By Marco Milesi
Adventure cyclist and long-distance travel writer
Looking at the leading group formed by Florian, Jens and Ralph, the situation looks stable: the last two are riding at 30km of distance from each other, while the first one is far ahead, well after the 3250km mark.
As usual, the first to start pedaling at 6am is Florian, followed by Jens, and finally Ralph. By midday, Florian is beyond the 3500km mark, and Ralph has lost a bit of terrain. Meanwhile, the French pair (Patrick and Benoit) informs us that they will separate their routes.
We also receive the sad news from Yves (4th position so far) that he will not continue the race due to physical problems. This puts Hannes Munzner in fourth position, followed by Peter Gontkovic.
Florian starts to slow down, allowing for Jens and Ralph to catch some terrain, as they get closer to the border between Poland and Czech Republic, which Florian has already crossed the day before. By noon, aero man seems to start feeling fatigued: he hasn’t stopped for sleeping at all, yet his average speed decreased consistently.
Temperatures hit 35 degrees Celsius as the clocks mark 7pm, and we see a curious situation: all the three leading riders are separated by the same distance (about 150km).
By midnight, Florian has officially crossed the border into Germany, getting closer to the next checkpoint: Bregenz in Austria. Jens and Ralph, instead, trail still in Czechia, getting closer.
Is this the beginning of the downfall for aero man, or is this just a bad day for him?
Photo credit: Andy Buchs – Lithuania & Poland from route check by bicycle in May 2026
