Our commentary for the Race around The Netherlands was cut short due to our commentator falling ill, we sincerely apologise for the absence of any coverage.

If you took part in the race or followed along and would like to provide us with a summary of the race, please email info@dotwatcher.cc and we'd love to hear from you.

End of commentary


There is only one way to describe the weather in the Netherlands on the last two days. Brutal. 

The forecast was for gale force winds with gusts in excess of 80kph, and they weren't wrong. Coupled with considerable amounts of rain, conditions for all riders have been pretty miserable. Those lucky enough to pass Vlissingen before Monday evening have faired best, with those still in Flevopolder coming off worst. 

Baptistine Smets (cap 8), camped out north of Lemmer, rose early, and has made it to a hotel in Lelystad. Finding a hotel to ride out the storm has been a popular approach. Gemma Adelaar (cap 44), stayed in a hotel in Hoorn last night, but after getting just a few kilometers down the road this morning, went back to the hotel to wait out the storm. She posted on instagram that she's not willing to let the storm defeat her. 

Berdine Bakker (cap 13), has made slow but steady progress over the last couple of days, making it to the relative safety of Noord Holland for Monday night, before continuing up the coast to the 1038km point. She's also stopped quite early. 

Ruurdje Procee has made it as far as Zandvoort, The leg from here south is very exposed with the brutal cross wind making things very difficult, hopefully tomorrow conditions will improve somewhat. 

In the pairs, a lot of strike marks have appeared on the map, just two pairs Willems-Timmermans (cap 15/09), and paracyclist Andrea van den Broek's pai with Erik van Rijswijk, are still in the race. 

Up at the pointy end of things, Paul Hesen (cap 27), should be the first rider back sometime in the next couple of hours. While he is first back, he won't be fastest, he passed the last timing point in Limburg 22 hours slower than Bas Vlaskamp, who is about 150km from the finish at the time of writing. Bas ended up crossing paths with the Dutch National Track cycling team in Limburg this afternoon, and even with 1600km in his legs, and with only one gear, he managed to keep up with them. A very impressive feat. 

That covers the main events of the last couple of days, hopefully tomorrow the wind will calm down a bit and riders can start to make up for lost time riding out the storm. And yes, many riders who have posted updates on instagram stories, have made the riders of the storm reference to go with their updates. Even when pushing 250w for 10 hours into a brutal headwind, they maintain their sense of humour. 


Against the wind.


Riders have had two to three days on the road now, and we're starting to see positions settle out. 

Those who started on Friday seemed to stop predominently around the Enschede area. This is quite a common approach for those who are aiming to finish in within the time limit, but aren't worrying too much about posting a super time. It sets up for a second 250km day to end up somewhere around Groningen. There were some notable exceptions however, and Paul Hesen's dot (27), was conspicious by the lead it was building. When he passed Harlingen, the next closest rider was 200km behind. Paul did a sterling effort, making it all the way to Amsterdam and 870km before stopping for some sleep. But with the staggered start, you can't read too much into position purely based on the dots on the map. We have to look at the timing splits. And here we have an interesting story to tell.

Bas Vlaskamp (cap 10), started late, having forgotten the small issue of his front wheel when he first went to the start, and has been making steady progress ever since. A tracker signal issue at timing 1 meant we had to wait for him to do 440km before his place in the standings would start to shake out. He passed timing 2 70 minutes faster than the next fastest rider Sven Cappuyns (cap 24), a lead he had extended to 90 minutes by timing 3, and by timing 5 it sits at 2 hours 40 minutes. While Paul Hesen leads on the map, he's over 12 hours slower to the same timing location. Bas looks like he's getting some rest in Den Helder. He's done 1000km in a little over 36 hours. A very impressive effort. 

Else where in the field, lots of riders have been reporting that the wind is giving them issues. As I explained in last year's race preview, the wind is the big decider in this race. Race veteren Tjerk Bakker (cap 112), reported that he'd had headwinds for 300km and was struggling to make 18kph. I can really feel his pain, in 2019 I had a headwind for 600km of the route, until you've experienced it, it's difficult to appreciate how soul destroying it is. The wind has also brought with it a fair amount of rain, just adding to the sense of misery. 

Starting one day after the other women Berdine Bakker (cap 13), has been putting in an amazing effort, passing timing 3 nearly 3 hours faster than next fastest woman Ruurdje Procee (cap 104). On Sunday afternoon Baptistine Smets (cap 8), stopped surprisingly early just off the course at Uithuizen. Her social media posts suggests things are going to plan and this is where she had intended to stop. However it did allow Berdine Bakker (cap 13), to pass her on the road. Berdine has since stopped in Anjum. It will be interesting who rests longest, and if they will continue to leap frog each other on the road, even if not the timing sheets, for the foreseable. 

Gemma Adelaar (cap 44), has been continuing to make steady progress, passing timing 3 ahead of Baptistine Smets (cap 8), by just shy of 4 hours. Gemma has now stopped for the night at Jacobiparochie. 

In the pairs, things look surprisingly well matched, atleast based on dot positions on the map. All the riders that started on Friday passed timing 4 within 5 hours of each other. Tho Raplh Cullen and Martijn Driedonks (cap 68/86), are nearly 15 hours faster at the same point. It will be interesting how things pan out here. The blue dots are certainly starting to spread out a bit more now. 

