Taurus Mountain Race 2026: The race has been abandoned – for safety reasons

​Saturday lunchtime: The moment the race was called off demonstrated just how difficult it is to keep 200 riders under control. Some riders, including Germany’s Marei Molnhauer, who was in 12th place in the overall standings, were on a muddy section at km 747, at an altitude of 2,900 metres, at the time of the cancellation and had no mobile signal. She only learnt later of the ‘suspension’ of the race, which was converted into a complete cancellation two hours later.

Other riders were held up at CP2 and were puzzled by the delay. Especially as, at that moment, the sky cleared for the first time and the sun peeked through the clouds. According to the weather forecast, the rain was now due to ease off. Summery temperatures were even forecast for Sunday.

The leaders were on their way to 3,225 metres

The two leaders, Justinas Levelka and Benedek Borsos, were forced to withdraw at KM 885. The pair had spent the night in a solitary race at the front, building up a 60-kilometre gap over the rider in third place, and were in Pozanti, around 100 kilometres before the final selective climb to the highest point of the route: from 750 to over 3,225 metres. The last rider had just reached km 232 at that point.

The problem for the organisers was clearly this gap between the frontrunners and those at the back. How can safety be ensured over a distance of 500 kilometres under these conditions, when even the service and emergency vehicles get stuck in the mud? Especially as, above a certain altitude, the racers have no mobile reception and are therefore unable to make emergency calls.

At the time the race was called off, the leaders were just heading in that direction; another 100 kilometres and they might well have disappeared from the safety officials’ radar. Of all places, that was where the longest off-road and muddy sections would have been lying in wait.

Final score at CP 2?

And anyone who’s seen the participants’ Instagram photos will know: bikes completely caked in mud. Every 200 metres, the tyres in particular had to be cleared of peanut-butter-like mud because they no longer fit through the forks. Many riders had already clamped a stick to their handlebars for this very purpose. Conditions, then, that would wear down any brake pads in no time at all. This would have made every long descent a potential hazard. Especially as ultra-racers are unstoppable and ride through the night even without sleep.

In that respect, calling off the race for safety reasons was certainly a good decision. All other riders are still allowed to continue as far as Checkpoint 2 at km 732, if they wish. Whether the race will be officially classified at this point is yet to be announced.

Pictures from this epic Mud-slinging You can find it on Instagram. And the Taurus Mountains still looked this beautiful back in Reconnaissance of the route from