Vincent Martins breaks the world 100 km track record

On April 23, Vincent Martins broke a little-known yet prestigious world record: the 100 km on the track. To do it, he drew on both his passion for extreme efforts and incredible motivation, since on the eve of the big day a recurring injury came back to haunt him. A look back at his preparation and at a day like no other.

Text: Olivier Dulaurent – Photos: Vincent Martins

Vincent Martins, 36, is a sports coach and massage therapist. He has been riding since his teens and took out his first racing licence in 1998. Passionate, sometimes excessive, he has a fairly eclectic cycling background: track and road racing, sportives including several Haute Route and Marmotte events, and ultracycling.

His passion, and even his life, were turned upside down in September 2019 when he learned from the press that his best friend, Marion Sicot, had tested positive. A human adventure then took shape, which led her to break the women’s world record for elevation gain in 24 hours on the slopes of Alpe d’Huez on September 19, 2021, with 15,339 m.

Alongside this, Vincent Martins also developed a real passion for writing, with many texts and articles on personal development, and published a first autobiographical book, « A-tout cœur ».

The origins of the record

During the March 2020 lockdown, Morgane Toullec, an ultra-endurance athlete, suggested he ride 24 hours non-stop on a home trainer. That opened the door to boldness and challenge, and Vincent completed this challenge against himself.

In June 2021, in the middle of preparations for the 24-hour elevation record attempt with Marion Sicot (whom he also coaches), the French Cycling Federation (FFC) posted a call for candidates to beat a 30-year-old record, the 100 km on the track (Hervé Boussard, 2h24′, in 1988). A challenge presented itself, combining his passion for the track and endurance. He requested the organisation file that very evening.

A record postponed twice

Initially scheduled for October 23, 2021, the record attempt had to make way for the Track World Championships, which had been moved to Roubaix. The track itself could not host Vincent Martins two weeks earlier either, because it had to be sanded down for the Worlds. The bad news came a fortnight beforehand, and those were hard times to live through, as if this record did not want him.

So the attempt was rescheduled for spring 2022, not the athlete’s best period, but he did not want to push it back any further. He really had to start again from scratch… After two years of adventure supporting Marion Sicot in her redemption, Vincent Martins was mentally exhausted, and the cancellation of his attempt was a hard blow to take.

Four months of preparation, with two and then three weeks of training camp in Spain piling up the kilometres and endurance and strength work in the time-trial position, and two weeks at altitude with Chloë Turblin (a friend who, like Marion, suffered harassment in her Belgian team). Between those weeks, two to four sessions a week at the Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines velodrome, lots of home-trainer work and gym sessions to gain flexibility and cope with the position. A final build-up with several motor-paced sessions behind a scooter at the Roubaix velodrome, whose team went out of their way to help him prepare, just like the staff at Saint-Quentin.

An injury at the worst possible moment

After the last training session, the day before the record, Vincent thought everything was perfect and that he would be at his physical and mental peak on the big day. Yet, while reaching for an Allen key in the toolbox, he felt a huge electric shock in his back, along with an Achilles tendon that has been troubling him for years.

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Acceptance, almost a smile even. Life was handing him a new challenge, but giving up was not an option, for him or for his team.

Lumbar support belt, arnica, tiger balm, hot bath, self-massage: he tried everything so as not to be too stiff the next day. The bike remained the least painful place for his back.

After months of preparation and waiting, the big day finally arrived. Vincent did not want any regrets and set off on his most optimistic schedule, 2h10, i.e. 19.5″ per lap (46.1 km/h average), with a 58×16 gear (7.56 m per pedal revolution). For 30 km everything went well and the schedule was respected. But with 270 laps to go, Vincent began to feel his sciatic nerve becoming inflamed, with spasms in his left hamstring, and to lose feeling in his toes.

He recalls: « I know the gates of hell have just opened, but I want to force them, and my destiny too. What is an hour and a half of suffering in a lifetime? It is a chosen suffering, a suffering that goes hand in hand with pushing beyond yourself and achievement. That is when my concentration cues give way to motivation cues.

The feed stops let me ease off the effort for a moment, but not my concentration.

My lap times start creeping back up to around 20″, I can no longer put as much force through the pedals. The 2h10 becomes out of reach, so I hope for 2h13 (45 km/h), but the pain in that hamstring is becoming more and more unbearable, my weight on the saddle is unsteady, I try to reposition myself but the pain is unbearable, there is often a little high-pitched cry and a tear in my eye. But facing me there is that voice saying “don’t give up”. I picture the Borg scale and its rating of perceived exertion, which I imagine at 12 or 13 out of 10. From time to time I need to get up off the saddle to relieve my posterior chain a little, but my arms are numb and standing on the pedals is an uncertain, even dangerous move. Once I almost fall, my thigh hitting the handlebar; I feel like a disjointed puppet with my backside off the saddle, as if I were pedalling on sand or on a bike that was the wrong size.

The words “World Record” take on their full meaning: doing what no one has ever done before… I know many cyclists, including friends, who are at a much higher level than me and could do far better than I can… But I realise you have to be strong and bold to take this on, and a little crazy too…

The laps tick by at around 21″ and the record can no longer slip away from me, even if the time will be slower than I hoped; it doesn’t matter. In the end, the emotions are stronger with this injury than a better time achieved without this ultimate pushing of my limits. After crossing the line, I don’t raise my arms, not for fear of falling like my predecessor at the Guinness record, but simply because I no longer have the strength…

Getting off the bike is an effort that feels even more superhuman than pedalling for 100 kilometres… Impossible to stretch my glutes to swing my leg over the saddle, impossible to bend my legs to sit or lie down on the ground, as if my body were bathed in acid.

It takes me 20 minutes to get back up, slowly, holding on to the railing along the track, to the applause of the crowd. Now I can savour it with my family, my friends and those who came to cheer me on, and receive lovely gifts prepared and plotted by my team, including a plaque with my mark that will forever recall my performance. »

What the record stands for, and future projects

Vincent Martins’ story is bound up with suffering, with eating disorders since his teens and a suicide attempt in 2010. Much more than a record, an achievement that is a little self-centred in his own words, he wants to use this story to share and inspire, to show that with willpower an ordinary person can achieve extraordinary things.

Next up is Bordeaux-Paris and a wish to keep going down this path of challenges that inspire him more than traditional races. Taking on his best Hour performance, and attempting it in Mexico. Living to the full the sporting adventure he has dreamed of for years. That means finding partners, because it comes at a cost (around €7,000 for the attempt, including the organisation, commissaires, anti-doping control, velodrome, equipment…). Vincent wants to optimise everything: training, position and equipment.

He also hopes that a rider will take on his record and beat it, so he can attempt it again; he is still frustrated at not having been able to give 100%, convinced as he is that 2h10 was possible.