That's it for today, I'll be back tomorrow for my updates, as we see if Bas can over take Paul on the road. The weather forecast is for 25kph winds from the south west, with gusts over 50kph, tho Tuesday may be even more bouncy with forecast gusts from the west upto 87kph along with plenty of rain. 

First days


## Route and Rules

The Fourth edition of the Race Around the Netherlands has begun. This ~1900km race will see riders complete a circumnavigation of the Netherlands. I went into great detail about the route in the [2020 Race preview](https://dotwatcher.cc/race/race-around-the-netherlands-2020?post=6nPxjQGK6ii0XZlq2qbh3r), so won't write a second love letter to Dutch cycling here.

Instead, let's look at what's new for this year's race. Because of the whole pandemic situation, the usual mass start on the 1st of May, has been swapped for a staggered start with riders starting in small groups in the Morning of the 30th, and the 1st. This will make things a little harder to follow as a dotwatcher, we're going to have to rely a lot more on split times at the various timing points to compare where riders are. Perhaps the more significiant rule change for this year, however, is that riders are allowed to prebook accomodation. For anyone relatively new to ultra racing, normally riders cannot prearrange anything (although their's nothing to stop you pulling over, 100m after starting, and booking everything at once). But given the restrictions, and limited number of places that are open, this is sensible decision by race organisers. This could prove to be a bit of a double edged sword. Riders have to take a guess based on how they think they will do in the conditions, and either risk not using a booking they made cos they went further, or much shorter than planned, or have to push it to make their prefered hotel. Time will tell how this pans out. Hotels are also not allowed to server meals.

For those not resident in the Netherlands, we should probably point out that restaurants and cafes are not open for eating in at the moment, and even outdoor dining is heavily restricted. This is going to make the feeding side of things a lot more complicated. Even the ultra racers stallwart the Gas Station Shop may not be the saviour that it has been in previous races, many, especially rural gas stations, have closed their shops during during the pandemic, operating purely as automated fuel dispensors. How riders manage these restrictions could make or break the race. 

## Riders.

With the Route and rule changes out the way, let's look at who's riding this year. The first thing that sticks out with this year's rider list is an absense of the two winning riders of last year. Neither Jasmijn nor Daan are riding this year. This makes it very hard to make any predictions about who might make what sort of performance. 

Of the women, there are four solo riders, with a further 3 riding in mixed pairs. 

Baptistine Smets (cap 8), is a cycle courier from Belgium. I can't find a record of her previous ultra racing endeavours, but if Ede Harrison and Emily Chappell have taught us anything, it's that cycle couriering is a great way to train for an ultra race. 

Gemma Adelaar (cap 44), from Utrecht, has been cycling since 2009, pushing out some big annual distances in that time. This is her first ultra race. 

Ruudje Procee (cap 104), has extensive Dutch cycling experience, in 2020 she completed the [Long Term NL Challenge](https://www.longtermnlchallenge.nl/nextgeneration/), visiting all 355 Dutch Municipalities within a single calendar year. This should set her up well for the race. 

Finally of the solo window we have Berdine Bakker (cap 13). Berdine is the only solo woman starting on the Saturday. She's a pro road cyclist with an impressive CV. Having competed against the likes of Marianne Vos, and Annmieke van Vleuten in the Dutch National Road Race Championships. It will be interesting to see how her experience from the pro pelaton can transfer into the realm of ultra racing. 

Of the solo men, with no Daan riding this year, many people are looking to Bas Vlaskamp (cap 10). He won in 2019, and was giving Daan a run for his money in 2020 before slipping behind in Limberg. Bas is mixing it up a bit this year by riding single speed (but not fixed), he also says he's bringing more warm clothing, and 5 spare tubes. Bas is starting last, it will be interesting to see how fast he moves up through the field. His start was put back by 1 hour after he got to the start and noticed he was missing something... a front wheel. Single speed is one thing, but doing it with 50% fewer wheels than everyone else is apparently not his intention, and having gone home to collect his wheel, he's working his way up the field. 

Else where in the men, Bas is tipping Martijn Verhaeg (cap 25) as a strong contender. Martijn is two times 24 hour MTB Dutch National Champion (2018, 2019). It'll be interesting to see how his off road experience translates to a fully paved course. 

There's a bit more variety than normal in the bikes being used this year, notably Wandert	Benthem	(cap 116), and Lars Wierenga (cap 72), are running flat bar bikes, they both have aero extension. There is also at least one rider riding with a Pinion mid drive gear box and a carbon belt drive, an unusual setup for an ultra race. 

With the return to the traditional May slot, this year's race will once again be heavily influenced by the weather. Looking at the forecast the best we can say is it's going to be changable, rain, occasional strong winds, and possibly, just maybe, a chance of sun. This is what makes RatN such a challenge. Sure it may not involve thousands of meters of climbing, but the weather provides it's own challenge. Time will tell how that pans out. 

I'll be back with daily updates as the race settles down. To all riders, Ride strong! 

It begins.

Fast and flat; what the Netherlands lacks in elevation and terrain it more than makes up for with its wind and characterful villages. Don't let the elevation profile fool you, this is not an easy race.

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