“Reckon he’s got a future in the sport, eh?” 

That was the amusing top comment on Facebook where the Dales Divide bikepacking event announced double Olympic triathlon champion Alistair Brownlee had spent his Easter weekend smashing over 11,000m of leg-shredding Yorkshire climbs to be first rider home, in a time of 34 hours… and with enough time to spare for a snooze before his Easter lunch.

Brownlee of course won triathlon gold in London in 2012 and Rio de Janeiro four years later, but this weekend turned his attention to a sporting event that would feature just a, rather lengthy, bike leg (although, admittedly, depending on the Yorkshire weather and climbs, some stretches may involve swimming and/or running).

The Dales Divide is a 600km coast-to-coast route, the bikepacking event coming over Easter weekend and involving riders taking on some of the UK’s most beautiful, but hardest, riding. It starts in Arnside in Westmorland and Furness, in Cumbria, and riders cross England to Scarborough, before returning to the west coast.

The Dales Divide confirmed Brownlee was the first rider home and completed the 600km country-crossing epic in just shy of 35 hours. In the process, he pushed Angus Young’s fastest known time close, close enough in fact that Young joked on Instagram afterwards, “Well done @alistair.brownlee you got me worried there!”

Brownlee’s performance was all the more impressive considering the rough conditions which have battered parts of the UK over the bank holiday, Storm Dave bringing strong winds and heavy rain.

On Sunday lunchtime, the Dales Divide team provided an update after a “wild night” that had even seen some trees come down on the route.

“Storm Dave has now passed, however today will still be very difficult with winds continuing until the evening and the odd rain/hail shower thrown in,” they said.

“We have had eight riders finish, Kit Nisbet being the last in this front group. Chris and I met Kit at Newby Head at around 22:00, we also met Jesse Yates who had not long taken the decision to scratch, looking cold and hungry, one of the Restrap Team had him in their van and were looking after him.

“Although Kit looked strong, we agreed he should not go back on to off-road high ground section up Wold Fell especially in the peak of the storm and instead take the road to Cowgill and rejoin the route there (this could save around 60mins, we agreed he would not be penalised for this as he was 2hrs+ from any other riders).

“Weather events like these force sensible decision making and kit choice selection — from the map it looked like most riders had found some sort of shelter last night, or instead were riding in a group for safety. The DD team will aim to make fair decisions on other rider route deviations, keeping safety in mind. Hopefully when cafes open, riders can get a good meal, warm up and continue the ride.”

No such concerns for Brownlee, the two-time Olympic triathlon champ already home and tucked up in bed before yesterday night’s storms.