Day 17 // A Race Shared is a Race Doubled
August 6, 2026
Words by Jake Thorpe
Photos by Matt Grayson, Michael Drummond, and Tomás Montes
Old Rocks Lying Around
With the race so relentless in its insistence on forward progress, a common refrain among those reaching the finish has been the wish that they could have lingered a little longer in certain places along the way. With the exception of Nicole van Batenburg (029), who found herself habitually browsing Greek jewellery shops on her way down the Peloponnese, many discover that this defining tension of racing across a continent leaves them with an itch they haven't quite managed to scratch. And yet, faced with a few days in hand after the obligatory period of rest at the finish line, some are opting to satisfy their cultural cravings with day trips from Kalamata to local landmarks.
Our very own winner, Robin Gemperle (001), has in fact been spotted making an interdisciplinary debut on the running track of Ancient Olympia – although, it seems, not entirely of his own volition. Back in Kalamata, Robin admitted that the Mediterranean’s more cosmopolitan charms him rather better. “We did a few little trips around the area,” Robin explained, “but then I noticed that I’m really not into old rocks lying around. Sometimes you’ve got to be honest. So I’ve spent a lot of time at the beach, and I’m always at the same coffee shop each morning.”
To those still out on the road, yet to experience this post-race idyll, or Greece's crop of old rocks, Robin had a simple message: keep going, it will be worth it. “I think a huge part of the whole race is not about how fast you do it, but that you do it,” he noted. “I feel there's not so much to learn from racing, but there's a lot to learn from riding, and I think that's why time doesn't matter so much. Everybody that finishes this race is an amazing cyclist. I know this is something that every frontrunner says, but I would really like to emphasise that this is 100% how I think.”
Fifth Time’s a Charm
For Tom Dockal (194), the message feels particularly apt. Keep going. It will be worth it. This is Tom’s fifth TCR, and his fifth pursuit of a GC finish, having raced every edition since TCRNo8. Twice a finisher, yet never within the time cut-offs, Tom hopes this will finally be the year he can lay to rest what he, with a wry smile, calls his “sick obsession of getting into GC.”
Arriving at CP4 with a day-and-a-half in hand, things looked promising. “I haven’t had a mechanical so far, which is weird. I don’t want to jinx it, but I usually have at least half-a-dozen flats; this year, nothing!” With the bike behaving and the body enduring, the last remaining frontier was the mind.
“My mental state, sometimes, is a problem,” Tom admits. He had found the approach to Leskovik a particular strain. “You just don’t know what it’s like to ride 200 m of tarmac, then 500 m of gravel, and then for that change to happen 20 times every 5 km for two days straight!” he exclaimed. But with time on his side, and the finish line in sight, Tom’s long-standing obsession is finally edging closer to its resolution.
A Race Shared is a Race Doubled
Not far behind Tom, Mudit Kohli (128) arrived to the fourth control well-rested and in good spirits, having held sleep as a sacred priority during his race so far. “Sleeping was part of the plan,” Mudit smiled, “everything else wasn’t: I’m under-fuelled, my routing is bad, and my gear isn’t perfect, but sleeping, I’ve been sticking to that.”
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Mudit credits his brother, Mohit, as his reason to ride this year. “He told me a lot of stories about the TCR and the riders here,” Mudit explained, before adding. “it’s been living up to what he was talking about.” So far, Mudit has cherished the race’s quieter moments – a chance to share the experience with his brother. “I don’t listen to music; no matter how big the climb is, or how long the road is, I just talk to him.” Riding under Mohit’s cap number from TCRNo10, and looking likely to arrive well within the GC cut-off, there’s no doubt Mudit is doing his brother proud.
While space, for some, is the race’s most important quality, for others it’s the moments in between, the brief encounters with other riders, that carry them forward. As Lea Hamberger (404), fourth FLINTA rider across the line, explained, “It’s funny, because we all rode the same race, and we have some parts that we all went through, and yet there are just so many different experiences and different stories.”
Sharing those stories at the finish line has become an important ritual for many riders – a way to finally draw on the immense bond that a self-supported race still manages to create.
“I finished amongst a group of people that had been interchanging since Sweden,” explained Clayton Anderson (249), 76th across the line in Kalamata. “We'd caught the ferry together and then seen each other again in Poland, so it was funny to see all of us at the finish line and just feel the immediate camaraderie.”
