Stay On Your Bike – Episode 7 – Fabien Barel

Welcome to Episode 7 of the Stay On Your Bike Podcast and this week we are joined by mountain bike legend – Fabien Barel.

In this episode, Fabien shares his deep understanding for the sport, offering insights into the mental and physical aspects of becoming a successful athlete.

He also recounts some of the biggest moments in his inspiring career, the tactics he used and the competitors who inspired him the most.

We also discuss some current topics such as Redbull Hardline, World Cup rumours and the rising stars of the sport.

Tune in and enjoy! 🍻

hi everyone and welcome to episode seven of stay in your bite podcast I’d just like to give a big thank you to 67 Racing for sending me this um lovely t-shirt and also to liquid death for keeping us hydrated throughout our chat hope you enjoy okay guys well I’m super excited about this week’s podcast we’ve got none other than Fabian Burell uh thanks very much for coming on Fab and um I’m really excited to talk to you I’ve known you a long time um you know and uh yeah I’m super excited so thank you very much for coming on yeah pleasure pleasure is all mine I mean we uh we’ve been racing together back in the days and seeing you now that changing about our sport is a great opportunity I don’t want to miss that H thank thanks very much um um so so yeah before we get into your amazing career I’d like to just ask you about um yesterday it was a a huge day in Monica um just give us a little insight into that and who you were hanging out with yesterday and what happened well I guess yesterday you know it was a big one because it was the first time that a Monaco driver actually wins The Monaco Grand Prix so obviously I’m French and uh fully but I’m just next to the Border living living in the mountain and I’ve been growing through the GP uh all my life because the god The Godfather of my mom was actually the the president of the automobile club for a long time so I’ve been growing and and and seeing all the different athletes and we’ve seen L Clair growing as as a Monaco driver for a long time and I think this win was big for the principal very big oh yeah amazing it must have gone off once he crossed the Finish Line it must have absolutely gone off in the that’s what I was mentioning earlier is like you have the sounds of all the yacht that were using the on full speed and uh you know it’s a it’s a kind of of a semic cycle that have around Monaco with the heel behind and the noise was going against the mountain and all the buildings were vibrating of the noise it was it was actually pretty insane moment and a unique sport moment like we could see in ours yeah brilliant stuff and as you can see I’m a I’m a huge Ferrari fan I’ve I’ve I can tell I can tell so am I so am I because there is something that you know about me is that part of my family um uh like two generation behind my parents were actually Italians so my my mom’s family was coming from calab so obviously Italy is kind of my second country and and Ferrari is big one for sure yeah brilliant I love to see it when Ferrari wins you know uh since I was a tiny kid I’ve been in love with Ferraris and always have been so uh they got hardbeats of people no doubt yeah I’m always rooting for them anyway Let’s uh let’s talk a bit about some bikes um I think be again before we start just because of this week I’d like to just um get your thought on obviously you know you’ve won pretty much everything there is to win in in mountain biking from downhill to uro to ebike Ino um but what what’s your take on Red Bull Hardline and especially this new track this week which I’m sure you’ve seen H that’s a big one because as as we always say we want to be politically correct and I see amazing opportunity for the sports to grow through through those events that we have um obviously by making that feature they are going towards Rampage style uh which obviously is a very high consequence type of writing that you would have a rampage and outline is the same take um the feature is absolutely insane he he engage commitments of the athlete to a certain way but he also engage very heavy consequences in case in case you miss and and we’re talking about death here not not simple injuries but I would say the canyon Gap at Canyon Gap at Rampage is the same and I know it creates a lot of debate um if you are asking me if I am a fan of that and if there is a need for that uh I would say not necessarily I’m a big fan of speed and technicity and uh I like to see things without like a huge amount of risk but let’s be honest when we go at 60 or 70k an hour next to the trees with in a way taking the similar risk than than jumping a Canon Canon Gap like we can see there uh but uh I’m I’m 5050 on the thing like I understand the feature I understand where the sports wants to go uh media and coverage is getting obviously a huge eat right now in the world we’re living and it’s part of the game yeah yeah I think you know obviously there’s been probably bigger jumps than that that Canyon Gap but um you know I think it’s for me you know I’m I’ve never jumped anything that big in my life and I’m not a huge fan of uh wooden jump personally so I think it’s pretty hard to get the gradient of the takeoff perfect with building a wooden feature as opposed to you know building a dirt feature where you can you know just take a bit of dirt way or add a bit of dirt on it’s a lot a lot more from from what I see you you are touching an important Point here is that obviously the feature is one thing you can make it big but you can make kind of a takeoff that is very flattened where the impulsion of the rider is creating the height and length of the jump to to be able to really anticipate where what’s the distance and height you want to have to clear properly the jump in that specific case you can see the lip is what’s sending the distance and the height so if the athlete is actually making the the the wrong attitude on the takeoff body position and and wrong speed you know that once you are in the air it’s too late when you are in the takeoff it’s too late so it’s taking off I would say a certain rer appreciation that is that is what we call the impulsion which is when you pull on the bar and you create based on the speed you have the distance you want to have this is not happening with this type of liap and you’re touching the point that yeah it it is maybe the mistake on that feature I saw on the on the socials yesterday a huge crash where the guy is lucky to clear it and not land on the side uh I think this Jimbo if I’m correct that that had