“Every athlete dreams of participating in the Olympic Games, but I know I will never reach that level,” laughs one of the cyclists, Vincent Brémond. “With this trip we have somewhat organized our own Games.”
The duo started from under the Eiffel Tower, cycled almost ten hours a day for ten days, rode through eight departments, stayed with residents along the way, and ended up under the Eiffel Tower again, after 2,196 kilometers on the odometer. In one day they rode 220 kilometers in a row with headwinds, rain and temperatures around freezing.
The Strava app closely tracked their journey, kilometer after kilometer. And so the complete route can ultimately be seen on the map: five immense Olympic rings between roughly Bar-le Duc in the east of France and Le Mans in the Loire region in the west. Ex-professional cyclist Yoann Offredo also rode along on the last stage to the Eiffel Tower, together with about twenty volunteers. “Our finish was a true dream finish,” says the second cyclist of the duo, Guillaume Koudlansky de Lustrac. “It was the best moment of the entire trip.”
They did not just do the mini-Tour de France for their own pleasure. Money has been raised and will go to a special fund for (former) athletes and others who need financial help.
Brémond and Koudlansky de Lustrac hope to win with their Olympic rings Guinness Book of Records to come. They say that with their 2,196 kilometers they have driven more kilometers than the previous ones who had the ‘GPS tracking’ record. It is still awaiting official approval by the Guinness book.
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