Despite the official finish being last night, we pushed the wrap up a little later as GOSIA MADE IT! After losing her entire rear pack, she still rolled into Bilbao, just half a day after the official finish at 14:15.

There was pizza, there was a party. The riders all gathered at the finish for Pizza last night to reminisce about their race and remember the good, bad and ugly from the road.

What occurred?

German rider, Adam Bialek, took the race by storm finishing in just over a week with a clear win. Ana Orenz likewise took a clear win after finishing on Monday past, an impressive ride from both given the conditions...

Our riders faced wind, torrential rain and scorching sun all within a few days. Many riders were forced to retire due to extreme cold suffering and a few were underkitted, leading to a dash to the bike shop.

It was a fantastic race, catch up on the DotWatching below.

Rainproofing by Jesus.

As the riders continue to traverse the final 2 checkpoints and parcour, we've seen plenty of stories still pouring in. With the latest finish time to qualify for GC being tomorrow at 9pm, the remaining riders on the road will have to push through to finish on time, totally feasible but a hard ride for a few!

Rishi and Simon continue to tour through the Spanish countryside and have met up in Comillas for a drink and reminisce on their time at TransIberica.

Jesus has been sharing some photos of his journey, cows, bears and beautiful countryside. A standout feature of TransIberica.

Today Rowan, Sergio and Tobias rolled in. Well, they all rolled in through the night last night with no riders finishing during the day today.

After being the Queen stage of the TransIberica 2023 Parcour, CP8's Ancares climb has been defeated by all of the riders. Our lanterne rouge Jesus David Morente, and slightly ahead of him Gosia Szwaracka, are just about to reach the checkpoint at CP8.

Finishing today were Philippe Ramseyer and Julien Silverston, rounding off the top 15.

In other news, Sergio Cristancho, who should hopefully be our next rider in, took on an extra climb with San Lorenzo. Something that may have been a bucket list climb for the hardy rider at 10km with 1346m of elevation it definitely wasn't one to choose if you're vertically averse!

Keep an eye out as our second woman, Nadine Ansorg, rolls through CP9 as she is currently on the parcour at Casielles.

Photo by bite.of.me

As we move further into the second week, all of our riders are on the Northern edge of Spain. We have 14 riders still out on the road, with the weather improving over the next couple of days hopefully they'll see a more pleasant finish to the ride!

A waterlogged phone

Pablo Calvo, Cap 8, soaked his phone so it would no longer charge. To make sure he had directions for the rest of the ride, he wrote them down on a small note. True old school efforts towards ultra-cycling here. Pablo pictured by bite.of.me.

Jan Zimmermann, Cap 60, finished today without his pair after Mercel Müller stopped at 800km. It's difficult to finish without a pair in a race that you've planned together. Sometimes riders will push through and finish an amazing feat without their pair. Well done Jan!

Ana Orenz is the first woman to finish TransIberica 2023! Congratulations Ana.

After crashing her bike at TransIberica in 2021 into a boar that unavoidably ran across her path, Ana sustained life-changing injuries. She headed back to TransIberica last year but didn't finish despite covering 2500km. This year she has smashed the race and finished in just under 10 days, a marvellous feat given the treacherous weather conditions.

photo by @bite.of.me

Photo by bite.of.me

After 8 long days the riders are still flowing across Spain. We've had 9 finishers rolling in so far with plenty of stories to tell. Martin and Piotr made it in, despite their harrowing adventure at CP8.

Pairs Race

A pairs update, Jokin Etxebarria and Raúl Peralta the first pair abandoned the race yesterday. They too struggled on CP8 and with a below 5'C descent they decided to finish together rather than riding for the next three days in the rain. A choice that is well made and I hope they're enjoying the recovery.

Stories from the road

Cap 47, Miguel David Sepúlveda, sent home some of his kit as he was weighed down. However, when the heavens opened he had to head to an outdoor shop to buy some warm clothing.

Michael Mayer, Cap 40, crashed in the last 30km giving himself a "special tasting of bizkayan tarmac"! He thankfully got it seen to in the race finish at Bilbao but the organiser has warned riders to be careful crossing the tram tracks.

The team have taken a look at Pawel's bike and his tyres are shredded!! See the attached pictured.

Featured photo by bite.of.me

After just over 7 days of riding in every weather condition possible, excluding snow, we have our completed podium. With Thomas Ceyrowsky coming in second with 7D 21H 54MIN finishing time and covering 2642KM, covering over 330km every day.

Here is Thomas below by Carlos Mazon.

Next up is Pawel Pieczka who finished just over 40 minutes ago who finished in a satisfying 8 days 0 hours and 26 minutes, covering the shortest distance of any of the podium riders at 2533.68 KM.

Pawel and Thomas have had a really unbelievable ride, heading toe to toe literally until the last minute. Eagle-eyed race veteran and previous winner, Pawel Pulawski, saw Pawel and Martin resting in the same place last night, Thomas Overtaking at 9pm! Such a close race, pushing each other from day one

Speaking of, Martin Haubold should be finished any hour now, completing the chasing group of this closely fought race. Martin sadly lost control of his rear mech last night. He went back into town and was waiting for daylight to fix it. Staying in a hotel he ended up stopping for a significant amount of unplanned time. This opened up the moment for Thomas and meant Pawel was rested during the time Martin stopped!

