1000 kms – 12 000m – 120h

Relive the race thanks to our livetracking, click here

CHECKIN (Saturday April 30th and Sunday May 1st)

The city of Faro welcomes on Manuel Bivar place, for the 4th consecutive year, the Portuguese stage of BikingMan. The weekend is dedicated to meetings, equipment checks with the Race Angels, interviews on the Radio Cyclo set and pre-race briefing so that the adventurers set off on Monday in the best conditions.

Only a few hours left before the start of the 22nd BikingMan, the 4th organized in Portugal by Axel and his team. The reception of participants began yesterday morning. For the participants, arriving at the race village is always a special moment: after sometimes months of waiting since the decision to embark on an event of 1,000 km and 12,000 m of elevation gain, after hours of training, the inevitable questions about equipment, what to take on your bike (or not), doubts (am I capable of it or not?), and all the questions inherent in mental preparation for such an event, after a sometimes long trip to join Faro, the time has finally come for the first “real” exchanges with the staff and the Race Angels. We made it this time !

This is the time for reunions or first encounters. We discover the arch and all the decor specific to the event. The smiles, the advice, the little BikingManesque hive in a black T-shirt in full swing, always ready to help, inform, reassure.

For 72 of the 107 competitors at the start, it will be the first time. And this moment of discovery and sharing will undoubtedly remain etched in their memory.

The bike checks started yesterday will continue this morning. In the beginning of the afternoon, the adventurers will religiously listen to Axel for the pre-race briefing.

The tension, already present, will gradually rise as he speaks. Inevitably we will ask ourselves questions: weather, food, water, management of effort over time, first night on the bike or not?

The whole pre-race is made up of this delicious mix of motivation and fears. We want to leave because we’ve been waiting for this moment for so long… but we can’t help but ask ourselves questions because it’s a real physical and mental ordeal that awaits us.

Then it will be time to rest or chat again with the other competitors. Tomorrow, at 5:00 a.m., it will be the big start.

There will therefore be 107 participants of 14 different nationalities. The French will constitute the majority of the peloton with 59 representatives. Eleven Portuguese will play at home. Eight Brazilians crossed the Atlantic to reach Faro. 7 Belgians, 7 British, 3 Dutch, 3 Italians, 2 Irish, 2 Slovaks, a Spaniard, an Australian, a Swiss, a Norwegian and a Salvadoran will complete the line-up.

71 competitors will start solo. Among them, two women: Josien Vergroesen, a 33-year-old Dutchwoman who will participate in her first BikingMan and the Frenchwoman Bérengère Staelens 13th and first female last year in the BikingMan AURA.

There will be 18 pairs at the start, including 5 mixed.

Solo, Marc Lalande will be the dean of the event with his 72 years, while Clément Clisson will once again be the youngest of the event with his 23 years.

The Brazilian pair made up of Felipe Leser and Federico Antelo (23 and 24 years old), will be the youngest in the event. The French Alain Giblaine and Claude Jegu (67 and 60) who are taking up the BikingMan challenge for the first time will be the oldest.

If there is no age to get started, we can still take our hats off to our veterans. You have to dare to face these 1,000 kms. Don’t forget, as Jacques Barge would say: You have to manage!

After Romain Wartel in 2019, Laurent Boursette in 2020 then Benoît Merchez in 2021, who will get his name on the list of winners for the event?

Many new comers, we have seen it, and therefore necessarily a part of unknown as to a prognosis.

However, Clément Clisson, already twice winner (Corsica and Euskadi 2021) will logically be the favorite.

The experienced Cristian Auriemma (winner of the mythical BikingMan ”X” and 5th in France 2021 will undoubtedly be, for his 7th BikingMan, at the forefront.

Nico Faure, after a year 2021 full of joys (3rd in Corsica, 5th on the ”X”) and pain (scratch in France following knee pain and AURA) will also certainly be among the leaders of the race.

Finally, note the presence of Christophe Gingins, the swiss of the event, 8th in Corsica last year, which makes him a de facto candidate for a top 5.

It should also be noted that Marc Lalande and Cristian Auriemma will celebrate their 7th participation in Axel’s events while Nico Faure and Urbain Bernardo will compete in their 6th BikingMan.

Let us briefly recall that the race will include two checkpoints:

The first in Vila Viçosa after 341 km and nearly 4,700m of elevation gain.

