Day 4: Ramboda – Kandy

It was ‘downhill time’ as the race headed to a close. Rolling out from the hotel in Nuwara Eliya (1,868 metres above sea level), the riders had a 20 km roll down the main road towards Kandy, a continuous descent until the Blue Field Tea Factory in Ramboda. This was where the actual starting gun would go, although some riders were held up with an impromptu photo shoot. It was a more relaxed affair for the final stage, beginning with an 8 km climb with 500 metres of altitude gain, before what seemed like a virtually endless descent with a few little steep climbs to break it up. After 75 km and 1,050 metres of climbing, the university of Kandy came into sight, with the campus marking the overall finish of the ‘Rumble in the Jungle.’ Unlike the first year’s edition in 2014, the rain had largely stayed away, with just the final few kilometres on this stage being subjected to showers.
As the fourth stage was not only the easiest and shortest in terms of time, a lot of the riders took the opportunity to visit Kandy, Sri Lanka’s second-biggest city, an important pilgrim city for Buddhists with its Temple of the Tooth.

Over the 75 km, the fastest time of 2 h 9 min was clocked by Ajay Pandit Chhetri (in the same time as 2014), leading by 2 min ahead of Yuki Ikeda and Peter Butt. The final rider stopped the clock at 5 h 3 min.

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Participants weren’t just escorted from Nuwara Eliya down to Stage 4’s official start, but they were kept in check throughout the whole race by staff from Lanka Sportreizen on mopeds, Land Rovers and ambulances.
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The final stage began from the Blue Field Tea Factory.
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The Nepalese Ajay Pandit Chhetri won three out of the four stages but ended up second in the GC after Japan’s Yuki Ikeda, whose advantage from the first stage was key.
San Kapil took his time on each stage to ride his fat bike, but had company on the final stage in the form of a jubilant Steve Edwards, who had been forced out of the 2014 edition with injuries.
San Kapil took his time on each stage to ride his fat bike, but had company on the final stage in the form of a jubilant Steve Edwards, who had been forced out of the 2014 edition with injuries.
Alex und Philip Wörz, die österreichischen Brüder leben in Kapstadt/Südafrika und haben das "Rumble in the Jungle" als organisiertes Abenteuer gesehen. Sie machten entsprechend viele Fotostopps und fuhren alle Etappen gemeinsam.
Alex and Philip Wörz. These Austrian brothers now live in Cape Town, South Africa, and saw the ‘Rumble in the Jungle’ as an organised adventure. They rode each stage together and took plenty of photos en route.

Here’s a link to the full results.

The following morning everyone headed back to the Catamaran Beach Hotel in Negombo where it had all began. The team from Lanka Sportreizen once again took care of the luggage and bikes, leaving the participants to rest up before the celebratory party at the Goldi Sands Hotel, a glorious finish to a super exciting and exhausting week.

Our Conclusion

Conclusion: Fantastically well-organised, the ‘Rumble in the Jungle’ is a breath of fresh air, delivering a great and challenging multi-stage mountain bike race for amateurs, pros and adventure-seekers. With a route that takes in the jungle, high plateaus, tea plantations and some of Sri Lanka’s tiniest villages, having other mountain bikers from 5 continents to share the experience makes it a refreshingly sociable affair, and the competitive aspect takes a backseat – but in our eyes, this just makes us more convinced to ride it again.

Page 5 of 6 Prev Next
Table of Contents
  1. Rumble in the Jungle in Sri Lanka
  2. Day 1: Kuda Oya – Haputale
  3. Day 2: Haputale
  4. Day 3: Kalupahana – Nuwara Eliya
  5. Day 4: Ramboda – Kandy
  6. Bike Check Special

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About the author

Manne Schmitt

As the proud father of Robin and Max-Philip, Manne has been there from the start and is the wise elder of the editorial team. He won his first cycling race in elementary school at a school sports day. After less successful attempts at football, he found his passion for cycling via endurance racing in 1989! The world of racing still consumes him and no one in the team knows the EWS pros better than Manne. As a former head analyst of a state agency, he knows how to do proper research and finds exclusive news that no one else has. He supports his sons in day-to-day business dealings as the authorised signatory for 41 Publishing – viva la familia!

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