By the bull's horn
December 9 th 2024 - 15:31
The founder of the race, Jean-Paul Mellouët, unveiled the annual poster with five months to go until the 41st edition of Tro Bro Leon, scheduled for 11 May. Unsurprisingly, it features the 2024 winner, Arnaud De Lie, who went on to take the Belgian national championship.
A separate poster will be created for the Tro Bro Leon Challenge avec Giant and its gravel version, for which pre-registration is open at timeto.com.
This will be the second year in a row that a national champion stars in the poster that sets the Tro Bro Leon apart from other pro cycling races. After the local hero Valentin Madouas, who appeared in the tricolore jersey in 2024, the focus is now on the reigning Belgian champion, Arnaud De Lie, who overcame two punctures at the worst possible time to take the spoils on 5 May last year. Jean-Paul Mellouët based his work of art on a photo of the Walloon rider crossing the finish line in northern Finistère, but with the colour scheme of his jersey swapped for the black, yellow and red of his national flag. De Lie has sported these colours since late June, when he outsprinted Jasper Philipsen, Jordi Meeus, Thibau Nys, Wout van Aert and Tim Merlier for victory in a finale that went down in the annals of Belgian cycling!
After letting his raw speed do the talking in Lannilis against the French duo of Clément Venturini and Pierre Gautherat, De Lie raised his hands to mimic the horns of a bull, which has been his signature celebration since he started racking up one pro win after another. The gesture has become popular among O15 riders worldwide. De Lie is known as the Bull of Lescheret, referencing the village in the Belgian province of Luxembourg where he was raised on the family farm. The nickname has made him wildly popular in Brittany, which also has a strong rural flavour. Young farmers, who have traditionally awarded a pig to the top-ranked regional rider in Tro Bro Leon, have started making tarps decorated with the image of a bull and the words Allez De Lie —"Come on, De Lie". Frederik Backaert, a farmer who moonlighted as a cyclist and came in second at the 2017 Tro Bro Leon, was also the subject of one of Mellouët's posters. After hanging up his bicycle, he took over the family farm in Michelbeke, in the Flemish Ardennes, where the race organiser from Lannilis is always welcome.
De Lie the first Belgian victor since Jo Planckaert
As prestigious as Tro Bro Leon is in Belgium, no Red Devil managed to win it between Jo Planckaert, who claimed the first edition of the race open to pro riders in 2000, and Arnaud De Lie. "We'd been looking forward to this for a long time", chirps Mellouët, who has often prioritised issuing wild cards to Belgian outfits, some of which have since bloomed, such as Intermarché–Wanty, which counted Backaert among its ranks.
This is not the first time that De Lie stars on a poster. The organisers of the Famenne Ardenne Classic had earlier commissioned Mellouët to draw a similar work for the 2024 edition of their race. This one depicted the local hero gallantly defending the Walloon rooster sword in hand, evoking the portrait of Madouas as a swashbuckling Breton buccaneer. One week before Tro Bro Leon, De Lie emerged victorious from his regional race, which was also his return to competition after Lyme disease played havoc with the first part of his season. The two 6 × 2.5 m posters took pride of place in the Lannilis multi-purpose hall, where the Tro Bro Leon riders are presented to locals before kig ha farz, a speciality from the Pays du Leon, north of Brest and west of Morlaix. Arnaud De Lie made sure to come and see them and beamed as he gave Mellouët the go-ahead to draw a poster of him for the 2025 Tro Bro Leon at the start of Paris–Tours.
"Pictures age better than photos", stressed the artist. The moral of the fortieth edition is that the bull, which has taken a detour through the Pays Léonard, prevailed over the pig, which now flies over the pack.