The Rampage once again lived up to its reputation as the most spectacular, exciting and dangerous freeride event in the world. Only the best mountain bikers in the world are traditionally invited exclusively to this event. This year, the organisers set up even bigger jump towers and jumps in the sandstone cliffs of Zion National Park near Virgin, Utah/USA. Each rider then had to choose for themselves how and where they wanted to conquer the slope. The athletes spent days building their "line" in the terrain to connect the enormous obstacles.
25 riders qualified for the final, in which the best rider from two runs will be ranked. Paul Rak, head of the jury, explained what is important at the Rampage: "We look at the line, the way the riders come down, the flow and how much control they have over the bike. Then of course the jump height - we want to see high jumps - and finally style and the tricks. We want the riders to ride as stylishly as possible."
New this year: spectators were able to vote online after each run. An extra 5000 dollars was awarded at the end for the "People's Choice Award" for the highest user rating.
Here is an overview of all the finalists at the Red Bull Rampage 2013:
1st Tyler McCaul (USA)
2. Mike Montgomery (USA)
3. Wil White (USA)
4th Brendan Fairclogh (GBR)
5th Brandon Semenuk (CAN)
6th Andreu Lacondeguy (ESP)
7th Nico Vink (BEL)
8th Brendan Howey (CAN)
9th Graham Agassiz (CAN)
10th James Doerfling (CAN)
11th Geoff Gulevich (CAN)
12th Logan Binggeli (CAN)
13th Kyle Strait (USA)
14th Cameron Zink (USA)
15th Antoine Bizet (FRA)
16th Paul Basagoitia (USA)
17th Mitch Chubey (CAN)
18th Mike Hopkins (CAN)
19 Pierre Eduard Ferry (FRA)
20 Thomas Genon (BEL)
21st Garett Buehler (CAN)
22 Kyle Norbraten (CAN)
23 Cameron McCaul (USA)
24 Ramon Hunziger (SUI)
25th Kelly McGarry (NZL)
Kyle Strait put down an extremely clean and controlled run in the first run. With a suicide no-hander from the almost 12 metre high drop of the Oakley transmitter and 87.50 points, the US American took the lead of the field.
His friend Cam Zink, winner of the 2010 Rampage, started directly after Strait and had already announced a backflip from the Oakley transmitter, probably the highest and furthest drop in mountain bike history. And he hadn't promised too much. He landed the most monstrous backflip in bike history perfectly, but then lost his line. The hormone shower was probably too strong after this extreme jump and the subsequent ride through the roaring crowd. His 84.75 points were enough for second place in the meantime.
To everyone's surprise, New Zealander Kelly McGarry pulled a backflip over the 22 metre wide canyon gap in the last run of the first heat. The reward: 86.75 points and second place.
In the second run, Andreu Lacondeguy was able to improve on his score from the first run with speed, flow, spectacular tricks and plenty of style: 86.25 points meant third place for the Spaniard, ahead of Cam Zink. Logan Binggeli also landed a backflip from the Oakley Icon transmitter, but came off the track shortly afterwards and crashed heavily. Was this already a consequence of the wind? The short injury break turned into an interruption lasting more than two hours. The sky had darkened ominously and the already fresh wind had picked up again. In the end, the competition was cancelled for safety reasons and all the results of the second round were cancelled.
The official final result was therefore the ranking after the first run. Kyle Strait thus wrote mountain bike history. Back in 2004, as a 17-year-old, he was already at the top of the podium. Never before had a rider won the Rampage twice.
Here is an overview of the top 10:
1. Kyle Strait (USA) 87.50 points
2nd Kelly McGarry (NZL) 86.75
3. Cameron Zink (USA) 84.75
4th Andreu Lacondeguy (ESP) 84.25
5th Tyler McCaul (USA) 80.50
6th Pierre Edouard Ferry (FRA) 76.50
7th Cam McCaul (USA) 75.75
8th Brendan Fairclough (GBR) 75.50
9th Garett Buehler (CAN) 74.50
10th Thomas Genon (BEL) 72.50
The top five in the online ranking were: 1st McGarry, 2nd Lacondeguy, 3rd Zink, 4th Strait, 5th Ferry
The Best Trick Award naturally went to Cam Zink and his monster flip.
The broadcast of the entire final is available as a replay on: http://rampage.redbull.com
This year's FMB World Tour came to an end with the Red Bull Rampage. As none of the Rampage finalists were able to make an impact on the ranking at the top of the tour, overall victory went to Sam Pilgrim from Great Britain, followed by Martin Söderström and Brett Reeder.
More info on : www.fmbworldtour.com
Sebastian Brust
Editor
