Straight out of the canyon, here are some of our favourite photos from Red Bull Rampage Finals. The photo epic will but up soon, but in the meantime, check out what these wicked athletes managed to pull off.
Congratulations to the top three; Brandon Semenuk, Antoine Bizet, and Carson Storch, as well as Conor Macfarlane who took home the Kelly McGarry Spirit award. We are sending love and healing vibes to Aggy who is in the hospital tonight following an ugly crash today.
MENTIONS:
@meagerdude / @natedh9 /
@parisgore / @dbaker /
#RedBullRampage
An people can down vote all they want
But,
With all we've heard aboot CET lately.... Should Conner have been up for that second run?
I was Amped with all the hype waiting for him to drop but still, worry an concern was there. When he went down straight away it was obvious his physicall condition was doubtfull.
yes, an obvious concern to anyone with a medical eye
I'm not against tricks at all, I'm typically a huge proponent of having them be equally as important as the whole go big and fast thing and have defended tricks in these contests for the last couple years. But I can't exactly articulate why I'd be pissed to see a cork 7 go off in Rampage, it'd be like the whole triple cork thing that took over just about every x games competition for snowboarding. If we set the bar there, then we'll see Rogatkin, Rheeder, Genon, and tons of other slope riders find their way into future rampages to basically turn it into the nine knights of utah. I knew going into this competition that Rheeder was probably going to try a cork 7, it just seems like a predictable thing he'd want to do to win Rampage. No beef with him though, he's an excellent rider... I guess that I just kind of expected that when i saw @c3project post it on one of the dig days.
This is where people need to give Semenuk some serious props, because he doesn't go for these kinds of tricks in Rampage. You didnt see a cork 7 attempted by him this week even though he was like the 2nd or 3rd person to pull one off on the big bike and he certainly has it in his bag of tricks, but I think he wants people to see that he likes the big mountain riding aspect of this whole thing too. Notably from his interview where he stated that he wanted a little bit of everything in his run and see the variety of skills he has on the saddle. He was about the digging, the creativity of line choice, and getting the down the mountain in his own way. I don't think he's impervious to the fact that mountain bikers don't want to see Rampage turn into a slope comp, and it shows that he knows that in his Rampage runs (so for those of you who think semenuks out there trying to make this a slope comp, please stfu).
What'd we see from him, a few backs and a flat 3? That's pretty mild for this kid but he tried to take at least two of those and execute them on difficult and unique features, and challenge himself a little more on big terrain then we see. A very diverse run from Brandon, and hearing how he was the first one up most mornings getting digging and practicing in, I'd say he earned this Rampage. Congrats to him. And thank you Brandon for not giving in and making it a show only for the bottom booters, many might not have noticed but I noticed that you wanted to be seen for the bigger stuff today.
Also I had no idea those woops were the ones from Revel in the Chaos.
The caliber of riding is there now, you have to do both. Look at Kyle Strait today, he's more of a tech guy but threw some new tricks in there. I was so stoked when I saw him do that step down backflip in his first run.
maybe, in your scenario of rampage becoming a trickster comp, maybe there could evolve a fest-series like event on a rampage style area...
Now that the judging has seemingly been fixed (I took zero issue with any of the scores today, and from the way it sounds, the vast majority of people who saw the event agree there), a smaller field of riders, removal from the FMB series, new rules, and the removal of the big "slopetyle" features, Rampage has really come full circle. Last year had a really weird, tense vibe. Between the fighting over lines, Paul Bas getting seriously hurt, and the fact that riders were obviously really unhappy, Rampage needed an update, and this year it got one. Huge props to everyone involved with making the changes, and running this awesome event.
Hope Aggy heals up fast, I jumped off the couch when I saw that one. Glad to hear it's not as serious as it could have been.
Also, anyone who refers to Semenuk as "a slopestyle guy" deserves to be slapped. His line played to his strengths today: everything. He's undeniably the best rider on the planet at this point.
I really enjoy big mountain riders' lines, but honestly I get the impression that even those riders (PEF, Remy, etc...) understand that they simply aren't going to win without throwing in some tricks. Their motivation could be different, such as making sure they get a top 10 to get next years invite, more exposure for them, and pushing their part of the sport.
#getwellsoonAggy
Secondly, after the last year rampage bad rep all over the net Red Bull had to change thing or two and what we saw was a mediocre rampage...all about the safety and PR... whats more interesting - a show aimed for nonbikers...c'mon we all here on pinkbike have seen a massive train gaps/fest gaps/spins this year so dont get me wrong but nothing new here...but for the ones who do not follow Pb/vitalmtb etc. what they saw was a shocker (a lot of post over the facebook like this: "OMG he jumped that with a bike" )
I'm torn apart about this year RR...still one of the best comps but so dissapointing on the other hand...
We need more footage from FEST
Wake up people!!
#screwUSemenuk
This "Rampage" disappoint me. What the hell happened today? I can't believe everybody fell down! And about the judges, I do not desagree with some scores. Carson Storch made a huge 360, but this event is not about one trick. I think that Strait and TMac had better runs.
Semenuk have a really nice run, but we have to accept his line wasnt the most impressive in compare with the others. He made things right, but it was to much slopestyle.
And Kyle Strait after the most agressive run of today he couldnt made the backflip spet down. dammit!
Aggy why?? why aggy?? you were the chosen one!!
image2.redbull.com/rbcom/010/2016-10-14/1331823783513_32/0010/1/600/400/32/rampage2016-pef-table.jpg
Here's another reason you're straight up wrong:
cog.konaworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/RAMPAGE16_BIZET_ByADL-4586-1.jpg
and another:
image3.redbull.com/rbcom/010/2016-10-13/1331823618800_15/0010/1/550/366/15/rampage2016-graham-chute.jpg
Rampage has some groomed jumps at the bottom, but that top section and most of the rest of the course is rougher than a Rob Warner commentary. Did you see what happened to Conor Macfarlane in his second run pretty much right out of the gate?
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