The highlights of this 20th edition
A huge success. That's how we can define that 20th edition of the FISE World Montpellier, which just ended this sunday evening, the 8th of may.
Launched at top speed
It all started on wednesday, under a blazing sun, heating up by several degrees the riders'minds already much psyched to ride at the FISE. Festivities seriously started on the Mountain Bike course. The french Nicolas Terrier left his mark, taking the lead over a few seeds. Skateboarding and roller then followed until the night when the wakeboarders took the reins, at the foot of the region hall. What could we ask for more ? That's hard to imagine.
Unreal qualifiers
Then everything started to get heavy wth the semi-finals and guys like Vincent Milou, Adrien Bulard, Thomas Genon, Roman Abrate... Seriously echoing in our ears. Then came the heroes of the arena : names like Logan Martin, Mark Webb, Pat Casey... You know what we're talking about right ? Plus, this year, the FISE put on a great spread by turning the BMX Park contest into a World Cup stop, "UCI BMX Freestyle Park" being its official name. The day ended with a podium hold-up by the french skateboarders. Vincent Milou, Aurélien Giraud and Adrien Bulard are the guilty ones, without trying to denounce them...
Big performance confirmed on the Moutain Bike side, with an imperial Thomas Genon, dethroning its elders and taking the victory of this Gold stop of the FMB World Series. Then, as the night fell, one of the most anticipated shows of the FISE started to take shape. The SFR Sport BMX Spine ramp is the name given to this competition always turning the crowd on fire. After a first attempt cut short the night before because of bad weather, the FISE staff got out of its way to invent a very clever system to face the whims of the season. Once the ramp was heated and dried, the riders could express all of their potential, like Logan Martin, the Australian used to FISE victories.
The time of the finals
Then the succession of great finals began, crowning a few skilled champions, such as Julien Cudot in Roller who easily won the battle with two perfect first runs, or Jordan Clark who shined in Scooter. Emotion on the BMX Flat side where Matthias Dandois received the best birthday celebration from a inspired crowd. These encouragements probably contributed to enhance his riding and launch him towards victory. The girls certainly didn't let us down and their number is increasing year after year, bringing that vital grace to our event.
Even when the sun doesn't shine anymore, even when the rain starts falling, that special atmosphere never dies. That's what we'll remember from this great day of finals, where gloomy weather didn't stop the crowd to come support the wakeboarding finalists. Ako Guenther was participating at the FISE for the first time with solid and stylish runs, performed with great ease. A few minutes later, despite all of the best efforts to make it happen, the UCI BMX Freestyle Park finals were cancelled, the weather being a fact that we unfortunately can't control yet...
A huge success
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6... 600 000. That's simply how many we were this year striding along the 1,2 kilometers of festivities. From the big wheels to the smallest ones and the towed gliding, each discipline has shined at its highest level with the world's best riders, but also because of you, since this beautiful story is before anything, a matter of enthusiasts.
See you in 2017, with the 20 years of the FISE !
