The Épreuve

Pinnacle endurance racing, suffering and exceptional performance can, these days, be found outside of the WorldTour. Ultra-endurance might seem like a new realm that has grown in recognition in the last decade, but its spirit harks back to the earliest days of competitive cycling. For as long as we’ve mounted rubber tyres on bikes, we’ve been asking each other: how far, how fast? The épreuve, or ‘test’ in French, spawned audacious acts colloquialised to Audax. The Brevet card was the physical certificate of accomplishment, officially recognising those hardy trailblazers who completed these long-distance rides. To put the new 2026 Brevet collection through its paces and to go in search of this original spirit of the sport, one must look beyond the well-trodden routes and cultural comfort zones into parts of the world that, for cyclists, are only beginning to be discovered. It is a realm of curiosity and intrigue: an exercise in knowing exactly where you are but having no idea where the road will take you. Following the final portion of the route of this year’s Transcontinental Race, 2025 winners Jana Kesenheimer and Victor Bosoni set out on a journey from Serbia to Albania. Their goal was part recon and part odyssey: a specific brand of liberation found in suffering far from the glow of civilisation.

Bears, bread and the biting cold: A sub-zero introduction to the summer season.

The first day was defined by a sense of the surreal. "We had arrived to test the brand-new summer kit, only to find ourselves facing a climb where green patches turned into a full snowfield," Jana recalls. "I had been looking forward to the moment we would reach the altitude where the snow began," Victor adds. "It felt like that would mark the true start of the adventure. But I didn’t expect it to be so unrideable. At the top of the pass, we had to push our bikes for quite a long time because the snow was too deep. That’s when Jana and I looked at each other and realised the day was going to be a bit crazy." Gallows humour became the primary means of survival. There is a specific kind of absurdity in pushing a bike through ice-cold meltwater while wearing a lightweight jersey, joking that the local bears are, hopefully, still hibernating. “When we finally reached a town, we were desperately searching for a place to eat and, more importantly, to warm up. The descent had been freezing; we couldn’t feel our hands anymore. We had only covered around 60 kilometres and weren’t even halfway through the day.” In terms of long-distance cycling nutrition, the first lunch set a high bar for the subsequent days, with Victor being served a piece of bread stuffed with cheese and oil as large as his own head. The best food for endurance cycling can often be distilled to three key principles: fast, easy and carb-heavy. As they rolled out back into the Serbian slush, Victor reflected on the Brevet reality where the rider is the navigator, the mechanic and the motor. "Training for long-distance cycling is ultimately about control. It’s much more adventurous... the adventure and being confronted with your own mistakes." To thrive here, a rider must make peace with the fact that the only person who will come to save them is themselves.

Gravel, ‘mud’ and the midnight sun: Pushing the limits of high-visibility in Montenegro.

As the distinguished long-distance duo crossed into Montenegro, the weather finally shifted, offering the warmer conditions the Brevet collection was engineered for. "No more jackets; we could finally experience the simple pleasure of bikepacking in good conditions," Victor notes. "I kept fuelling with maltodextrin in my bottles, just like I do in ultra races, to maintain steady energy throughout the day. It works well for me and, even outside of racing, it would have made no sense to risk running low on energy in the middle of nowhere." Besides a bottle of pure sugar, in a remote mountain hut, they discovered what to eat when cycling long distances in the Balkans: a dense mix of hot cornflour, cheese and honey that Jana christened “mud”. This day also introduced the psychological depth of ultra-endurance cycling with their first proper night ride. After a day of adventurous gravel, the transition to smooth, empty tarmac under a warm evening sky felt like a reward. "The landscapes were stunning," says Victor. "I remember this ribbon-like road: slightly rough but incredibly enjoyable to ride, completely free from traffic. Pure happiness. Exactly what I’m always searching for when I ride." Pushing toward the Albanian border, the integrated high-visibility elements vital to any endurance cycling clothing ensured they remained seen on these winding paths long after the sun had set. "Jana really impressed me; we were riding fast on the flat to reach the Albanian border as quickly as possible and she didn’t flinch. It made perfect sense why she’s the best ultra-cyclist in the world today." Riding together provided a unique opportunity for these two champions to learn from one another. "She has a lot to teach me... her efficiency on the bike regarding not taking breaks," Victor notes. Long-distance cycling, perhaps more than any other discipline, demonstrates a unique equity between male and female competitors.

