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great stage, not the usual boring type thanks to Movistar setting a ferocious pace for their climber that can sprint. UAE mixing it up in the end too so that Jan Christen could claim the Maglia Rosa but I reckon he went too early which setup Navaez perfectly for the win. Happy UAE did not take it as they would've had 3 riders to control all day every day they held onto the jersey. Any other day I reckon those big sprinters survives.

Ya all good man. My post was really just me thinking out loud about the 3 possible outcomes you mentioned. Option 1 sounded most likely. Turns out the guys I fancied for the win got dropped about 3km into the climb. Good stage though.

Looking forward to this race.

Gallows single track was rad for me. Even as a roadie. that being said I don’t think my girlfriend would have enjoyed it.

thanks just caught that now on the replay.

I would say, go for mullet of the XLPR option. Depth of range isn’t there with the XPLR Groupset, especially if you want to have a bigger chainring for the chance you take it out on the road. Here’s my SuperX stock standard, but with the XX Derailleur, Cassette and 45mm tyres. I think it is 8kg with pedals, cages and computer mounts. Will double check tomorrow. I slapped some 30c road tyres (blew up to 35mm on those rims) and a 50t ring for a TTT a couple of months ago and it worked great. It’s an aero bike, but with some great compliance so when things get rough, it’s still comfy. Obviously not on the same level as Topstone though. You cannot fit a fork on SuperX, but the Topstone is fork corrected. Clearance is 51/47mm, but that’s super conservative, you can easily go 50mm on the rear and 55mm on the front. Enjoy bike shopping!

Got dropped just over a km from the top of the climb, spent aaaaages chasing back with Ben Turner (who dropped back to help him), Gee (puncture) and a couple of others. Would have taken a lot of unnecessary energy. Hopefully just one of those bad days and legs will come to the party tomorrow…

Agreed - Dryland know what they’re doing. Sad to miss it.

He never lost time, did I miss something on/off camera?

Bernal didn't have a great day did he

Was not suggesting a GC contender would break away on the climb and attempt a solo ride to the finish, it’s hardly a tough climb for that, nor was I suggesting that Jonas would want the scraps of Bonus Seconds but more for those targeting top 5-10 on GC , Jonas will/can take minutes in the mountains if he so wishes to but it would be better for him to not go too deep and save something for the tour if that is even possible.

no debate necessary The right call was made in the end

I’m after a Formula C1 front brake lever and caliper. The XT brake has given up the ghost and the right brake is already a C1 as the XT brake failed there a long time ago 😊 Happy to pay so my kiddo can have a matching, working set of brakes!

Till next year...

The puncheurs had their way today and at, roughly 5 w/kg, they could distance the men with the big thighs and top end speed. The GC guns kept their powder dry because tomorrow will be a good test with a 4000 m + vert tomorrow. And 3 weeks is a long time.

Sucks to be an organiser. Even if they could get detours for the route .... they NEED an event permit. 1. These detours would most likely not be accessible to emergency services 2. With a "state of emergency" declared, emergency services are barely coping, so Council can hardly justify assigning staff to a sports event during this time. SUCKS to be a paid up participant !!! Even worse for those that already booked and paid for travel and accommodation .... And then the reality hits when a Hubber's sister has to be recued by boat off her house's roof this morning (granted, closer to Worcester). All round these storms have reaked havoc.

After extensive consultation with the relevant authorities, route inspections, landowners and our title sponsor, 36ONE Asset Management, Dryland Event Management has taken the extremely difficult decision to cancel the 2026 edition of The 36ONE MTB Challenge scheduled for 22 May 2026. The unprecedented flooding, infrastructure destruction and ongoing severe weather conditions across the Klein Karoo and Garden Route regions have rendered large sections of the event route unsafe and in many cases impassable. Numerous gravel roads, river crossings and drainage structures between Oudtshoorn, De Rust, Calitzdorp, Louvain and the Swartberg region have been severely damaged, while many rivers remain in […] View full article

Update - Event cancelled

Just an option which myself and a few others I know did. Import a chinese frame. Buy straight from manufacturer in China. Plenty options out there. (Mine(and Mongooseman's): https://tideacebike.com/products/fm-gv201-noah-carbon-gravel-bike-frame?variant=42818324660407) Even cheaper option that a mate of mine went with and is going well: https://www.velobuild.com/products/2025-velobuild-carbon-fiber-racing-gravel-bike-frame I then bought a full new grx 12spd groupo with 10-51 cassette from BikeAddict which had prices better than Merlin at the time and bought a set of wheels(alloy) and bars on the hub. Build came in around ±R45k all in tax and shipping incl. I am about 91-95kgs and have put that bike through the ringer, incl. Gravel Burn which was hard on bikes from the conditions. My 2c on MY experience what I look for in any gravel bike at the moment as a bang on mid-pack rider YMMV: - Absolute minimum rated clearance of 50mm. - Don't fit tyres smaller than 50mm, preferably 2.0-2.2 (Front end racers might differ) - Run 2.2 tyres instead of suspension. - UDH compatible - I like in frame storage - I prefer cables not through the headset but hard to find these days - Crux still a winner here. - This luckily dyeing out, but I will not consider any bike with a press fit bottom bracket, any threaded variant will do. T47 all the rage right now. - I will steer clear of hookless rims - 1x gearing with the ability to run a 50t min. cassette. 2X Gearing is not needed and just adds dropped chain issues, maintenance and unnecessary complexity. Might be the mtb background but I cannot for the life of me understand why you would risk dropped chains for better cadence here and there. From a 3h8m August this year to Galgeberg and Hans se kop, 42t and 10-51 cassette has been fine for me on 175 cranks.

Mechanic still off sick ... hopefully he will be back in the workshop tomorrow or Thursday ... so let's assume my bike is the least of his worries when getting back to work, then assume a end of next week or next Sat. morning to get the bike. IF there are no other surprises!

Such a weird stage to call because of where the climb is, and because the stage is kinda short. As a GC rider is it worth trying to put 30s into a rival and then have to defend it solo for the last 40km? For a pragmatic/clinical team like Visma whose GC rider also wants to do the TdF, it makes the most sense for Jonas to only target a handful of key mountain stages and this isn't one of them. Especially since a lot of his key rivals either crashed out or didn't make the start line. So for me it's a "sprinter who can climb" stage: Tobias Lund is a good shout. Even Magnier might be a dark horse here because apparently he was also a decent climber before he decided to focus more on sprinting. He's riding a wave at the moment. My uninformed opinion.

If you think bikes are just lifeless objects, maybe you just haven't met the right bike 😎 'New' bike day .... just sorted and painted this frame. A nice check out ride and a cuppa Joe after.

That section from the railway crossing to Delico SUCKS!! We rode it last weekend. That being said, all roads to Delico suck because of the daily truck traffic they get. We rode about 70% of the 88km route's gravel sections. Maybe 25km was lekker gravel, the rest was corrugations and sandy.