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Video: Stefan Peter's Winning Run From the 2021 Megavalanche

Jul 12, 2021 at 5:58
by James Smurthwaite  

Stefan Peter battled for 40 minutes over snow, ice, rocks to take the win on Alpe D'Huez.

For all the carnage from the riders battling in the pack, click here.

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Member since Nov 14, 2018
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67 Comments
  • 46 1
 Even after all the carnage I've ever seen from this race some sick part of me still wants to do it.
  • 3 0
 Yup, me too
  • 3 1
 Do it, it's a b;ast. Just wear all your armour...
  • 3 0
 Looking over your shoulder while leading the last couple Kms must be a crazy feeling....not one I'll ever know, but congrats to these monsters!
  • 4 1
 I am 47, have done lots of crazy sh*t in my life, I DEF want to add this to my list. Big Grin
  • 1 0
 Want to do it after watching this one! But not so much after seeing those with the pilling up crashes haha!
  • 6 0
 I did it this year, and it is a blast! It looks crazy and dangerous, but when you are there it's actualy real fun! I started the mega from row 4 on the main event, the energy when 300 people are dancing on alarma before sending it down the snow is unreal!!! Best party ever!!
  • 14 0
 What a crazy ride. Congrats. Too bad there were only 12 people at the end to cheer for your win
  • 9 0
 Recommend also watching Killian Bron's full race run. You can't see from Stefan's footage how close the race got during the gravel road climb.
  • 5 0
 www.youtube.com/watch?v=8mRyCxpumOY

Yeah, Bron's footage is a bit more fun to watch. In my opinion the best parts of Megavalanche video is always watching people picking off (or trying to pick off) the guys ahead of them.

Super awesome race. Great result for both of these guys.
  • 1 0
 @igxqrrl: Agreed - thanks for the link
  • 4 0
 Great run - congrats! I did it three times. Toughest part for me always was at 21:00 Min. When you drop in the trail to Oz totally exhausted after the pedalling section. Superfast with switchbacks an pulse 180

BUT: How can the footage be cut at 17:01 and 21:00 in a race run? Its well done with the blend but still
  • 4 0
 Holy crap. That's some Isle of Man TT style of dangerous. Love the hard left to staircase to wind things up. Anyhow, couldn't stop watching.
  • 3 0
 Do you get to practice race runs?
I seriously can't believe the speed over some of the rock sections without knowing line choices, they must know in advance. Right?
  • 2 0
 there's qualifiers i think, so thats at least one practice, not sure if it's from the top. Don't see why you wouldn't be able to practice tho
  • 7 0
 You can train for several days, though access to the glacier is limited to one day. A lot of riders, including Peter, know the track by heart because they participated several times.
  • 3 0
 @Foxy87: you can train on the track, including the glacier, the whole week in advance. And the lines change a bit every year, this Mega the rock section up top was washed out way more than 2019 due to all the meltwater.
  • 1 0
 @Upduro: yeah but just before the race they close the glacier. I always went wednesday and were only able to train the glacier on thursday, in full slush of course…
  • 1 0
 @DanielP07: The qualifier is on a different track, but both can be practised.
  • 1 0
 Lordy - I’d forgotten how long it took to get from the Cairn to the drop down to Oz. Nearly puked in recollection. Bizarrely I fell off in the exact spot he did ( and lots of other places too)
I can feel the urge again!
  • 1 0
 I noticed on owlaps that les 2 alpes (I think) also now have a snow trail that’s groomed everyday for people to ride. It’s only open in the mornings before the melt makes it unrideable, but I think that’s awesome. I can’t wait to make the trip out there, hopefully next summer. The Mrs’ family have a chalet in the region and I am yet to visit them.
  • 1 0
 2:30 ish: At last, off this horrible snow.
2:40. OMG this is worse, this is way worse!

