Red Bull Rampage 2023: Interview with best trick winner Bienvenido Aquada Alba

The Red Bull Rampage is the biggest spectacle in mountain biking, that's for sure. No other event reaches so many people. The stunt show in the red rocks of Utah is the unofficial world championship of freeriders.

Every year, the big mountain competition gets crazier, more extreme and more dangerous. The Red Bull Rampage polarises. That's what makes it so exciting. "Too risky, even more: life-threatening!", say some, "exactly in the spirit of the times, which is what the sport needs", say others.

And then there's the jury's assessment. Every year, fans all over the world get excited, disagree, talk smack and bash; everyone wants to have seen it differently, to be able to judge it better. This is also what makes the Red Bull Rampage so entertaining. This year, one rider in particular stood out: Spaniard Bienvenido Aquada Alba. We spoke to the freeride hero about the Red Bull Rampage 2023.

FREERIDE: Bienve, what a show! With your front flip over the canyon gap, you made the whole freeride scene cheer.
Alba: Thank you. That makes me really happy. It was a huge satisfaction, especially after my botched debut in 2019.

You had a great run, which was both a blessing and a curse in my eyes. Maybe you just made it look too smooth. Too little drama.
Ha ha, that could be good. The start of my run was a bit too tame. The problem was the wind. It was very windy and there was a high risk of being blown away when doing a trick. That's why I played it safe at the top so that I could really shine further down.

Cam Zink had the better strategy, unintentionally of course. He had drama in the first run with his crash and so the second run was twice as strong.
You're right, maybe a bit of drama would have helped me. But more for the audience, not the judges. I definitely don't think so. They had seen that the top part of my run was a bit soft. No matter. I was happy about my two "top to bottom" runs without drama.

Yes, you seemed to be on happy pills after your run. Wasn't there a bit of disappointment when you slowly but steadily dropped down the rankings?
Not really. Because my only wish was to be invited to the Rampage again. Without having to reapply or qualify in any way. That was my mission. And of course: not to hurt myself. When I realised that I'd succeeded and I'd won a few awards on top of that - I could only be happy.

So there's no bad aftertaste?
No. I'm happy. I'll be there next year, got three awards and the love shower from the audience.

Rampage photographer Ale di Lullo said about the judging: "It's just an American competition". Do you think the Rampage would benefit from an international jury?
I actually think the current judges are okay. These guys are all legends in my eyes. But yes, it would be a cool change if the judges included Europeans like Martin Söderström, Sam Reynolds, Yannik Granieri or Andreu Lacondeguy. But I don't really care about the composition of the jury.

How many riders in the world can pull off a front flip like that?
Only one person in the world at the moment: Tom van Steenbergen. Tom could do it. He had already tried in 2014 and almost made it.

What went through your mind before the stunt?
The right speed. The risk of being too fast was immense. Because with front flips, you usually fly even further than expected. So I had to brake a lot. It wasn't easy to do that. I had to fly far enough to get over the canyon gap, but under no circumstances could I overshoot the landing. That was really scary. That happened to me on another jump during training. You're excited and tend to go too fast. So I learnt it the hard way.

Was that the furthest front flip you've ever jumped?
No, I did it at Darkfest in South Africa. That was 100 feet, just over 30 metres. At the Rampage, I flipped 72 feet, which is 22 metres. But the landing at Darkfest was five times as big. And that makes a huge difference. Because it's much safer.

What if you had to do one of them again?
The wide one from Darkfest because of its wide landing.

Which rider impressed you the most at the Rampage 2023?
Emil Johansson. I was very surprised that he only came 7th. And of course Brendan Fairclough. His line was crazy. That was the highest risk. Brendog should have been better placed, for sure. Just like Emil. But the judging is tough. Because every line is different. That's where the discussions come from. Everything looks different on the screen at home. You have to be there and know the lines.

So you were impressed by Johansson and Fairclough.
And zinc, of course. What he did was sick.

You're also a master of backflips. Could you have done Zink's backflip?
I think I could manage a big backflip stepdown like that. But the in-run to the stunt that Zink chose was wild. Wow, that was a sick in-run. He had to jump, he had to do a turn, all pretty tight and right before the backflip. That was a sick stunt and he made it look a lot easier than it was.

Last question: Has Gee Atherton completely lost his mind?
(To explain: the 38-year-old Englishman jumped the highest drop of the Rampage in training with an estimated vertical height of 18 to 20 metres).
Gee Atherton was on a mission. The guy is awesome. Really impressive. Gee is a wild man, he's wild in the literal sense! We rode together before the competition on the old Rampage site. He didn't give a shit about risk and did all the big stunts you could do. So safe and so controlled. He was just unlucky with the super drop.

Did you see the drop yourself?
Yes, I was there. I had a good look at it. It was a very slow old school drop. Super sketchy because you couldn't see anything. You had to go super slow because the landing was almost vertical under the jump.

I heard it was the highest drop in the history of the Rampage.
Yes, the vertical height was the highest. I can well imagine that. It was 18 to 20 metres high, measured vertically upwards from the landing, so pure height difference. And still terribly short. I can even imagine that this is the highest drop ever attempted. Not just at the Rampage.

Bienve, thank you for the interview!