Belgium’s Kristoff Allegaert has seized back control of the Indian Pacific Wheel Race, leading Great Britain’s Mike Hall by 168 kilometres as he heads towards the finish line at Sydney Opera House.
Allegaert’s re-establishment of the lead he has held for almost the entire race followed a day when followers of the race were abuzz on social media about the battle taking place between the two men.
This time yesterday, the pair were almost inseparable, trading the race lead along the Murray River ahead of the tough climb up to Cabrumurra.
But while Allegaert pressed on up the ascent, Hall stopped for rest that was much-needed following his exertions to catch and briefly pass his rival.
By the time the Briton got back on the bike more than five hours later, the leader was over the top of the ascent and well on his way to Canberra.
Hall reached the checkpoint at Cooma at 7.48pm local time on Thursday evening – that’s 9.48am in the UK – but Allegaert had made it there a little more than eight hours earlier.
He’s kept on riding and is now across the border and into New South Wales and heading towards a rather rainy Sydney, which he should hit sometime tomorrow.
As the main picture above shows, there are cyclists spread out all along the southern Australian coast – so even once Allegaert and Hall hit the finish, there will be plenty of racing, and plenty of stories, still to come.
You can follow the progress of the two leaders, and the rest of the riders in the race, using the online tracker here.
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13 comments
Just heard mike died in a crash- awful
rest in peace and thanks for the inspiration
I think he is now moving....
is Mike having a really good sleep, there is a hotel just down from where he has stopped. Then monster it all the way to the end? in the dark whilst in major cities less of an issue as well it will be well litcompared to the back end of beyond.
The longest sleep of them all, if news reports from Australia are true. RIP.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-03-31/cyclist-killed-on-road-south-of-ca...
Looks like Mike's night vision issue might have him hunkered down waiting for light. Or his tracker has run out of juice. No updates for nearly 5 hrs. Kristof power on. Sarah holding on to 3rd on that last big climb. Hope she gets over without issue.
Na I reckon Mike's doing a sneaky attack with it turned off.
What a sense of acheivment doing that 'race' must give, got my respect all who entered, well done all
Looks more like a disc brake injury to me....
(and not a disc brake in sight)
over on BNA http://www.bicycles.net.au/forums/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=93848&p=1398495&sid=45c3033b618b1e0d657e98d0c3d5db2e#p1398495
this poster blames a wombat but no source - quite possible they are big and nasty. (full stop) and out in the dark and easy to hit
Thought this was a wombat related injury? Didn't he collide with one on a downhill section in the dark?
I think he was joking when he said that. Wombats are a decent size to crash into, then once you get up you've got an annoyed wombat to deal with.
It started with Kangaroos (https://tinyurl.com/o72tr3l) and now the Wombats are revolting?!
Australia. Putting the Wild in Wildlife since the year dot.
Kristoff maybe went down at some point yesterday. Image of him goin' round with a cut leg. Actually looks more like it was cut with a tool or cable more than a typical fall wound.