The resting tactics really did make a difference, Thomas managed to use his rests wisely, taking the bookended non-rest days to take his competitors at the last moment.

Cold Riders

Photographer, bite.of.me, found cap 40, Michael Mayer, and 45, Piotr Baranowski, at the city at the bottom of CP8. They were so cold that when she saw Piotr he was still shaking (featured photo). They hunkered down in a hotel room to warm up and wait out the cold.

With temperatures at sub-10'C in the valley it is significantly colder for the riders in the rain and wind up high in the mountains. A lot of the riders will be taking a little longer than their 4 hour rests from now on to make sure they aren't in the cold and wet when there's no chance of the sun drying them off.

Women's Race

Speaking of, Ana Orenz is currently on the parcour for CP8 looking like she's ready to take her night's rest mid-parcour in the town there. Ana is the first woman on the road with Nadine Ansorg next and then Gosia Szwaracka.

After having her rear pack taken early in the race, Gosia has been pressing on but took a long break yesterday. She found some new clothes but has been struggling to shop with her bike in tow. With some great snacks in hopefully she'll feel better soon.

Nadine is still pressing on, battling some strong headwinds today she has avoided a lot of the rain being further south but is now on the big gap between CP 6 and CP7. She took the NW route and is now closing in on CP7.

Keep an eye on the tracking for more finishers tomorrow!

After an astonishingly fast ride, Adam Bialek rolled into the finish during the night. 7 days, 3 hours and 49 minutes to cover 2653km including the new mandatory rest stops.

Featured photo by Carlos Mazon

The riders are facing every season this year. With temperatures now dropping to 11'C in the North, there's been lots of rain on the roads of parcour 9. Photographer, bite.of.me, went over to catch Adam Bialek over the parcour and caught the temperature gauge reading 11 on the dash! Despite this turn, Adam has been moving strong and is just about to surpass 2500km pushing him further towards CP10. The parcour at CP9, Casielles, is notorious for these conditions and being a dangerous bit of riding. The race organisation team made sure to brief the riders and we'll see some more conservative times up and down the climbs fue to these treacherous conditions.

Touring

Two of our DNFs have chosen to take the remaining time to tour, Rishi Fox and Simon Romaine. Simon struggled with saddle sores and has been exploring on foot, pictured, whilst Rishi continues to tour slowly to keep her chest symptoms at bay. Often, it is a disappointment to DNF, despite it being out of our control so it's always nice to see talented riders making the most of their time out on the road. Chapeau Simon and Rishi!

CP10

CP10 - Estacas/ Lunada, is the final checkpoint with the penultimate parcour (there is a finish parcour at TransIberica). After being spat out North from CP9, creating a sort of unlidded square on the map, the riders will approach the parcour at 10 at a Southeasterly angle. They'll then follow the river along the valley to Vega de Pas and start the parcour. The riders have to complete a U shaped section leaving a valley, entering another and then another giving plenty of elevation. There's a lot of climbing and descending before they reach the CP at La Pedrosa.

The Leaderboard

Adam continues to push on, encroaching on the parcour at CP10 it seems like it could be a shooin for Adam. Behind Pawel has come through as most likely second place but with the unpredictable weather in this region it is all to play for. We'll update more on the chasing pack as Adam closes in on the finish.

Ana Orenz had a rough ride yesterday, sleeping at the CP resting a little longer than usual to recoup some of the sleep debt, waking up to 9'C. She'll be heading through Asturias soon, where Adam was confronted with some severely poor weather which is continued to be forecast. With the poor weather forecast, the parcour may be difficult to tackle at night. She's looking strong and will be very likely to finish early next week.

David Molina Grande met Raul, Cap 10, on the road and sent through some photographs of this bikepacking simplist. Raul Muñoz has been moving nicely through the Spanish countryside and is currently 909.75 KM into this 2500km race. A setup made up of low-fi bikepacking gear and a BTWin bike shows that bikepacking races don't always need the most high-tech gear!

Here some shots of his setup:

Cow Whistles

Riders have remarked there are plenty of cows on the mountain roads South of Penafiel. Upon registration the riders were provided with a survival pack that contains an ultra-sonic whistle, specifically to alert animals to their presence. A great way to have both a survival kit but also race specific essentials.

The Climbs

As you can see from this image, from Altimetrias, there's some spicy climbs that are unavoidable even up to the Parcours on CP8. This climb precedes the parcour and is 5km at nearly 12%! This gives an idea of how steep the mountainous areas of this race are. Johannes Schuetzenhofer is just about to tackle this climb after moving into 6th place. In the later hours of yesterday evening, Adam Bialek tackled the climb and was caught in motion by @bite.of.me below.

CP9 Casielles

Adam is currently encroaching on the parcour at CP9, Casielles. The parcour is riddled with climbs travelling Southeasterly as riders move towards their penultimate checkpoint. The highlight of the parcour is the switchback climb from Candano up to Casielles with a total of 22 switchbacks.

The Leaderboard

Keep an eye out on the riders' moving times. As the riders fatigue, the tactics with the 4 hour rest periods will become more and more important. Adam has held onto a solid lead from the start, but the top 10 has been in constant flux from day 1. For example, Joan and Johannes are currently due a rest, whilst the other top 10 riders have rested within the past 24 hours.