The Middle, Day 3 - Trans-Rezia 2016

In the early morning of day three, riders were shuttled from Arnoga to the top of Passo Foscagno. Riders dropped down a high speed, buff, single into Livigno, freshly resurfaced by the cows the previous day.

Chris Kilmurray, the brains (and legs) behind Point One Athletic was chomping at the cranks early morning.

Stuart Wilcox doing it for the guys over at enduro-mtb.com

Speed tucking has been in vogue this week. High-speed singletrack and blind trails mean saving energy for brutal climbs that rear their ugly heads. You never know what's hiding around the next corner!

The third day of the event was the most physical, during and in-between the stages. A much-needed lunch break at the top of a lung-busting climb.

Refueling in Italy means pasta, pizza and coffee, and lots of it.

Stage 10 was a dream. Meandering above and parallel to a glacial river: bedrock, gravel and flow.

Natalie Schneitter, the ex-Olympian cross country racer was schooling most of the boys up the hills. Leading the women after day 3.

T-Mo, convincing as ever. Starting to claw back the massive amount of time lost from a puncture.

Stage 12 was a brute. The best part of thirty minutes of technical singletrack, high speeds and hard climbs took the riders down to Poschiavo.

A total of 70km's and 1922 meters of man powered climbing was offset by 3891 meters of descent. The discrepancy was aided by a shuttle and the Mottolino Bike Park lift in Livigno. A Swiss hotel was a warm welcome for the weary.