Episode 5

It’s the halfway point in the race to Mongolia, and after traversing Italy, Greece, and Türkiye, the teams now face the longest leg of the race so far. As they travel through the world's largest landlocked country, Kazakhstan, and into Uzbekistan, they must navigate the vast Kazakh steppe with its endless horizons and limited English speakers. To keep moving, the pairs have to adapt to a whole new way of travelling.

From the shores of the Caspian Sea in Aktau, the racers must embark on a 2,200km journey to Zaamin National Park in the Turkistan Mountains. Known as the 'Uzbek Switzerland', the country’s oldest national park boasts alpine meadows and rare wildlife, including the Turkestan lynx. To reach the fifth checkpoint, they can choose to travel through Kazakhstan, utilising the country’s 16,000km Soviet railway network, or they could opt for an early crossing into northern Uzbekistan and follow the ancient Silk Road trade routes through the medieval, blue-domed cities of Khiva and Bukhara.

As they depart Aktau, one pair experiences the famed Central Asian hospitality first-hand when a friendly local offers not just a free lift but the chance to explore the Caspian coastline.

Two teams choose to head through Kazakhstan, embarking on an epic 29-hour train journey. Stopping in Turkistan to work allows one pair to take part in an authentic Kazakh coming-of-age celebration.

Those travelling through Uzbekistan face their own set of challenges. One racer becomes overwhelmed after a string of missed connections and fraught taxi negotiations, second-guessing their route in a landscape where navigation suddenly feels far less simple.

As teams enter Zaamin National Park, the race is on to find the checkpoint hotel. The leg culminates in an intense, high-altitude run across the Sufa Plateau, before a cable-car descent down a sheer mountainside, where they discover who has done enough to take the lead.