The Big Picture | Tro Bro Leon
This past weekend was the 38th edition of the Breton race Tro Bro Leon. Famous for its secteurs of ribinou, the dirt roads that criss-cross the local landscape, the race winds along the coast and through the farm fields of far western Brittany. Over the past five years I have been lucky enough to cover this beautiful race four times. Although the course changes somewhat each year, I find that each time I get a little bit more comfortable and figure out a few more tricks for staying ahead of the riders and getting to the photogenic spots.
The first spot we stopped was along the coast, not far after KM 0. The race was in full flight as the early break was being established. By the time we got to Ribin 1 the race had settled down and the break had a significant advantage of at least 5 minutes. This combined with some traffic leaving the ribin meant that I called an audible and skipped the planned visit to Ribin 2.
Skipping Ribin 2 turned out to be a blessing. We went instead to Ribin 5, a sector I hadn’t scouted or shot on before. It offered lots of different perspectives as the riders rode along the edge of some woods before they turned onto a narrow stone bridge. They then turned again and started a climb on the dirt road. I chose to position myself jus before the bridge where I could see the riders coming along the woods. Next it was off to Ribin 8. Another sector that was new to me and another with lots of places to shoot. I especially liked the huge berms that rise next to the road that many of the fans climbed in order to get a better view.
After Ribin 8 and Ribin 13 it was time to head to the infamous tunnel. The riders go through the tunnel twice but unfortunately the second time is too close to the finish, so I only shot here on one lap. The tunnel is near the end of a downhill section and it can be very chaotic as the race is typically quite broken up by this point and many riders are back in the cars. In the midst of the chaos Felipe Orts ripped through this section and sailed cleanly around the corner into the climb. Cyclo-cross skills definitely come in handy at this race. After watching Felipe I nearly had a collision with an Uno-X rider who was veering seriously off course. Luckily he let out a shout just in time for me to jump out of his path.
I went into the weekend expecting the normal Breton weather that I have experienced many times. Alternating cold, heat, sun, rain, and lots of wind. Unfortunately this year the rain dominated, making it the wettest edition I have seen. Even though I had some rain protection for my cameras, they got soaked. This turned out to be an issue when, with about 30k to go, the sun came out and the temperature rose sharply. Suddenly my viewfinders and lenses were full of condensation making finish something of a challenge.