofficial and imprecise.
** Sebastian Gassner & Daniel Wilson climbed CP2 from the wrong side, but received no penalty.
*** Recep Yesil was marked as a scratch at CP2 due to taking motorized transport, but was also listed with a finish time, which explains why some reports state that there were 21 finishers.

This page is in the The Transcontinental Race section. The next page in this section is: