Day 20 // What's Important
August 9, 2026
Words by Jake Thorpe
Photos by Matt Grayson, Michael Drummond, Tomás Montes, and Weronika Szalas
Sartorial Elegance
Party preparations are well underway. Kalamata’s China Mall has become the dressing room for those fresh off the road, with nothing to their wardrobe besides a fetid second skin. Riders enter eminently recognisable: thinning Lycra, sagging jersey pockets, grease-streaked socks, but leave virtually anonymous. As Clayton Anderson (249) sagely noted: “the range of choice in there is pretty wide, so to see what people emerge with speaks volumes about their decision making, and maybe a little about the frame of mind they went in with. One person walks out, they look like a beach bum; the next, a middle-school teacher; the next, a Colombian drug dealer.” Let it never be said that the ultra-cycling community is anything but a motley crew. And proudly so.
While the wardrobe department has been up against it, the make-up department has had weeks to work its magic. Riders with the traditional Ronseal tan lines – mid-calf to mid-thigh, wrist to bicep, fingertip to knuckle – have been two-a-penny. Jawlines, too, have been articulated with their own tonal imprint, often accompanied by an angled streak across the cheek, giving riders an air of the New Romantic. But among the partygoers, some have gone particularly avant-garde.
Several of our riders, those sporting a naturally streamlined scalp, have been hard at work cultivating a striking new vogue: a set of go-faster stripes running from forehead to crown. Arthur Jan (311) led the charge, with Viggo Vea (102), 100th across the line, quick to endorse the look. Robert Müller (037), too, might have thrown his hat in the ring, had it ever left his head; right now, there’s no way of knowing – he has refused to part company with the red Stetson since he bought it.
The Kalamata t-shirt looks to be another hallmark of the line-up this year. Available from outlets all along the beach, it provides a useful geographical reference point for riders fuzzied by the dozen-or-so border crossings between Norway and Greece. Sarah Bosslet (120), settling into her role of category winner with consummate ease, appears to have commissioned one befitting her new status, its logo wreathed in gold.
Last, but by No Means Least
At the finish line, riders continued to trickle in – from Nathan Offord (221), who arrived in the small hours to kick off the race’s final day, right the way up to Alexander Latham-Boal (241) our Maglia Nera: the last rider to make it into the General Classification after 20 days, 0 hours, and 14 minutes.
Alex had already experienced the emotional weight of edging inside a cut-off at CP2, where, weeping with relief and exhaustion, he had collected his stamp with just half-an-hour in hand. Now, at the finish line, the Brit admitted that winning the Maglia Nera hadn’t been his plan. “But if I ever do this again,” he concluded, “it certainly will be, because that was an amazing welcome.” Last, but by no means least, the final rider to make it into the GC is always treated to a rapturous reception. No wonder it’s such a coveted award.
And yet, I’m not so sure that Alex’s position was quite the accident he claims. In a prophetic move, before beginning his race, he had assumed the moniker Last Dot Alex. Now, as the last dot in, I wonder if he’s considering a future career in divination. He appears to have an innate gift.
But Alex wasn’t the only GC rider to receive a hero’s welcome today. Wiping away tears of joy and relief, Oliver Neumann (391) could find no more words to describe the closing of a very significant personal chapter than: “Happy to be here; I’m just happy to be here.” This, his fifth Lost Dot race, marks his first finish line. Struggling with illness, but also motivation in his earlier races – two TCRs and two TARs – Oliver returned more determined than ever to cross the continent. Having made the CP4 cut-off by a whisker, he had been able to enjoy the final stretch, knowing that the hardest riding was behind him.
We Are the Champions
Come the party, the conventional awards kicked things off. GC winner, Robin Gemperle (001) and FLINTA winner, Sarah Bosslet (120) – champions worthy of every accolade – were followed by the Pairs Category winners, Rémi Mejean (414a) and Marguerite Mulhaus (414b). Then came the Green Leaderboard, with Sarah, once again, topping the FLINTA field, and second across the line, Nicolas Chatelet (126) taking the top spot amongst the GC.
Jocelyn Roth (114), third to Kalamata and second on the Green Leaderboard, spoke to us about the motivations behind his low-carbon travel. As a lifecycle analyst, calculating the environmental footprints of emerging energy technologies, Jocelyn hopes, first and foremost, to be someone that walks the walk. “I want to set an example,” shared the Swiss rider, who admits he chooses his hobbies at least partially on the grounds of their environmental impact. “Ultra-cycling,” he argues, “makes it possible to live an adventurous life while at the same time being respectful of the environment. You’re able to travel so far – as much as you could by car, by train or even by plane – while at the same time, powering yourself.” He reminds us that slower travel is an adventure in itself; one well worth considering.
