An FKT on the SARANA

Sometimes a little extra adversity is all we need to find our true calling. The unexpected roadblock, the unplanned interruption can force us into a new direction that turns out to have been the right direction all along. This certainly seems to have been the case for Factor Racing’s Victor Bosoni, who at just 24 has already become one of the most successful ultra-endurance cyclists on the circuit.

In just the past two years, Bosoni has won the Traka 560 in 2025 and 2026, became the youngest ever winner of the Transcontinental in 2025, won the Atlas Mountain Race in early 2026, and now has set the Fastest Known Time in the Tour Divide in June 2026. His first attempt at the Unbound XL just before tackling the Tour Divide came unstuck when he hit the apocalyptic peanut butter mud for which the 2026 edition will be remembered. Instead of risking destroying his bike just days before he was to take on the Tour Divide, Victor chose to scratch himself and chalk Unbound XL as a challenge yet to be conquered. 

But none of this was the plan just a few short years ago when Victor was racing at an Elite level in his native France. Though he found a certain amount of success and was progressing through the ranks, a combination of circumstances caused him to step away from road cycling, eventually turning to the ultra races that he is now dominating. “I had a genetic problem that impacted my ability to hit the top power that is so important at the Elite level,” Victor explained.

“So, I moved away from my road racing career. But I think my quitting Elite road cycling was more an issue with how I was not happy and had some problems with my sports directors. The human relation was very bad. Because when you are strong and have good results, they are very kind to you, but when you have some physical troubles, they are not here to help you, they are there to put you down. I was not happy at the end of my road career. For me, having the opportunity to race ultras was a sign. It’s a blessing in a way for me because it’s a good revenge for my elite career. I have found a discipline that really fits me and really looks like who I am, so it’s perfect.”

The human element

Though Victor is the first professional cyclist in his family, his father has been a great support and cycling inspiration for Victor through the years. “I have a deep background in cycling because I started road racing at 15 years old, but before that I rode BMX racing and with my father we would do a lot of mountain bike rides, when I was a kid in my village in France,” Victor explained. “My father is very passionate about cycling. He managed a bike shop for ten years. He helps me a lot and he supports me in achieving my dreams. He has been very important to my success and he is very proud.”

The human element is very important to Victor, and it’s something that drew him to Factor from the beginning. After his breakout victories at Traka 560 and then the Transcontinental in 2025, Bosoni was in high demand for material and equipment contracts, but it was one email that stood out to him the most.

“I knew of David Millar from his professional career and I have a lot of respect for him and what he accomplished,” Victor said. “I saw he participated at the Traka 560 in 2025, when I won it for the first time, and I saw the documentary they made from it. It’s in this documentary that I really learned about him, about his past, why he did the Traka, and it was very inspiring for me. When I finished my season last year after Badlands, I had an email from David, and I was really surprised and happy to see his email. In it he wrote that he was a fan of mine, which was crazy because for me, he is a more respected rider than me, he had a great career. I am a fan of his.”

But it was more than reputation that attracted Victor to joining Factor. He could sense that this was a program that would not only support his racing goals, but care for him personally, beyond performance expectations. “I was very happy to see that. I could really feel that David wanted me and wanted to create a human relationship. For me it is very important to have a strong relationship with my partners, and to have David and Factor, it was the perfect fit for me,” Victor explained. 

“David really wanted me to become the SARANA Hero, and for me it was a perfect project because I wanted to turn to off-road ultra events and the new SARANA fits perfectly with my new objectives for off-road courses.”

SARANA and Tour Divide

The fact that the route that is now referred to at the Tour Divide, used to go by the name Great Divide Mountain Bike Route, seems to indicate that the type of bike that will inevitably be required is a mountain bike with suspension. That makes it all the more impressive that Victor Bosoni chose the Factor SARANA gravel bike for his Tour Divide attempt. Even if the terrain and overall distance of the Tour Divide has long dictated that full suspension was the way to go, Victor had no doubt what would be his bike of choice.

“I discussed the Tour Divide route with someone who had raced it last year, and they said that it was not so technical, so I knew the SARANA would be the perfect bike for it,” Victor said. “Because you can run the wider tires, to have the 2.2 tire was perfect for the race. I think it is the perfect bike for the Tour Divide. I didn’t have any pain in my hands, which I frequently can get in races. I have the perfect setup for this race. I think being on a dropbar frame makes a big difference on the fast-rolling parts during the race. I can be much more aerodynamic and faster on the paved and smoother roads. And I was lighter than others, since they had suspension which added a lot of weight.”

