TARNo2 // May 20th: "Eat, drink, and catch miles”
May 21, 2025
Words by Andrew Phillips
Photos by Matt Grayson and Sam Dugon
Alarms were set for 02:30 CEST, then snoozed hourly until an inconsiderate and ever laconic Christian Dupraz (12) calmly finished at 05:17, in third place (unbeknownst to him), and when desperately pushed for some kind of reaction by Race Coordinator David Ayre, declared this result (his first ever podium finish ) “not bad”.
With Christian home in third place, we asked him if he’d seen Pierre Bischoff (32) as he’d passed him last night, and whether he’d been able to ascertain why he was moving so slowly. Christian confirmed the problem: a previously peerless Pierre was now patchless, and had punctured, preventing podium placing.
Christophe Dijkmans (14) and Justinas Leveika (02) arrived to congratulate Christian, and the three riders began discussing the race: “there’s everything here from high mountains to low mountains, beech forests, pine forests, rivers…” Justinas listed. “The different cultures, the villages, especially in the mountainous regions” continued Christian. “And then you get to the coast, and it’s different again! Oh man…” Justinas continued. No matter the weather, the conditions, your mood, it’s hard not to be awed by the vistas in this part of the world.
Out on the roads and trails, the rest of the field wasn’t yet done with the race. Andy Dodd, who had last pinged climbing back to the road after his Tirana pitstop, had tracker transmission issues and needed a swap so that he could be tracked to the finish by organisers, fans, and fellow racers alike. Setting off to find him in the Kaftalle wilderness area, I left photographer Matt and race organiser David to stealthily photograph him, whilst I headed back up to the tarmac road for a tracker swap. Talking to me as I gave him the little black box, he was acutely aware of how closely he’d kept his lead over Daniel Perotti (15) behind him.
What he didn’t know (and of course I couldn’t tell him) was that just up the road was Pierre Bischoff, alternately walking and riding extremely slowly on a tyre that was more wardrobe than air now. When we’d seen him that morning, he’d told us that with no tubes left, he’d filled his tyres with a vest, a shirt, some leg warmers, and some Tailfin straps. Unbeknownst to Andy, he is currently closing very fast on fourth place, in a battle that looks set to go down to the wire.
At the other end of the field, riders were battling their way to CP2 with 24 hours remaining to the time cut. Spike Morris (34) had been struggling on his gravel bike “I really cracked. Really really cracked” he told reporter Tom Probert. To compound his misery, he lost his phone along the way, backtracking 10km in a vain attempt to find it. When he arrived in Peshkopi a new phone and a large dose of pizza helped bring him back down to earth. Oliver Neumann (31) had also struggled with this sector, whereas Frieder Backu (19) and Joep van Luijt (23) came down in good spirits more in keeping with the beautiful doubletrack paradise of the Albanian mountains. Proper preparation and an adequate mountain bike go a long way towards not only surviving, but thriving on a route as tough as The Accursed Race.
Catching Daniel Perotti (15) resupplying in a cafe at Qafe Qela, as he long-armed Fanta into a hydration pack, his mind was clearly on finishing his own race rather than worrying about where Andy or any of the other competitors in the field were.
As the afternoon wore on, the balance of the race for fourth between Andy Dodd and Pierre Bischoff swayed back and fo(u)rth. Pierre would have a particularly slow hour, whilst the metronomic Andy behind kept tapping away and reeling him in. Then, as the gap began to narrow, Pierre found his rhythm and started to jump forwards towards the finish line. At 20:31 Pierre bumped into view, his rear wheel describing a lumpy oval as he did so. For him, the joy was in finishing at all, showing some real resilience to complete his final 150km in that state.
Unable to close the gap, Andy arrived in Shkodër at 22:14 to complete the top five, happy that despite his mechanical issues and his subsequent descent into Tirana he had managed to stay in front of a relentless Daniel Perotti (15). His mind was on beer and food, rather than philosophy, and all he could say was “what a route!”. Presenting his pristine brevet card to David (with more than a touch of pride in its appearance), he was awarded a time of 7 days, 13 hours, and 14 minutes.
The day at the finish line was not over yet, however, as we sat up waiting impatiently for Daniel to arrive. Having been messaged by fellow Swiss paratrooper, and TCRNo10 top-five-finisher Andre Bachmann, we were ready to celebrate Daniel’s birthday with cake and candles. But as midnight ticked over, he missed the opportunity to finish on his anniversaire, and we heartlessly ate the cake we bought him and returned the candles for a refund. In a more real sense, we waived the 53 minute discrepancy and he was and welcomed him in with cake, song, candles, and beer. He was, as ever, thoughtful and reflective; “life is gonna get a lot more complicated again… on the bike, life is easy, you have to eat, drink, and catch miles”.
Scratch Report:
Alastair Clifford (09)