Champéry UEC European Downhill Championship 2024 - Les trainings avec Fast AF* 🇨🇭 | ENGLISH SUBS

Welcome to Champéry, for the European championships here we go. We're going to check out this track, which is being prepared for the world championships. It's steep, it's vertical, in short, it's downhill. Here we go, here we go. Theyhad no choice to split the riders into three categories because there are so many people, 627 registered riders we heard, it's huge. Group C, Group B, Group A. Group C, so for the European championships, we're rolling up to U15. So U15, U17 first. Some Masters, then we'll have the juniors and group A. who will only be with the elites. They have two hours per group, two times two hours, so it's not huge, but for real the life goes so fast with that I think they'll manage at least four runs. so that's eight runs in a day. Eight runs in Champéry, I guarantee you that it's enough, more than enough. Yo! What's wrong with this? Yeah, you're just a figurehead. There, there. here's Dorian Jouvenal. He's the one who makes Loïc's and Finn's stylish videos, who makes Loïc and Finn stylished on the reels. Because they're not really... That's it, that's it, what you said yesterday. The guy wants to get me in trouble. No, he films well. We're going to have to do a video contest one day, or something like that, to see who's the best camera guy. I think we'll organize that one day, don't you think? Certainly not Gëtan Clary. Let's get out of here. So, fifth pair? Well, pretty much, yeah, I think. Fourth. It seems to be working now, so You're spying at Scott Factory has changed radios four times now. They don't have a thing that work. You should spy on Specialized, they've got earpieces and stuff. Yeah, but we've had a look at the prices and we'd say that Would you rather it didn't work? Well yeah, we've got WhatsApp you see. Man, I still gotta This is gnarly. Imagine, you press too hard and get pushed inside. They cut it from underneath. Ah yes, they cut it from underneath. Okay, that's hot. We can't stay here. Oh yeah? We've done 300 meters, it's already technical all over, it's steep but We met Ben Walker, the man who rebuilt the trail. with Région Dents du Midi and Valais 2025 to prepare for the world championships. But it's steep. Usually when I ride, because I've been riding here before, I pass on the side. over there, I go around, there's another turn, I don't go straight. I'm going there, I'm going there. Rosa. All the way up, it's the steepest trail we've ever done. It's steep all over, and there are avalanche barriers in the middle of the forest, and they built stairs everywhere. That is to say, they had fun cutting, making wood, and it's amazing the work they've done. It's really impressive. Frankly, I'm impressed with the work on the track, but more importantly next to the track. You seem to be enjoying yourself though. Yeah, it's so good. But it looks steep, like it actually looks There's no time to rest, like everything we've seen, you're always on the go. to brake, you take the impacts. The extra moments of respite are big holes and all, so it's hot. to breathe, to take the time but No, honestly, it's cool. And then, in terms of lines, well, there are some lines that you can see, like a little on paper, but for the moment, it's not really happening, it's not going over well, it's not rolling well. It must be 9:20 now, so it's not really cut out yet. We tried to open a few things this morning, but frankly, it's gnarly. at the moment, there's nothing really traced where you say to yourself Okay, that's not bad, so we'll see. But then What if it rained, for example? Outside, outside, outside Hot, isn't it? Even the turns are ice, so Well, we'll leave you to it, because now you're being invaded by masters, we'll make a train later. No, I was saying that we've now moved on to Group B, juniors and masters. So just nothing to related but ten minutes ago we were up there. You can see the mattress, the track, we went down in two turns, we did this. Man, this is so extreme, it's unbelievable. How are you? You're alive, aren't you? Yeah, it's fine. It was gnarly. I have the impression that I fell off a building there. You're ok, Mille? Oh the scorpion! We've come to the right place, because... It's not a phone! Two little timers. We're already on our second run? After that, there aren't many riders who have already rode the track, so It's already going fast for some of them. And there's not much training, so we move on to second gear quick we don't expect the track to move much next year, we'll see Ben Walker later. So, are these times already set for next year? or is it just the settings here that can adjust for next year? Yeah, there's a bit of everything. There's the terrain, there's the bike settings. After that, the track itself, the line won't change much. but I think it will dig. Well, it's going to work for next year, so it's a good start. idea, but it's not exactly the same. We'll let you work there, now that you're breathing. Look at the tires she put on. We see you! Hey guys, how's the holidays ? What vacation ? When you went to the beach in Canada 30 seconds. You were riding here in 2011 ? And yeah. How about that? So you sent me a message telling me to look out for the