Race Report: Hugo at Coast to Coast
No brakes, full gas—Coast to Coast, Barcelona, hosted by Prblms.cg.
80km and 1,000m+ of fixed gear racing thrills. Only strong legs and sharp skills can survive this gauntlet. Armed with his iconic rainbow Vigorelli, Hugo was ready for battle.
Read on for all the details.
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“This race, for me, embodies the spirit of fixed-gear riding. It’s the reason we started doing it – forcing yourself to ride anywhere, in any weather, over any distance or elevation, on a fixed-gear bike, brakeless.
This race through traffic was announced to be 80 km, with five mandatory checkpoints and a bit over 1,000 metres of climbing.
I discovered this race format two years ago at Respublica by SCVDO, a race sponsored by Cinelli. From my first participation, I knew I wanted to join every race like it. The following year, this same race was organised in Barcelona, but I couldn’t participate because of a double shoulder fracture.
This year, I returned highly motivated for the last race of my 2024 season. I lined up on the starting grid with the Cinelli Vigorelli Rainbow frame which I won Respublica 2022 with.
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I came with one of my training partners, Tom Poulard. I knew from the beginning that if we worked together, we could quickly create a gap from the main pack – but eventually, I’d have to find a way to drop him.
We both chose a tough gear ratio, despite the three climbs in the route (53x16 for me). The goal was to maintain a high tempo on the climbs, control the descents, and ride flat out on the flat and slight downhill sections.
The race started with a 1 km climb right off the line. After assessing our competitors, we pushed the pace hard. After ascending the first climb at over 34 km/h, only four of us were left by the first checkpoint at the summit: Tom and me, Gérard (a local and last year’s winner), and one other guy.
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Despite the wet road, we bombed down the descent brakeless, fixed-gear. A few close calls with the cliff edge, but we made it! At the bottom, we were down to three riders.
The next two checkpoints passed smoothly as we worked well together.
Then came the moment I’d been waiting for: a 25 km stretch of slight downhill. This is where we planned to drop Gérard. I attacked first, Tom followed behind, letting Gérard close the gap to me. But I got stuck at a city intersection, and they caught up. Tom immediately attacked Gérard, while I watched Gérard closely. After a few kilometres, he was losing steam, so I attacked him and pushed hard to catch Tom, which I managed to do.
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We kept pushing while saving energy for the final climb, where we knew we’d go head-to-head. We looked back, no sign of Gérard – our strategy had worked.
But when we hit a roundabout, Gérard suddenly appeared, coming from another road at full speed! Knowing the terrain, he’d cut across the route (allowed as long as you passed all checkpoints).
I attacked immediately to prevent him from recovering. Tom held his wheel and then launched his own attack, bridging back up to me.
When Gérard was finally dropped, I eased up but kept the pace high enough to make him work.
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We arrived at the last checkpoint at the foot of the final climb, with the finish line at the summit. I positioned myself at the front, got my manifest stamped first, and immediately attacked while Tom was stamping his. I went all out on the climb to make sure Tom couldn’t keep me in sight. Only when I saw the summit did I ease up, certain of the win.
Tom finished a minute behind, and Gérard arrived a few minutes later. At the summit, we celebrated the way we do in the fixed-gear community – with beers!
The podium took place later that afternoon at the Prblms HQ at the My Beautiful Parking shop.
I’m thrilled to have won this race, which deserves even more recognition. I can’t wait to compete next year, and in other races like this one, with other talented riders like those in this edition.
Thank you to the organisers for all their hard work, and of course to Cinelli for supporting me with these amazing bikes for such diverse races!
Now it’s time for a well-earned break before training starts again for next season!"
📸: @whereshim
