In very hot conditions, Charel Meyers won the race named after his illustrious near-namesake by showing a perfectly tactical race. In 2022, the Luxembourg native, now riding for a French team, had already shown himself at the front of the race from the start, on an nearly identical course, before ultimately finishing 23rd. Today, he waited for the right moment to make his move and proved to be the fastest of a leading group of five riders at the finish. The only repeat winner in the 2024 results, Christine Majerus was unrivalled among the women on the long course, competing with the best men and winning for the second time, after 2007. Elisa Kockelmann and Cyril Gustin, meanwhile, opened their accounts on the short distance. But the 2024 edition of La Charly Gaul was marked above all by the weather conditions: unusually hot weather for September made life difficult for riders and volunteers alike, to the point that the search for water quickly became a priority for the organisers, who were unable to prevent stock shortages at the various refreshment points.
A thousand competitors lined up at the start for both distances, in three starting boxes corresponding to their goal for the day: win the race, achieve a good result or simply having fun. With a third of the competitors in each box, the peloton was much better distributed than the previous year, and the system is beginning to prove its worth: it allows a maximum number of riders to be grouped together during the time when the crossroads are monitored. The dangerous points of the system remain, of course, the large peloton at the start of the race and its separation into the two distances after a few kilometres. With 1,101 participants, this year's participation was far from the record of 1,360 riders set in 2017 and also lower than last year's figure (1,274 riders). The hot weather forecast undoubtedly played a role in this statistic, even more than competition from other events on the same date, such as the Gran Fondo World Championships in Denmark, the legendary Ötztal Marathon or the Stelvio Cycling Day. Despite more than 1,000 pre-registrations, the peloton hardly grew during last-minute registrations on site in Echternach, in the beautiful Trifolion hall. On the long course, withdrawals seem to be have been the most, with 512 participants compared to 589 on the 100 kilometres, meaning that the ‘A’ runners were in the minority compared to the ‘B’ runners, in opposition to the previous year. The number of female participants is also down in 2024, with 73 participants, 14 fewer than twelve months ago. Twenty-two of these courageous ladies opted for the 150-kilometre distance, while 51 set off on the 100-kilometre course, which is more or less the same proportion as in the recent past.
28 nationalities were represented at the start of this Charly Gaul race, with the numerous Belgians making up almost a third of the peloton (360 competitors), slightly ahead of the Luxembourgers, who were more than ever (except in 2017) with 278 participants, and the Dutch, who lined up 142 people at the start. The two youngest riders in this Charly Gaul were only 15 years old: Louis Jaboulay and Thibault Hansen, who achieved the performance of finishing 120th with an average speed of over 35 km/h on the short distance. Just one year older, Charel Schiltz (another Charel) finished 193rd on the long distance with an average speed of over 32 km/h. The evergreen Hans May completed the B course in under 6 hours at the respectable age of 85, while Belgian Jos De Smedt was the most experienced rider on the long course at 75. His juniors by one year, Erich Hammerschmidt and Frederic Jacobs, achieved the enormous performance of finishing the long course in the top half of the competitors, at 74 years of age and an average speed of 29 km/h. Hats off also to the president of the Luxembourg Cycling Federation, Mr Camille Dahm, who completed his umpteenth Charly Gaul at an average speed of over 24 km/h. For the 34th consecutive year, Yves Lehnert and Nico Thomas registered for the long distance at the La Charly Gaul, but while Yves Lehnert was able to finish the long course at an average speed of over 24 km/h, Nico Thomas ultimately opted for the slightly less challenging course, which he completed with some difficulty due to the enormous heat. Congratulations, gentlemen!
The 2024 route was as classic as it gets, since it was almost identical to that of 2022, featuring the endless Gralingen hill, the long climb through the village with the pretty name of Schlindermanderscheid, which then culminates in the magnificent landscapes of the high plateaus towards Consthum and Wahlhausen. After the difficult sequence of Broderbour and Savelborn, another key section of the 2024 edition was undoubtedly located ahead of Berdorf, a village climbed just like 12 months ago from two different sides. Due to the topography, the end of the course was a little less difficult from there, with a succession of more modest climbs. The course finished its accumulating elevation gain on the heights of Osweiler, the last hill climbed for the third time in the history of the race, after 2013 and 2015.
