Social media star cyclist Fontenoy breaks world record cycling up Eiffel Tower

VIDEO SHOWS: MOUNTAIN BIKER AURELIEN FONTENOY CYLCING UP EIFFEL TOWER STAIRS, UP TO SECOND FLOOR / SOUNDBITES OF FONTENOY / VIEWS OF TOWER RESENDING WITH COMPLETE SCRIPT SHOWS: PARIS, FRANCE (OCTOBER 3, 2025) (FEATURED – Must on-screen courtesy " Dorian FAVIER – FEATURED", news access only, no resales) 1. MOUNTAIN BIKER AURELIEN FONTENOY JUMPING ON POLES AT FOOT OF EIFFEL TOWER 2. FONTENOY LOOKING AT TOWER 3. FONTENOY ENTERING TOWER PILLAR 4. PERSON STARTING TIMER 5. FONTENOY BEGINNING ASCENT 6. VARIOUS OF FONTENOY JUMPING UP EIFFEL TOWER STAIRS 7. FONTENOY REACHING FIRST FLOOR 8. VARIOUS OF FONTENOY CONTINUING ASCENT 9. FONTENOY REACHING INTERMEDIATE LEVEL 10. FONTENOY CONTINUING ASCENT 11. VIEW OF PARIS 12. FONTENOY AFTER REACHING SECOND FLOOR IN 12 MINUTES AND 30 SECONDS, SAYING (French): "It's sore. (BREATHING) Wow, the last ones (steps) were rough."  13. FONTENOY LIFTING BIKE IN CELEBRATION 14. (SOUNDBITE) (French) FRENCH CYCLIST AND MOUNTAIN BIKE CHAMPION, AURELIEN FONTENOY, SAYING: "Tough, tough, but I'm really happy with the result. Really happy with the time. I didn't think it would take so little. So happy, so happy to have done it, to have reached the top and to have beaten this record. That was the goal. A little over 12 minutes then. Really happy." 15. FONTENOY SHOWING SIGN WITH TIME AND SAYING (French): "12 minutes 30, 686 steps." 16. (SOUNDBITE) (French) FRENCH CYCLIST AND MOUNTAIN BIKE CHAMPION, AURELIEN FONTENOY, SAYING: "It's really taxing on the shoulders. On the feet too. I felt that on the second floor it was starting to get tough, because you can never pedal, in fact. You have the brakes locked all the time; it only affects your calves, your shoulders. And pulling a bike 686 times starts to get tough after a while. But I'm so happy to have done it." 17. VIEW OF PARIS' PALAIS DE CHAILLOT AND TROCADERO SQUARE 18. (SOUNDBITE) (French) FRENCH CYCLIST AND MOUNTAIN BIKE CHAMPION, AURELIEN FONTENOY, SAYING: "Climbing the Eiffel Tower, I don't think there's a better monument in France for climbing stairs. So it's really symbolic, here, it was really the monument I wanted to climb." PARIS, FRANCE (OCTOBER 3, 2025) (REUTERS – Access all) 19. EIFFEL TOWER FIRST FLOOR 20. TOWER'S SECOND AND THIRD FLOOR 21. TOWER'S THIRD FLOOR 22. (MUTE) EIFFEL TOWER 23. (MUTE) TOWER'S FIRST FLOOR 24. (MUTE) TOWER'S SECOND FLOOR 25. (MUTE) TOWER'S THIRD FLOOR STORY: Cyclist and social media sensation Aurelien Fontenoy became the fastest athlete ever to climb to the second floor of France's Eiffel Tower on an all-terrain bike, the monument's operator said on Friday (October 3). Fontenoy on Thursday (October 2) climbed 686 steps of the monument to reach the second-floor platform, the last accessible by stairs, in 12 minutes and 30 seconds, the Societe d'Exploitation de la Tour Eiffel said in a statement. He broke the previous record by almost seven minutes. In order to claim the title, Fontenoy's feet were not allowed to touch the ground. "I did not expect to take this little time," Fontenoy said after the feat. The Eiffel Tower "is really a symbol, it is really the monument that I wanted to climb," he added. As part of his project "The Climb", Fontenoy cycled in 2021 to the top of the 140-metre (459 feet) high Trinity Tower, also in Paris, and this year he climbed Tallinn's TV Tower 314-metre (1,030 feet) high in Estonia. (Production: Manuel Ausloos)

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