The sink-wash ritual: Finding small victories in a hotel bathroom.

“The first day in Albania was a revelation,” says Jana. “The grass felt greener and the peaks were still dusted with the remnants of winter. After seven hours in the saddle, we hit a steep gravel ascent just as the sun began to dip. The air was dusty, the light was incredible and, for a moment, we simply stopped to take it all in.” As the heat increased, Victor noted the sensory shift. "I told Jana that it 'smelled like the South,' as we say in France: pine trees, dry air and a hint of the sea," he says. The journey brought back memories as they crossed paths with the organisers of the TCR. "We crossed paths with Andrew and Hannah... they suggested we take the King Zog Bridge: an abandoned one, partially collapsed, forming waves along its length. It made me smile because during the TCR I had almost lost the race when Andrew stopped me from crossing a bridge at the last minute." For Victor, the revisit was enlightening: "You also realise how much more you notice when you take your time, compared to the pressure and relentless pace of racing." Across another long stint in the saddle, Jana settled into the routines that became vital in staying comfortable day after day. Every evening, Jana’s priority was the sink wash, crucial for items like bib shorts that can lead to irritation if dirty. Lightweight, quick-drying materials are key to making the best cycling shorts for long-distance.

Cycling is the ultimate icebreaker.

“In the village where we stayed, everyone knew us by the next morning.” A smile breaks out for Jana. "We stopped in Lezhë to eat," Victor recalls. "I had some excellent small sausages in a bar, served by a very kind man who communicated in English by calling a friend on the phone. A lot of intermediaries just to order a sausage and a Coke, but it’s exactly these kinds of interactions that make a journey like this so unique." Albanian hospitality was beginning to leave an indelible mark on the pair. Rolling out into another sunny day, the loaded bikes and Brevet bars made the pair an immediate curiosity. They quickly found a shared language with the local children, racing bikes around the village square. It was a reminder that travel by bike often builds bridges in the most remote places. As they climbed away from the tarmac and back onto the gravel, they reached a summit in total darkness. The air was mild, the sky was clear and abandoned huts offered the perfect bivvy spot. It had been a tranquil evening on incredible, rugged, quiet roads, only punctuated by Albania’s seemingly ubiquitous mode of travel: a spotlessly clean, tuned, Bruno Sacco era Mercedes.

Tears, tunnels and the restorative power of ice cream.

The final day began with a chilly sunrise and a series of tunnels. "The last day is always the hardest; that’s when nostalgia quietly takes over," Victor admits. "You try to hold on to every moment, to fully live everything, as if time were already starting to slip away." With hundreds of kilometres in the legs and thousands of metres of elevation gained on grippy Balkan roads, the slow cook of the journey was complete. We were starting to see the grit, suffering and psychological coping mechanisms that make Jana and Victor the current standard-bearers for ultra-endurance cycling. “Fatigue is a cumulative thing in ultra-long-distance cycling and the cold air on the descents brought tears to the eyes," Jana recalls. "By midday, we found a small village shop, the kind that sells everything a traveller might need, and treated ourselves to the largest ice creams available.” This final stint provided the ultimate use case for the art of the bakery raid. "When you stop quickly at a grocery store or a bakery, you need somewhere accessible to put your nutrition for long-distance cycling... it makes a big difference," Victor explains, noting how he utilised the Brevet Air Pockets to maintain his momentum.

It paid dividends, given that both Jana and Victor had enough in the tank to take a KOM and QOM on a climb rising out of the finishing town. Victor credits this ability to go deep during the final hours of a ride to a "motor" driven by love: for the sport, the people met on the road and the family watching from afar. A well-deserved bike wash provided a moment to reflect. "Then came the difficult moment: washing the bikes and packing everything up. Not difficult in a practical sense—that part is routine—but emotionally. It’s never easy to leave when there is still so much left to explore and discover," Victor concludes. For Victor, journeys like this prove that there are more aspects to control in this style of riding, making it far more adventurous than the road racing he did in his youth. “One of those moments you just can’t skip, right?” Jana remarks, summing things up perfectly. It was the final increment of an odyssey that proved that when you go into the unknown, sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't, but it is always an audacious act of liberation. Rapha Brevet. For the Audacious.