Tro-Bro Léon (English: Tour of Léon or The Hipsters’ Paris—Roubaix; French: Tour du Léon) is a professional cycle road race held in Finistère, Brittany. The event was first run in 1984 as an amateur race before becoming a professional race since 2000. The race was established in 2005 as a 1.1 event on the UCI Europe Tour. In 2020, the event joined the UCI ProSeries in its inaugural edition, although the cancellation of the 2020 edition meant that the inaugural event was held in 2021.[1]

Tro-Bro Léon
Race details
Date
  • Late April (until 2019)
  • Mid-May (since 2021)
RegionBrittany, France
English nameTour of Pays de Léon
Local name(s)Tour du Pays Léonard (in French)
Tro-Bro Léon (in Breton)
Nickname(s)Le Petit Paris–Roubaix
DisciplineRoad
Competition
TypeSingle-day
Race directorJean-Paul Mellouët
Web sitewww.trobroleon.com Edit this at Wikidata
History
First edition1984 (1984)
Editions40 (as of 2024)
First winner Bruno Chemin (FRA)
Most wins Philippe Dalibard (FRA) (3 wins)
Most recent Arnaud De Lie (BEL)

Ribinoù

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Tro-Bro Léon is often called Le Petit Paris–Roubaix, The Hell of the West or The Hipsters’ Paris—Roubaix due to its similarities with Paris–Roubaix, because Tro-Bro Léon includes around two dozen sections of ribinoù, which longtime race director Jean-Paul Mellouët described as a variety of farm tracks and unpaved roads on the rolling and windy roads of Brittany that can feature cobblestones, dirt paths, and/or gravel.[2][3] The rider who crosses the line first and the best placed Breton rider each receive a piglet. [4]

 
Ribinoù section during the 2007 edition

Winners

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Year Country Rider Team
1984   France Bruno Chemin
1985   France Bruno Chemin
1986   France Philippe Dalibard
1987   France Dominique Le Bon
1988   France Philippe Dalibard
1989   France Philippe Dalibard
1990   France Marc Hibou
1991   France William Milloux
1992   Estonia Jaan Kirsipuu
1993   France Jean-Philippe Rouxel
1994   France Stéphane Pétilleau
1995   France Camille Coualan
1996   France Thierry Bricaud
1997   France Frédéric Delalande Jean Floc'h-Mantes
1998   France Frédéric Delalande Jean Floc'h-Mantes
1999   France Jean-Michel Thilloy Saint-Quentin–Oktos–MBK
2000   Belgium Jo Planckaert Cofidis
2001   France Jacky Durand Française des Jeux
2002   Australia Baden Cooke Française des Jeux
2003   France Samuel Dumoulin Jean Delatour
2004   France Samuel Dumoulin AG2R Prévoyance
2005   France Tristan Valentin Auber 93
2006   Australia Mark Renshaw Crédit Agricole
2007   France Saïd Haddou Bouygues Télécom
2008   France Frédéric Guesdon Française des Jeux
2009   France Saïd Haddou Bbox Bouygues Telecom
2010   France Jérémy Roy Française des Jeux
2011   France Vincent Jérôme Team Europcar
2012   Canada Ryan Roth SpiderTech–C10
2013   France Francis Mourey FDJ
2014   France Adrien Petit Cofidis
2015   France Alexandre Geniez FDJ
2016   Denmark Martin Mortensen ONE Pro Cycling
2017   France Damien Gaudin Armée de Terre
2018   France Christophe Laporte Cofidis
2019   Italy Andrea Vendrame Androni Giocattoli–Sidermec
2020 No race due to the COVID-19 pandemic
2021   Great Britain Connor Swift[5] Arkéa–Samsic
2022   France Hugo Hofstetter Arkéa–Samsic
2023   Italy Giacomo Nizzolo Israel–Premier Tech
2024   Belgium Arnaud De Lie Lotto–Dstny

Wins per country

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Wins Country
30   France
2   Australia
  Belgium
  Italy
1   Canada
  Denmark
  Estonia
  Great Britain

References

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  1. ^ "Cyclisme: Terpstra reprendra au Tro Bro Leon". EuroNews. AFP. 2019-04-08.
  2. ^ "Hell of the west: Tro-Bro Leon". VeloNews. 14 April 2014. Retrieved 15 May 2021.
  3. ^ Abraham, Richard (15 April 2016). "Is this the best bike race you've never heard of?". CyclingWeekly. Retrieved 15 May 2021.
  4. ^ Tremblay, Philippe (15 April 2017). "Tro-Bro Léon, the race where you can win a piglet". Canadian cycling Magazine. Retrieved 18 July 2021.
  5. ^ "Connor Swift takes win in photo finish at Tro-Bro Léon". cyclingnews.com. 16 May 2021. Retrieved 27 August 2021.
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