Victor’s background in BMX and mountain biking as a kid helps him to have the technical skillset he needs to cover these types of mountainous and rough terrains, something he already proved in February 2026 when he won the Atlas Mountain Race, also in record time. For that event, though, he was on the Factor LANDO XC. “I think Atlas is more rough terrain, more rocks than Tour Divide and perhaps fewer tarmac sections,” Victor revealed. “So I think the LANDO was perfect for the Atlas Mountain Race. You need to have suspension for those rocks, because the vibrations would be too much for a non-suspension bike.”

Physical and mental requirements for ultras

It takes a special type of mindset to race self-supported ultras. You have to be able not only to ride solo for up to 16 hours a day, but also have the mental wherewithal to plan things as basic as where you will be able to refill water bottles in the middle of a vast wilderness. Frequently, people push themselves to the absolute limit of physical endurance, sleeping little and in the open, eating gas station chips, and going without washing for days or even weeks, all in the name of speed and efficiency. 

But Victor’s approach was different. Flying in the face of these more stoic philosophies, Victor was determined to maximise the few hours he was not riding his bike by making sure he could sleep in warm indoors and shower every evening. “We are lucky in the Tour Divide because we had a lot of information for where we can find hotels, groceries, and water along the route. It was easy to anticipate,” Victor explained. 

“I had my Tailfin bag. I could fill it with a lot of food. It was not always easy to find a grocery store or gas station, but it was easy to anticipate when that would be the case and then stock up beforehand. As for the hotels, I was able to find a warm dry place to sleep every night. Sleeping in a warm room was so important.”

In fact, some days, when the going was pretty hard, the thought of the warm room with a shower acted as all the motivation Victor needed to keep going. “I did have some low moments. In the morning, it can be harder to find your rhythm. Afterwards, after refuelling, if you can find some ice cream, it helps me to cool off and then start feeling better,” Victor explained. “And my motivation was always to have the thought of the warm bed and the shower at the end of the day. I am happy with my strategy to sleep every day. I think the good recovery helped me to have stability in my mind, not to have so many bad moments and to be able to see the environment, to enjoy the landscape."

Inevitably, the success of an event starts with the building blocks weeks and even months beforehand. With the experience of several years of ultra competition, Victor had a pretty good idea how to prepare for the Tour Divide, which is still considered one of the most challenging ultra events on a now crowded ultra calendar. “My preparation always depends on the length of the race. If I am racing the Traka 560, I think three weeks is enough to recover between races. But if I am racing something as long as the Tour Divide, I think two months between ultra races is needed,” Victor revealed. 

“In training for an ultra like the Tour Divide, I focus on my lactic threshold. My endurance. If I can have the lactic threshold higher it’s better, so that’s the main focus. I train all the intensities from endurance to sprint training. But it’s the proportion between high-intensity efforts and endurance/moderate intensity work that is different from elite cycling. I also focus on gym training to have the core strength to be able to sit for days on the bike. After several days, you inevitably have pain in every part of the body, and you have to be able to hold the aero position for extended periods. You also have to have the total body strength to avoid any injuries.”

Next on the agenda

We’ve already heard from Factor Racing’s Rob Britton that an ultra endurance athlete has to be selective when choosing how many big events can be done in a year. Victor Bosoni echoes this assessment. “I think I can do five ultra races a year. This year I had only the super long race in the Tour Divide. I think that’s enough for a year. But you can add smaller races like Atlas Mountain Race, which is only three or four days, and other small races in the 24 to 48 hours range like Traka 560, Unbound XL, Badlands. For me it’s enough. Another big race would be too much,” he said.

“For this year, I am going to do Badlands. It’s a good course for me. I really love the route. I did it last year as a pair with a friend and I saw the landscape was amazing. So I really want to win this race at the end of August.”

Then where in the world will Victor go next? “I don’t know yet what I’ll do next year. I want to discuss this with David. But in the future, doing the around the world is a dream to achieve. I think it’s my biggest ultra goal. I don’t know when I will do that, but I am sure I will do that,” Victor said. “Before that, I want to do the other Mountain Races. I have already done the Atlas Mountain Race, but when I see the photos, I really want to do the others. I really like the feeling of being in the wide open spaces. The Silk Road and the Hellenic Mountain Race in Greece look amazing. And there is a new race called the Taurus Mountain Race in Turkey.”

Always staying positive

Self-supported ultra-endurance events are a totally different animal compared to the ultra-pampered, subtly stressful life of a professional road cyclist. Self-sufficiency and internal motivation are at least as important as cycling ability. Thankfully for Victor, he was able to jump the track from road racing to the type of events that suit not only his talent but his mentality as well. “I always remember in the middle of a difficult race that I chose to be there, and I want to remember that I am lucky to do this kind of event. I am lucky to have this body that I can ask to spend hours on the saddle and still be fast. I really always want to remember that. It helps me to refocus and to eliminate all bad thoughts that I might have in my head. The goal is always to be positive.”

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