The Transcontinental Race (TCR) is a self-supported ultra-endurance bike race in which riders must navigate through multiple countries and control points, traversing the European continent. Relying solely on their own fitness, strategy and resilience, riders tend to cover over 4,000km and countless metres of climbing on little sleep. It is not for the faint-hearted.
For perspective, this year’s edition was won by Robin Gemperle, who finished in eight days, 23 hours and 59 minutes, riding an average of 449.6km per day.
Created by the late Mike Hall in 2013, the TCR has historically attracted an overwhelmingly male field, but Lost Dot, the organisation behind the race, wants to change that through its new campaign.
Under the banner #100TCRWomen, the campaign aims to inspire women to take on next year’s edition of the TCR – TCRNo11 – with the hope of more than doubling the women’s field.
Through a programme of workshops, Q&A sessions and community events, Lost Dot hopes to make it more attainable for women to reach the start line. The workshops will be delivered by experienced riders and women from the Lost Dot team, and there will also be a dedicated WhatsApp community to further support riders with their preparations.
‘Our goal with this campaign is to spark excitement and inspire all the women who’ve ever thought, “One year, I want to race the TCR,”‘ says TCRNo11 Race Coordinator, Hannah Larbalestier. ‘We want to build a collective vote of confidence that empowers them to make TCRNo11 that year.’
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The numbers
In the first edition of the TCR in 2013, Juliana Buhring was the sole woman on the start line on Westminster Bridge in London, racing towards Istanbul, Turkey.
Since then numbers have steadily increased, with highs at TCRNo7 with 40 women and then at this year's edition of the race, TCRNo10, which saw the largest women’s field to date: out of the 328 riders who started 41 were women, although that is still a mere 12.5% of participants.
However, even in the history of a race dominated by men, women have made their mark. In 2019, Fiona Kolbinger won the Transcontinental Race outright, becoming the first female and first rookie to do so.
When asked recently whether the race would see another woman win, she said, 'It’s definitely going to happen again. If one woman can do it, multiple women can do it.'
The pioneer's view
One of those women lining up for the 2025 TCR is Lael Wilcox, who became the fastest woman to cycle around the world this summer.
A seasoned ultracyclist, Wilcox has been on the start line of multiple ultracycling races for years, including the Tour Divide and the Silk Road Mountain Race, and she knows the gender disparity all too well.
'I started racing about ten years ago and often I'd be the only woman or there'd be maybe two others,' says Wilcox. 'At most common it's 10% or less of the entire field, so if you have 200 racers, you're pretty lucky to have 20 women, and I really think that number should go up.
'Representation matters so much and it really changes things. When you're in a big group and you see women of different backgrounds, races, ethnicities, ages, they're all role models for different groups, and role models for me, and that's super-exciting.
'I feel like as a woman, you're always the underdog. A lot of people don't expect you to be able to finish this kind of event but by getting results and showing up to races year after year, I can encourage more women to get out there, not only competitively but also for events like the Komoot women's bikepacking rallies that I host.
'I'm super-pumped the TCR is going for this big goal of getting 100 women out there, a third of the field, and I know a lot of my friends will be excited for this too.'
This will be Wilcox's first TCR and her reason for entering is inspired by her record-breaking around the world cycle.
'I decided to do it this year because I rode across Europe for my around the world ride and I loved it, it's so much fun crossing so many borders,' she says. 'It's so romantic to cross Europe and to make your own route.'
Why don't more women take on endurance cycling events?
There is a commonly used quote from a Hewlett Packard internal report that says, 'Men apply for a job when they meet only 60% of the qualifications, but women apply only if they meet 100% of them.' That was then backed up by UK government research. It appears that feeling underprepared also impacts the number of women signing up for ultra races like the TCR.
Jana Kesenheimer came 13th overall in the tenth edition of the TCR, and was the first woman to finish. For her, the reason comes down largely to preparation.
'I think I would have been ready to race TCR two years ago already, but I felt I wasn't ready,' says Kesenheimer.
'Maybe this is something that applies to a lot of women out there, they are underestimating themselves and waiting for the right time. I don't know what the right time is, but men apparently think they reach it earlier than women. I wanted to do the TCR when I felt prepared and like giving it my all, and this year, I felt like this is the time now, so I registered.'