nets. Honestly, it's not the same, but it's still just as steep. I didn't expect so much, but it's cool. On the side, it's scary, really scary. Frankly, yeah, you have to put on a helmet, a little goggle and then a let's go. But yeah, yesterday on foot, the descent on foot, it hurt my toes. Did you sleep well last night? No yeah, frankly it's cool. Hey, it doesn't pedal too hard. As long as there's that parameter, I like it. Well, we'll let you get on with it then anyway. We're going to do a bit of cycling, yeah. Come on, cheer up! Emi in charge of safety, as you can see. Yes, that's it. Mine in particular today. There are rocks coming down. It's really scary. Frankly, there are pavas like that. Amy, two things. First of all, you rode here in 2011. Yes. I fell 4 times in my run. It was a downpour just for the race, so we had to try everything. I finished 8th with 4 crashes. I was a little disappointed but frankly it's good to be back. It's scarier, so I've already ridden the track, but I find it scarier standing next to it rather than on the track. I'm not saying go fast, but I love this track, so I ride it quite often. for fun and we came in all conditions. It's true that in the wet, if you don't have the big mud tires, you're not being too clever. But with big tires, frankly, it's a lot of fun. But yeah, in the dry, it's clear that you're always a bit on the brakes, so it's a bit different to ride, but I think it's just as much fun. And then I had a question, so now you're coaching on the other side of the tape, and the question I had was, we're two weeks away from the Worlds, so we're not far from a major event if the Europes is already a deadline, it's an venue that be risky with lines that can be very gnarly, do we push the ridders a little to go and take these committed lines, or do we tell them, go ahead Piano, in two weeks? do we have the world championship in mind, or not at all? Well, of course. After that, I don't entirely agree. Track isn't all that dangerous. I'm not saying it's dangerous, I'm saying it's necessary to take committed lines. Yes, after that, the guys will try to make a difference with it. But I think you can, if you have a good rhythm, we'll be amazed at the times. I think gaps won't be that serious. Because you need to have a flow and I think it's pretty special. We'll see. I'm really interested to see how it is. now, 13 years later, with the new bikes, the new technologies, how it's going to be. It's clear that the guys are going to get hot trying to find lines everywhere. Will Danny Hart win ? He showed us on this section that by taking the berms, you can be just as fast. Do you really have to do the sickest line to win? I'm not so sure. Afterwards, it's also if you make a killer line and win, for the world championships, you're confident. It's a double-edged sword. So they'll have to play between these two acts in the end, between indulging yourself and gaining confidence, but don't take too many risks so as not to hurt yourself and miss out. world championships for a European championship. I think the important factor is also the number of people involved. on the track. It's clear that this is a group of nearly 200 riders, with some who are not at all experienced, so I'd say that's more the risk. to make sure there's no one on your line, and to keep a good lookout when you set off that you yourself as a pilot are really making a mistake because they're really experienced pilots, and a Val Di Sole it's a bit more challenging than that, I think. That's for sure. Well, we'll keep going downhill. Anyway, that's all we do down there. We advance a meter, we go down a meter. That's how these steps go. Come on. Come a little towards us, because we're a little in the middle of the track, If someone comes trrough we're dead, aren't we? Okay, Vidal, inside. Beautiful. Yeah, it's beautiful. Tell us a little about your experience of the track. From the outside, I don't think there's a lot of line options. It's little openings, little snoops all over the place. We saw Danny Hart snooping around earlier. And it's about applying yourself and being precise. Finally, it's so steep that if you make a mistake, you pick up speed quickly, don't you? You make a mistake, you lose 100 of vertical drop in 2 seconds. Yeah, on top of that. But if you make a line error, it costs you less. than on flat surfaces, for example. Ah yes, but it's horrible. After that, I like it. Just, there's some lines I don't know where to go, you know. Again, you've just told me that there are three lines in the first steep. So I think I'll stop and have a look. It feels like it's actually leaning so much, that you're looking so far down, you're losing sight of the big picture you're used to. You kind of see the stuff on the side, you know. I think I'll use the same handlebars as Dakotah. To be able to see a bit higher up, because right now But then, frankly, it's fun to ride. Did you change some stuff on your bike? Yeah, yeah this winter. No, I didn't change anything, I'm going to change the tires afterwards. You ride Fort William, same setting as here? Yeah. Pretty much. Really? Yeah. Even the suspensions and all that, you don't touch them too much? Not too much, no. Why? I don't know, I'm not a pilot. And