The route and distance varies for each edition between about 3,200 and 4,200 km, with the winners generally taking 7 to 10 days.

[16] However, due to routing errors, adventurous planning, or more challenging parcours being chosen by the organizers, some off-road sections are occasionally used.

Volunteer "dot watchers" remotely follow the progress of each racer's tracker position and inform the organizers of possible rule violations (e.g., individual riders appearing to ride together for extended periods or people riding on prohibited roads).

The main results are summarized in the table below: Many people who are not competing to win tend to have the goal of arriving before the finish party at the end of the 15th or 16th day.

[59] To be awarded a place in the general classification, riders must adhere to the principles of being self-supported and also pass each of the checkpoints before it officially closes, which requires riding approximately 250 km per day.

The organizers hope that an honor system is sufficient to curb violations, and in 2015 an online form was created for people to submit reports of rule-breaking.

The remainder who display sufficient understanding of the requirements and risk in their application are entered into a simple lottery.

Up to half of the riders who start the race may not reach the finish for various reasons, but this proportion varies every year.

[28] This indicates that the degree of difficulty is high, that some riders may not have prepared sufficiently for this type of race, and that so many different things can go wrong in an event of this length.

In 2017, Frank Simons was killed in a hit and run collision 5 hours after starting the race in Belgium.

[70] This form of ultra-distance, unsupported bike racing first became popular with the Tour Divide mountain bike race, which was first held as a mass-start event in 2008 and goes over the Rocky Mountains from Alberta, Canada, through the USA and finishes at the Mexican border in New Mexico.

Ultra-distance audax and randonneuring cycling events are somewhat similar, except that drafting is allowed in those and the race organizers may provide support at the control points.