Kinomap: Marius Ratkevičius wins Virtual Mangshi stage!

Lithuanian Marius Ratkevičius was the fastest rider-at-home this week as he set the fastest time on the first and shortest stage of the Virtual Granfondo Yunnan Challenge on the Kinomap platform. Set in Mangshi, Dehong Prefecture in the Southwest of Yunnan, Ratkevičius recorded a time of 15’20” for the 8.4 km race that ends with a steep climb of just over 1 km in length. Interestingly, he took part in the ‘real’ Granfondo last year and was 6th in that same stage in a time of 15’04”, 48 seconds slower than winner Myagmarsuren Baasankhuu. This week’s testifies Ratkevičius is almost in the same shape as twelve months ago, but also that Kinomap works with pretty accurate data!

Miga’s winning time of 14:16, by the way, is not the course record of this stage on Kinomap. Earlier this year, a French rider named Domi49 (avatar name) recorded a lightning 13:45!!

Second quickest this week was China’s Wu Hao in 16:47, followed by Lee Johnson in 21:03. Fastest woman was Germany’s Julia Wolff in a splendid time of 17:43. That would have put her on the podium as 3rd in the real race last year! Winner of the stage back then was Anne Stegehuis in 17:08, ten seconds faster than Olivia Ghisoni. Stegehuis’ time remains the overall women’s record.

Both stage winners won a free entry to a stage of choice (or corresponding discount) in next year’s Granfondo Yunnan.

Winner of the lucky draw among the participants in this week’s Virtual GF Yunnan Challenge is Mr Jean-Yves Roger. He also wins a free entry for next year!

As of now, everyone can join the virtual Dali stage on Kinomap. It is the longest and fastest, with 47,5 km and some 429 metres of elevation gain. Prepare to sweat as you ride in last year’s peloton along the magnificent Erhai Lake!

Oh and by the way, the Mangshi stage does not disappear from Kinomap, so you can still train on it and set times for the overall leaderboard indefinitely.