a crash and I hope he will get worse soon U but but yeah it’s uh it’s a tough one but when you have Cam zinc throwing a huge back flip like five years ago out of Rampage it’s it’s not any safer so I would say that nowadays media coverage is is passing some some aspect of racing and it’s is creating opportunities for Riders to appear medically when they are not in capacity to be Racers and um it’s it’s a complete different Trend I see that very complementary to to racing uh but yeah it is high risk it is high consequences and we all know that the guys that are going theread they they evaluate the risk that there is what what I don’t find I would say so good is the social pressure of doing it more than doing it because you can believe to do so and the high level of risk in those type of event is is that part and in Rampage you have the possibility to choose yeah in aine you don’t yeah so the mistake of their’s on this position is to make a feature that is mandatory to be able to WR race and pretty much the day you accept it to race you have no choice to jump it yeah when at Rampage you can choose to jump on to jump if you don’t don’t want to take this line you can work on another line sure that’s okay but right now they are creating a Downy Ras where you have a pressure of time to with with very dangerous feature that’s where for me the combo is debatable and uh eating that feature at full speed I’m not sure but if it’s after 45 second or a minute you know that you already build of acid you potentially don’t have full Lucidity Etc you know that the risk goes to the next step already and uh it is already a risk just to try so to race on it’s uh I I honestly hope that we don’t have any damages over the weekend yeah yeah um same here yeah obviously all those all those guys that are doing it they’re amazing bike riders and um you know they’re they’re capable but it’s you know pushing the limits and a new feature might not be quite quite built correctly and they they have to adapt and obviously weather and the the the terrain in in North Wales is difficult on on its own uh but yeah hopefully everything will go well for them this week and um yeah per play to them yeah yeah I I I I keep fingers crossed but it’s a it is a topic and and I think risk should be all the time able to be gauged by the athletes and they should have a spare option uh because when you enter with speed and timing the level of what you can do and commit is is a different game so fair play to them as you said I wish best of luck to everyone on the weekend uh and let’s keep the fingers crossed for sure and then obviously on the same topic but differently and you know you you’ve had so much experience that we’ll get into on on bike design and you know creating the the best bike for racing which you know which you’ve done many times do you think the current downhill bikes that are obviously designed for Downhill Racing do you think they are the correct bikes bikes for Hardline and for Rampage or do you think that needs to be an adaptation of of the current bikes for those events I I don’t think the guys at Rampage are riding the same bike as we ride on the on on on downhill like they they most of the time shorten the geometry they really rise the bar obviously they they increase massively the strong the strong forces to be able to absorb the impact they don’t look for sensitivity or grip they just look for support and stability when they throw the tricks so the the the bikes are are the same base but they they are actually complete different you couldn’t ra you could not race downhill with uh with one of the you know like and like with with J with with Le those guys when when they when they went at Rampage and I saw their settings you could not race this going downhill no chance and you could not take a downhill bike through through Rampage either way way too big way too long and then go too slack and she exension way tooo soft way too soft yeah so to answer your question on on our line it’s definitely a complete different setup that you would imagine in downhill uh especially if they start to put features like this into into the game I remember last year he was in in New Zealand where they had a big hug to flat or barely flat for sure that that’s something where you need the suspension to to take it and if you go with like a standard setup from down here you will you would B him out yeah yeah so do you do you think in the future if these events keep going do you think there’ll be a just adaptations of of current downhill and free ride bikes or do you think they’ll companies may start making really specific frame no I imagine I imagine they will they will adap the down bike because at the end you still play against the clock because outline is about is about time it’s not about tricks it’s not about it’s about time it’s about clearing feature with speed that’s where when you you bring speed into a feature you really rise the level of risk of that feature and I don’t know if you remember in 2003 um where I uh I Eed a takeoff that was like FM mix R in Mand and Johnny W had had huge crash and so did I because with the fatigue on the lip I I’ve been way gauging wrong and and I I I had I had no more Lucidity and I had a massive crash that cost me three or four months off but Johnny W um got back on the bike maybe six or seven years later and and never really properly recover from that so I would say yes we we we take risk uh but when you engage speed and time this risk has to be kind of gauge and U I’m probably having a having a kind of oldish type of of words right now now in in my Approach but I think we can do great uh considering people’s life and and in that case we we we are clearly b line B no 100% agree cool well thanks for that um that that’s a great Insight from you on on what’s currently going on um but let’s take it back to you know when you was a kid like where did you grow up and how did you get into bike riding well I I I grew up in the south of France in this pretty much same place as I am now um very rooted in on my land and I I really like to leave here because obviously we have sou of FR weather proximity with the airport super good bike riding great community and obviously of my friends around so um I actually got into biking very randomly I was very passionate by Motocross and my brother was in in a Moro Tri national team and um and I wanted to ride BTO but my parents decided I was too crazy so they bought me a bike and actually they bought me a tril bike to follow my brother going into into the into the races and I start to do Tri until my neighbor