Key points:
– On May 5, the 40th edition of the Tro Bro Leon will feature a record number of ribins, the graveled paths that make the Breton event so special: 34.6km in 29 sectors out of a total race distance of 203.6km.
– The double pass in front of Keroüartz Castle returns for what promises to be a thrilling final hour of racing, with Arnaud De Lie eager for revenge after his second place last year.
– For the first time, the ribins will be numbered in descending order, like the cobbles in Paris-Roubaix.
In the large room where the teams are presented and where the guests of the Tro Bro Leon feast on kig-ha-farz (the local speciality, a sort of stew combining meat and farin), Arnaud De Lie will be able to see his portrait in a giant ten-metre format, the same size as the enlarged poster for the 40th edition of the Tro Bro Leon, bearing the effigy of French champion Valentin Madouas, the local idol.
The “Bull of Lescheret”, who finished second last year behind Italy’s Giacomo Nizzolo and came close to completing the double the day after winning the GP Morbihan in Plumelec, his first in Brittany where the races remind him so much of Belgium, has put the Tro Bro Leon back on his race schedule with the firm intention of winning it this time. He knows that none of his compatriots has won in Lannilis since Jo Planckaert in 2000, the year the competition was opened up to professional cyclists.
It won’t take long before he gets back in touch with the ribins, the graveled paths that make the event so special since 1984. Forty years on, the course has a new twist with an unprecedented ribin in Saint-Renan. This is the first one. It takes place 33.6km after the start from Lannilis and the passage along the tourist route between Portsall and Landunvez, exposed to the English Channel winds which are always likely to create movement at the front of the pack.
“It’s been a while since we’ve had a ribin this early in the race,” notes Jean-Paul Mellouët, who hasn’t laid out the same course twice since 1984. “Usually, it comes around Bourg-Blanc after about fifty kilometres. We were forced to change the route because of road works in Saint-Renan. The local community has done a good job of fixing it up for the race.”
Riders and spectators of the 2024 Tro Bro Leon will be able to see the scars of Storm Ciáran, which hit the north west of France on the night of 1st to 2nd of November last year. Many trees are still lying on the ground, but all the roads and ribins will be cleared in time for the passage of the runners on May 5.
For the first time, the numbering of the ribins will be in descending order, as the cobblestones in Paris-Roubaix, “to make it easier for the riders to know where they’re at”, explained technical director Cédric Coutouly. The one in Saint-Renan will be numbered 29. The total distance covered by the 24 different sectors is 34.6km, a record since the event was first organised and a significant increase in difficulty compared with last year (28.9km).
Some of them are visited twice, including the now iconic ribin that leads the peloton past Keroüartz castle (ribin 11 with 41km to go and ribin 2 with 8km to go). The last edition only used it once. “The finale is a mix of 2022 and 2023,” summarises Mellouët. Cédric Coutouly predicts that the big battle between the favourites will start “after Ménéham and sector 21 near Plouguerneau”. It’s close to the sea and from there, 76km from the finish, everything is designed to combine the suspense of the race with the beauty of the coastal landscape.
