On August 29, Romain Gioux will take on the 24 Hours of Le Mans Cycling as a solo rider.
It’s a race he already knows well, having previously competed in it as part of a team. This time, however, the challenge takes on a completely different dimension. For twenty-four hours, he will have to manage his effort, nutrition, recovery, blood glucose levels, concentration, and all the unexpected challenges that come with one of the most demanding endurance events in cycling.
For several months, he has been preparing meticulously for this goal. Long training rides, indoor sessions, nutrition testing, and preparatory races have all become key milestones on the road to Le Mans.
As race day approaches, Romain gives us an inside look at his preparation and explains what motivated him to embark on this ambitious adventure.
A Challenge That Came Naturally
The idea of competing solo in the 24 Hours of Le Mans Cycling race first emerged last summer.
Like many passionate athletes, Romain enjoys setting himself new goals on a regular basis. This time, he was looking for a challenge ambitious enough to push him beyond his comfort zone while remaining true to what has always driven him: cycling.
The race holds a special meaning for him. He first took part in 2013 as part of a team of six cyclists living with diabetes. Since then, the idea of returning has never truly left him. When he started looking for a new challenge, the 24 Hours of Le Mans quickly became the obvious choice.
As early as September 2025, he began structuring the project, searching for partners, and envisioning what such an adventure could become.
This challenge is also a natural continuation of his sporting journey. A former professional cyclist, triathlete, elite athlete, and now a para-cyclist, Romain was not simply looking to complete another long-distance race. He wanted to build a meaningful project that combines performance, health, invisible disability, and awareness.
A Long-Term Preparation
Competing in a 24-hour race cannot be improvised. Behind this type of challenge lie months of careful preparation, where consistency is just as important as training volume.
For several months, Romain has dedicated a significant part of his free time to preparing for this event. His training schedule includes five to six sessions per week, totaling around fifteen hours of training. Road cycling, indoor cycling, and rowing sessions are combined to build endurance while varying the physical demands placed on his body.
A large part of this preparation has taken place indoors, particularly using Kinomap. Between October and February, Romain trained exclusively on the platform. In December 2025, he completed one of his most memorable sessions: ten consecutive hours of indoor training, an experience that was as mentally demanding as it was physically challenging.
For him, indoor training is more than just a practical solution. It is also a way to adapt his preparation to his idiopathic bilateral vestibulopathy. Certain outdoor conditions, such as low light, descents, sharp turns, or uneven roads, require significantly more concentration and energy. Indoor cycling and rowing therefore allow him to work on endurance, consistency, and mental resilience in a more controlled environment.
Since joining Kinomap as Content Quality Manager in 2020, Romain has been able to rely on the company’s support throughout this adventure. This support helps fund part of his travel, accommodation, race registration fees, and some of the equipment required for his preparation and the challenge itself.
As the event draws closer, the focus of the training evolves. The goal is no longer simply to accumulate mileage but to gradually condition the body for prolonged effort. In a 24-hour race, managing energy, pacing, and recovery often becomes more important than pure performance.
A First Test Before Le Mans
Before the main event in August, Romain competed in the 8 Hours of Charade.
Far more than a simple preparation race, this event will serve as a full-scale rehearsal before his primary objective.
The competition will allow him to validate several aspects of his preparation, test his nutrition strategies, and assess how his body responds to prolonged solo effort. It will also provide an opportunity to refine his pit-stop management, a factor that often proves decisive in endurance events.
For Romain, this race is a valuable opportunity to gain experience and confidence before arriving at Le Mans. While training builds physical fitness, certain variables only reveal themselves under real race conditions.
Managing fatigue, maintaining mental clarity over long hours, ensuring equipment reliability, optimizing nutrition, monitoring blood glucose responses, and staying focused despite mental exhaustion are all elements that are difficult to replicate in training. Intermediate competitions therefore play a crucial role, transforming theoretical preparation into practical experience and allowing him to approach his ultimate goal with greater confidence and peace of mind.
Finding the Right Balance During the Race
In a 24-hour endurance event, training alone isn’t enough. Nutrition becomes a key part of performance. Maintaining a steady energy intake, avoiding energy crashes, and continuously fueling your muscles throughout the effort are all factors that can make a real difference as the hours go by.
