I have mixed feeling about this first stage of the Gobi March (China), after a cold night the weather in the morning was great, not warm at all and with a nice breeze, except that we had it in our face most of the stage. Unfortunately the distance has been reduced to 32 km instead of 42 km and most on it on a not so interesting dirt road. So the race went very fast, I finished 7th in 3h20 but really struggled at the end. I don’t think I slept more than 3h yesterday night, still jet-lagged and I may have a cold. My old tendinitis on the left foot is back too, so it is a pretty rough start but guess it’s the same for most competitor.
The stage ended in a nice village and we’ll sleep in some kind of big room which is amazingly cool knowing the outside temperature is quite hot now and with 30 people in there.
Tomorrow the stage will be longer, 39km with 779m of elevation gain and on more difficult terrain. We will see at it goes.
Runner during stage 1 with high mountain in the background (© P. Gatta)