JohanDiv

The battle for fourth place is bunching up again at RV4. And while they are taking a rest, Brian is extending his 3rd place lead over them. The gap got down from 80km to 18km at one point, now pulled back to 25km. edit: And just as I post this they are back on the road again chasing Brian

Haha! The wind speed and direction we have today, you'll be freewheeling all the way to the top of Bainskloof.. on the Hermon gravel road you're having headwind all the way to Doolhof

1121,9km to be exact.

Hansie didn't waste any time at Tankwa Padstal..just grab and go!

Hanno breaking away from Chris now!

If they can't organize special permits for us, I can't see the event going on with the new curfew in place. If you have to be home by 22:00, you have to finish by around 21:00. If you take the early start at 05:00, that gives you 16 hours to complete the race.. based on last year's results, that's almost a hundred teams not completing the race in time.

https://fb.watch/29Gg2Vza3m/

Tankwa River Lodge is WP9. That is before that terrible pass. Hansie has already gone through WP9, and still no GPS update for Benky. Wonder if that means he is quite a way behind Hansie then.

https://fb.watch/29B4881T8S/ Seems like a light breeze..

Yeah I commented on their page last night that we need more info!

So looking at the Race Flow history throughout last night..it looks like Benky's position got updated when they moved through WP8. And that was at exactly the same time as Hansie went through WP8. They are probably still together.. hopefully they will update his position again at the next WP or RV or give him a new tracker that works! Hanno Smit has made the most progress of everyone in the Top 10. He was sitting in 10th place last night, had a shorter nap than the rest around 01:00 this morning, and pushed up the pace.. It actually looks like his pace is now faster than the leaders. He caught the bunch racing for 4th place a few minutes ago. Go Hanno!!

Hanno has been moooooving through the night! His pace is the highest of the Top 10 at the moment.. currently in 7th, busy catching the three guys in front of him

Quick Update, Kevin Rodney Benkenstein's tracker is faulty, confirmed by race orgainsers. He is with Hansie. Elmien Stander phoned about half an hour ago to say she is at Pampoenpoort, the wind is brutal, she has been riding alone and into a head wind for 8 hours, so she is going to eat and rest up and re-assess. She has only stopped 1h26 min in 30 hours and 525km. Cecil Munch and Mikayla Benkenstein are at 466km done and 51km to the next water point, they are riding at under 10km/hour at the moment so that can only mean that the wind is hectic, the tracker estimates they will get to the next waterpoint at 00h40. There is nowhere to hide out there, they will have to keep pushing on.

Pre RV3

I really hope this is not the case..was rooting hard for him. At the end of April when we did the virtual 36One he started strong, but also pulled out unexpectedly early.. i thought it was just because of the mind numbing indoor trainer experience.. never for a moment thought that it might be lack of form, or a tendence of going too hard too early..maybe that is the case here?

Brian Brummer about to overtake or join Benky at RV3.

I'm honsestly asking, I'm unsure if he scratched.. my browser shows him dof(scratched), and my phone shows him still active

Uhm...Benky scratched??????

So if it comes down to a sprint, these are the weapons... Benky: VS Hansie:

Yeah it's not without reason Gouda has that massive wind farm! Geez and that headwind from Hermon to Wellington have been my enemy on countless occasions!

They are also entering Doolhof from the other side this year..it's a bit of an uphill drag on an open smooth gravel road with a slight bump down and flat to the finish line..not a technical descend to the finish line as previous years. I'm not sure what Hansie is riding, but if it comes down to a sprint on that open gravel road, I'm backing the guy on the gravel bike to take it over the guy on the MTB.

Yuup! As it stands, prize for first is R453 589,50 this year! No kumbayaing this time around! I'm just wondering where and when one of them is going to launch a sneak attack on the other.. with 500km to go there might still be a bit of chats going, but the closer we get to Ceres I think it will become quiet between them as they start planning their attacks, or start testing each other

The two leaders are well and truly now over the halfway mark (just in kilometers!!)

Nelis says it's not exactly cool out there..

Nah, I think they are riding together at the moment. Only a km difference on the map between them, and Benky's last GPS update was 3mins earlier than Hansie's. So they are probably together on the road. Edit.. hang on, it's a bit more than a kilometer now, you might be right..let's see!