Sofiane Sehili Wins the Tour Divide

Sofiane Sehili has completed his 8-year-long quest to win the Tour Divide, the 2700-mile unsupported bikepacking race down the length of the USA. Sofiane finished the race in 14 days. 16 hours and 36 minutes, a remarkable finishing time, given the adverse conditions riders encountered on the 2022 edition of the Divide.

A selfie of Sofiane with a cut nose
Sofiane's bike against a cabin
Hike-a-bike through deep snow
Sofiane's bike against a cabin
A selfie of Sofiane with a cut nose
Hike-a-bike through deep snow

An extremely cold spring in the northern states meant that there was still over a meter of snow on many of the passes the race route traversed, this meant multiple hikes-a-bikes of up to 7miles causing a significant slowing of the pace across the field. Despite this Sofiane was still within touching distance of the Divide record set by Mike Hall in 2016 in near-perfect conditions.

 

Alas, the Divide never let up and once into the Great Basin of Wyoming, the headwind picked up making for slow progress across the high-altitude desert. The southern states of the USA had been blighted by drought and heatwaves over the past few months and as a result, many of the national forests that the route was scheduled to pass through were closed meaning rerouting through much of New Mexico. In a cruel twist of fate, the weather turned just as Sofiane and the other lead riders reached New Mexico. Electric storms and rain swept across the state turning many of the dirt roads into impassable mud meaning hours of slow muddy hike a bike.

 

Despite the challenging conditions Sofianes winning time was only 17hours behind Mike Halls record, but his victory will be well remembered in one of the toughest editions of the race.

Sofiane's winning bike set up

Sofiane's Vitus Rapide Bike

Frame: Vitus Rapide

Forks: Columbus Futura Adventure Fork

Wheels: Custom Hunt Trail Wide Carbon Wheels with SON Dynamo

Tires: René Herse Fleecer Ridge Tires 29x2.25

Chainrings/Cassette: Shimano XT M8000 11sp 34t - 11/42

Rotors: Shimano Xt Rotors 180/160

Pedals: Shimano XT Pedals

Seatpost: Niner RDO Carbon Seatpost

Saddle: PRO Stealth Offroad Saddle

Stem: RedShift Shockstop PRO stem

Handlebars: Ritchey WCS Carbon Flat Bar

Aerobars: Profile Design T3+ Aluminium Aerobar

Grips: Ergon GS3 grips

Lights: Supernova E3 Triple Dynamo Front Light / E3 Tail Light

Bags: Miss Grape Bags

GPS: Hammerhead Karoo 2 GPS Bike Computer

Sofiane's Vitus Rapide Bike
Hunt wheel on Sofianes bike
Sofianes rigged up race-winning bike
Hunt wheel on Sofianes bike
Sofianes rigged up race-winning bike

June 28, 2022 — James Finch
Tags: Beyond