Bottom 30 mins looked mint, but the top section looks horrible!
how fit do you have to be to keep on the gas for 40 minutes on terrain like that?
  • 4 0
 I've got arm pump just watching that. 40 minutes!
  • 2 0
 I sometimes get arm pump too, watching stuff on the internet, but that's a different story
  • 3 1
 At 01:35 if you looks at his shadow, you can see that he moves his hands off the grips to the inside and just holds on to the handlebar. Is that a new speed tuck trend?
  • 4 0
 Not sure about trend. Just physics...
  • 2 0
 It's definitely not a new trend, but it is an integral part of a speed tuck.

I can't imagine doing it on a mountain bike on that kind of terrain, but on a road bike getting your hands next to the stem and crouching over the top tube will get you an extra 10% or so speed. At the expense of, you know, stability and ready access to your brakes.
  • 1 0
 XC riders have been doing this forever on gravel and road sections.
  • 2 0
 and he holds it for a good 20 seconds which is likely how/why he caught up to the guy in front of him!
  • 1 0
 On the shadow of his bike it looks like he has a battery strapped to the down tube. Is he on a E-bike or was he just adding weight for stability?!?
  • 4 0
 @wda1wustl: Err... Its a water bottle.
  • 1 0
 There’s a picture of it here: www.instagram.com/p/CRL5LoNB6VW/?utm_medium=copy_link
  • 2 0
 You must be new to the sport? This is the safe version of the speed tuck. The less safe one is holding on to the CSU of your fork, but you can tuck even lower. Works nicely onroad.
  • 3 0
 Impressive no doubt, but I prefer the POV videos from the guy that is 200 places back and recording all the excitement.
  • 4 0
 I’m going to be sore for a week just watching this run.
  • 2 0
 Insane! Can't imagine the consequences of a mishap in the fast rocky sections.
  • 1 0
 I have an easy solution for that: Ride them super slow, and get off and walk frequently.
  • 2 0
 @around 7:35 i thougt he would take a look over his shoulder if there is really no Damien Oton this year! Big Grin
  • 3 1
 I thought kilian bron won??
  • 10 0
 Kilian won Mountain of Hell last week. He came in second here.
  • 2 0
 Right
  • 2 0
 Wow! So sick. One of my goals is to do that race
  • 1 0
 Is it true someone done this on a BMX?

Or just standard Internet propaganda?
  • 4 0
 There's someone on what looks like a 20" wheeled shopping bike on one of the Instagram videos on the other article on here. He's probably still heading down the mountain as I type this!
  • 2 0
 True, I saw him on the start and on the finish line. But it was more of a old city bike upgraded with stronger wheels and disc brakes. Insane! There was aslo two guys doing it on a tandem bike! Big Grin
  • 2 0
 What’s the distance of this race? The dang mountain goes on forever.
  • 2 0
 About 23km.
  • 2 1
 New rule, if you intend to win megavalanche, have the foresight to film it in 16:9
  • 1 0
 What bike does Stefen Peter ride? I couldn't make out the name - Riks? Kiks? Rix?
  • 2 0
 BIXS
  • 1 0
 I haven't watched the whole video yet, but who got the hole-shot?
  • 2 1
 Jack reading I think
  • 2 1
 Hole-shot?
  • 5 0
 @Jaib06: in this case its the first rider to that first hard right corner getting away clean before the pileup happens (about 30s into the video).

more generally:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holeshot
  • 1 0
 @Jaib06: I didn't need the hyphen dunno why I used it honestly...
  • 2 0
 Tucked it back!?
  • 1 0
 It looks like a course preview
  • 1 0
 Great run…. But way more clicks for mid pack joe crash a lot.
  • 1 0
 Well deserved Stefan! Awesome speed!!
  • 1 0
 can any old schmuck enter the amateur category?
  • 1 0
 Yeah pretty much. Go for it Smile
  • 1 0
 They should add some features like jumps and stuff
  • 1 0
 That looks so fun!
  • 1 0
 Awesome
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