you know on road bikes there's no suspension and it's fine. Yesterday he said, yeah, come on Flo, let's go for a ride, we're going to Avoriaz together. Well yeah, but then I went with my buddies and you didn't even come. Ah wait. Ah, Momo. Inside or not? No. Yep. If I go outside I'm afraid I'd loose my tire. Vidal has another concern that the others don't, and that's the relationship with the mechanical problems. You see, he's a little dangerous sometimes. Mille. And Estaque. Outise. Nina Hoffman. And outisde! Well, I'm going Inside! Antoine Vidal! Inside! So what? Inside for Antoine Vidal! So what? What's the big deal? Ah, but we don't say otherwise! What's the problem? Anyway, all lines go fast! Has anyone went inside yet? Me! And Loïc! Are you for real? Yeah, Loïc tried! Ah wait! Ronan! Ronan, he's going outisde! Ronan outside! But man! OOOOH! The tire is gone The helmet's gone wild! There, we've had it. Loïc, Loïc with the wheel Ah. The front wheel! Wow! Wow! You're going to ride, show us what's there! Loïc, we've just seen Loïc on the wheel tacoed. It's rare to see Loïc get into in trouble, like this, in danger. For real. There, he wasn't in danger. Was he? There, he was in no danger. Yes, but if he damaged the wheel, it must have been be in a hell of a lot of danger. Always outside. You know it doesn't look like it, but there are a lot of rocks. Always great, there are lots of stones, it's horrible. So Gonçalo goes inside. Gonçalo! We had a bet. Il arrête pas de dire que l'inter est incoryable et pourtant personne n'y va. Je pense qu' Antoine Vidal y va. Donc je m'arrête pour voir si c'est plus rapide Tu a essayé ? Je vais le tenter. Alors on va rester là on va voir si ça marche ok ? On va filmer et on va voir si ça se passe bien. Je préferai que ça se passe bien On a les championnats du monde dans deux semaines alors je fais attention it's okay, don't listen to Vidal too much, Quelque chose à ajouter ? Je te l'avais dirt que c'était fast ! Man, that was incredible, but it's amazing! It's amazing, if he does it twice, it's amazing. Charlie Hatton. Do I have a tool? Does anyone have a tool? Ah, he has one. Wow. The guy who did two Everests, you? Two Everests. We'll go and see Louis afterwards, because we've got a story to tell you. of Louis, it's incredible. You know what, there, you tighten your wheel, there? No, but you've got bigger. That's it! That's it! Thank you. You. Ah yes, I'm fine, I'm fine. What's a turn missing? What's a turn? They're little waves, you know. I was going to ask you about the track, it smells like brake pads to me. that to ride fast, at least with flow, you have to commit yourself and it's hard when it's really leaning. Don't be scared, yeah. Yeah, no, but it's vertical, so if you really want to put it on and you miss braking and you can't brake, well you can never stop. Of course, there are two things here. There's the European championship, there's the preparation for the world championship of the 2025 next year. Everyone's out to get them. We all agree that's why we're here. But there's a side where you're already selected for the Worlds. If we have a French winner, that's an extra place at the Worlds. Wouldn't that be interesting for the team aspect? Yeah, for sure, yeah. For sure, but you have to win. Crowded, huh? Yeah, it's crowded. A small World Cup all the same. Even if it's European Championship, we'll see if everyone's riding. If there's one Frenchman who wants to be European Champion, it's certainly a good idea for team spirit. In your mind, it's not necessarily about being European Champion, is to come and do a race, not to mention Europe, it's really preparation already. Yeah, you summed it up pretty well. I'm here to ride, to get back into the swing of things before the Worlds. and see what it's going to be like for next year's Worlds too. After the race, it's a second thing, we'll see. how I feel, and there's no pressure. Chill, just as long you're riding good. After that, I was runner-up three times at the Euro Champs, so one day it would be nice if... It would be nice if you got started. We're on the side of the track, the work they've done for pedestrian access. From top to bottom, it's all stairs. I think this is the track where I've seen the most work. on the side for spectators. Like really, it's a track that's been designed for spectators. There's no place where you have to go and struggle, go into the thickets and all that. Like there are stairs everywhere. They did a job, it's Incredible, it's amazing to work so hard on a on a race, and that's good, because in preparation for the world championship it's events where people flock, and to have done it so frankly, it's very well done on Champéry's part. Louis Citadelle, another cameraman, for Mondraker Factory Racing in particular. And Vali Höll. There are two things you need to know about Louis Citadelle. is that he's done a double Everest, in other words, he's 17,000 of vertical elevation. 