The En’Duo du Limousin, a motorcycle race crisscrossing the Millevaches plateau locally criticized by environmental activists, was interrupted on Saturday due to “sabotage”, organizers said, after finding lost riders and in a state of hypothermia during the night. “We were lucky not to find a dead person,” said Boris Labrousse, the organizer of this motorcycle enduro race of 400 riders, who travels 150 kilometers on trails in the south of Creuse.
“From Friday, we noticed sabotage on the logistics with several cut cables. Then, Saturday afternoon, several arrows to guide the pilots were moved. It was quickly a disaster because they got lost, “explains the organizer who then decided to interrupt the race to look for them.
A race targeted by several critics
The last participants were found shortly after midnight on Saturday night and several of them were diagnosed with hypothermia, according to the organization, which reported two minor injuries in total. For several days, the En’Duo du Limousin has been the target of criticism from elected officials and several defenders of local natural environments, who deny any involvement in the “direction” of the route.
“There was no instruction from us. We prefer to oppose with uncovered faces as we can see everywhere in the world at the moment”, reacted one of the opponents, Jean-Paul Gaulier. According to him, “the route of the race will lead to the destruction of Natura 2000 classified areas and wetlands including that of the source of the Thaurion.”
Twenty protesters opposed to the race
During the day of Saturday, he and about twenty demonstrators had blocked, with the help of a banner, one of the paths of this enduro whose route had been validated in the prefecture. The race organizer said he wanted to file a complaint, after “consultation” with the French Motorcycling Federation.
“We want to go to the end of this story. And we know very well that in this movement, there are those who show themselves and those who do not show themselves”, estimated Boris Labrousse.