King of Tour de France breakaways Baptiste Veistroffer sets off on mammoth off-season adventure

Suppose you had to take a guess at who was in the breakaway, in any race—Veistroffer would be the safest bet. The Frenchman covered the most kilometers on the attack at the pro level this year: he rode a whopping 3,136 kilometers ahead of the peloton, beating out natural attackers like Raúl García Pierna, Dries De Bondt, and Andreas Leknessund. He also logged the most race days of anyone, with 85.

In the Tour de France, he took it upon himself to put on a show during the sprinter stages, whether anyone went with him or not. That’s how he earned a nomination for the “Super Combativity” award.

All those kilometres at the front don’t come out of nowhere: on Strava, he logged a whopping 32,000 cycling kilometers in 2026, but it’s not over yet for the extremely enthusiastic Frenchman.

He wrapped up his year in Asia by winning the mountains jersey at the Tour of Guangxi. He’ll take ten days off there before diving back in full force—not in a race, but he’ll remain on the continent. He’ll be bike-packing through Cambodia and Vietnam for three weeks, according to Cyclism’Actu. The total distance? 2,500 kilometers. That works out to 120 kilometers a day, fully loaded and on muddy trails.

This isn't the first time he's done this. Veistroffer also set out to explore Asia in 2025, which resulted in some amazing footage. “This life is f*cking amazing,” he said on Instagram at the time. His super-busy winter led to a new milestone in the new year, including winning a stage at the Tour of Oman. Who knows what he’ll accomplish on the bike in 2027...