LA CHARLY GAUL A (145 km)
Fresh out of the Tour de l'Avenir, Arno Wallenborn of Team Snooze led the race from the first few hundred metres to the top of the Berdorf climb, a few seconds ahead of Noé Ury and the thousand other competitors. The defending champion, Loïc Bettendorff, was also at the front of the pack, but behind him, the group was already split up and the gaps between the different groups were sometimes significant. On the descent into the Sûre valley, Wallendorf was still in the lead, but was caught up by Ury, Bettendorff and Charel Meyers, while Jarne Herman, Tobias Endres and Mats Berns were not far behind.
Following a small regrouping in the Valley of the Sûre, the cards were reshuffled: after a good hour of racing, in Gralingen, a group of five riders had taken the lead with a thirty-second advantage. Among them were Charel Meyers, in his beautiful Alsace champion's jersey, German elite rider Tobias Endres, Moritz Palm, recent winner of a cyclosportive at the Nürburgring, Michiel Minnaert, former winner of the legendary races Gran Fondo Vosges and Marmotte, and Tim de Baere, who had already participated in La Charly Gaul in 2023. However, the latter had slightly overestimated his strength, as he had to drop out of the leading group on the Hobscheid climb, replaced by Noé Ury, who had been chasing for several kilometres before being able to bridge up. At the start of the Schlindermanderscheid climb a little further on, the five leaders had a 1'15" lead over a peloton of around twenty riders, including Bettendorff and Wallenborn. Howerver, there was no harmony among the pursuers and the gap continued to grow, reaching 2 minutes at kilometre 75 in Bleesbreck.
This situation did not suit well Vince Mattens, who finished on the podium in La Charly Gaul last year. The Belgian launched a counterattack on the climb up to Berdorf, soon followed by defending champion Loïc Bettendorff, Arden Challenge winner Arno Wallenborn, cyclo-cross specialist Timothé Gabriel, Luxembourg junior time trial champion Mats Berns, Belgian elite rider Jarne Herman and Dutchman Stijn Wieling. They caught up with Mattens a little later, but were still a respectable 2 minutes behind the leading group. A third, larger group, including former professional rider and multiple Finnish champion Matti Helminen as well as Luxembourgers Tim Karier, Pablo Blatt and Ken Conter was already nearly 10 minutes behind the race leaders.
The positions changed little: at the last feed zone, about 30 kilometres from the finish, the five leaders still had a 2 and a half minute lead over the seven chasers, and victory would probably be decided between them. Already the winner of two races in Germany this year, Charel Meyers confirmed his excellent season by winning a sprint that he started from a long way out, finishing just ahead of Germany's Moritz Palm and Michiel Minnaert. Noé Ury and Tobias Enders terminated off the podium in the same time, while Loïc Bettendorff won the sprint for sixth place a minute and a half later, ahead of Wallenborn and Mattens in that order.
In the ladies' race, the established order was clear: multiple Luxembourg champion Christine Majerus was the main favourite and immediately settled into the first group of the boys, with a lead of almost three minutes over Katleen Luypaert and Madelon Thevis after only twenty kilometres of racing, despite the latter not being unknown: Luypaert had already finished second in La Charly Gaul in 2016 and had also won the famous Mallorca 312 on the Balearic island during her cycling career. Thevis, finished in the top 10 of the Gran Fondo du Col de la Madeleine in early August this year. The two girls were accompanied by Jane Roeder, with Merel Noorts and Maria Ricci not far behind. Ingrid Haast, two-time winner of La Charly Gaul, was already 5 minutes behind Majerus after half an hour of racing and would drop out of the race a little bit later.
For about 80 kilometres, Christine Majerus kept up with the leading group in the race, but she lost contact after stopping to refill her water bottles near Ermsdorf, while most of her fellow riders ignored the call of thirst. For several kilometres, Majerus chased after her former group but was ultimately unable to catch up. Back in Berdorf, after around 100 kilometres, the Luxembourg rider was riding alone, around 15 minutes behind the leaders in the men's race, but almost 20 minutes ahead of the second woman in the race, Katleen Luypaert, who herself was a few kilometres ahead of Thevis and Noorts. Same story in Lellig, 28 kilometres from the finish, where the SD Worx team rider was riding in a small group of five riders, 19 minutes behind the leading man and now more than 20 minutes ahead of the second woman.