For Romain, finding that balance is even more challenging. Living with Type 1 diabetes, he must not only meet his body’s energy demands but also keep his blood glucose levels within a stable range. It’s a constant challenge where every decision matters.
For the past several months, every training session has helped him refine his nutrition strategy. Which foods work best? When should he eat? How does his body respond after several hours of effort? Session after session, he is gradually building a routine that will support him throughout the entire 24-hour race.
With diabetes, nothing can be left to chance. Exercise intensity, fatigue, stress, and changes in pace all have a direct impact on blood glucose levels. The better he understands how his body reacts, the better he can anticipate these fluctuations and adapt his decisions throughout the race.
Today, a continuous glucose monitor provides valuable real-time insights. But technology alone isn’t enough. It is the experience gained over months of preparation, the adjustments made during every training session, and the confidence built along the way that will allow Romain to take on this challenge with confidence.
A Sporting Challenge, but Above All a Personal One
When discussing his goals for this 24-hour race, Romain remains cautious. In an event of this length, many factors can influence the final outcome: weather conditions, fatigue management, time spent off the bike, or simply how he feels on the day.
If everything goes according to plan, he believes he can cover between 850 and 900 kilometers. It is an ambitious target that reflects both the level of preparation he has invested and his desire to push his limits.
Because Romain is not lining up at the start with the sole objective of reaching the finish line. He also wants to explore his potential and discover just how far he can go while balancing the constraints of his personal situation.
Between his type 1 diabetes, his idiopathic bilateral vestibulopathy, and the demands of an ultra-endurance event, every kilometer will be the result of months of careful preparation and adaptation.
Yet beyond performance and numbers, this challenge carries a deeply personal meaning. Above all, it is an opportunity to learn more about himself, to observe how his body and mind respond to twenty-four hours of continuous effort, and to continue pushing beyond his own perceived limits.
A Project Supported by Many People
Although Romain will be alone on his bike when the race begins, this challenge is far from an individual adventure.
For months, he has been surrounded by family members, partners, and professionals who support him throughout his preparation. Each contributes advice, expertise, or encouragement to help him approach the event in the best possible conditions.
Kinomap naturally plays a special role in this project. As Content Quality Manager at the company since 2020, Romain benefits from support that helps make this adventure possible. This partnership contributes to covering part of the travel, accommodation, registration fees, and equipment required for both his preparation and the challenge itself.
Beyond the sporting aspect, the project has also attracted the interest of several healthcare professionals. The 24 Hours of Le Mans Cycling provides a rare opportunity to observe how a person living with idiopathic bilateral vestibulopathy responds to an extreme endurance effort.
Still relatively unknown to the general public and only sparsely documented, this condition affects balance and spatial orientation. Romain’s journey, along with the observations gathered throughout his preparation and the race, may help improve understanding of how the body adapts to prolonged physical effort despite these challenges.
The goal is not to conduct a formal scientific study. Rather, it is to document a real-life experience, share practical observations, and bring greater visibility to a condition that remains largely overlooked.
Through this challenge, Romain hopes to raise awareness of idiopathic bilateral vestibulopathy and demonstrate that ambitious goals can still be pursued despite the obstacles imposed by the condition.
See You at the Bugatti Circuit
As race day approaches, the preparation is entering its final phase. Training continues, the last details are being refined, and excitement is steadily building.
On August 29, it will finally be time to take the start and discover what twenty-four hours of continuous effort truly have in store.
One thing is certain: beyond the kilometers covered, this adventure will allow Romain to continue exploring his limits, sharing his experience, and promoting a message that is particularly meaningful to him.
Until then, you can follow Romain’s preparation and get a behind-the-scenes look at his challenge on Instagram and LinkedIn by searching for Romain Gioux.
And stay tuned: after the 24 Hours of Le Mans Cycling, we’ll be back with a third article dedicated to his performance, his reflections at the finish line, and the challenges that await him next.
Discover the first chapter of our interview with Romain Gioux and learn more about his journey, the challenges he has faced, and what inspired him to take on this extraordinary challenge: Sport, Type 1 Diabetes and a Rare Disease: Romain Gioux’s Journey