Everyone had busy, full days, either at the pits or up on the trails, so the evenings were a chance to kick back, relax, and enjoy a meal and some well-earned drinks. After being separated for months leading up to this event, everyone was in high spirits and enjoying catching up with each other. Alpe D'Huez is the most perfect setting for everyone to have a great day out in the mountains, then enjoy some bike chat and banter in the evening, helping to clear the mind of the difficulties of the 2020 Covid-19 pandemic. Mountain biking is a great distraction from stress, for both pros and amateurs alike. During the event we wanted to take the opportunity to connect with the fans, so using YouTube a daily live stream was produced. These were hosted by the riders every evening, and provided a great opportunity to talk about the activities of the day. The media crew gathered footage during the day, and they prepared short edits for the YouTube live stream and played these in-between the rider interviews. This gave the fans a first-hand perspective of what the riders were doing at the event. This included track walk footage analysing possible lines for the race, practice footage of riders trying out which lines worked best, and even POV action footage of the riders attacking the trails together and making overtaking moves which always happen in the race. The final live stream included footage and analysis from the qualifying race.
Our athletes had mixed experiences in their qualifying heats. Jack Reading and Remy Absalon were together in a heat, and running at the front in 1st and 2nd at the mid-way point until Jack hit a rock and exploded a back wheel knocking him out of the heat and the race. Remy continued strongly to the finish in 2nd place. Elliot Trabac and Hugo Pigeon, Remy’s team mates, both won their qualifying heats so all three athletes would be front row for the racing.
Racing was made up of two runs of the track, and this meant it was a very demanding race day both physically and mentally for the athletes. The first race meant riders were leaving the bottom at about 6am to travel to the top of the mountain. They then had a short break for lunch before going again. The fastest time for one run was 15 minutes 29 seconds and the winning time with the two runs combined was 31 minutes 12 seconds, which is a very long time to be racing a bike down a mountain. The SR Suntour rider with the best finish and a podium place was Hugo Pigeon in 3rd which was awesome. Remy Absalon finished 16th and Elliot Trabac who finished 7th in race one suffered a mechanical in race two to finish 29th overall. Other SR Suntour riders who finished in the top 30 were Quentin Arnaud 26th Ambroise Hebert 28th.
The Maxi Avalanche event was such a great time for everyone involved with SR Suntour. The racing was exciting and everyone enjoyed the beautiful location high up in the Alpe D'Huez mountains. We look forward to returning for the Mega Avalanche in 2021.