The seesaw battle for the lead in the Race Across America finally landed in Dani Wyss's favor Thursday evening as defending champion Jure Robic had to stop to serve 60 minutes of penalties just 55 miles from the finish line in Annapolis, Maryland.
Instead of serving his time at the Mt. Airy, Maryland, time station, however, Robic and his crew decided to quit. Wyss, who is recorded as arriving at that time station at the same time, proceeded down the road to victory in Annapolis.
Robic's action is explained on his website:
“Jure was the fastest cyclist on this years RAAM. On the last time check TS51, he came few minutes before Dani Wyss. Because of the penalties, issued controversially, because of the rules not aplied always in the same manner and because of not issuing penalties to others, Jure and his crew decided not to finish the race as 2nd, but step out of it on TS51.
“Today it was written the history of RAAM. Jure and Dani staged the toughest fight ever and on the end the fastest didn't won.
“Expect more in next days when we will be relaxing before traveling back home.”
It's a shame that the closest and possibly greatest RAAM ever had to end on a sour note. It's amazing to consider that a 3,100-mile race could come down to just minutes separating these two endurance athletes until one of them bailed out.
Robic and Wyss had to play by the same rules, and it sounds like Robic and his crew assert that the judgments used to enforce those rules weren't always fair. We'll have to wait and see if they offer any proof.
Second fastest speed
Wyss rolled into City Dock in Annapolis at 9:25 p.m. on Thursday as the new champion of RAAM. He averaged 15.28 mph day and night over the entire course, including his stops. In the last 15 miles from Odenton, Wyss averaged 21.8 mph.
Wyss's average of 15.28 mph is the second fastest time ever posted over the RAAM. The fastest was Pete Penseyres in 1986 who averaged 15.4 mph.
In the tightest RAAM ever, Robic tried to gain a big lead on Thursday. Robic passed Hancock 13 minutes ahead of Wyss on Thursday morning, then showed up at the Rouzerville, Pennsylvania, time station 16 minutes ahead of Wyss with 131 miles to go. Wyss beat Robic to the Hanover, Pennsylvania, time station by 1 minute, then they both arrived at the Mt. Airy, Maryland, time station at 6:23 p.m. EST.
Advantage
Mt. Airy was where Wyss picked up his big advantage, as Robic had to serve the penalties he accumulated since leaving Oceanside, California a week ago Wednesday.
See also: RAAM leadboard, Robic website; Wyss website.
Robic, from Slovenia, has four RAAM victories in 2004, 2005, 2007 and 2008. Switzerland's Wyss previously won RAAM in 2006.
The two were among 21 solo men cyclists who left Oceanside, California, last Wednesday. While Robic took an early lead, Wyss whittled away before actually passing him on the road. Both cyclists lost some time earlier in the race with wrong turns.
Penalties
Robic's biggest penalty was the 30 minutes on Tuesday for failing to return to the departure point after making a wrong turn. Apparently Robic and his crew found themselves so far off course they decided it was better to return directly to the route and take the penalty without going back to the point they got lost and starting from there.
He had earlier been penalized 15 minutes each for “inappropriate behavior at the start” and “passing at night on a freeway without use of an exit ramp.” The starting line infraction was apparently for urinating in some bushes after waiting for the race to start. Witnesses say there were no portable toilets in the vicinity.
Twelve solo men in the “under 50” category are still on the course. You can check their standings at RAAM leaderboards. There are also ongoing contests in the under 50 women's category and the 2-person, 4-person and 8-person teams.
Team Type 1 is about to finish in Annapolis early Friday morning.
Here's the official RAAM update video posted on Thursday morning at YouTube.com:
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