What she is attempting has never been done before: no woman has ever sailed this type of boat (an Ultim class trimaran) solo, and that was reason enough for her to do it – to open up a new path, to give women a new voice. We follow Alexia’s exploits closely, and are ever more impressed by the apparent absence of limits to what she does.

Alexia invited us on board with just a month to go before the start to tell us a cycling story very different from those we’re used to telling. She rides bikes, of course, on the road and off it. Her cycling sponsor, Trek, spares no expense when it comes to equipping her. Road or gravel, Alexia has the best of what is available to fine-tune her training in the Niçois backcountry. She knows cycling, but why take a bike out to sea? Isn’t the whole idea a little absurd?

The Ultim is one of the fastest and most spectacular boats in offshore racing. These maxi-trimarans are around 32 metres long and designed to sail at speeds exceeding 40 knots – more than 75 km/h – with peak speeds approaching 100 km/h. They ‘fly’ above the water on foils that lift most of the boat clear of the surface, reducing drag and allowing them to reach extraordinary speeds, sometimes well above the speed of the wind. The Ultim Class presents them as technological laboratories at sea where electronics, composite materials, aerodynamics, foils, control systems, safety and data analysis are all pushed to their limits.

We went aboard Alexia’s Ultim, the Idec Sport, to experience the atmosphere on a racing boat, see just how basic life on board can be and marvel at the complexity of the equipment and the skills needed to operate it. Also to appreciate just how physically demanding the manoeuvres are. Hours spent working the winches – the 'coffee grinders' used to hoist, trim and adjust the sails – take an exhausting toll on the arms, shoulders and back. For a solo Route du Rhum, bringing a bicycle on board, fixing it to the deck and using it to help work the sails is anything but a crazy idea: it will allow Alexia to work her legs, distribute the muscular effort and avoid relying solely on her upper body.

The physical demands of a day’s racing are intense. With her training team, Alexia has calculated that she will need more than 5,000 calories a day. A specific nutrition plan has been developed for the race, and she knows this is one area where she will have to remain particularly vigilant: taking on enough food and fluids at regular intervals, every hour, to maintain her performance. Her physical and mental preparation have been paramount in the run-up to this solo race. Alexia has had to make herself a priority, free up time and focus on her fitness, sailing and repeating manoeuvres until she can execute them with ever greater precision. Not easy when you run your own company, and when, alongside preparing for the race, you also have to secure sponsors and balance the budget to bring the project to completion.

All eight Ultims in the world will line up for the start of this Route du Rhum. The biggest names in sailing will be on the starting line alongside Alexia. Not everyone has had the same resources to prepare for the race: most operate with budgets ten times larger than that of Idec Sport. Only three of these sailors, Alexia included, own their boats and have to fund their maintenance themselves. The rest are exceptional sailors who will be racing exceptional boats that do not belong to them. But none of that matters. Even if the resources are not equal on paper, Alexia is on the start line to compete and perform. Simply making up the numbers is not her style. Alongside being an athlete deeply committed to the environment and to equal opportunities, she is a competitor to her core: determined to give her best and fight for a place at the top of the standings. Café du Cycliste has found its flying fish…