Red Bull Rampage 2021 is done and dusted and there was no shortage of action. Check out the full highlights from the event with angles you didn’t see on the live broadcast and Brett Tippie having a word with the podium finishers.
So stoked to host some Pinkbike vids again and see some amazing riding with the current free riders sending it in ways we could’ve never imagined decades ago. It would’ve blown my mind to see this back then…and still does today. The skills, guts, focus and execution of riding these lines is inspiring and humbling. Healing vibes to our brothers who went down pushing our sport forwards.
back in the saddle with so many years of experience and a fan base that is MASSIVE. Congrats to you Mr. Tippie for the pending lifetime achievement award
In this vid no mater who got the highest score, you are the champ, honestly you know how to approach them how to make them comfortable when having the interview cause they know they do talk to someone who was there before
It's crazy that the whole podium wasn't on "real" DH bikes. Semenuk has a session but with a single crown and reduced travel, and Sorge and Boggs were on Evil/Yeti big enduro bikes.
I think it’s a testament to just how good these guys are. They are doing bigger drops and jumps than ever before with incredible precision. In years past those big enduro bikes and single crowns were never tested for that kind of durability.
it just shows that skills are more important than bikes
you can also take a look at old rampage runs, and realize how good they were with bikes that nowdays would look unrideable
Wasn't there a time before when more riders were on single crown forks? 2008 onwards? But there were more wooden constructions too at the time. Now things are actually more raw (despite the complaints) most have gone back to dual crown forks.
I can’t wait to see jaxson ride again. So fresh. Everyone slayed it but he’s got something different going on. Everything these guys do is impossible but his impossible had me off the couch and shouting.
He was so much cleaner ! Added a super extended superman on his big double up top/middle run, got the flip nac instead of the regular flip on his big drop and added a Suicide on the step down at the bottom. So he basically tricked every single feature, added speed and style and made no mistakes.
@Vraiphil: Hmm, I rewatched his run and compared it to Kyle Straits. He tricked 5 of his 11 jumps (including drops) first run, and 6 on his second run with 1 different trick (Backflip Nac Nac) to his first run. Kyle on the other hand, of his 13 jumps (if you count 3 on the chute), tricked 3 of em (if you count the tabletop in the middle, but not in the end) and 5 on his second run with 2 different tricks compared to his first. Yes, you have to count he slipped his pedals on his last backflip. Still, Kurt gained 14.77 points from 73.66 to 88.33 whereas Kyle gained .33 points on his 77.33. Anyway, I don´t think any of the 2 should have won it regardless.
As in financially helping them if they get injured? Or restricting features/ tricks to reduce harm? Not sure I agree with you, but curious on what you're referring to.
In my experience, Red Bull has been good to the athletes. They give us appearance fees for just showing up, instruct us about which insurance(s) to purchase, and create opportunity for athletes who aren't their own. At the end of the day, we do it because it feeds our souls—I don't think anyone drops in incentivized by money.
All the best to Tom in his recovery! Toughest dude I know.
@src248: yeah for their sponsored athletes. Not everyone who competes at Rampage has anywhere close to the backing and support that Red Bull athletes get. Red Bull still profits incredibly off these other athletes with this one event. Who supports these guys when things go wrong?
@lifeofloon: The event is sponsored by RedBull, the athletes are sponsored by their individual sponsors. Rarely (if ever) does an event sponsor support individual athletes (outside of those who they already support). Does Mercedes support the individual athletes who compete in the UCI DH WC? They're a title sponsor too. RedBull probably does support the medical care on site though, which still is quite something.
I don't care about their drinks, but I do appreciate that RedBull goes above and beyond in their care for their athletes. They've patched up every single Atherton more than a few times. Which other sponsor does that?
@vinay: really? You don't say. My mind is blown. I just can't believe that.
You're missing my point. Yes Red Bull has amazing support for their sponsored athletes even when things go wrong for them. Not all of the Rampage athletes have close to the sponsorship support that the Red Bull athletes do when they destroy themselves in an event like this. To compare Rampage to UCI DH events is a joke. Does DH push athletes? Yes. Does DH push athletes anywhere close to what Rampage pushes them to? Not even close. Are there major injuries in DH? Yes. Are the number of major injuries in DH anywhere close to numbers in Rampage? No.
With hundreds of riders and multiple events throughout the DH season there still weren't the number of season ending injuries that one third of the 16 invited Rampage athletes received. UCI DH also has multiple sponsors that share a profit from the events whereas Red Bull is the only sponsor from Rampage that is profiting.
that video is from PB, not RB . They probably didn't want to include him, because no one knew about his injuries at that point. So that's the only right thing to do.
Thank you Brett and thank you Pinkbike. I enjoyed this so much more than the live broadcast and wish it was 5x longer. I'd love to see riders be able to take as many runs as they want for both safety and also progression.
Tippie is by far the most experienced and stoked ambassador for this sport...Thankyou Tippie..LEGEND...on another note..after watching Sorges ride again.. cant believe how fast he rides that gnar..youre a BEAST dude!!!
I had high hopes for this year, wasn’t part of the whole ‘Rampage is now a Slopesyle contest’ brigade at all, but f*ck me the judges got it wrong again. Tippie can bang on about how exciting it all is until the cows come home, but it’s crooked as f*ck.
Big time. Whole thing is a circle jerk. If you ain't in the circle you got no chance. Look at Genon, original features technical tricks then you have tmac back flipping his way down and scores higher because it's a good comeback story for their buddy?!? Look at sorges run, essentially the same as we saw 4 years ago and he's in second because a fight between him and semenuk to be the first 4 time champ is "good TV"?!? I don't mean to knock any of the competitors, anybody who was on the hill that week is a genuine badass on a bike but when you can obviously see such huge disparity in the judging it really makes it really hard to take the event seriously.
