Every post on the Transcontinental Race (TCR) needs to open with an introduction to the race itself, so while it is likely that you know at least something of the race if you don’t you can find more images and how I came to start documenting the race here, here & here.
The TCR is a 4000km, self-supported bike packing race across Europe. Starting in Geraardsbergen, Belgium - and for TCRNo9 - finishing in Thessaloniki, Greece, riders must pass through four control points (CPs) as well completing multiple parcours (fixed sections of route). The fastest riders will complete this in nine days and there is a cut-off of 17 days for the general classification.
CPs are both destination and refuge, and yet each one is only a stepping stone on the long journey to the finish. As the race is self-supported the CPs offer little more than a friendly face and an opportunity to chat to fellow riders. Mostly based in hotels, there is no guarantee that rooms will be available or that the kitchen will still be serving food when riders arrive (we were fortunate that our CP3 host, Uesli, at Vila Bruçi did his absolute best to accommodate riders’ needs).
CPs are transient places. The constantly rotating shifts of volunteers manning the check-in mixed with the ebb and flow of riders arriving and leaving: some only stopping briefly, others lingering clinging to the sanctuary and community CPs provided, hoping that an enthusiasm for peddling will return to their legs.
As the days passed CP3 collected more and more riders as they arrived increasingly frequently and found it ever harder to leave. Only around half of the riders who started the race made it as far as CP3 and those arriving during the last day had already spent two weeks on the road and cycled 3000km. While the first riders had already spent several days at the finish in Greece these riders still had over 1000km and a gravel parcour left.
The following portraits are some of the last riders to pass through the control point during the final 24hrs that it was open.
© 2026 James Robertson