Red Bull Rampage | The Most Memorable Moments in Mountain Biking

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Red Bull Rampage | The Most Memorable Moments From The Craziest Competition in Mountain Biking

Sketchy lines, canyon gaps and endless world firsts. Red Bull Rampage never fails to raise our hairs...

Red Bull Rampage is the mountain bike freeriding frenzy that always offers up a plethora of show-stopping moments.

From world’s firsts to dramatic title wins and gargantuan bails, Rampage has it all. Over the years we’ve seen the biggest 360s, huge backflips – and now double backflips – the ballsiest lines and of course some frightening, heart-breaking crashes as well.

The spectacular came into criticism after the 2015 edition which saw five-time Rampage rider Paul Basagoitia shatter his T12 vertebrae; one of the most memorable moments in Rampage history, but not the kind of thing anyone wants to commemorate.

Rampage has been dangerous since it first got going in 2001, taking a break in 2004 after it got a bit too sketchy and returning in 2008 with more man-made features and continuing to progress and push boundaries.

This year Rampage was tweaked after 17 riders out of 42 were injured in 2015. There’s a new venue with more natural terrain and no giant wooden kickers, and the prize money has doubled from $100,000 to $200,000, with each rider also being given $5,000 to have builders who can work for nine days before the event.

The 2016 edition did not disappoint. Brandon Semenuk laid down one of the greatest runs ever and Antoine Bizet landed the first double backflip in the history of the event.

Here are just some of the most memorable moments from the history of Red Bull Rampage…

2001: The Beginning

 

You’ve got to love a bit of archive footage. Check out this clip from 2001, when Red Bull Rampage first got going.

This was the year that the crazy idea became a reality. They threw some badass bikers up the top of a mountain in Utah and let them choose their own line down. Wade Simmons took the win and the rest of the bike world looked on with dropped jaws.

2003: Cedric Gracia Nails A Huge Gap To Win It

 

Cedric Gracia is a downhill mountain biking legend. The guy’s been at it since the late 90s and he’s still shredding hard.

Gracia was known to win by big margins in the downhill world – his nine second win in Leysin is still one of the biggest ever winning margins  – but at Rampage he showed he’s got mad freeride skills too.

2004: A Young Kyle Strait Nails The No Hander


American Kyle Strait is a Red Bull Rampage legend. He first starred when he was 14 years old, and won it in ’04 just three years later.

On top of all that, the 17 year old was riding against doctor’s orders and still managed to land an insane no-hander to take the win… Something that would soon become a bit of a trend for him. This guy is something special.

2004: Wade Simmons Bails Out Big Time

WATCH THE VIDEO HERE

This bail from Wade Simmons must be one of the gnarliest out there. This is rough.

Wade won the whole thing in the very first year of Rampage, in 2001, and he’s another one who’s been right at the forefront of freeriding since it all got going. Nevertheless, this must’ve hurt.

2008: Brandon Semenuk Wins – 17 Years Old

 

The Whistler kid we all know and love introduced himself to Red Bull Rampage in style in 2008. Who knew he’d go on to such fame and glory? Well, probably most people.

After the event had been on a four year hiatus, Semenuk pitched up in Utah and matched the achievement of defending champ Kyle Strait from four years earlier – winning Rampage at just 17 years old.

2010: Gee Atherton Shows Some Steezy Riding

 

The numerous-times downhill mountain biking world champion produced an unreal run at Rampage in 2010. Check out some of his sick lines here, including an absolutely badass drop onto the giant Red Bull quarter at the end.

He took second place for his efforts – beaten only by a special display from Cam Zink…

2010: Cam Zink Stomps A 360 That Goes Down in History

 

Zink took the title away from Gee Atherton after this badass 360 from a huge drop – a trick which has regularly been voted the greatest of all time at the competition.

“Holy mother trucker!”, proclaims the hilarious commentary on this one. After Cam’s huge three though, you can see why the men with the mics were excited.

Of course, Cam would go on to nail something arguably even more outrageous in 2013, but we’ll get on to that a bit later…

2010: Andreu Lecondeguy Gets A Baptism Of Fire

This was Andreu’s first Red Bull Rampage, and despite almost breaking his collarbone on his second run, he finished up fourth overall in the end.

That pretty much somes up Andreu all over. He’s as much of a mountain biking man as you get – savage on the bike, unrelenting off it. Check out the hit above – Andreu’s run gets going from 4:16.

2013: Cam Zink Hits The 78ft Step Down Backflip

 

“His girlfriend is here and he is expecting a child.” So at least there was not much pressure on Cam Zink then.

The commentary claimed that those facts would play on his mind, but Zink definitely didn’t show any nerves if they did. Instead, he stomped the biggest ever backflip thrown down in history. And it was awesome. Of course, he’d then go on to beat his own record with the 100ft backflip in 2014.

2013: Kyle Strait Makes A Whole Lot Of History

 

We told you Kyle’s a Rampage legend, right? Here’s his GoPro footage from last year’s win. He’s the only rider to ever take the top prize twice, and he’s the only rider to have made the finals in every single edition of the comp.

Once again, he threw down a sick run in 2013, and once again, it included a badass no-hander. Check it out in the video above at around the 40 second mark.

2013: Kelly McGarry Backflips The Road Gap

 

The late and great Kelly McGarry’s backflip over the 72ft road gap took the world by storm in 2013, racking up well over 25 million views on YouTube.

This would end up being the silver medal run, and between Kelly’s humming, the sound of the wind during his backflip and the crowd going crazy when he lands it, it’s got to be one of the best mountain biking clips in the history of the sport.

You can watch the physics behind Kelly McGarry’s backflip here.

2014: Andreu Lacondeguy’s Red Bull Rampage Redemption

 

After frustratingly coming third a big bunch of times in a row, Andreu Lacondeguy rocked up to Rampage 2014 with a simple ideology: “this year, i’m either going home in first place or last.”

What happened next? Well, he only build a scary-as-hell line and chalked up the highest rated score for any run in Red Bull Rampage history. Is this the best run in Utah of all time? We’ll leave that up to you to decide!

2015: Nicholi Rogatkin Falls Off a 30ft Cliff… And Finishes His Run

Undeniably one of the sketchiest and most terrifying moments in Red Bull Rampage history was watching American slopestyle star Nicholi Rogatkin tumble off a 30ft cliff in 2015.

You can’t keep this guy down though and Rogatkin went viral around the world and got all mountain bikers screaming when he got back up, blood on his face, to finish the rest of his run.

2016: Antoine Bizet Nails the First Double Backflip in Rampage history

After crashing out on a double backflip attempt in 2015, Antoine Bizet returned this year to stomp the same trick, this time with absolute success.

This run was good enough to earn him only second place though, and here’s why…

2016: Brandon Semenuk nails the best Rampage run ever?

Semenuk only needed one run to secure the win at Red Bull Rampage 2016. His effort included an insanely steep double drop, a back flip one foot can and a step up 360.

With his signature style, it was undoubtedly up there with the best runs of all time.

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