Cam Zink came up clutch again in the finals, throwing a huge backflip mid-run and ending it with a flip nac-nac to take the win from Nico Vink. In the small final it was a battle between too hometown heroes (Lemaine and Derbier are both French). Lemaine's trickery took the win as a barspin and superman narrowly beat out the speed of Derbier.
The double SRAM wall ride. Definitely one of the most photographed features today.
Kyle Strait practiced a lot today, and it showed in his runs with some great tricks.
Sick Mick - of course he was racing this one as well. He threw a nice no hander on the road gap, but it was bad luck for him that he faced a dirt jumper in the first heat.
The beautiful weather and the great action warmed up the crowd here in Deux Alpes before the weekend.
Starting gate
The upper part of the course before the road gap
The road gap that Sam Reynolds flipped several times... bad luck for him though, he crashed in a turn before the final jump (where he pulled another flip anyway).
Cam Zink flipping his way down on the road gap as well
Kyle Strait off the wall-ride
Another angle on the wall ride.
Tyler McCaul with the glacier on the background
Perfect sync for Strait and Zink
Zink flipping the last feature
Tomas Lemaine on his way down
Winner: Zink
Podium: Zink, Vink, Lemaine
Catch the REPLAY here
What do you think of this style of racing? Should it be a World Cup race?
Author Info:
scottsecco
Member since Sep 18, 2009
1,033 articles
That question is utterly retarded. No, speed and style should not be a world cup race because it is not just a race and has no correlation to world cup level of competition. It should be in many events like Crankworx and Sea Otter and al sorts of large events like so.
I don't think it should be a world cup sport because it's judged. World cup sports are races in which there is a winner based on who finished first. There's no taking seconds off of a run because a backflip. I think trick contests should stay trick contests and races should stay races
That Rocked!!! Really fun to watch. Reckon they should make those wall rides out of a tough see through plastic, that would be some trippy shit for the riders if they hit it at the same time
No, because the UCI are weenies and they'll completely miss the point of the race, neuter it with rules, and finally blame the failure on the fact that no one is actually interested in that style of racing.
the best run was Zink vs Strait, that first jump was great and the wallride was done with perfect timing... it´s a shame watching strait falling on that berm the final time would be really close
I've been waiting for this genre to come about, it simply goes together with many of the other action sport competitions (mainly XGames). They have speed & style in MX and with a lot of the riders both excelling in DH and jumping (Zink, Fairclogh, Semenuk, McCaul, the list goes on) I see no reason why we can't get at least a few competitions thrown together.
As for a world cup event/race? Not sure that's needed, I think the riders would prefer to compete for money straight up. But points for a big trophy is always fun too....but as soon as you introduce the world cup environment, a lot of the money, sponsors etc. have to fall in line, sometimes they can be problematic and political, but in the biking world, it seems the sponsors are all pretty great companies.
why the hell not! but then itll bring all the new rules and bike types with it! could produce some interesting bikes! bring it on i say....variety is the spice of life. if ya dont like it, dont do it.
As for a world cup event/race? Not sure that's needed, I think the riders would prefer to compete for money straight up. But points for a big trophy is always fun too....but as soon as you introduce the world cup environment, a lot of the money, sponsors etc. have to fall in line, sometimes they can be problematic and political, but in the biking world, it seems the sponsors are all pretty great companies.
That was an awesome event, I am impatient to see the slopestyle friday & saturday.
I want to try on such type of race!)