Bike Check: Antoine Vidal's Commencal Supreme

It's Fantasy DH season already. We are only a couple of weeks out from the opening round of the DH in Lourdes and that means it's team-picking time. The fact is that Fantasy DH is not usually won by picking the winners, the top of the food chain riders we all know and follow, but by taking a step back and trying to find the up and coming riders, the talented riders who might just smash through into the major leagues. If you are hunting for that kind of rider, then maybe Antoine Vidal is worth a thought.

You see, the South of France, as we think of in terms of riders, is not a monolithic region. What we tend to think of as Southern French downhill is in the 06 Departement around Nice. Antoine comes from just along the coast in the 83, Var. That means he doesn't tend to hang around with the Bruni, Vergiers or Daprelas of this world and, consequently, flies under the radar a little. Instead, he has spent the past few years working with the support and supervision of Cecile and Cedric Ravanel away from the spotlight.

It is the only explanation why a rider so young, yet with bursting palmares is not that well-known. People don't seem to remember that he bagged second in the Junior DH field in the Mont Saint Anne World Champs and last year he grabbed 12th in seniors in Val di Sole last year. And that is before you realise that he has been racking up the EWS results too, racing both series, with a high of 9th on scratch at the first round in Val di Fassa last year.

We caught up with him at the regional DH in Blausasc, France, this past weekend, where he took the win.







Here in Southern France, DH history stars riders like Nico Vouilloz and Fabien Barel who are very technically involved with their bikes and setups. Even when Cecile Ravanel was dominating the EWS, she never gave the impression that her bike setup was that big a deal, preferring to focus on her mindset and performance. They appear to be imparting that philosophy to their young riders. Talking through his setup with him, Antoine explains that Cedric built his suspension for him to be soft in the initial stroke then ramping up, with a neutral front-rear balance.There is a definite air to the way he talks about it, you get the sense that they found something that works and want to stick with it.