2024 Tour Divide Debrief: Days 5-6

Photos by Eddie Clark; additional insights from Jay Petervary

In shorter cross-country-esque races, there’s often talk about the “elastic breaking,” where, given enough time, one rider will put in enough accelerations that the second can no longer respond. A significant enough gap opens that it seems, barring disaster, that it won’t close again.

And while it seems like the elastic may have broken between the top three men and the top two women, this is Tour Divide, after all, and it only takes one bad mechanical or bit of mud or other mishap to bring everything back together again. But as gaps open, the elastic is stretching.

And then there’s the single-speed race.

Single-Speed Showdown

While there’s plenty of excitement going on at the front of both the men’s and women’s races, the single-speed contest is really stealing the limelight this year. On Tuesday afternoon, the three top single speeders, Zachary Del Greco, Jake Colantonio, and Johnny Price had come together in Helena after Del Greco, who’d led for most of the race, took an extended break. Alex Kowalski trailed them but by seemingly a significant margin.

With improving weather, the leading trio moved at a similar pace over Lava Mountain, through Basin, and into Butte, with Price trailing just behind in fourth. Del Greco and Colantonio, the Croc-wearing wonder (how did he keep his feet warm?), arrived in Butte around 10 p.m. and were followed by Price, who went straight through town and stopped just south of it around 1:30 a.m. At about the same time Price bedded down, Kowalski, who appears to be wearing minimalist flip-flops for pedaling his bike, showed up in Butte, having closed the gap to the front. Amazingly, all four started moving almost the same time the following morning, just after 6:30 a.m.

From there, the lead trio changed up, with Kowalski, Del Greco, and Price staying close, and Colantonio dropping back just slightly as they navigated Fleecer Ridge into Wise River and cruised through the Bannock Valley. The lead three made it to Lima within an hour of each other with Kowalski leading the charge, arriving around 1 a.m. Colantonio stopped shy of town around 11 p.m.

When morning came, Colantonio was moving just after 5 a.m. while the leading trio seemed to be having a bit of a sleep-in at Lima. Del Greco was first to leave around 7:45 a.m.

Women’s Race

Of the 225 riders registered for Tour Divide this year, 21 are women. So while the statistical probability of having a good men’s race at the front of the field is relatively high, the chances of two incredibly strong women pushing each other at the front end of the field in any given year is quite slim. So, seeing this showdown between Meaghan Hackinen and Ana Jager is actually quite special.

And if this author may inject a piece of personal commentary and opinion, she’d like to note that when she set the women’s course record on the route in 2012 with a time of 19 days and change, it was considered quite a fast time. To see two women battling it out and in front, with both of them at times in front of the Lael Wilcox record dot and on pace to go somewhere on the order of 16 or 17 days is just incredible. The men’s race has gotten faster over the years, but the sheer increase in speed in the women’s race is far more significant. And this author thinks that’s really neat.

Anyhow.

After getting a hotel room in Butte, Hackinen made short work of Fleecer Ridge, which she called “sketchy and incredible,” saw a moose, and put in an absolutely massive day to make it all the way to Lima, even with a headwind. She rode from 6 a.m. until 2 a.m. and covered nearly 300 kilometers in the process. Meanwhile, Jager, who’d slept in Basin, just a few hours shy of Butte, the night before, made it to Elkhorn Hot Springs for the night, leaving the whole Bannock Valley, about a 100-mile distance, between her and the leader.

Jager started up earlier in the morning with a 4:30 a.m. departure time to close the gap, while Hackinen, recovering from her massive day, didn’t leave Lima until 8:30 a.m. It’s always interesting to see which riders prefer to ride late into the night and start with daylight versus those who bed down early and ride a few hours in the dark in the morning. Oftentimes, this difference is driven by a desire to get to town for a hotel room and even a shower.

After another massive day on the relative flats of southern Montana and northern Idaho, Hackinen arrived at Flagg Ranch in Yellowstone, and Jager made it to Mack’s Inn in Island Park. Both made it to their outposts of civilization around 12:30 a.m., with Jager getting a half-hour jump on Hackinen in the morning, departing around 6 a.m. to continue the chase.

