Did Ben decide to soldier on, with the cracked frame?

Yup, he passed through a town with 3 bike shops yesterday, so I'm not sure if he stopped for an assessment or whatever there, but he's trucking on.

Here you go.

Ben says there's nothing compatible or affordable in Breckinridge so he's pushing on. Hardcore

Looks like something has scored through the carbon rather than a crack. No luck that boy.

Ben broke his frame!!! Big crack on the downtube by the looks of his photo on FB

Great battle brewing up front as Stefan and Josh are now only 8 miles down on Brian who seems to have hit a hotel.

Ben laying down a frantic pace post-repairs too.

Confirmed from the man himself. Ben is back on track!

His girlfriend wrote on Facebook  (in Dutch) that the second half starts now... sounds hopeful.

Says he's fine on his post this morning, no major injuries.

I think he was using the fork on the 250km gravel race I did with (read 2 hours behind) him back in April, we talked about the Divide a little then and he said he was using the bike he wanted to take. Not much you can ride off road in Flanders that will give it a pounding, however.

Another friend just bought one for his BMC cross bike that he used on Tuscany Trail and the rep had to jury-rig it with a  crown race adaptor from a Cannondale Lefty to make it sit right on the bearings, I recall thinking that sounded janky at the time. No idea if the Cube needed similar treatment or not.

There's one guy in Belgium sells Lauf forks... I don't think he's going to have a happy morning.

Thanks Angler. Lee is one of the people I'm looking out for this year and she's doing a hell of a ride.

Awful luck for Eddie O'Dea! I hope he gets something worked out.

I'm glad I'm not the only one sad enough to do that.

Our TDR 2017 leader Ben Steurbaut of Belgium has arrived into Ovando around 8 pm.  He has NOT slept since the Grand Depart.  And despite that he looks amazingly well.  Said the detour up north cost him 4 or 5 hours off of his schedule.  This is not his usual type of race so it is hard on the knees and the mind.  I informed him that despite all that you are rocking it Sir.  He plans on staying in Ovando for about 6 hours.  He is spending the night "in Jail". Going for a hot shower at the Ovando Inn as they are still open awaiting for guests, having dinner and zonking out til 2 am.  With the help of some mosquito repellent as they were eating him alive.  If anybody was watching on the web cam [https://video.nest.com/live/TcqLm0pt14] he waved. 

Next in line is Brian Lucido who should be here in about an 1.5 hours.  I will wait for him.

Last year on FD (I strava stalked him for my own planning), Ben did 20 hours a day for the first 2 days for about 850km, about 350km the following day then took whole day off. Then he hammered some crazy pace for another 4 days to the finish. His just over 8 days for 2100km included a day off. Incredible.

Just for giggles, I ran the leaderboard to "projections" Ben is on an 8:18 pace.

From experience, he'll go crazy for a couple of days then settle into a steadier, but still amazing pace.

For some context, Ben Steurbaut knocked out 400km in each of the first 2 days of French Divide last year. Nowhere near as much climbing, but the guy's super strong.

Looks like Josh Kato got a little late start, but he is on route now.

Or maybe his Spot was acting up...

Reckon it was the Spot, MH had Spot trouble last year too. He's looking to be up in the early mix now.

Ben off to a flyer (in the first 12 miles )

For the ladies, Lee Craigie from Scotland is a former elite XC racer and was joint 3rd in the Highland 550.

I'm looking out for Ben Steurbaut from Belgium too. He's not only a good dude but won my event this year (French Divide, 2100km, 38,000 climbing metres) in less than 7 days.

Just tuned into this to see how my friend Clem is getting on and find a former clubmate from ten years ago is running second! Incredible.

Maybe one for 2018 then (to add to the ever growing list!)

Thanks!