Poco Loco 2022

French :

FELICITATIONS ET MERCI !

Vous avez été plus de 120 à terminer cette toute première édition qui on l'espère restera gravée dans vos mémoires.

Depuis l'Avenue du Vélo à Montpellier à l'arrivée de Victor, premier arrivant en 35heures et jusqu'à Lydia notre lanterne rouge en moins de 7 jours (à 61 fières années !) à l'Eroica Caffee de Barcelone, vous avez été nombreux à nous conter vos aventures et émerveillements devant les paysages, routes pittoresques et plus beaux villages de France et d'Espagne, de nous maudire pour les côtes et, tout compte fait, nous remercier pour ce final panoramique sur Barcelone au Tibidabo.

Cette fois c'est nous qui vous remercions, participant.e.s, bénévoles, partenaires et dotwatchers, du fond du coeur pour votre confiance en ce projet et ses valeurs, et qui laisse envisager de nouvelles aventures merveilleuses pour la suite : la prochaine ? Dijon->Stuttgart en Juin puis Aix-en-Provence -> Milan en Août (psst. les inscriptions sont déjà ouvertes !).

A très vite pour une prochaine faille spatio-temporelle, l'équipe PocoLoco

English :

CONGRATULATIONS AND THANK YOU !

You have been more than 120 to finish this very first edition which we hope we stay in your memories for a very long time !

From l'Avenue du Vélo in Montpellier to Victor's "victorious" finish in less than 35 hours and all the way to Lydia's, our beloved lantern rouge (at 61 proud years old!) in less than 7 days, at the Eroica Caffee in Barcelona, you have been numerous to tell us your adventures and wonders before the landscapes, unforgettable roads and France and Spain' most beautiful villages, hating us in a few climbs and, after all, thanking us for the grand final panoramic view over Barcelona at Tibidabo.

Yet it is now us who thank you, participants, volunteers, partners and dotwatchers, from the deepest of our hearts, for believing in this project and its values, and which allows us to believe the future of these adventures will be at least as unforgettable : what's next ? Dijon -> Stuttgart in June and Aix-en-Provence -> Milano in August (psst. registrations are already open !).

We hope to see you all very soon for another spatio-temporal rift, the PocoLoco team.

Photo by Jean-Baptiste Delorme

1700km Race

After an incredibly hard fought battle, Tom Le Bivic has won the inaugural 1700km Poco Loco race. Tom raced consistently with a low stopping time and help pace. He finished in 133 hrs 58 mins. Following just behind in 139 hrs 57 mins was Sébastien Riou then Christoph Dowalil in third. Riding out for almost 6 days, these riders had a fast and furious race to contend with.

700km Road Race

We had our Lanterne Rouge Valentin Dury finish in 132 hrs 25 mins. Congratulations to all the riders on the 700km race. A difficult distance to tackle and a hilly one at that.

700km Gravel Race

Victor Dauge brought in the race for the 700km gravel race in 134 hrs 38 mins. The gravel race was gruelling, many riders thought a full suspension mountain bike could've carried them over some of the more gruelling segments. However, everyone has reported how beautiful the race and scenery were!

Photos by JB Delorme

1700km

The races are still moving along. The 1700km race has yet to see a winner, Tom Le Bivic still remains almost 100km in the lead. Travelling at a fast pace and with a relatively low stopping time, it seems little will stop this mile-destroyer. Sébastien Migeon has unfortunately seemingly scratched from the race, leaving only 7 riders remaining.

700km

Most of the 700km riders have finished with a brave few still out on the road. When checking the riders please take a look at the last update to make sure they're still along for the ride. Olivier Benoit is our latest finisher at just over 103 hours.

700km Gravel

Valérie Rasigade looks like our second woman over the line in 101 hrs 52 mins whilst our first woman was Emilie Verney in 83 hrs 42 mins, last night. The race trucks along with riders coming in thick and fast.

Photo by Aubin Berthe

Tracking Tip: Make sure you take a look at the "Last Seen" function on Follow My Challenge to check whether riders are still on their way!

The 700km Gravel Race

Unbelievably Romain Simon finished the 700km gravel race from Montpellier to Barcelona in 59 hrs 15 mins with a staggering average speed. Meanwhile the Lanterne Rouge Christian Hamelin is having a bit of a mechanical as he continues on his way having converted his bike to a singlespeed. So far there have been 5 finishers with Martin Mocquard being the last in at just around 80 hours.

The 1700km Road Race

Photo by Aubin Berthe

Sébastien Riou is now in the lead and Sebastien Migeon has dropped to 6/8th place. He was riding for only a couple of hours in the last 24 hours, we're unsure as to what has caused this but it has majorly shuffled the race.

The 700km Road Race

We've now had 27/44 finishers on the 700km solo with it looking like the majority may finish either tonight or in the early hours of tomorrow morning. With Mathieu Bermudes being our most recent finisher in just over 80 hours.

Photo by Sonam.cc

As the weekend dust settles the riders are all well on their way at Poco Loco! With three races we thought the best race breakdown would be by each race.

General Comments

The races set off on Saturday morning with all riders getting caught in an unfortunate downpour. This has cleared up, but the stopping time for the riders has increased when taking shelter or even allowing time for some clothes to dry off. Day 2 however, was drier and lots of continued riding and challenging hills have kept spirits high and riders have pushed on a little further.

There are 8 riders in the 1700km race, 46 in the 700km road race with 16 pairs and 31 in the 700km gravel race with only 6 pairs. This means that the 700km races could see a lot of company for riders, but the 1700km road race will leave riders out on their own for a significant amount of the race.

1700km Road Race

Photo by Aubin BERTHE

With only 8 riders out on the longer circuit we would normally expect a quite extensive spread. However, almost all of the riders have already made CP1 which means they've pushed over 600km. Sébastien Migeon is in the lead and has pushed almost 900km in less than three days. Our favourite part of the current leaderboard is that 3 out of the top 4 are called Sebastien.

Bruno Dubroqua is the furthest back at just under 500km, but a 15 hour stop on night 1 means he'll have some catching up to do to reach the bulk of the riders/

700km Road Race

Photo by Jean-Baptiste Delorme

In true style we already have 9 finishers in the 700km road race, with our fastest rider Victor Bouscavet finishing in a blisteringly fast 32 hours. Victor stopped 6 times for 5 minutes each over the entire 32 hour period. He had set off before the race with a cold and to compensate for the lack of energy he topped up with sweets and extra food. Victor has done a great race catchup on his instagram story we would encourage you to take a look at.

In the pairs Team bellifonceurs took the crown in just over 47 hours and were followed by Black et Decker in 49 hours. A quick race by both teams with the rest still to follow.

700km Gravel Race

Photo by Sonam.cc

Romain Simon is excitingly not far from the finish now with Paul Leverger only 30km behind. The start of the gravel race was heavily affected by the rain with every rider taking a long rest overnight to catch up on well deserved rest. Keep your eyes on the tracking to see Romain pull in tonight!

In the pairs race, Les Petits Pédestres are the furthest through at almost 600km. However, they're only just pulled into the lead with El Haraga leading up to CP1. El Haraga seem to be moving quickly, but with a long stop last night and frequent pauses they fell into 4th place.

Check back later for more updates!