In 2024 we took to the road and sponsored events for the first time, and we really hit some highs. As part of our partnership with the Gravel Earth Series, we were out in force at the Santa Vall in February, supporting our women’s team on the gravel roads around Girona. And we were back in Catalonia at the end of the season for the Gravel Earth Series finale, Ranxo. Catalonia is always a special place to ride a bike and these events are no exception, bringing the combination of friendliness, community spirit and hard riding that the Gravel Earth Series has become known for.

Later in spring, Café du Cycliste athlete Sophie Gateau took us deeper into Spain at the Café-sponsored Desertus Bikus, which traced a straight line 1,350km (840 miles) from the Basque Country to the Costa del Sol through some of the most fantastic and – yes – deserted riding country that Europe has to offer.

Spain, in fact, is one of the hotspots of the bikepacking and ultra-racing scene, perhaps because of the varied terrain and the vast expanses of the country that are relatively little populated. One of our favourite events of the year was BeNice. It featured a long weekend of group rides from a masía (a traditional Spanish farmhouse), featuring vegan food and yoga – a magnificent reminder that exploration and community are also integral parts of cycling, not just competition.

And Spain was also the start of the longest challenge on our calendar this year, the epic VIA Race, which started in the southern coastal city of Cartagena and took riders across the Pyrenees, Massif Central and the Alps all the way into Italy. Sophie Gateau, who again rode in Café colours, battled through in the 40ºC heat but called the route “breath-taking” and “unforgettable”. The big idea behind VIA is that it will run for three years, with each year’s edition taking up where the previous finished, and we can’t wait to continue the journey together.

For the first time, we rode in America, taking to the Wild West with the Fistful of Dirt in Wyoming and Prairie Bloom, a women-only race in Omaha, Nebraska. But, naturally, we couldn’t stay away from the Alps in 2024, supporting both the Dead Ends & Cake in eastern Switzerland (which featured two of our favourite things: mountain roads and cake) and Le Pilgrimage, a three-stage ride looping out from a gourmet chalet near Briançon that explores the borderland gravel roads between France and Italy. Truly some of the most spectacular riding of the year.

Even closer to home, we laced up our trail shoes for the Ultra Trail Côte d’Azur Mercantour, which reminded us of the pleasures of our own backyard. It features running races ranging from a vertical 5km through to 125km (tackled singly or in pairs) through some of the best of the unspoilt wilderness and backcountry peaks near Nice.

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