Then head west to join and follow the Atlantic for 389 km and 3,300m of elevation gain. Direction the second CP in Sagres, the city from which the first Portuguese navigators left in the 15th century under the reign of Henry the navigator.

Finally, the third section will take competitors on a loop in the hinterland over 281 km and 4,000 m of elevation gain to reach Faro and the finishline.

The BikingMan Origin Portugal is 1,010 km of a course where you are generally always in gear. All former participants will tell you: we only go up and down. Numerous climbs dot the course, many of which are greater than 10%.

To this difficulty will be added the always essential parameter in cycling: the weather.

Even if we cannot yet really speak of heat in the summer sense of the term, we will no longer be in the winter temperatures that the participants have faced for a few months and the transition could be surprising. Watch out for heatstroke!

We expect around 15 degrees at the start tomorrow morning and the temperature should rise to 22/23 degrees between 3 and 5 pm.

The most important parameter will nevertheless remain the wind, generally oriented North-West and therefore unfavorable until CP1.

According to the sources at our disposal, the wind is given between 20 and 50 km/h. If we cannot be more precise, one thing is nevertheless certain, and that is that the competitors will have to fight against the wind.

We will try to come back tomorrow to give more details once the race has started and the information from the field has come back to us.

The plan was simple when we discussed the location with Didier and David: we had to gather athletes and gather them on the westernmost point of Europe to bring together a unique sense of exploration. The goal was to break preconceived ideas and show the exploration potential of a region well-known for farniente and peaceful golf holidays, and prove that Algarve and Alentejo regions have so much more to reveal, especially at the end of the tourist season (late September) when roads are quiet and the locals thankful to trade motorhomes tourists for athletes on bicycles.

Both the old city of Faro and the many fortresses we positioned on the race course settled the stage set. This country used to be one of the biggest nation of explorers and we had to pay a tribute to the Portuguese people by revealing its history and medieval architecture. You are warned, riding across Algarve and Alentejo regions feels like riding back in history. From the fortified walls of Monsaraz, revealed in the mist of our early morning ride, to the old pavement roads we hit on every historical city, it does feel like you could witness a horse carriage guiding your way to a modern city.

The superb white Portuguese architecture mixed with the worldly famous mozaics make the contrast impossible to forget as you cycle through the numerous typical villages of the race course. The objective of exploring the most of Algarve and Alentejo begins with an counterclockwise loop where just 1 hour away from Faro you are already riding on secret roads with literally no traffic and spectacular views upon the Algarve mountain range. Algarve taught us that we don’t necessarily need to search for Alpine climbs to be mind blown by those infinite landscapes and the revivifying light only Portugal can offer. Being at the far south of central Europe, Portugal puts on quite a show when it comes to enjoying morning and evening lights.

From a warm sunrise to a burning sunset, watching from the bike all the shades of colors provided by olive trees, orange groves and grape fields turn the ride into a delicious experience. The typical Portuguese restaurants on the road felt like a cycling blessing: the numerous fish and meat plates, the dreadfully tempting pastries or the great expresso make the ride slower than expected: any reason is good to stop for a coffee and a “pastel” pastry! You ride far, eat well and can sleep wherever your heart is calling. The small bushes on the road, below the branch of an olive tree, on the side of a fortress wall, you name it! Portugal offers unlimited bivy possibilities. Powernaps will bring memories of a lifetime, dreaming of medieval times where horses were traveling far…

As for the 2019 series, Portugal has been thought as an “entry level” race course to later take a bigger step onto other bikingman races. The rolling hills profile of the race makes it a fast event for the winners willing to go non-stop. Road conditions help to bring the speed up and TT bikes could be gamechanger weapons in Portugal. On the other hand, using the 120 hour’s time limit is a guaranteed delicious ultra experience where you can soak so much of Portugal. The adventure turns into an enjoyment of every mile, reminiscing of your first times on a bicycle,: complete an 8-10 hours ride during the day and smile at every Portuguese shop. The plenty typical hotels and “Posadas” on the road can even make it a comfortable journey if you’re not after the ranking but more about the journey.

Surprises on the mandatory race course have still been settled during our exploration ride to ensure you will experience and see the best of Algarve and Alentejo regions on tarmac. Shame on me, I got some extra kilos, riding sub 40 hours in Portugal while swallowing every possible Pastel cake I could grab on the road. But what an experience…!