17,850 metres. On an enduro bike over two days. And yeah, you said it all, 290 km, 44 loops, 50 hours. To tell you the truth, even the guys out on trackside, enjoy biking. And the second thing Louis and I wanted to say is that there's so much steepness, there are so many places where there are nets, it's complicated, even though they've created pedestrian access, it's hard to film and ultimately to make the slope looks steep. It's hard when you're filming there, you can see the cameramen struggling. After all, this is the first time I've filmed here and I didn't do the track walk. but from what I've seen, even as a general rule it's always hard to give, how you say, doing justice to the slope and all. Especially as access is a bit tricky on the edge of the track to get in. wherever you want, it's a bit complicated. And above all there's the vertical aspect, so there are nets, there's a lot of protection, and they've done a lot of work on the track. So it's not easy to film everything you want. And yeah right, because after that we're in the cliffs, you see the cliffs. So clearly it's not flat. You need a harness. Crampons. Is that your next goal, a harness? RED camera in one hand, ice axe in the other. Well, come on, we'll let you take a nap. You're going to take a nap now, aren't you? Yeah, I'm getting a little tired. It's a bit of a jet lag, we must admit. We'll leave you to it, Louis, thank you. That's Château-Royal. Well, we've just seen his first training sessions, which were quite exceptional and quite intense, I'd say. We're here with Ben, one of the organizing members. of these European championships. The first question I have is that, frankly, it turns out well. There are plenty of riders and the weather is fine. The idea was really, we agreed, to prepare for the world championships. In the end, it's almost like a world championship, at least a small part of it. That's right, it's a big dress rehearsal before the world championships. next year in September. So for us, it's been a full-scale exercise for a little over two years. that we're working on it, there are about twenty people in the committee, there are a lot of people and it's was necessary to do a rehearsal, and I think it's in place. It works, they told us 627 pilots and that's huge, not far from 600 pilots, I believe. I wanted to point out that we saw this earlier, the work that's been done, well on the track that's a fact, we'll try to bump into Ben Walker tomorrow, but the work that's been done next to it, I've never seen so much work, so it's true that it's quite vertical, so that was also necessary, but there was a real will. The goal is to get people ready and on the track, isn't it? It's all about making the track accessible, living the event from the inside, not just watching it on the big screen down or see the start. There are places that are easily accessible from the ground up, but this is one of them, there's a lot of work that's been done, as you said, to make accessible the trail from top to bottom via a path with steps, a wide, clean, pretty path, everything. And that's a lot of work that's been done, especially over the past year, again this year, with the help of the Swiss army. Because, as we've said, there are places where you have to be a sick person to manage to dig trenches like this. It's the guys here, it's the local staff, the three communes in the valley, Champéry and Trois-Torrent, Val d'Illiez, it's the public works personnel, it's all the guys here who know how to work, who know how to do a good job and who have done it. here for the event. Them and the Swiss Army. In any case, it's quite impressive. I'd forgotten, though, that I was here in 2011 to see these championships. that were quite incredible. I'd forgotten the verticality, the sheer brutality of the track. And no lie, the brutality of the track is still there. Frankly, we still have that scary, impressive side. when you're on the side. But yeah, and then you know what. Which I did, we'll remember on Monday, when I called you. On Monday I walked the track from top to bottom with a team to install the banners and all that and then we did a trackwalk before the trackwalk and walk there were times when I would have preferred to be on the track. there are times on a bike, and some times when I'd rather not be there at all. Everything And still it's dry, so imagine if it's wet. Anyway, thanks Ben, we'll let you get on with organising it all. because it's true that it's a little more complicated somewhere than a World Cup in terms of the number of riders, etc. Still, the volume of riders is quite significant. We'll leave you to it, and maybe we'll meet again for the debriefing. You're preparing a cool little spot for us, you told us at the debriefing. where we'd go for beers and stuff. Is that it? Now that's a cool spot. He doesn't know where it really is. Food and drink Truth is, I haven't really looked at it yet, but you can trust me. We'll take care of it, I trust you. So we'll see you tomorrow, tomorrow for the first qualifications, which are going to be very important to follow, because in my opinion, many athletes.., many top levels will gauge on the qualifier, perhaps a little less so. on the final, we'll talk about it again and see how it goes. takes place with the different categories, the Masters and the U15s, it's true that these are categories that we're not often used to. to see in the race. So let's see you tomorrow, under the sun again ? Under the sun all weekend. Are you sure? As in 2011. Ciao, see you tomorrow, bye bye, thank you.