Hackinen continues to maintain a lead on the Lael Wilcox record dot and has stretched her gap over Jager to 80 miles. She’s also sitting in fifth overall.

Behind the leading trio, Marie-Soleil Blais continues holding on to third place after dealing with some massive bike issues. According to Kathy Schoendoerfer of the Blackfoot Angler in Ovando, who continues to provide photos and updates, Blaise rolled in on Tuesday afternoon with frozen batteries, non-functional brakes, and some issues with her frame. She spent some time in Ovando getting her issues sorted, including using a hose clamp to address a problem with her frame. According to Schoendoerfer, Blais is “fighting mad now and plans to gain back her place in TDR history.”

Men’s Race

After the leading trio of men left Elkhorn Hot Springs Tuesday morning, a lot happened in a fairly short period of time. While Justinas Leveika and Ulrich Bartholmoes continue to battle it out at the front of the field, both ahead of the Mike Hall record dot, the big drama of the last 48 hours came from Laurens Ten Dam and his tire issues.

Jay Petervary caught up with Ten Dam near Island Park, Idaho. Petervary’s video shows Ten Dam looking in fairly good spirits, exclaiming, “Yesterday night was cold! I came into Sawtell… and I saw the ice forming on the ground.” He went on to say, “This morning, my whole face was puffy.” But the former World Tour Pro seemed to take it all in stride.

But then he brought up his tire issues, saying, “Yesterday, I had two flats. I had to tube them both. The rear one is still leaking.” He seemed to almost laugh them off, saying, “I really want to reach Pinedale because that’s the next bike shop.”

One can deduce that he’s running the plastic lightweight tubes because when Petervary asked if he had patches and tape to help him limp to Pinedale, Ten Dam replied with an, “Eh,” and mentioned he didn’t think patches would stick to his tubes.

This was followed by Petervary giving the sage advice, “Just run high pressure; you’ll be fine.”

Unfortunately, not all was fine for Ten Dam, and he ended up hitching off route toward Jackson to get his tires sorted early afternoon on Wednesday. He documented the whole escapade on his Instagram stories, including taking his savior, Mike, out for a meal as a thank-you. Tour Divide rules allow riders to hitchhike off course for mechanical issues as long as they return to the same spot, which Ten Dam did.

Meanwhile, in front of him, Leveika and Bartholmoes pressed on. Leaving Lima, Bartholmoes found the mud the area is infamous for, posting a photo of a mud-covered bike with the caption, “Look whom I found.” It’s worth noting that after nearly a full week of racing, Bartholmoes is still using proper grammar in his IG posts. Both riders, riding in fairly close proximity to each other, made it out of Montana and into Idaho in short order, so the mud couldn’t have been that awful.

It’s worth noting that Bartholmoes stopped just after Mack’s Inn around 10:30 p.m. for a sleep while Leveika made a massive all-night push to make it through Yellowstone to Flagg Ranch. This area is known for its bears, so rolling through the night is something that most riders choose to avoid. He stopped from about 5 a.m. to 8 a.m. at the very touristy Flagg Ranch, presumably for a short nap and meal before heading out, now with a small but real gap over Bartholmoes.

Over the years, several riders have tried the all-night push to gain a gap on their competition. Sometimes the elastic breaks and the gap stays, and sometimes the sleep-deprived rider craters spectacularly and the race at the front comes back together. Leveika seems to be pushing the low-sleep levels more than other riders in this year’s event.

After a full day of riding, going over Towgatee Pass and Union Pass, the final bits of grizzly country on the route, Bartholmoes stopped for the night in Pinedale, and Leveika pushed on until after the Big Sandy River, potentially staying the night at the rest stop on the side of the highway.

Both riders face the Great Basin today before heading into Colorado.

Check out the 2024 Tour Divide Tracker page to follow along on the live tracking map, find our Rigs of the Tour Divide roundups, and stay tuned in for more event coverage. Find it here.

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