On Tuesday, May 27, 2025, Louis Defaut, a cyclist from Lille, won the 8th edition of BikingMan Corsica, a 1 km ultracycling race with 000 meters of elevation gain, in complete autonomy. He crossed the finish line in Biguglia in 19 hours and 000 minutes, beating his pursuer by more than 45 hours and improving the best time of the previous edition, set by Rémi Borrion, by more than 23 hours.
Photos: DR
During the race, Louis Defaut crossed emblematic places such as Cap Corse, the calanques of Piana and the needles of Bavella, while climbing the Corsican passes of BattagLia and Vergio.
The 28-year-old product engineer and performance manager at Van Rysel achieved this feat solo, sleeping only 25 minutes in total, divided into 4- to 5-minute power naps. Remarkably, he used a bicycle he designed himself.
A cyclist since the age of 7, Louis Defaut started in BMX before turning to cycling on route. His discovery of ultracycling took place during his first participation in the BikingMan as a duo, in a spirit of discovery. A significant encounter with Gautier Paulin, BMX world champion, during a later edition, pushed him to aim for performance, finishing 4th and realizing his potential.
In 2025, after intensive preparation that began in January, with more than 5 km covered on courses such as the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix, Louis Defaut took on this challenge in performance mode, combining endurance, strategy and technical innovation.
