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Laurens ten Dam set a new best time at the non-stop Trancordilleras Rally Colombia, completing the 1,045km self-supported gravel adventure on Wednesday morning in Santa Fe de Antioquia in 72 hours, 55 minutes.
For a ride that covered 21,600 metres of climbing across the three Andes mountain ranges in Colombia, it was ‘close’ in terms of the overall win, as Canadian Rob Britton completed his first trip at the event in 48 minutes behind the Dutchman. Twenty five other riders remained on the course after the lead duo stopped the clock, including Thomas Dekker, who was still on the route with just under 400km still to ride, according to a live tracker system.
Once across the finish, Ten Dam wasn’t thinking about a celebration just yet, just a shower, solid food and being stationary for a good while, telling Cyclingnews, “I’m not going anywhere today”.
Ten Dam and 29 others set off at 7:30 a.m. local time on Sunday, February 11. Following the ‘Lachlan program’, 18 hours of riding followed by six hours of rest used by Lachlan Morton to complete Tour Divide last year, Ten Dam made his first stop just after 10 p.m. that evening, having covered 269km. He was back on the bike four hours later.
On the second segment he covered 283km before taking a self-imposed six-hour break this time, and restarting in the darkness at 1:23 a.m. early Tuesday morning. He stopped after another 300km later after nightfall for a nap of about an hour, then pushed on to the finish, the clock stopping at 8:03 a.m. local time on February 14.
“I saw Rob coming so decided let’s make a race,” he disclosed to Cyclingnews at the finish.
He had good reason to respect Britton, who last year set a course record…
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