The French town of Saint François Longchamp welcomed this weekend the third round of the MTB and Biketrials World Cup. This is the circuit’s first appearance in France since Buthiers in 2006 and Praloup in 2003. Some 200 competitors will gather on the Saint-François Longchamp site, situated in Maurienne (Savoie), 1650m above sea level. Organisation is being taken care of by Jean Falmbard and the Event-Performance team, who are sport events specialists and have organised national and international trials events as well as other extreme sports events of all kinds. The sections were composed of imported rocks (nearly 100 tonnes), tree trunks and concrete obstacles like those at the recent French Cup Round in Serre Chevalier. They were very technical and difficult, with some very tricky parts that could change the course of the competition in a moment!
This third round was an eventful one, especially in 26". The semi-finals took place this morning and there were a few surprises! Benito Ros is on greta form: "La Bestia" flew round his first lap with just six points, while the others got round with double that on their cards. He managed a second lap of just four and only Dani Comas was able to match the rhythm imposed by the World Champion and stay in the competition, with European Champion Rafal Kumorowski hot onhis heels. The 26" semis took place at the end of the morning, with Vincent Hermance putting in an incredible performance: the Vice World Champion almost managed a perfect trial, conceding just one point on his first lap! Kenny Belaey had six points on his card after his first lap and managed a second lap of zero, qualifying in second place ahead of Gilles Coustellier in third with 12. The final promises to be very eventful indeed! Gilles is determined to keep the lead and Vincent and Kenny are both on great form! The results of the competitions will be updated as and when they come in here: The World Cup live!.
Our Partner Sergio, master of trials photography, has sent us his first photos of the events in Saint-François Longchamp! As usual they are excellent shots, even despiet the unfavourable light conditions! More photos to follow on www.photobysergio.fr...