Suffering leads to satisfaction for Ten Dam at Transcordilleras gravel race

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The second time at Transcordilleras Rally Colombia was the charm for Laurens ten Dam, who completed the eight days of “suffering” across the Andes mountains to earn the GC victory. His total time was 37 hours, 38 minutes, 46 seconds when the dust settled, literally, after 852 kilometres and 21,000 metres of elevation gain, including three stage wins.

With one stage victory and second overall, 34-plus minutes behind in overall time, was Colombian Antonio Donado, the only competitor within an hour of his lead. Like Ten Dam, Donado came back for another try, having finished fourth in 2022. The winner of the opening stage, Brayan Chavez, repeated on the podium in third overall, 61 minutes back.

“I did the math, and last year I think I did maybe 15 hours more on the bike than this year. So in eight days, it was like two hours extra, which made last year’s race a lot harder,” Ten Dam told Cyclingnews after his finish in Guasca on Sunday. 

“There was a lot more ‘hike and bike’ last year because you could not pedal uphill. Here, I was able to pedal all the mountains on my bike, so the organisers listened to me and Thomas [Dekker] and Pete [Stetina] last year to make it a little bit less hard, which also makes it more fun for all the other people. For instance, Frank [Espkamp] and Willem [Schellens] would join. They are both here at the airport with me, and they are both really trashed and tired from eight days of racing. All good, though.”

Dekker, who was part of the Live Slow Ride Fast group that travelled from the Netherlands, finished with one stage victory and was ninth overall, 7 hours, 26 minutes off the lead pace. Compatriots Schellens finished 11th overall, and Epskamp was 33rd, a little more than 20 hours more riding than Ten Dam.

The third edition of the South American gravel adventure across the Andes mountains did have 200 fewer kilometres than last year and almost half the climbing, to confirm Ten Dam’s math.  

The week of suffering was countered by staggering scenery, early finishes and agreeable accommodations. However, the alumni returning for another round of gravel grinding near the equator also endured blistering daytime heat, frigid cold at elevation, humidity, and do-it-yourself logistics of laundering, bike washes and hydration.

Queen stage tribulations

Ten Dam had referred to a short 65km stage 6 as ‘a mellow day’, which turned out to be the calm before the storm. Saturday brought cold, wet conditions and the bulk of the week’s suffering for a true queen stage, an epic 133km from Fusagasuga to Chaochi that took the riders through the eastern Cordillera, crossing one of the highest peaks, Sumapaz, with an elevation topping out at 4,000 metres above sea level. 

“Saturday, the queen stage, the climb from 1,600 metres to 3,800 metres - yeah, 12,000 feet plus - it took me almost three hours. On top, it was cold, a little rainy,  so I used my rain jacket,” Ten Dam explained, while many of the other competitors grinded across the longest climb of the week without stopping to add layers, Donado, Chaves and Tovar.

“I was left with three guys, and all the rest we dropped on the climb. I was pulling on the climb; actually, I was doing my tempo. Joining on the downhill was Janosch [Wintermantel]. It was technical and went fast, but somewhere I got a small hole in my tyre, a small side cut. Then I had to fix it, put plugs in, some CO2, and I had to close five minutes on the guys in front of me. But I really wanted to win that stage.”

Ten Dam said he rejoined the small group on a second climb, but on the next downhill, he could tell that the air was not holding in his front tyre, and he had to make adjustments. 

“They were gone with 60k to go on a small climb on the tarmac,” he laughed. “Then I had the rain jacket off when I dropped them on the third and the fourth climbs. I managed to win that stage by 20 minutes ahead of Janosch and Antonio, so it made my lead pass 30 minutes. [Later], they both told me they were cold and freezing while I was still pretty comfortable in my rain jacket.”

No Champs-Élysées but all good in the end

The eighth and final day was only 53 kilometres from Choachi to Guasca, covering the riders with sunshine, warm temperatures and lush, green landscapes. But unlike the final day at the Tour de France,  there were still some tough climbs with 90% gravel roads at altitude and coupled with tired legs traversing 1.800 metres of total elevation gain, there was still suffering on hand rather than a ceremonial parade-like finish. 

“The final day was just a matter of I didn’t want to suffer anymore. I was just done! When Janosch went in the beginning, we tried to make it a ‘Champs-Élysées’ stage, but it didn’t work out because it was still 700 metres of climbing to go [at that point],” Ten Dam recounted a day removed from the adventure, ready to board a plane home to the Netherlands.

“Óscar, [Tovar], who was strong and had some bad luck during the week, went behind Janosch. I decided to stay with Antonio and finish the stage as relaxed as possible. I defended my GC, and it was all good.”

Tovar salvaged a win on stage 8, riding ahead of Wintermantel, while in Grand Tour style Ten Dam outsprinted Chaves on the pavement to finish third on the day. 

The only woman in the eight-day stage competition was Caroline Lamke. She completed the event in a time of 84 hours, 9 minutes and 41 seconds, which was 45th overall. Ten male riders were not able to finish all the stages.

Non-stop mayhem

There were 15 competitors who took on the non-stop category of Transcordilleras, and 13 finished the same 852km course days before Ten Dam and company. Julián Manrique won the title for men with the overall best time of 85 hours, 25 minutes. Trailing only six hours later was Cynthia Frasier, who won the women’s non-stop race and was fourth overall.

“Transcordilleras is by far the hardest ultra I’ve ever done. The elevation gain coupled with the double-track mountain-bike-like roads made it immensely challenging,” Frasier, the winner of 2022 Unbound XL told Cyclingnews.

“I experienced many obstacles while racing, and I’m proud of this effort even if some things didn’t go to plan. I was joined the last two and a half nights by two of the men racing, Juan Jacob and Aleix Mayor. We huddled together in the rain, slept on the concrete floor of a bus stop, and we shared a few tasty meals. We spent almost 60 hours riding together. The vibes were good, and the smiles were big.”

Her riding partner Mayor rode across the line to win a tie for fourth overall. Jacob was second, 1 hour, 34 minutes off the winning time, and Maurico Cajamrca was third, another two hours back. 

"They helped me after I crashed on pavement going 25mph (that one hurt really bad). They made me laugh when everything was shit. We compared pruny feet and talked about our lives in a way you don’t usually do after meeting someone just a few hours before. I couldn’t have asked for a better pair of riding partners for Transcordilleras."