Exactly one year ago, on March 2, 2025, Eddy Le Huitouze closed his first Opening Weekend of his career by crossing the finish line of the Kuurne-Bruxelles-Kuurne in 56th position and would hardly have imagined that 365 days later, in the middle of the Moroccan desert, he would step onto the lowest step of the podium of the second gravel race of his life.

Yet fate can be unpredictable and that is exactly what happened to the twenty-two-year-old Frenchman who, after the last two seasons spent in the World Tour wearing the colors of Groupama-FDJ (a team that in the two previous years had "trained" him by developing him within its Devo ranks), in 2026 decided to change direction and, left without a contract, answered the call of the new gravel project by Mattia De Marchi The Grip.

The adaptation for Le Huitouze, who got on a bike at age 6 and possessed good time-trial skills also thanks to some track racing experience, was rapid and immediately quite satisfactory in terms of results, as following the 20th place achieved on his debut with his new team at Santa Vall, he took part in Sahara Gravel (a stage race that is part of the Epicos Gravel Series circuit) winning two of the four stages on the program and obtaining third place in the overall standings behind his compatriot Hugo Drechou and former Alpecin and Quick-Step rider Petr Vakoc.

This latter circumstance, in addition to clearly confirming the considerable power of his engine, allowed the 2003-born rider from Lorient to better reflect on how and why in recent months he had come up with the idea of trying a new experience (which he himself later described as "something completely different from what I was used to") by throwing himself into a sea full of unknowns, a choice made after giving some serious thought to the matter.

"I looked around because the original plan wasn't to switch to gravel but, if you're not among the best (because you work for others and in this way you don't get results) and, moreover, in the World Tour two teams are closing down taking 60 positions with them, finding a contract is difficult" Le Huitouze recounted during an episode of the podcast "The Pace" recorded after his success in the third stage of Sahara Gravel.

"Last year I was always happy to go out on the bike to train but after races I felt as if I had lost the emotion of racing, as if I was going to races only because I had to".

This revelation gives a pretty good idea of how difficult it can be to emerge and, at the same time, how exhausting it is to race at the highest levels on the road, a world where no one forgives you anything, time to wait is always less, and certain logics have increasingly taken over, pushing aside aspects such as the development of young riders and their enjoyment.

And, in this regard, perhaps it is no coincidence that fate led Le Huitouze to Mattia De Marchi who, precisely by referring to enjoyment, commented on the results achieved in Morocco by one of his two new teammates (the other is Belgian former Unibet and Swatt rider Jordy Bouts) highlighting some fundamental principles at the base, for him, of every gravel adventure (and beyond).

"It was just a matter of having patience and having fun because in the end everything comes back around. You have to live every experience taking something new home with you. Eddy is young, I see his smile and today I think he has started a new journey" said Mattia with a manner halfway between a father and a brother and a look full of humanity, complicity and empathy, aspects that, perhaps, Le Huitouze had been missing in recent years and that, driven by the new environment and a rediscovered joy of racing, will be able to help him fill his trophy case and, even before that, the tank of his passion.