Completing the 2,000-plus-kilometre course in nine days, 15 hours and 51 minutes, Nathalie Schneitter took the women's win and tenth overall at the 2026 Silk Road Mountain Race. She came to Kyrgyzstan with a professional pedigree few could match — a former junior world champion, elite World Cup winner, and Olympian in cross-country mountain bike — but almost no experience of racing this long or this remote. She came, in her own words, out of curiousity: to see how her body would handle the distance, the altitude and the solitude. The answer was a patient, calculated ride that came down to the final quarter, when a race-defining night high on the mountain turned a multi-hour deficit to Kerry into the lead. In this episode, Nathalie shares all about her winning ride, the delicate balance between pedalling and faffing, running out of food on the climb to Arabel, and the tight, thrilling race against Kerry.


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Production & hosting by Mel Webb

Sound design by Ben Crannell

Cover photo by Stephen Shelesky


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Thanks to our race partners Albion, Pertex and Tailfin.

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