24 Hours of Le Mans Cycling Race Report

The 24h Vélo Shimano race at Le Mans took place this weekend, August 28 and 29, 2021, after a year’s absence due to the health crisis. Pierre Brillouet tells us about his first experience, in the heart of the peloton.

A quick look back for me at a great weekend with a great team! It was my first experience in the event, and I’m super happy to have been able to participate in this huge adventure.

It all started in early July, with a call from Arthur De Faria, the club President, who offered me the chance to participate in this famous 24h du Mans cycling race! Yes, for those who don’t know, cyclists also have their own 24h event, and it’s just as crazy as for cars! The principle remains the same: complete the most laps in 24h solo, duo, in teams of four, six, or eight! Small difference: we ride on the 4.185 km Bugatti (motorcycle) circuit with the famous Dunlop bridge, signifying the end of a small but tiring 600 m climb!

So here I am, embarked in the team of 6 from Vélo Club de Villejust (91) with Romain Goguelat, Quentin Letestu, Sacha Demaria, Jean Baptiste Desbois and Loïc Sarret. This team, formed on the fly, certainly didn’t arrive in the best conditions but with great ambitions.

Friday to Saturday night: things got worse as I only managed to sleep 2 hours, not a good omen, given the efforts that would be demanded of me. Saturday morning, the whole team met at the Houx campsite, near the circuit at 9:30 am, to drop off their belongings and change. Fortunately, Romain and Nathalie had arrived on Friday to set up camp. We then left at 10 am for a reconnaissance of the circuit with 5 riders, as Sacha would arrive later (he was working in the morning). After a short mandatory photo session at the top of the circuit’s climb, a quick regrouping to share our feelings. The wind was head-on on the climb and tailwind on the descent. We would especially need to shelter well in good pelotons to save ourselves as much as possible. Back to the campsite to change and attend the briefing at 11:30 am, and discuss the race and safety rules…

Then it’s time for me to eat and share the briefing content with my teammates. We review the strategy one last time: three relays per rider of two 1h30 sessions and a final one-hour session. Then it’s time for the starting ceremony. Meet at 2:15 pm for the parade and anthems. All of this is spectacular, with all the teams gathered on the track and in the paddock, and in the stands.

Just one minute before the start, the pressure builds. The 24h du Mans anthem gives you goosebumps. I can’t even imagine what Loïc, our first rider, must be feeling, who, in this Le Mans-style start, has to run across the track to get his bike from Jean Baptiste’s hands.

It’s the moment of the deafening bang! It’s the start. Loïc, who was expecting a countdown, is surprised and loses a few seconds, but he will be keen to make up for it, moving from 160th place on the second lap to 100th place by the end of his relay!

The race continues, and we gradually move up the rankings. Finally, my first 1h30 relay arrives at 10:20 pm! I set off with my head down (I wanted to look like a racer) pushing hard on the pedals! During the first hour, I didn’t find a peloton, only small, very strong groups with whom I did a little too much instead of saving myself well in the wheels. Tired, during the second part of my effort, I thus went from an average of 40.8 km/h to 39.7 km/h at the end of my 1h40 and 66 km relay, finishing at midnight and thus bringing the team back in line with the race strategy.

Now I need to recover quickly, because I have to be in the pits at 6 am for my second relay. Quentin had told me about a massage stand run by an association and strongly advised me to go there, and he was right because this first massage experience after an effort allowed me to fall asleep without any problem and thus get 3 hours of sleep.

At 5 am, the alarm rings. I check the WhatsApp group created for the occasion and am informed that I need to report to the stand 40 minutes earlier because Quentin, injured in the knee, could only complete 50 minutes of his relay. So I go to warm up, and my legs respond pretty well. I take my relay at 7:00 am and quickly find the peloton of the top 10 teams with whom I do a large part of my relay, covering 62 km in 1h30 at an average of 41.2 km/h. I forgot to mention it, but at that point, we had moved up to 51st place overall. It’s time for me to change because it was very cold that night, and then go back for a massage. Then at 10 am, it’s time for the cyclist’s meal, and as you’ve probably guessed, it’s pasta…

The next relay is normally scheduled for 2 pm, but with the night’s delays, I’ll probably have to do more, especially since we can aim for the top 50 overall, and the top 20 in our category of teams of 6. So I set off at 1:30 pm for 1h30 of pursuit. We are currently 54th! We have to put down the watts. Sarah tells me in my earpiece that there’s no good group near me (ahead or behind), so I make a temporary ally, with whom I ride at a steady pace for fifteen minutes, before we get caught by a peloton of favorites, which we both latch onto.

The pursuit and the remontada begin! After an hour within this group, I move up to 51st place and I’m only 30 seconds behind to reach the top 50, but a crash 3 laps from the end in my peloton makes me lose all hope, as I find myself stopped for a moment and even on the wheel of one of the fallen competitors. However, after checking, everyone is fine and gets back up. I attempt the impossible: catch the peloton! But in vain, and I thus cross the checkered flag without being able to catch them, with 62 km covered and an average of 39.9 km/h on this relay!

We thus finish in 51st place out of 513 teams overall and 21st out of 170 in our category. Then it’s time to share this good moment with friends and pack up to leave for a well-deserved vacation! Once again, thanks to the whole team! Thanks to Arthur and Stéphane for offering us this adventure! Finally, thanks to my darling Sarah Balothe for supporting and helping me all weekend!

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