Day 08 // Zone of Beasts
October 11, 2025
Words by Stuart Downie
Photos by Alex Duffill, Liz Seabrook, and Tomás Montes
After Julien Roissard (068) finished 6th yesterday evening, there’s a bit of a gap to the next rider. Eight days of riding done, the riders on the road start to make calculations – will a finish for the party be possible? What about the GC cutoff, 09:00 Sunday morning? Or do they keep on riding with the aim of finishing outside of the time cut?
Lost Dot races award both the Maglia Nera—the last rider to finish within the time cut—and the Lanterne Rouge, a rider who has completed all the parcours and reached all the control points but ends up outside of the final time cut. Some things, once started, must be finished.
Arriving in the afternoon sun, Adam Whitehead (002) finishes in 7th at 15:53. “It feels special,” he says, before agreeing that a sunny afternoon finish might be the perfect way to end a bike ride. Time for a shower and a little drink before dinner and an early bed. Adam’s top tip? He put his bag in a binbag and hid it in a bush just outside of town. “I spend so much money on this hobby already,” he explains.
.jpg)
It’s not right for us to speak of being tired in the context of this race, but nevertheless. In Control Team 2, photographer Alex Duffill has kept awake looking at horses. Here’s his favourite picture from the race that we wouldn’t normally publish:
And in carrying our theme of an accompanying piece of slightly adapted poetry:
Barely a twelvemonth after
The seven days ride that put the world to sleep,
Early in the morning the strange horses came.
For context, here are the horses with strong contender for most stylish rider, Roel Massink (100):
If this doesn’t make you want to get outside, with or without your bike, I don’t know what will. And as if we willed him out of the ether, Roel rolls up at 18:27, a solid 8th place for the rugged Dutchman.
A little later, Tobias Johansson (114) comes in at 19:59. His second TPR. The former road racer shows his legs and grit are still going strong, improving on his previous 47th place in TPRNo3.
.jpg)
To round out the day, Cyril Thibault (028) turns up at half ten with some feedback for race organiser David Ayre. He cracked a few times, possibly every day, but he made it. He’s never ridden over 1,000km before – this is a different game, a mind game. “How can I explain it to other people? Normal people?”
It’s a good question. How can you explain it?
One contender for the Maglia Nera is Leyla Serbouti (072), who has to be at work on Monday. Right now she has other business to take care of. After calling her boss (on her birthday, no less) she’s been given special dispensation to take the time to finish the race. Leyla might miss the finisher’s party tomorrow evening, but she won’t be missing out while she’s still on her bike. That’s why we’re here.
