RIDING THE WORLD'S MOST BEAUTIFUL RACE | LAURENS TEN DAM

Laurens ten Dam, one of cycling's toughest Grand Tour riders, has hung up his WorldTour jersey and ventured into the world of ultra-distance bikepacking—specifically the gruelling Tour Divide. He breaks down the brutal reality of 15 days of self-supported racing, the mental battles of unrealistic expectations, and why the flow state he found on the trail might be more valuable than any podium finish.

Key Takeaways

• Unrealistic expectations sabotage the experience: Ten Dam planned his Tour Divide attempt around Laurens Gormley's record pace, but a different course and terrain made those benchmarks impossible to hit, leaving him feeling like a failure despite a solid 15-day finish.
• Ultra-racing demands a different mindset than road racing: The physical suffering of a 15-day event is exponentially harder than any Grand Tour, taking two months to recover versus the ability to race again within days after the Tour de France.
• Flow state—not performance—is the real reward of ultra-distance events: Those moments of pure immersion in the ride without phone distractions, excessive planning, or time pressure create an addictive feeling that can't be manufactured or bought.
• You can't plan your way through an ultra: Ten Dam spent weeks agonising over equipment choices (lamps, gloves, sleeping bags) only to lose most of it by day two and improvise successfully—the race teaches you that adaptability beats preparation.
• Sleep deprivation leads to hallucinations and poor decision-making: After a 90-minute sleep on night two, ten Dam began hallucinating (seeing an Aladdin carpet in the streets of Helena) and made illogical choices about when to stop, forcing him to prioritise actual sleep over pace.
• The ultra-cycling landscape is where gravel racing was five years ago: You can still win on mindset and minimal training, but professionalization is creeping in; the best part is that ultra still rewards the unconventional rider more than WorldTour racing does.

Expert Quotes

"If you don't reach your goals you feel shit about yourself... feel like a noob like my kids say, like someone who can't ride the bike. But inside was not the case because with all the stuff I encountered and with the new course I still did a 15-day finish."

"The last three texts I got from my youngest kid—he's nine years old—he never texts me. The only thing he said was 'I miss you.' And I was laying in a ditch on my phone with bad network and that's when it hit me—I have to get up and go to the finish line because the kids miss me."

"Flow is something you cannot buy that feeling you know, you have to write yourself into that feeling. For me the Tour Divide—it took 14, 15 days but if I think back about all those days, might be like four or five days of actual flow. That's what's addicting."