Finals Photo Epic: ALL IN - Red Bull Rampage 2019
It was cold, windy, and dark when riders arrived at the venue this morning for practice. There was palpable tension in the air at the rider's meeting as many competing felt that the morning's weather prevented them from getting a final practice window in. Despite the live broadcast demands and the spectators already lining the hillside, the organizers decided to put rider safety first and delayed finals by an hour. As soon as the sun came up, the wind died down and conditions were perfect as Cam Zink dropped in.
Unfortunately, neither the veteran nor the newcomer Bienvenido Aguado Alba who started second were able to ride down the mountain without crashing, but luckily both walked away from their crashes and made it back to the top for their second runs. Carson Storch was the first rider to complete a full top to bottom run, and his run was followed by solid runs from Emil Johannson, Graham Agassiz, Reed Boggs, and Vinny T.
Then, the seventh rider of the day, Brandon Semenuk, scored a 92.33 with a massive run that included a backflip into his lilypad feature. The score held, not just for the remainder of the first run, but for the entire day. Semenuk becomes the second rider to win the event three times, while Brett Rheeder finished second with a 91 on his second run and Tom van Steenbergen finished third after scoring 89.66 on his first run.
The morning air was cold as the first rays of light touched the mountains.
Aggy chills before the big show.
Carson Storch had what looked like a podium run on tap during practice. Sadly bad luck would spoil his day.
Reed Boggs looking forward to a day of huge moves on the mountain.
Emil Johansson awaits his first-ever Rampage.
Cool, calm, and collected. Brandon Semenuk was focused on the win this morning.
Kurt Sorge and builder Alex Volokhov on the long and nervous hike to the top with the chopper already hanging overhead.
There's no elevator to the top, just determination.
Cam Zink had a rough day at the office today, crashing out in both his runs.
Reed Boggs suicides off his freshly built drop. Boggs took 11th today.
Brandon Semenuk threw down a textbook first run. When the dust had settled, no one could best his 92.33
Kyle Strait sends a massive suicide near the top of his run. Kyle was on a scorcher of a second run when he crashed on the final step up. Strait would finish ninth.
Brett Rheeder on his way to second place on his second run.
Tommy G on his way to 14th place.
Second place for Brett Rheeder and best trick.
Carson Storch didn't have the best of luck today. A flat on the landing of his last huge drop ruined his chances of moving above eighth place.
Brendog backflips his canyon gap on his way to fourth place.
 | I blew everything on the first run. I didn't want to flip over that canyon again. I crashed on it this morning, hurt myself a bit and really scary. One and done's enough. That second run was for Jordie. Digging all week, 30 push-ups, I didn't want to drop the rock, probably would have gone off the next berm. That was for Jord. As well as a sick freerider he was also a racer back in the day so some huge mutual respect for him. That run was for him. |
Emil Johansson took 12th at his first Rampage.
Vinny T was riding fast and loose today. He took 10th place and most stylish rider.
Andreu was moving so fast that his signature Superman was not an option on this gap.
Kyle Strait brings it home on a scorcher run, but disaster struck moments later.
Andreu hit the deck hard in a hectic first run. His second run was none the less energetic and unfortunately ended his hopes of a win.
A landscape that will take far more than 14 Rampages to get old
Agassiz like a phoenix from the ashes.
The grandmaster begins his master-class.
Brandon manualling out of the shadow onto his boulder lilly pad.
A solid performance from North Vancouver local, Reece Wallace.
The people's champ, Brendan 'Fairclaw' ready to drop.
Augmented features, augmented steeze and Fairclough was right back in the mix for 2019.
No cigar this year for Sorge, who started strong but ended his Rampage hopes front wheel casing after a tuck-no-hander yards from the finish corral.
Tommy G spinning into the start of his run.
Tom van Steenbergen kicking things off with a front flip en route to his career best performance.
First-time perfection for the Utah local.
Andreu sandstorming his way into the upper steeps of his first run.
Carson had an incredible run, but ended abruptly when his tire bead blew off.
TVS flipping his way into third place.
T-Mac, the price is right.
Ethan scoping out his flat drop flip lip.
Rampage first-timer Emil nose-bonking a small rock.
DJ on his chute. There is no way to capture how gnarly this is on camera.
Andreu had a great run that was full of crazy lines. Here he is flipping his way down.
What a great performance and attitude from Reece Wallace, leaving it all out on the hill for run 2.
Kyle Strait came out swinging on his second run, determined not to play it safe like the sticker on his top tube. Unfortunately, a perfect-looking backflip suicide went south and put an end to his 14th Rampage.
The 2018 champ dropping into the contest after a frustrating, wind affected morning practice session.
T-Mac on his triple dipper feature.
Rheeder spinning down into the finish area in front of the huge Rampage crowds.
Carson Storch had the 360 down off the Republican on his first run but the slightest of mistakes took his rear tyre off the rim the second time around.
Carson starting his run off strong.
Cam Zink was one of only two people to flip the Price is Right drop.
The trick that won Rheeder best trick.
Victory lap for Semenuk.
Szymon, big 360.
Rheeder doing it for the crowd.
Brendog conquering Dwayne Johnson.
Vinny T flipping.
Bienve with a frontflip out of the gate.
Semenuk putting the icing on the cake for Rampage 2019 on his victory lap.
Tyler winning the McGazza Spirit Award.
The best digger award went to second-place finisher Brett Rheeder's build team.
| We help him as much as he wants us to help. We're just here to support him the best way we can. If there's something he's not sure about and he wants us to weigh in with our expertise we tell him what we think from all the experiences we've had and it seems to be working. |
| It's cool to come back to a line that you kind of know and just grow off of it. Brett had a couple ideas on the mountain he would expand and go. I was just coming with enthusiasm and excitement just to be back here and shape it up once again. Motivated for anything. Best days of our lives. I'm kind of sad to go back to reality after this. |
Other than the top three, these seven riders are also invited back to compete next year.
Three wins in so many attempts for the most talented man in mountain biking shows how much has to come together to take this trophy.
The victorious three.
Semenuk, Rheeder, and TVS take the podium and Rampage 2019.
Best trick winner and second-place finisher.
A trophy even arachnophobes would want.
Win number three for Brandon Semenuk.
Gold for Brandon Semenuk.
The podium boys doing push-ups for Jordie.
2019 Rampage podium.
Rampage 2019...Out.
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But yeah the canyon...that seems like something you'd be happy landing once.
Personally (not criticising the way it's going just my own selfish opinion!) I'd rather see more of the big drops (Rheeder, Semunuk) , gnarly gaps (Brendog) and some of just the jaw -dropping steep rocky stuff (remember Jordies line?) that separates Rampage and stands it alone as a one off.
For me it's big mountain riding on DH bikes. I'm not fussed about nac-nacs, heel clickers, seat grabs etc. Leave that to Joyride judges.
Hard for me to say whether or not he would've rode that one out had his bike held together, what do you guys think?
Regardless, yeah it seems a bit sketch that his tire failed there. That 3 barely seemed over-rotated at all.
never complained on judging at rampage but this time i call bullshit
he stomped amazing run and got freakin 6th with huge 36, great speed, biggest hit of rampage and did that with ease
so what again is the freakin cryteria here?
or is it just cry-tear-ya?
maybe szymon, storch and tmac should cry and complain about the judging for whole year and then say stuff like this s our last rampage if we dont like the score. i guess they should. next year podium guaranteed.
bullshit!