Grandstand finish in prospect at Indian Pacific Wheel Race as Mike Hall takes lead (+ video)

I'm sure people enter for a range of reasons other than trying to hang with the front, but it looks like a lot of them were naive about just how taxing it would be. Personally I'd have more fun touring it as I like to get 8 hours sleep in and piss around having a 2nd or 3rd coffee.

As an aside has anyone noticed Kristof looks to be finding time for a daily shave, contributing greatly to still looking fresh as a daisy. This is all part of my theory that he is some kind of Belgian psyops master. 

Some of the backmarkers are out, but don't seem to have been struck out yet (Coops's last date was a week ago). I think the back is somewhere round Juju - still 2000km in, so good going (how long's it taken her to get back there?!).

The back-middleish guys are at around 3000km, impressive stuff, 12 days in - and some of them no doubt proving themselves to 'have what it takes' (CyclingMaven is still in there, as is mangorider ).

not forgetting there is a local (as  in Aus') female in 3rd place and riding very strongly - certainly will finish a close third, higher if an unlucky serious mechanical

Safe bet there barb 

Feeling bad for the guys right back, forgot all about them until now. Some, like Coop, seem to struggle doing more than 100 to 150km a day. Not sure I'd enter something like this if I was at that level. Could just be the trackers playing up though.

In fact I'll stick my neck out further and say I reckon 1 2 and 3 are not going to change.

I don't know about the gears, but Kristof is on record as saying that tyres over 25mm are for mountain bikes. Let's face it, these guys are tough! Maybe too soon to call but I think it's in the bag for Allegaert now.

Apparently Mike's on a standard chainset with 11-25 on the back. Anyone know if that's true. Find it hard to believe.

Mike's reaching the final 1/3 of the last big climb before the lumpy run in, after what looks like a wise shopping trip into the local town after his last (possibly enforced, he's been complaining of poor vision) kip-stop. Kristof is nearly 150km down the road, but looks like he is going to need a rest somewhere after 24hrs without sleep. Will he be stopped long enough for Mike to catch him again? I doubt it, but who knows with this race...

I'm fairly new at this cycling malarky, but is it normal to stare at a few moving dots on a screen for the last few days?!

Weirdly riveting.

Mike seems stopped here at the moment, hence Kristoff making good ground. Wondering why he came so far down when there's similar ground closer to his route.. Must be a good reason. Maybe he went shopping there and was actually on his way back up towards the route.

http://tinyurl.com/me5pm6h

There's some good data here showing how they've been pacing it

I reckon provided Kristof got some sleep last night then he's away. If he gets over or at least a decent way up that hill then Mike has to wake up and chase him up a 1300m climb. 

And those are looong KMs too. Kristoff is around 640 meters above him.

Looks like Kristof is pulling away again, while Mike was stopped in Towong Common for over an hour. Showing 27km between them here. Is Mike's surge with no sleep catching up with him?

How do you get teh riders to display on the map in the first place?  The tracker is just totally unuseable... or im stupid..

No way! Back from lunch and Kristoff is back up front. 2km on my screen, predictive is off. Would have loved to have been a fly on Mike's bars as Kristoff pulled up past him.

Bet it was dead civil.

In a bitter stab-you-in-the-back-tonight kinda way 

Both these guys must be at their very edge now. Has either of them ever faced this level of competition before? AFAIK both of them are used to smashing the field.

Will come down to who has the right gears (it seems Hall wanted some bigger cogs on the back) and who can sleep less. Brutal. This area, while not the Alps, is frecking demanding and proper hilly and up and down for ever. Check out the profile below. 1500m up! I think there was an infamous Audax 1200 went over this way a few years ago and just about killed everyone!

They are both at the Walwa Checkpoint. What the hell do you say to each other? It's a 600km race to the finish. Brilliant.

...and the status page just refreshed itself, with Hall in the lead again.

Apparently the page is not 100% reliable, with notable time gaps between location updates.

I think you need to turn the "predictive" off to get a true situation

I've just had a look at it seems Allegaert is in the lead again.
Somebody commented on the facebook page that they were with Allegaert when Hall went by — according to them, ten minutes later Allegaert was on his bike chasing.

Looks like Kristof's back in front as at 10pm on the 29th Aussie time