Ten Dam leads Transcordilleras gravel adventure race after day 3 in Colombia

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The weeklong Transcordilleras Rally Colombia, which runs from February 12-19, is underway and former road pro Laurens ten Dam rests after the third stage with the race lead, re-seated tyres and fresh groceries in hand. So far, so good for the Dutch road racer turned adventure cyclist in his return to the ‘sufferfest’ across the Andes mountains.

The mixed-terrain, self-supported adventure crosses the three imposing mountain ranges in Colombia, with a total of eight stages that add up to 852 kilometres and 21,000 metres of elevation gain. So far, 28% of the route is completed and much of the hillier terrain follows.

“To be honest, it’s nice to be here. “It’s all cool and mellow. It’s a little bit less hard than last year,” Ten Dam told Cyclingnews on Tuesday afternoon. 

“We start at 7 a.m. [local time] every day. Three days in a row, I’m already at the finish by 1 p.m. The hotels are not bad. We are our own mechanic, our own soigneur, everything we do ourselves, so I just got groceries. We are at a little less altitude also so we sleep better, but I think that’s because the hard part is still coming in the last weekend.”

The opening day of the Transcordilleras was supposed to be a fast and rolling day from Calí to Calima, a total of 103km through the Vallecaucana mountains. with 2,900 metres of elevation gain. Nothing too drastic in the way of terrain, with 50% gravel, or harsh related to the temperate climate on the norther edge of the equator. However, there was no time to enjoy the scenery amid the coffee and cane sugar growing area. Instead, Ten Dam turned his attention to repairing punctures and the valuable time he was losing because of them.

“This day was actually way less hard than last year’s first stage. Now we are sitting in the sun on the grass together so it’s pretty nice. At the end I finished fourth, maybe eight minutes back. For the race, everything is still open,” he said in Calima, recounting his day for Cyclingnews. “After a few climbs, I punctured and had some troubles fixing it. I stopped a few times to [work on the tyre].

“Seeding your tubeless tire again on a Sunday afternoon in the middle of nowhere? This guy at the motorbike shop had the French valve adapter ready and did the job within five minutes. Nothing is impossible over here!”

Brayan Chaves led after stage 1, completing the route in a time of 4:57:37. Antonio Donado was in second, 2:26 back, and Óscar Tovar third, another three minutes. Ten Dam was eight minutes off the lead. The heads of state were in place, as Ten Dam was second overall last year, Chaves third and Donado fourth. 

Thomas Dekker returned to Colombia to get inside the top 10 this year, but he took a wrong turn on the opening day and immediately fell out of contention for the overall, one hour and 54 minutes off the lead. But he is alongside Dutch friend Frank Epskamp in the middle of the 60-rider field, so has targeted a flat fifth day to salvage a stage victory. The fourth Dutch rider that is part of the Ten Dam trip is Willem Schellens, and he finished stage 1 in 12th position, 44 minutes back.

Stage 2

“Yesterday (Monday) I did basically 50 kilometres solo to gain some minutes back and win the stage. It was a hard one,” was the report from Ten Dam, working to gain the time he had lost on Sunday. 

The second day covered 143km between Calima to Sevilla in the Valle del Cauca, with a local water taxi to make the crossing of the Cauca River, the second most important river in Colombia which separates the western and central mountain ranges. The waters are used to give life to the abundant sugar cane crops in the region. The time to cross the river was also a reminder that this event was more about the adventure than the race with a clock. 

“When I started my solo, after the ferry ride, there was 45k to go and there were just three guys left with me,” Ten Dam recounted. “I needed water, so I had to nurse myself home across the last climb on one bottle. I found a shop with 10k to go and filled two water bottles. It was six hours and 32 degrees [Celsius]. Whew.”

Ten Dam erased his deficit and over took the race lead, with Donado and Tovar on the stage podium, second and third, respectively.

Stage 3

The third day was shorter, just 100km, but filled with relentless ups and downs on rough roads passing wax palm trees with 3,500 metres of elevation change. 

“Today, in the race lead, I really had to race for it. I ditched the last guy with 2k to go. It was a German guy, Janosch, who had bad luck yesterday [Monday] with some punctures, and today he turned out to be a good opponent, he was strong,” Ten Dam said about Janosch Wintermantel, who took part in the UCI Gravel World Championships last year by finishing on the podium at Octopus Gravel. 

“Antonio Donado, my friend from last year, was also strong. He took about four more minutes, and is more or less back in it.”

Wintermantel was second on the stage and Donado third. Ten Dam took control of the overall, but said the race was still for anyone.

“I was making up time from the first day from of all those flat tyres. You know, like the Tour de France in the 1910s and 1920s, one day you’re 20 minutes ahead and then you have a bad day after, like a puncture, and you lose 40 minutes.”

At the finish city of Salento, Ten Dam was happy to get some rest and munch on his fresh supply of food - Haribo candy, chips, cakes, strawberry jam for sandwiches and local ‘bocadillo’, guava jelly snacks famous throughout Colombia. He will need all the calories, as stage 4 is 109km across the top of the central Cordilleras with 3,200 metres of elevation gain.