Motivations, of course, vary – not only for why we race, but how, as well. Christoph Pernsteiner (011), 21st across the line to Kalamata, had decided to shift his how after struggling to place his why. Having taken 8th place last year, he returned this time to find the racing instinct was more a burden than a boost. In the end, he decided to slow things down, trading competition on a macro scale for something a little more micro. Still finding joy in speed, Christoph devoted himself to the pursuit of some quick parcours. He is a deserving winner of this year’s Maglia Arancia. More than two hours quicker across the race’s mandatory segments than his next closest racer, Nicolas Chatelet (126), Christoph showed exactly why this classification exists: to offer another incentive to those who like to compete, but prefer to do so in a slightly more compact arena.
A Musical Medley
Then came the other awards – a little wilder and more baroque. The Full Stevie Wonder; curiously visionary routing awards, went to Rodrigue Lombard (235), for a trailblazing route through Western Albania, and Falk Döring (345), for an immense voyage from Stockholm, the only rider to cross Sweden and sail from its eastern coast. The Full Bruce Springsteen went to Seth Kennard (183), who managed to cross The River – The Danube – five times during his race. And of course, the Full Marvin Gaye was awarded to three deserving recipients: to Matthew Spooner (252) for his inadvertent voyeurism, to Markus Carlos Hein (166) for his stay at the love hotel, and to the one and only Arthur Jan (311) for his salmonid nuptial displays.
There were many more besides – too many to mention – but we can’t miss out this year’s recipients of those awards recognising a commitment to self-reliance and sportsmanship, the very essence of the TCR.
Luca Bessems (214), one of our bursary riders, was first to be celebrated, for her exemplary understanding of self-supported racing; gifted a Coke – some trail magic – she carried it as far as the nearest shop before she drank it, thereby ensuring that she gained no advantage from an unsolicited resupply that might be unavailable to others. Then came Filip Bullens (053), who rode this year’s race to raise money for a charity that helps people with disabilities get outdoors, and serenaded each of his donors with a personalised song. And finally, Joanna Ruminska-Pietrzyk (148), this year’s winner of the Spirit of the Race award, was recognised for her incredibly perceptive insights on purposeful suffering and the empowering impacts of riding the TCR.
But one award remained, acknowledging the efforts of someone who refused to give up, the full Rick Astley was yet to be presented…
Not the Only Show in Town
Still out on the road, another of our bursary riders, Jack Wright (052), has been dealt a tough hand – indeed, a whole arm – this race. Having overcome a crash and a partially dislocated shoulder to narrowly make the CP3 cut-off, Jack looked well placed to make the fourth. However, after losing six hours in Albania in the wake of a dog bite on the fourth parcours, they missed Leskovik’s stamp and, with it, their place in the General Classification.
Pressing on regardless, Jack made it to the marina just 15 minutes before midnight – the finish party’s finish. Welcomed in suitably festive fashion with the offer of not just one finisher’s beer, but several, Jack was soon stuck into the party, their journey serenaded not by a composition of Filip Bullens, but by Darude’s magnum opus.
For Jack, as for so many others – particularly those still riding south – the old maxim rings true: to finish is to win. Few embody it more neatly than our Lanterne Rouge back in Hungary, Doug Migden (047), who is riding in pursuit of his ninth race finish.
However, a lesson from another TCR veteran this year reminds us that, sometimes, not to finish is to win. Pawel “Piko” Pulawski (008), claiming to be riding his last TCR this year after an enduring love affair with the race, chose to finish not in Kalamata, but instead in Crete. His plan had been to complete the race in 12 days – 13 at the very most – before riding across the Peloponnese to catch a ferry from Athens to join his family on holiday. Yet with the heat unrelenting and stomach troubles dogging him through the Balkans, that timeline soon became less tenable. In the end, he had to choose: finish the race, or keep his promise to his family. In the end, it was no decision at all. He hoped to pass on the same lightness to all those whose finish lines lie elsewhere: “To all those who didn’t finish, I hope you find your joy in not finishing.” For Piko, this chapter of his six-race history was simple: “trying to race, trying to have fun, and trying to find what’s important.” In many ways, I think we’re all trying to do the same.