Sorge scored sell again because like 4 years ago, he still had arguably the gnarliest line on the mountain.
This time throw in a 50ft flip nac nac (the only person to pull a flip combo on a huge drop), a whole bunch of speed and amplitude, and dialed tricks on every hit, and you have undeniably a top run
@Chumbawumbafan69: I thought the judging was spot on. Genon had the smallest line on the mountain. Watch his run and Sorges back to back. I bet Sorge is in the air twice as much as Genon.
Mad props to all the athletes! Thanks again for putting on the best show on earth! Seemed like a lot of riders got injured pre-contest and a few during the contest. Might of been the most injuries during a Rampage event? Heal up well everyone and congrats to the podium winners.
I have to agree with some peeps on here, I think it would be fun to have an actual Red Bull "Natural Freeride" comp in the same conditions, but with riders being forced seek out best natural features, and to minimize their changing the ground prior. But this comp really shows how far builder & rider skillset has come over time. Blows my mind, and makes me want to go dig & send new stuff! Hats off to all whom competed! Mad props to the injured riders as well. Can't say it enough...Many Thx for your continued efforts in progressing the limits of what's possible on big bikes.
I feel like Rampage has kind of lost it's edge the last couple of years. It's not as raw and rediculous as it used to be. The lines are now very cultivated and manucured, whereas before the the amount of trail building was much more minimal. I look at the size of and number of manmade jumps and the number of sandbags and think the builders are not being as creative as they used to be. The idea of Rampage was to ride rediculous terrain with very little improvement, and showcase your insane slopestyle tricks over terrain that most would think incomprehensible. Now it looks like they just built a slopestyle track out of the dirt and rocks in the desert instead of descending gnarly rock gardens and hucking off of huge cliffs. Rampage has gotten softer. Please make it thoroughly crazy again.
Give us back our Freeride Rampage. "Remove the backdrop and its just a slopestyle course"-someone. Most riders who transitions to rampage doesn't attack the course like real freeriders do. The skill level is high but It just feels different when you don't see actual freeride lines but just set up after set up of slopestyle jumps with occasional huge drops. Just an unpopular opinion, from somebody who grew up enjoying the difference between slopestyle and freeride.
Why doesn’t rampage even get judged? It should be like a live fest series. The winner going for King of the Mountain, and just the best overall run. I don’t know how you would pick future contenders out of this though.
Interesting if Semenuk officially killed Rampage with the single crown fork. Will it be impossible to now win without a huge bag of tricks that includes bar spins and tail whips?
Hahaha ...wrong if u think it's not incentivizedby money .. u don't see these guys just hunking for shits and giggles..the sites are dead zones until the man with $ comes around..
Am I the only one who was pissed about Cam McCaul announcing a lot of peoples tricks they were going to be doing when they would show the animated line the riders were taking? He totally spoiled Tommy-G line before he went. Other than that annoyance I enjoyed it but will look for the condensed version when it airs on NBC later. Also, I'm usually a fan of Cam but not on this broadcast.
just fuck rite off rite thur dude he is a fucking ambassador for mountain biking and off the hook announcer not to mention his skills on 2 wheels. Watch it on NBC maybe a footballer baseball announcer can satisfy your broken desires
I don't think so. His run was good to watch because the fast moto style looks good on camera but he didn't go as big and didn't do such difficult moves.
Was my favorite run to watch for sure, he's got the Andreu Lacondeguy style.
88 Comments
Rampage in a nutshell.
Kyle on the other hand, of his 13 jumps (if you count 3 on the chute), tricked 3 of em (if you count the tabletop in the middle, but not in the end) and 5 on his second run with 2 different tricks compared to his first. Yes, you have to count he slipped his pedals on his last backflip.
Still, Kurt gained 14.77 points from 73.66 to 88.33 whereas Kyle gained .33 points on his 77.33.
Anyway, I don´t think any of the 2 should have won it regardless.
Strait had a super clean first run, and a not so clean second run (+ added tricks, but a bit sloppy).
So to me it does make sense to me (Strait would have probably made much more point if his run was clean)
Anyway, judging can always be a never ending debate
All the best to Tom in his recovery! Toughest dude I know.
I don't care about their drinks, but I do appreciate that RedBull goes above and beyond in their care for their athletes. They've patched up every single Atherton more than a few times. Which other sponsor does that?
You're missing my point. Yes Red Bull has amazing support for their sponsored athletes even when things go wrong for them. Not all of the Rampage athletes have close to the sponsorship support that the Red Bull athletes do when they destroy themselves in an event like this. To compare Rampage to UCI DH events is a joke. Does DH push athletes?
Yes. Does DH push athletes anywhere close to what Rampage pushes them to?
Not even close. Are there major injuries in DH? Yes. Are the number of major injuries in DH anywhere close to numbers in Rampage?
No.
With hundreds of riders and multiple events throughout the DH season there still weren't the number of season ending injuries that one third of the 16 invited Rampage athletes received. UCI DH also has multiple sponsors that share a profit from the events whereas Red Bull is the only sponsor from Rampage that is profiting.
I don't mean to knock any of the competitors, anybody who was on the hill that week is a genuine badass on a bike but when you can obviously see such huge disparity in the judging it really makes it really hard to take the event seriously.
Sorge scored sell again because like 4 years ago, he still had arguably the gnarliest line on the mountain.
This time throw in a 50ft flip nac nac (the only person to pull a flip combo on a huge drop), a whole bunch of speed and amplitude, and dialed tricks on every hit, and you have undeniably a top run
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