Kesenheimer also points out that the potential for social and cultural differences in countries that the race goes through can put women at a disadvantage.
'We can see that it's not a physiological issue. Fiona already won the race overall as a woman, but what we can't deny is that there are some kind of socio-psychological or cultural disadvantages that affect women,' says Kesenheimer.
'For me, it was a really cool experience, and I felt safe most of the time, but we have to be aware that safety problems might exist in some cultures or countries so there will be some disadvantages for women. It's not equal for everyone but it would be nice if it was.'
With the self-supported nature of the race, riders are mostly left to their own devices, but there is a rider helpline 24/7 through which riders can contact the rider communications manager to get help.
Finding the female advantage
Alongside her riding, TCRNo7 winner Fiona Kolbinger is a medical doctor, and for her the multi-faceted nature of an ultracycling race plays into women's strengths.
'There will always be biological differences between men and women, I don’t see a good way to argue around that,' Kolbinger says. 'But endurance racing is so multi-factorial, so when it comes to route planning, dealing with fatigue or frustration, or dealing with mechanical issues with your bike, there is no difference between women and men.
'There is a matter of practice, a matter of knowing your body, a matter of understanding pain levels and managing fatigue. So I think once there are enough other challenges than the physical components, then it is possible that some of these challenges will stop your male competitors when they don’t stop you. So many components don’t have anything to do with biology or genetic components, so there is more of a level playing field.'
High success rate
Jessica Wood took on the TCR for the first time this summer and is passionate about her experience. She points out that there is more to the numbers than meets the eye.
'While the numbers on the start line are lower for women, women had a higher success rate at completing the race,' says Wood. 'So the numbers suggest to me that men are more comfortable at failing, so we need to encourage women that entering and getting to the start is an achievement.'
Wood doesn't hide from the often grim reality of traversing the European continent day after day on little sleep, but relishes the achievement.
'The race environment is epic,' she says. 'I really enjoyed how routes would cross with other riders 100s of kilometres away from checkpoints, and even though the race is self-supported there was a great camaraderie among riders.
'It was an amazing challenge and it was so satisfying to cross a continent powered by myself – even with a slightly bleak day when I had food poisoning and spent a day trying not to vomit on my handlebars.'
The TCRNo11 route: Spain to Romania
For the 11th edition of the TCR, the route will start in northern Spain and finish in Romania, and for the first time will take in a significant ferry crossing.
TCRNo11 will start in Santiago de Compostela in northwest Spain, in the iconic main square. From there riders head east along the coastline to Control Point 1 at Picos de Europa. This is the shortest distance to a Control Point in TCR history and Lost Dot is hoping that will help more riders reach the time cut-offs.
Riders must then cross the Pyrenees and take on the Col du Tourmalet, which hosts Control Point 2, and then it's onwards east across to Control Point 3 in Strada dell'Assietta, Italy. Heading south, riders will cross the Appenines mountain range towards Control Point 4, which is split between Siena and Pacentro, allowing riders to take on some of the gravel roads of Strade Bianche.
Continuing east, riders will need to take a 10-hour ferry from Italy to reach the penultimate Control Point in Burrel, Albania, before rolling to the finish line in the port city of Constanța, Romania on the shores of the Black Sea.
Riders must plot and plan their own route, taking in the five Control Points and obligatory off-road sections. They are likely to ride over 4,500km across Europe, with a mix of road and off-road.
The route is fully self-supported, which means riders cannot accept outside help. There are ten rules that riders should abide by, and Lost Dot makes sure that all riders adhere to the 'spirit of the race'. The organisation also shares a race manual that notes any banned roads in order to help riders stay safe as well as cut-off times to reach each Control Point.
Applications to race will open for women, and anyone who doesn’t identify as a man, on 3rd December, and general applications will open on 8th December, with applications closing for all on 31st December.
To apply visit lostdot.cc/tcr.
Lost Dot has also announced a women’s-only workshop and Q&A session will take place online on 9th December with TCR veterans including TCRNo10's fastest woman Jana Kesenheimer, TCRNo7 overall winner Fiona Kolbinger and TCRNo10 General Classification finisher Heike Otten. Women can sign-up to that here.
