Cycling: Fiona Kolbinger has covered 4.000 kilometers from Bulgaria to France. Not by plane or car - but by bike. The Heidelberger was the first woman to win the Transcontinental Race and didn't give the numerous men a chance.
Fiona Kolbinger only slept 4 hours a day
Sleeping just four hours a night for ten days would throw many people off track in their professional lives. However, this lack of sleep sounds particularly severe if you during this time 4.000 km have to travel on the bike. That sounds almost impossible - but Fiona Kolbinger did it. This distance was used for the seventh Transcontinental Race from Bulgaria to France to put back. After exactly ten days, two hours and 48 minutes, the 24-year-old from Heidelberg reached the finish line in Brest. Before her, no one arrived in the port city in Brittany. It was only ten hours and 22 minutes later that second-placed Ben Davies arrived. Fiona Kolbinger could have given herself an hour or two more sleep.
She left over 200 men behind
The most impressive thing about Fiona Kolbinger's performance is that she was able to put all her competitors in their place. In total there were 28 July in Burgas, Bulgaria 263 participants at the start, including 40 women. Although this was her first cycling ultra event, she clinched this unexpected victory straight away. The 24-year-old medical student is the first female winner in the history of the competition.
Fiona Kolbinger:
"I'm so, so surprised to have won. When I came to this race I thought maybe I could fight for the women's podium. But I never thought I could win the whole race.”
Not only cycling needs to be learned
In addition to the logical prerequisite of being extremely fast on the bike, the participants in the Transcontinental Race must have many other skills. So they decide for themselves which way to go and how to reach their destination in France as quickly as possible. Only four checkpoints had to be driven through, including the one known from the Tour de France Col du Galibier. In addition, the participants were completely on their own, huh food and materials concerns. To save time, on some days Fiona Kolbinger simply lay down in her sleeping bag right on the side of the road. It was worth it.
For years we've waited, knowing it is possible. Finally and with a vengeance, Fiona Kolbinger has arrived @transconrace. I'm rooting for her. rock star What a time for our sport. pic.twitter.com/VSVEJv1QS0
— James Hayden (@JamesMarkHayden) July 31, 2019