Watching the peloton - Professional Road Racing thread 2026

The Atlas Mountain Race Podium Is Full!

1,432 km and 25,000 m elevation gain unsupported gravel race in Morocco:

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Winner: Victor Bosoni (France, 24): 4 d 01 h 46 min.

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2nd place: Ole Bjørn Smisethjell (Norway, 26): 4 d 03 h 29 min

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3rd place: Radosław (Radek) Gołębiewski (Poland, 47): 4d 05 h 57 min.

American Chris Mehlman has still 10 miles to go for the 4th place. So far around 180 racers of 250 are still in the race. Those who reached the finish line described the conditions as "extreme" because of a massive headwind (caused by a cyclone) and sandstorm. It was freezing cold at nights and scorching hot during the daytime.

We are very proud of Radek's feat! You see, nobody of you personally knows Tadej or another World Tour top racer but many of us know Radek a.k.a. 'Radzilla' :) Also, think of the age of him!
 
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Very impressive win for your friend, @Stefan Mikes !

And truer words were never spoken. Can't tell you how many things in my life would've ended better with more omelette.
;^}

Seriously, though, was he saying that he didn't nourish himself enough along the way? As pointed out quite clearly in the last GCN video I posted in this thread, that's now seen as a serious limiting factor in high-level cycling performance.
 
Radek is such a biological and mental phenomenon it is even difficult to describe it. He started his serious cycling some 10 years ago. He has no coach and he doesn't do any formal training. He just mounts a gravel or mountain bike and rides for a win. People who know him better say Radek is just happy to get a hot-dog at a service station then he moves on. He is a 6 time winner of Vistula 1200, and it is guaranteed he would win any 1000+ km endurance race in Poland. He also won several 500 km events but he is not very good at shorter distances (the speed is not his asset). When he learned of the last year's Lakeland Gravel (a 1100 km race) he said: "Something for me in north Poland at last!"

Even if he has a massive following in Poland, he is generally unknown abroad. He almost didn't make it to be admitted to MAR 2026! His weakness is the language barrier (he hardly speaks any English). When he filled in the MAR 2026 forms, he didn't complete them properly and got rejected! Only when several riders didn't pay the admission fee, Radek was helped by his last years MAR riding partner to do the forms and got the race admission. Now, after his feat, he would certainly be admitted to any race!

Speaking of GCN, its Conor Dunne DNF the same race and pulled off at 711 km for reasons yet unknown. Conor said he had 10 eggs, 2 loaves of bread and 5 pieces of fig cake during the race. Conor is a big man and needs a lot of fuel. While Maxime Prieure of GCN France is currently 20th with only 37 km to the finish line.

The winner Victor has a strategy of taking long rests followed by a very fast ride. Radek hardly ever rests, he just pedals. The last sentence of the MAR post above reads: "we think we understood that he's going for a recovery ride tomorrow". How true! Usually, Radek rides his bike home after almost any Polish endurance race, having only a night's worth sleep! :)
 
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