The Indian Pacific Wheel Race, a non-stop, self-supported bicycle race across Australia, is now into its fifth day, and two titans of ultra cycling, Mike Hall and Kristof Allegaert, have asserted themselves as the race's front runners.
The race got underway on the 18th March in the west coast town of Fremantle, and going into day five (at the time of writing), Kristoff has clocked a quite astonishing 2,270km. Hall sits in second place on the road having ridden 2,190km.
The Belgian Kristoff is a three-time winner of the Transcontinental, while Mike Hall won the inaugural World Cycle Race (a race around the world) in 2012, and has also won other presitgious ultra events such as the Tour Divide and Trans-Am in America. The Briton is also the chief organiser of the Transcontinental race.
It is the first time that the two riders - widely regarded as the best two ultra riders in the world - have gone head-to-head in a race, and it was Kristoff who pulled away early, enjoying an incredibly strong start while Hall struggled to keep pace behind.
However after the crossing of the Nullarbor Plain, which is home to a 146.6km-long straight section of road, Hall had pegged the gap back to 30km. After taking a sleep break since, Kristoff has moved back ahead.
As the race continues it will be interesting to see whether Kristoff can continue what has been an astonishing pace, and whether Hall has anything planned for a counter-attack later on. With the finish in Sydney there is still over half of the race left, so a lot can still happen as it progresses first along the famous Great Ocean Road, and then the Australian Alps, on its 5,500km route east.
Follow the race with its live tracking system here: curvecycling.com.au/pages/indian-pacific-wheel-race.
And the race's Twitter and Youtube accounts here: @Indi_Pac and Curve Cycling Youtube.
Or support the organisers and race coverage here.