By Marco Milesi
Adventure cyclist and long-distance travel writer
Photo credit: Andy Buchs
Despite the rainy night, riders continued their journey towards the border with Finland at a sustained pace. Out of all the 75 riders, the lead was taken by Ralph Dizzy, followed by Florian and finally Jens.
This fleeing group is quite heterogeneous and remarkable: Ralph holds the world record for most km cycled in 24h, Florian is trying a new and unprecedented setup (aero bike + only one saddle bag) and Jens is a veteran of ultra-cycling (more than 20 ultra races on his back).
They manage to create some distance from the other riders (roughly 30km), with Jens dropping behind after noon.
By the time they get to the border with Finland, they have no idea what’s coming next. The leading group officially becomes a couple, and the distance from Jens increases to the point of including Leon Koning in the battle for the third place.
The leading group, in the end, splits in two: the original triplet spends the night in Sirkka, having covered roughly 550km, while Leon chooses to stop at Enontekio, about 100km behind. During the night, he gets overtaken by several riders, but they all stop after a couple of dozens km.
“Good night”, that’s what we would say if it wasn’t NorthCape-Tarifa 2026. At exactly 02:20, Florian starts moving again, gaining an impressive 75km of advantage over Jens and Ralph. The last one mentioned is the first one to wake up among the three, followed by Jens after 1h.
Florian keeps pushing till noon, when he is still leading, having consolidated the first position. Jens and Ralph, meanwhile, continue their effort to not drop too behind Florian, followed by Leon.
Things change again when Ralph, at 18, chooses to stop for resting, leaving the leading group. In the meantime, Florian crosses the 1000km mark at 18:45, followed by Jens exactly 1,5h later.
In the last km before midnight, Jens was closing the gap with Florian. Is this the start of a battle? The aero man against the veteran.
