Brendan Fairclough Withdraws from Rampage
Fairclough flipping his canyon gap in 2019.
Due to complications with ongoing injuries sustained at the Lenzerheide World Cup, Brendan Fairclough has had to withdraw from this year’s Red Bull Rampage taking place October 15, 2021.
Brendan Fairclough has just spent another full week at the Surrey Royal Hospital, undergoing two operations and a series of procedures to try and fix the ongoing issues from his crash at the Lenzerheide Downhill World Cup. Brendan was airlifted from the course during the crash in practice, which resulted in bone-deep lacerations and severe trauma to his right leg. After emergency surgery and multiple internal and external stitches, he was released from his 4-day stay in a Swiss hospital.
 | After missing last year down to Corona Virus, all sights were set on this year, and I was so excited to get back in the desert and back up my 2019 result. |
On returning to the UK, Brendan began an intensive recovery and rehab routine to prepare himself for Rampage. Unfortunately, 3 weeks into recovery, he encountered severe and ongoing pain and was admitted back into hospital for an emergency operation. The wound was re-opened and cleaned and after 4 days in a vacuum dressing, another operation to close the wound and a confirmation from the doctors that a skin graft is not necessary, he is finally out of the danger zone and on the road to recovery.
| This is a huge setback for me, and I’m completely devastated, but just glad I’m set for a full recovery and all sights set on next year. |
The news comes as a huge blow to Brendan, who was fully committed to sending it in Utah and another year of success at the event after finishing fourth in 2019 with an 87.66.
| Massive good luck to all the guys and girls out there for this year’s Rampage, I’ll be watching from home! |
Wishing Brendan all the best with his recovery.
Alternates for Red Bull Rampage are: Thomas Genon, Emil Johansson, Reed Boggs, DJ Brandt, and Antoine Bizet. We do not yet have confirmation on which rider will replace Fairclough but will let you know as soon as we do.
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113 Comments
Maybe Stark can work his way into an alternate slot next year. But he'll have to get past guys like Johnny Soledo, Bienve Aguado, Graham Agassiz, Reece Wallace, Ethan Roberts, Remy, Silva, Rogatkin, Etc.
Lot of guys with experience that would like to get back.
As for style. Not everyone treats the course like a Slopestyle course. He's a former racer. He looks for lines that he sees as fast and technical. 2015 is a good example of him not being scared. Look how many dudes bailed on their second runs due to wind. He took his and upped his score. I actually liked his line choice. He had this cool little like chunky left hip that dropped him right into one of his berms. Actually quite technical. I think if he does something different than a no hander off his second big trick hit and adds another trick somewhere he's probably mixing it up with the guys in that 6-8 range. Not bad. Hell finishing 10th isn't bad. He went top to bottom twice. Think less than half the guys did that. Hell he beat Rheeder.
He's just one of many on a list of guys that have been there before and ridden top to bottom. By no means am I saying Dylan shouldn't get a chance over 1 or all of these guys. I'm just saying he's a bubble guy and there's a lot of bubble guys for Rampage. I hope he gets a chance at some point. But I wouldn't be surprised if it takes some time. Maybe he'll make the alternate list next year.
There's a lot of dudes fighting for a handful of slots.
Here's some more names to think about...
R Dogg
Bas
Sam Reynolds
Ferry
Binggelli
Macfarlane
Bizet
But who knows if those guys even want to do it again.
Stark is dope. I'd actually like to see him at Audi 9's before Rampage. I think that fits his style very well and he'd absolutely crush that event.
Looks like he owes Olly n Deaks a holiday too now. I suggest Vegas over winter with a bit of local trail shreddage for content :-)
I think history will judge MTB racing bodies harshly–something along the lines of "...and everyone thought it was OK for participants to sustain severe injuries?"
Get well soon Brendog, right choice for sure
found himself out of his league
I guess he's still pissed from his 2012 crash due to the ever annoying winds in Utah.
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