Photo Epic: 4X World Championships Val di Sole 2015
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 With the last light of the day, it was finally time to stack em and rack em... World Champs 4X 2015 is go. |
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| Like a moth to a one-million candle power bulb, the Italian crowds came out in force. |
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| Crowds much? Apparently 4X is anything but dead, with an electric atmosphere here in Val di Sole under the halogen illumination. |
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| Riders ready, watch the gate.... |
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| Slavik with the lead in one of the early heats. |
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| Germany's Aiko Goehler on the attack. |
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| Simon Waldburger taking it to the rocks swiss style. |
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| Benedict Last, Scott Beaumont, Julien Schnaebele and Ondreij Karkoska getting their snap on in the quarter finals. |
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| Battered rims and vuvuzelas lined the ranks among the crowds in the dark. |
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| An English rose with a German thorn to spoil the party. |
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| Hitting the huge doubles of the pro-line to soar above the crowds must have been quite a feeling. |
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| Hannes Slavik seeded with the weight of the one plate on his back... Would the pressure prove too great? |
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| Follow the leader down through the turns, lined 4 people deep, all the way to the finish line. |
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| Italy's own Giovanni Pozzoni and friends in the gate. |
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| Pozzoni almost got out ahead of Slavik in the semis but simply couldn't keep him at bay, ultimately ending 6th overall. |
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| Everyday their shuttling... The race uplift wagons ran like clockwork all night saving the riders a massive push through thousands of people. |
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| Helena Fruthwirth gunning to catch Romana Labounkova in the small final, but it wasn't be enough and she would finish 6th overall. |
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| Lucia Oetjen leading out Steffi Marth and Helene Fruhwirth in the semi. |
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| Anneke Beerten jumping a man's bald noggin for the win. Tire tap style points. |
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| Beerten charging hard into the boulders ahead of Switzerland's Lucia Oetjen who certainly gave her a good run for her money. |
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| Beerten and Oetjen in the third turn in the final. Beerten pulled ahead in the next corner for the win. |
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| Steffi Marth leading out Slovenia's Monika Hrastnik for the last available medal in the women's big final. |
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| Goehler heading into the finish area in the heats. |
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| Goehler leading the big-final pack into the rocks and thrashing his way down towards the finish jump. |
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| Aiko Goehler coming across the line in the final for the win. |
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| Hannes Slavik after the final got away from him. |
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| Last Bike's and Germany's, Golher, absolutely shell-shocked to take gold here in Italy. |
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| Gold, silver and bronze; your new 2015 World Champion, Anneke Beerten, alongside Lucia Oetjen and Steffi Marth. |
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| As if $25,000 at Crankworx wasn't enough, Crankworx Queen and female bicycle prodigy, Beerten, banks another gold from the top step. |
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| Cue the applause for all 32 men and 15 women racers that battled it out under the floodlights this evening. |
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| Gold, silver and bronze; your new 2015 World Champion, Aiko Goehler alongside Luke Cryer and Benedict Last. |
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| Cloudy with a chance of champagne showers... That's it, that's all for Val di Sole 4X World Champs 2015. Time to party with the champions... |
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29 Comments
practice was called off and they came into the media tent to announce it,then they said 4X was still on they all laughed and said its only 4X and all but a few of us went and photographed the event.
That way of thinking is only going to push 4X deeper into the dark.
I know Chris and Scott work damn hard keeping the discipline in the UK alive , as well as Tom with his winter series at Chicksands .
i have photographed 4X for a number of years along with Downhill both get me stoked to shoot.
No other euro tour just fort bill
Thanks so much for the awesome photos. Despite the lack of coverage by the media in general you manage to caught the action and show the mtb world that 4X is a very attractive sport not only for its competitors but also for the spectators.