Christine Majerus, who already won La Charly Gaul B in 2007, wins the 2024 womens' edition of our favourite long-distance cycling event, finishing 49th in the overall men classification with an average speed of 36 km/h over nearly 160 kilometres. She crossed the line 19 minutes and 42 seconds ahead of Katleen Luypaert. The Belgian, who came 172nd in the joint classification with the men, reached the conclusion around 20 places and 4 minutes ahead of Dutch rider Madelon Thevis. Merel Noorts finished just off the podium.
LA CHARLY GAUL B (99 km)
For the third consecutive year, participants in the Charly Gaul B race started together with the long-distance competitors, and many of them managed to join the leading group, including Chris Johanns, Thomas Deruette, Julien Duchesne, Leander Ihle, Valentin Georges, Jérôme Manguette, Markus Zingen, Sebastien Calmant, Mika Fonk and Simon Meiers. Others were not far behind, such as Sven Schmit, Cyril Gustin, Benoit Louyet, Jo Biehl and Anthony Dovifat, who were able to catch up with the leading group on the long flat section before the two courses separated. On the Broderbour and Savelborn climbs, now without their long-distance companions, three men managed to break away and take the lead in the race: Chris Johanns, a local native who is a regular competitor in regional races in the Grand Duchy; Cyril Gustin, who participates in Belgian cyclo-sportive events and among others won a time trial in Zolder; and Thomas Deruette, a former professional cyclist who won the Grand Prix OST-Fenster in 2019, among other races.
On the Berdorf climb, 45 kilometres from the finish, the three men had a 1 minute and 15 second lead over a group of six competitors consisting of Julien Duchesne, Benoît Louyet, Simon Meiers, Sven Schmit, Jo Biehl and Leander Ihle. A larger peloton, including Claudio Astolfi, former teammate of Mario Cipollini in the Aqua e Sapone team, Raphaël Kockelmann, Patrick Rauen, Pit Schlechter, Mika Fonk, Lenn Schmitz, Pascal Maquet and Carlos Calvo, followed another minute behind. Twenty kilometres further on, at the last feed zone, the situation remained unchanged: the three leaders had a 1'26" advantage over the six chasers, while the third group, which now only had about twenty riders, was three minutes behind.
Just like in the long distance race, the decision ultimately came down to a sprint finish, with Belgium's Cyril Gustin winning ahead of Luxembourg's Chris Johanns and his compatriot Thomas Deruette, in that order. About two minutes later, former professional cyclist Claudio Astolfi proved he still has what it takes by winning the sprint for fourth place, ahead of former Luxembourg cyclo-cross champion Raphaël Kockelmann and Lenn Schmitz of UC Dippach.
In the women's race, France's Chloé Schwartz got off to the best start on the first climb, accompanied by Raphaël Kockelmann's sister Elisa, Dutch rider Gitte Bongearts, fellow Frenchwoman Charline Barbalonga and Belgians Melanie Boeur and Ethel Vandermeiren. They were all part of a second large group at the top, which broke up a little further on after the separation of the two routes. On the return to Berdorf, shortly after the halfway point, Elisa Kockelmann was leading the women's classification with a minute and a half advantage over Chloé Schwartz and more than six minutes ahead of the duo of Gitte Bongaerts, 5th in La Charly Gaul last year, and basketball player Tanja De Rond, who had moved up well in the peloton after a difficult start.
Thirty kilometres from the finish line, Elisa Kockelmann was still in contention for victory, in a group of around ten riders, just 13 minutes behind the leading men and three minutes ahead of Chloé Schwartz. The former multiple Luxembourg champion in the age categories finally won La Charly Gaul B in the women's category with an average speed of over 35 km/h, finishing 97th in the scratch classification. One minute and 46 seconds later, Chloé Schwartz ended 139th overall as the second woman, while Gitte Bongaerts came in third, almost 10 minutes behind. Special mention also goes to Luxembourg's Tanja De Rond, who crossed the finish line as fourth among the women with an average speed of over 33 km/h, in the same time as Bongaerts.
