DAY 36 & 37 <-> DAY 34
When they met up with Géry & Baudouin in the mountains of Savoie, around fifteen kilometres from the finish line in Chambéry, their first words were: “we’ve crossed several worlds!
The two Belgian friends were completing their 2nd Grand Sun Trip, and after a fine 6th place (not 100% solar) in 2021, here they are, officially in the race rankings, 100% solar and in 4th place, after 35 days and 8 hours of adventure! They covered an average of 215 km a day!
“We were aiming for first place right up until… the first night!” joked Baudouin, but it’s no joke to say that the two men did everything they could to finish on the podium! “Admittedly, we initially had a direct challenge with Vivien Dettwiler for 4th place, but as soon as he had a technical problem in Taroudant, we had more than just Kilian & Jonas in the lead. When they started to say that they were losing a lot of rays in the south of Morocco, we thought we were going to catch them up, but in the end it was us who had technical problems in Spain and by then it was too late to hope to come back“.
The catastrophic weather since they entered France finally stopped them in their long-distance duel, Géry and Baudouin deciding to take some time out at sea 2 days ago when the Germans arrived in Chambéry. “Well done to them, they were very strong and it’s impressive to finish with a 300km day in the rain!”
At dinnertime, exhausted after a hard day in the sun, memories of Morocco spontaneously came flooding back. “The part after Zagora, as we headed north, was truly magical,” recalls Géry. “After coming to terms with the emptiness, life gradually returned, the colours came back, the atmosphere was calmer, it was another world. However, the Moroccan loop is still very demanding, there are often a lot of people, and the weather can change completely in a short space of time, so I have to say that I was happy to be back in Spain“. Baudouin added: “For me, it’s the last time I’ll be cycling through Spain! It’s been very hard coming back. I was dreaming of swapping our bikes for a good motorbike!”
Their view of this 2024 edition is also very interesting, as they were familiar with the Sun Trip 2021, “this route was more condensed than the one around Europe, in 2021 it was very, very flat and there were sometimes long, fairly monotonous sections, particularly to the east. This year, the scenery was constantly changing and it was incredible to experience!” Another success for them was “the participants’ WhatsApp group was really nice, it creates a very strong bond between us, even if we don’t bump into each other, we’re connected and it’s a unique experience“. And among the group’s strengths, “we’d like to highlight Jean-Louis, he’s very touching and shares his adventure very well, and also congratulations to Miguel for having had the strength to set off again!”
To conclude, I’d like to quote the words of Cédric Vinatier on his arrival at Astana in 2013: “Thank you to Sun Trip for allowing us to experience moments like this, we wouldn’t do it without them and it wouldn’t be the same on our own, the strength of the group makes us all stonger”.
Eleven years on, the spirit of the Sun Trip adventure hasn’t changed and we’re proud of it. We hope it will continue to do so.
Race position on Day 35
- 1er : Jack Butler, in 23 days and 2 hours
- 2ème : Jean-Marc Dubouloz, ni 23 days and 6 hours
- 3èmes : Kilian & Jonas, in 33 days and 8 hours
- 4èmes : Géry & Baudouin, in 35 days and 8 hours
- 5. Vincent Gallego et Luciano Trumpler
LIve Map : suntrip.sollow.live/maroc-2024
Other images of the day
Vivien Dettwiler in Spain, with this video showing how he sometimes turns his bike into a bed. He is only 200km behind Vincent, Luciano and Bertrand. The suspense remains.
Jean-Louis Mérelle and Herman Segers together from Chefchaouen to Tangier
Vincent Lauga cyclist (muscular) meets monkeys
Michael and Jiri take some magnificent photos between Ouarzazate and Boulmane Dades.
Miguel Letor reached the summit of the Tizi N’Test pass at dusk! Well done young man.
Finally, a word about Lucaci Arnold Vasile, who was disqualified for missing the start of the race and is now on a trip across Spain. He was in San Sebastien today and is about to travel all the way back to Denmark, where he lives. Well done to him!
Congratulations also to our 2024 champion Jack Butler for this fine article in the British press!
