On the 18th and 19th of June the Morewood UnitedRide headed up to Paris for the Montmartre downtown downhill race.
This was the second time the event has happened, the first being in 2007. It is an invitational race where only a few riders are selected to ride. The race took part in one of the most beautiful parts of the city passing through the stairs and streets near the amazing Church of Montmartre. The beautiful scenery and the thousand of people visiting Montmartre were going to make it a very speical race.
Day 1 kicked off with a meeting of all the invited riders followed by a briefing for the plans of the weekend. We then headed out to walk the track for the race. The track looked really good with some big jumps, drops, woodern burns and stair sections. It looked like it was going to be a fun track. After this the riders where taken on a small tour of the area and in Pigale where we visited the Paris Erotic museum. Everyone was quite shocked with what we saw but it was very funny at the same time. We finally ended the day off with a small cocktail party.
Day 2 was the day of the race and both Fabien and Tim were excited to ride while Mick Pascal was training at home for Mont Saint Anne.
Practice started and all the riders got time to check out some lines. Fabien and Tim felt good on their bikes and were really enjoying the track. As the day went on the crowds got bigger, it was nearly time for the seeding runs.
The seeding runs went well, but the timing was a bit confusing. Eventually the results came out and Fabien was 4th and Tim 5th. Finally it was time for the race, all the riders were riding in front of the massive crowd. Fabien and Tim gave it their all and both had good runs. Fabien ended up with 3rd and Tim ended up with 6th, they were both happy with their results. Romain Saladini ended up winning followed by Thibault Ruffin and Fabien.
The team had a very good weekend and really enjoyed the experience of ridding in Montmartre. Not only was the race good but also they got to see the amazing city of Paris, visiting places like the Eiffel tower and the Champs-Élysées. This was a weekend the team would never forget.
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Results:
1 – Romain Saladini – Commençal (53.334)
2 – Thibault Ruffin – Riding Addiction Commençal (54.364)
3 – Fabien Cousinié – Morewood United Ride (54.915)
4 – Filip Polc – MS Evil Racing (55.320)
5 – Kamil Tatarkovic – Scott FDF Team (56.274)
6 – Tim Bentley – Morewood United Ride (56.718)