For Clayton, the finish line was where the road’s fleeting encounters could finally be given context. “You just have these snippets of interactions where you see other riders for like five or ten minutes and then you go, but you're manifesting what their adventure is like alongside your own. And then once you come to the finish line, you get to bring colour to these manifestations. I think that that's why the camaraderie built through people that do the TCR is just so unique; you're doing the event alone, but there is a togetherness that you all feel towards one another.”
Like for Mudit, the joy for Clayton comes in sharing the experience. The TCR is both intensely intimate, and intensely communal. It’s a potent concoction.
The Great Balkan Bake Off
For many riders still on the road, the race’s alchemy remains a far more practical affair. Leskovik’s control has been a culinary lifeline for many riders, a rare opportunity for a proper meal or some timely refreshment before the 80 km stint across the Greek border – a desolate stretch where supplies are scarce. Bulk buying has become common, with drinks purchased more often by the case than by the bottle. With the spoils of the bar combined in hydration bladders and bidons, Leskovik has been responsible for a fair few potent concoctions of its own.
Not all, however, have found the spoils of the control point such a valuable asset. Mike Hall Bursary rider Luca Bessems (214) has been finding the baked Balkan staples tricky to navigate with a gluten allergy. Producing the well-travelled Excel sheet that has carefully carried her dietary requirements across borders and language barriers, Luca patiently explained for the fourth time to the lovely staff at Hotel Jorgo that she would like her dish without bread. “This has been the story of my last few days,” the Dutch rider smiled.
Without the opportunity, very often, to sit down for a proper meal, Luca has been at the mercy of a patchwork of quick-fuel snacks. “You get like these really high sugar peaks because you can’t eat any slow sugar,” she explained, “so I've been sitting down a bit more to eat some omelets and rice, like I'm doing now. But on Sundays, for example, it's a bit more complicated.”
Having survived on a combination of rice cakes, oats and yoghurt, on the road through Albania, Luca has had to be a little more creative than some of her fellow riders. She’s certainly looking forward to the greater choice Greece has in store.
Sönke Kreft (070), on the other hand, is approaching Greece’s cuisine with a degree of apprehension. Having treated himself to the rare luxury of a sit down meal in Albania a few days back, Sönke was swiftly chastened for his decadence: biting down on an olive stone, he lost a front tooth. Kalamata, and its signature export, now feature somewhat lower on Sönke’s list of culinary priorities. “Ah well,” the German chuckled, “I have another front tooth left so let’s see.”
The Penultimate Cut-Off
CP4 closed at 23:59CEST tonight. Bringing up the rear of a group of six riders, all hoping to make the midnight cut-off, Samuel Hussain (204) was 40 km out by 21:00 CEST. Doable, certainly, but the road ahead was far from flat.
Ahead of Sam, Oliver Neumann (391) – another rider, like Tom Dockal (194), returning to settle some unfinished business – was chasing his penultimate stamp, hoping that this might be the week he completed his first Lost Dot race. After some poor routing in Montenegro had reduced him at times to walking pace, covering just 200 km per day, for a while, CP4’s cut-off had looked a distant prospect. And yet, with two-and-a-half hours in hand, Oliver arrived – empty, emotional, but immensely proud. “It was such a big distance yesterday,” Oliver shared, “I didn’t think I could manage it.” The difference, however, had come from TCR alumna and former Mike Hall Bursary rider Amrei Kuhne, who had sent a simple, well-timed message: Imagine what it would be like to reach Greece. With “the hardest part” now behind him, Oliver won’t have to imagine for much longer.
Cutting things only slightly finer than Oliver, Sam arrived with an hour to spare, followed closely by Gabi Winck (388). Having surrendered the chase for GC the night before, Sam had called home to share the news with his wife. But after a lie-in and a later-than-planned start this morning, just ten minutes into the ride he knew he was going to push for it. Thirteen hours later, with a mere 20-minute pit-stop to devour three slices of pizza, the GC dream was back.
For Sam, the day’s encouragement came not from a former TCR rider, but from his GPS – a capricious companion that had often lured him into false confidence, only to overestimate his arrival by six hours. Today, however, its optimism was well founded. With his parents waiting in Kalamata, and his family back home, Sam had every reason to press on. The GC dream had been revived; only the final kilometres remained.