The entire route is compiled in a collection on Komoot. You can also find the individual stages of the race on Strava!
Komoot: Joschka Völkel Strava: Joschka Völkel Instagram: @joschka_voelkel
I didn’t sleep well at all last night. Because there were no single rooms left, I had to book a 6-bed dorm, and my roommates rolled in from partying around 4 am. I left the hostel so early that all the doors were still locked, forcing me to find an unofficial way out. My day started with good coffee and croissants at a bakery before hitting the road again.
Kosovo is surrounded by mountains, but the landscape itself is surprisingly flat, so I made good progress. After half a day, I arrived in Prizren – the last town before the climb to Checkpoint 3. As soon as the ascent began, the traffic calmed down, and I could really enjoy the ride. The gradient was manageable and the parcours has been the smoothest so far. Of course, there was some gravel again, but nothing too serious.
At the checkpoint, I bumped into plenty of familiar faces. The atmosphere was nice, and I took the chance to sit down for a huge plate of pasta – one of the few hot meals I’d had during the race. After the checkpoint, there was another pass to climb before I reached the border to Macedonia. The border guard tells me that I'm too late. At first I think that the border has already closed. Then he has to laugh and says that 80 riders have already got through before me and that I should hurry up. It's certainly not the first time he's made that joke.
The direct route to my hotel in Skopje was on a banned road I couldn’t use, so once again, I found myself off-road, navigating gravel tracks through the Macedonian wilderness. The trail was badly washed out and tough to ride, but I’d learned by now that pushing the bike for a few meters is often quicker than risking a mechanical issue or a crash.
I arrived in Skopje around 11 pm and went straight to my accommodation. I proudly told my host that I planned to set off again at 3 am and said goodbye in advance. But things didn’t quite go as planned.
distance // 209 km
elevation // 2.231 m
moving time // 10:54 h
break time // 3:41 h
sleep duration night before // 4:30 h
location // hotel
highlight // CP3
problems // Prizren
by Reasonable-Cup-5324