Day One of the 2021 BADLANDS

Photos by Jacob Kopecky (@Jacob_kopecky) unless noted

The 750-kilometer 2021 BADLANDS event started yesterday morning with around 250 riders following a police escort out of Granada (a number that accounts for the handful of registered folks who didn’t show up at the starting line). The peloton charged up the crumbly Andalucian hills on section one out of the city and quickly broke into ranks over the first six hours. From there, things started moving swiftly, despite the relentless sun and hot conditions.

Around 2:30 p.m. local time, the first pack of seven were loosely spread out as they stopped for food and water in the town of Gorafe. At 3:05 p.m., the fastest of them rolled past checkpoint one toward the Gorafe Desert. Those riders included Paul Voss, Alistair Brownlee, Sebastian Breuer, Mattia De Marchi, Janosch Wintermantel, Ulrich Bartholmös, and Sule Kangangi, many of the names we’d expect to be performing at a high level.

Since then, 30-year-old Mattia De Marchi (cap #112) from Mirano, Italy, has been advancing his lead with only one hour and 20 minutes of stoppage accrued at the time of this writing. Mattia is no stranger to racing in hot and arid conditions. He finished last year’s Atlas Mountain Race in the 33rd spot. However, his speed so far on the BADLANDS course is mind-boggling. Mattia finished the second section at 2:44 a.m., the third at 5:18 a.m., and the fourth just before high noon at 11:54 a.m.

Janosch Wintermantel (cap #110) and Ulrich Bartholmös (cap #001) kept a relatively close position overnight in second and third place. As of publishing, they are about 10 kilometers apart, with Janosch having just cleared section three, putting the Sierra de los Filabres mountain range behind him. Sule Kangangi capped off section three at 9:34 a.m. and hangs on to fourth place with a 35-kilometer lead over Sofiane Sehili (cap #100), who finished section three an hour and a half later and then made a big break from 11th place mid-day yesterday to the fifth spot today.

Justinas Leveika and Christian Meier are close behind Sofiane in sixth and seventh place. And in the women’s category, Sally McHugh (cap #158) held on to the first place position for a long while yesterday but rested on several occasions during the night. That allowed 36-year-old Marion Dziwnik (cap #119), a scientist from Munich, Germany, to move into the top spot, currently at 29th overall. Olivia Dillon (cap #020) also passed Sally and is about 15 kilometers behind Marion.

So far, there have been a little over a dozen riders who’ve scratched from the race, mostly due to heat exhaustion in the dry and hot conditions typical of southern Spain this time of year. There’s still plenty of race to watch, and things are moving fast, so stay tuned for more updates and follow along on the live map at our Tracker page. In the meantime, find more from a stellar photo collection by multiple photographers who are following the race, below.

Current Leaderboard

• 1st (565km) Mattia De Marchi
• 2nd (513km) Janosch Wintermantel
• 3rd (510km) Ulrich Bartholmös
• 4th (490km) Sule Kangangi
• 5th (452km) Sofiane Sehili
• 6th (446km) Justinas Leveika
• 7th (445km) Christian Meier
• 8th (423km) Jan Koller
• 9th (421km) Arnau Masferrer
• 10th (415km) Alistair Brownlee

We’re planning several updates during this year’s BADLANDS event, so stay tuned. Check out the event Tracker page to follow along on the live tracking map and watch for updates. Find it here.

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