Hats off to Ulrich Bartholmoes, the second rider to finish the 2024 Tour Divide! Find a recap of Ulrich’s record-breaking ride and updates from the suspenseful home stretch of the women’s and singlespeed races with a fresh batch of photos from Eddie Clark here…
Photos by Eddie Clark
In the early morning hours of Friday, June 28, Ulrich Bartholmoes became the second man to reach Antelope Wells and finish the 2024 Tour Divide. Arriving with a time of 13 days, 22 hours, 13 minutes, he also bested the late Mike Hall’s old record by 38 minutes and now holds the second-fastest time ever racing the Tour Divide. Bartholmoes, last year’s Tour Divide winner, shaved about five hours off his previous time of 14 days, 3 hours, 23 minutes.
From the beginning, Bartholmoes and Justinas Leveika were never far from each other. The two had history, also coming in as the top two during last year’s event, and neither relented on the effort to reach the finish before the other. And while it seemed like the race was going to come down to a sprint to the line—like the unforgettable three-way sprint finish in 2015 between Josh Kato, Neil Belchenko, and Jay Petervary that had dot watchers madly refreshing Trackleaders as Kato took a flyer for the border…and held it—a series of poorly timed mechanicals and storms opened up the gap between the two in the middle of New Mexico.
While Leveika cruised relatively smoothly through the final two days, Bartholmoes suffered a severe puncture in a tire outside of Cuba that took a while to fix and then got mired in mud when a storm rolled through. Before the puncture, he’d caught up to Leveika in Platoro in southern Colorado and closed the gap to within five miles north of Cuba again. But then, unfortunately, it seemed to all unravel for the German.
While riders do everything possible to control the controlables, luck inevitably comes into play in a two-week race like Tour Divide. Still, the ride was nothing short of incredibly impressive, and we fans can only hope that Uba comes back again next year to try to break the 13-day mark on the route. Congratulations on an amazing ride Ulrich. Now go get that mud off of your bike!
Meanwhile, further north, racing in all the categories remains close.
Women’s Race
Meaghan Hackinen continues to lead the women’s race, holding a steady gap on Ana Jager. As of Friday morning, she’s closing in on Pie Town, where she’ll hopefully stop for a slice or three before heading into the Gila. For many, the lonely but magical outpost of Pie Town is a chance to regroup before one of the more challenging segments of the route—the constant, steep, rolling hills of the Gila with minimal water availability before the singletrack section of the CDT that eventually leads into Silver City. And from Silver City, it’s a relatively flat and fast push to the border. Pie Town is a bit of the calm before the storm and a place of lore.
Hackinen had a rough day crossing the middle of Colorado, losing her caffeine pills and ibuprofen after a night of not getting enough sleep. But once in the tourist hubs of Silverthorne and Breckenridge, she was able to get herself sorted. She also sent nearly two pounds of gear home in Breckenridge now that heat would be a bigger factor than cold. Ever positive, she ends her Instagram update from Boreas Pass with, “I’m really hoping I have a fun day today.”
Further down the trail, she suffered a fairly severe tire puncture after getting over Boreas Pass. She used one Dynaplug and two bacon strips to plug the puncture, which originally held but eventually failed. After sticking another bacon strip in, she decided that the tire probably wasn’t going to make it to the U.S./Mexico border and sought help at the Rio Grande Bike Shop in Del Norte. They loaned her a bike to run her errands while they installed some fresh rubber for the final state of the route.
Once in New Mexico, Hackinen had about a 50-mile gap on Jager with only about 600 miles to go. In her Instagram updates, she admits to having difficulty with the new singletrack CDT sections added to the route this year. But she remains relentlessly positive, saying, “I’ve been practicing gratitude…It’s pretty awesome to be here.”
With questionable weather on the horizon, she stayed at a motel in Abiquiu before tackling the rugged and remote Polvadera climb and descent into Cuba. She closed her update by saying, “I’m grateful to be on this ride of a lifetime.”
Behind her, Jager continues to apply the pressure and seems poised to take over the lead should anything go sideways for Hackinen. The last time the two women were in the same spot was in Silverthorne, and since then, the gap has hovered between 50 and 75 miles. While this gap would be easily closed in the north half of the route, Jager is simply running out of time and real estate to make up the four to six hours of riding that separates her from Hackinen.
But as we saw with the men’s race, a gap of five miles can swell to nearly 22 hours between Cuba and the finish, and the opposite can also happen.
Singlespeed Race
The men’s singlespeed race continues to be incredibly close, with the lead four in New Mexico as of this writing Friday morning. Alex Kowalski, in his sandals, and Johnny Price, presumably still in his cut-off clipless shoes, hold the lead after leading Abiquiu and starting the climb up to Polvadera Mesa. The two seemingly rode together for most of Thursday, with third-place Zachary Del Greco trailing just behind them. Kowalski rode later into the night, but Price was up moving first and brought the front of the race back together. The three have regularly swapped places and spent time close to each other over the past several days.
While all reports indicate the singlespeeders are having themselves a great time out on route, they’re clearly taking the racing seriously. Price reportedly refused to take his backpack off at Brush Mountain Lodge because he fully understood the Vortex Effect and wanted to get in and out of the oasis as quickly as possible.
If there’s one race that had a good chance of coming down to a proper sprint, it could be this one. The winner may be the one who pushed the hardest gear over the mountainous first 95% of the route and has the gearing and leg turnover to put in just a slightly faster speed on the final flat 100 miles of the route.
Regardless of who prevails, it’s been a helluva bike-riding contest to watch!
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