After two rounds of the Qash Qai Urban Challenge, three Race Face riders hold the lead in the series: Paul Basagoitia, Darren Berrecloth, and Andreu Lacondeguy.
The Qash Qai events challenge fifteen of the world's top urban freeriders to take on five European cities over five weekends. They are competing for the biggest-ever prize money in the sport as part of the first-ever multi-freeride tour of its kind. Each of the five competitions highlights a different mountain bike discipline, and the winner will pocket 100,000 Euros.
Berrecloth and Basagoitia took the first round in front of 10,000 spectators at the inaugural Qash Qai event in Newcastle, UK on May 5. The Newcastle event focused on North Shore-style riding. 20 year-old Red Bull rider Kyle Strait finished third.
Of his Newcastle ride, Strait said, "I barely qualified for this one. I finished 12th in the first round of qualifying, and only 12 went through so I was lucky. I basically went into qualifying hoping to do enough to get in but without showing my hand too much. That was too close. In the first final I put in a strong run, but in the second final, I decided to do a backflip to a step-up which I hadn't done before, and I think that really pushed me up in the judges' eyes".
In Round 2 in Milan, focusing on dirt jumping, Lacondeguy landed a first place finish and Basagoitia took a convincing third in the dirt jump event. Lacondeguy thrilled onlookers as he pulled out a tuck no-hander flip on the first jump, a 360 on the second jump and a superman-flip on the last jump to nail his second run of the day and secure his number one spot on the podium.
Basagoitia got the crowd pumped after a perfect second round run. He flipped the first jump, three-tabled the second jump, and then found the speed to launch a perfect 720 on the last jump.
The next round heads to Madrid May 18-19 for a street style competition with a course designed by pro street rider Jeff Lenosky.
Qash Qai Urban Challenge Overall Standings:
