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Tuesday, May 2, 2000 In addition to the altitude related mountain sickness, the competitors on this 10th Raid Gauloises had to endure frozen temperatures yesterday. The weather conditions were such that the organization decided to block the race at the level of CP6, the crest of the pass. At 5pm, a snowstorm was announced promising to engulf the already exhausted competitors. The storm, ultimately, forced 30 teams, from the middle of the race group, to settle in an improvised bivouac under a giant heated tent pitched atop of the 5150-meter pass with food to bolster the troops. The convoy took up its trek to the following checkpoint again in the early morning, by plowing a path through the 10 centimeters of snow now covering the Tibetan landscape. At 5am this morning, the temperature at CP10 was lower than 10 degrees Celsius. These extreme weather conditions, when added to the overall difficulty of the route, have taken their toll on the will and the health of a good number of competitors. Consequently, the jury officially counted 16 individual withdrawals yesterday afternoon. The total rose to 18 in the evening: Swede Michael Lemmel of Team Human Link, suffering from a pulmonary edema also had to leave the race, just like Jean-Marie Erre, of Team Vaucluse Aventure Evasion. Five teams are out in front and setting a scorching pace. They left CP10, a transition point between hiking and a new mountain bike section, in the middle of the day to embark on a 125km cycling race which crosses the Chinese-Nepalese border at Zhangmu. Teams had to ride on a path barely suitable for motor vehicles and even though teams went down a steep incline, from 4310 meters to 2300 meters at the frontier, the temperature correspondingly went up to 35 degrees Celsius. Since customs closes its gates overnight, the leading teams were forced to be patient and spend the night at the border. It was a great opportunity to spend the night in a hotel, with a hearty meal and a hot shower. As of 7:45 Tuesday morning, opening hour of the border, the city's inhabitants stood wide eyed, gawking at the fluorescent cycle gear of the first competitors as they passed from Tibet to Nepal. The night made it possible for many teams to make up some time on the race leaders, so much so that 25 teams passed the border between 7:45am and noon. They then went into a dizzying descent by mountain bike towards the second assistance point, to get as quickly as possible to CP19, where the wild water swimming section would then begin. For Team Ertips, which had already accomplished this task by 2pm, the objective of CP26 by the early hours of the morning is a real possibility. This checkpoint at 3149 meters is the trekking pinnacle in Nepal. Those teams unable to start the wild water swimming leg of the race before it closes at 5pm (for security, the organization prohibits wild water swimming at night) will be outdistanced by the leading group of teams. —Provided by Raid Gauloises
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