niik Vos that was my brother’s best best friend started to rise downhill and we organized a downhill of pay that you probably know that is just above above Monaco and um very Rocky terrain really rough we designed the track it was my mate we said okay now we have to race it and I I race I uh I got second on that race when it was my first race I got second in the category and I was 15 15 years old and um and because I did a great result the uh there was the World Cup of cap die that was 15 minutes away from that track and the organizer asked me to be a sweeper and I decided to train for that for a month and um and try to eat a good time and I had I remember I had the 17th time of all uh and and he was obviously absolutely unique I was only 15 and Nik vuo won the race on the front of my king and um and I I I got the 17 time and Max commo came the evening after the race and put a contract on on my table for four years to uh to be able to start my career and uh all this I have gburn talking about it all this happened within three months three four months between my my first race and my first pro contract and uh and I was 15 and Max Max came to me offer that contract and I would remember all my life that my my dad was like okay everything’s going too quick what’s going on here um I was not allowed to sign the contract myself my Dad was supposed to sign for me and uh and my dad agreed and he talked to me and he said okay I agree I signed this contract four time is four years is is a long time but I want to put one clause in the contract is that if you School level is not high enough and and we had notes over 10 back in the day over 20 back in the days and um if my average was below 10 out of 20 my contract was over so he put He put a close in the contract to make sure that I was continuing my studying and and thanks thanks to this because that gave me the opportunity to learn how to race and study and uh and and learn and that’s that’s actually for that reason that I also managed to continue my engineer degree and management degree later on in my career and uh and yeah I would I would never than my dad enough for for that move because that teach me a lot for sure definitely that’s a that was a good move and smart smart from your dad for sure um and and I take it then the contract with Max that was for sun bikes was it back in the day yeah correct yeah yeah Max was the the director and the president of sun bicycles and um I was the line with and Caroline sh and Cedric Russia at the time and fr gash that was the big guy back in the day winning all the world championship Etc and I learned how to work with Olivier bosar that was a real mechanical engineer and very R&D uh routed especially on suspension and uh he was the the very beginning of the radical plus that was that was the the beast at the time we had 100 Mil six six six UH 60 M first and then 100 Mil in the fork which was absolutely insane with formula this brex that was the the very first one and uh and I’ve been national champion of my category the first year and then I mve on to year two where I won pretty much everything in in my in my age that that that was super good and moving into junior it’s where I really start to battle with crashing and and I had to start mental preparation and and understand that racing was not only about talent and art workor but that you need to know how to put your heart into it at the right time and and and and and this is something that I I I learned and if I have one thing to keep out of all my career is all the mental preparation that I’ve been doing that make me discover a certain strengths of myself and what I was really capable to do and and and push my limit further and beyond that I would have expected and um this uh teach me a lot about myself about the other about racing obviously and 1998 more than ready I won national European and I won World Championship with the best time overall so I won Junior but I did a faster time than Nico in monent 1998 by 0 point four or 0.5 I don’t remember but on a super long track I remember winning in my category with more than 12 second lead so it was it was a big one and and a big highlight and that’s um and that’s where Max decid me to brought me uh into the elite category before Sun properly bankrupt in 1999 and um I uh unfortunately on d i dislocate my shoulder badly only came back for worlds in in 1999 and um and my old goal was to win semi I know I couldn’t win the overall without racing the entire season uh but as I was world champion Junior Emanuel the national coach gave me the chance to write words and my only goal was to win semi and i w i w semi as as a first year Elite to prove and show everyone that I could compete properly and I think I got eight I got Eights on on top 10 which which was really good and that that’s when I had the opportunity to move into GT that was my number one choice along Steve uh to race race in the US start the NOA and properly taking off my International career not as a simple Junior french guy into a French team but try to take off move abroad and uh race a line with Eric Carter Brian L Steve and and at at the time no Sabrina K repo so huge huge team and great opportunity with the ey drive that that was that was absolutely fantastic and in a lifetime yeah for sure and yeah I mean that that’s incredible stuff and I I remember a lot of that I kind of started racing when I was older but it was a similar time to when you were doing all that stuff but um what where did you learn to be so obviously you’re s a really competitive person but where did you learn how important it was to train really hard and to be super focused I mean it seemed like to us in the UK it seemed like um the French Riders were a lot more you know serious and and and took things more like uh you know the level of downhill today is um you know as opposed to the UK Riders and the the the Australian Riders um you guys seem to be way more switched on on training and uh you know your preparation and your setups like where where did you learn all that stuff from to be to be to be honest I I I quickly realized that the physical aspect of the sport could very easily be a weakness and it’s also something that could really easily become a strength how many how many parameter are completely random and alator when it comes down to your race there is plenty so more you can actually anticipate and control and better chance you have to succeed so your bike your the mechanical prep of your bike your race strategy your physical preparation I would say all this is the easy part because all all those parameters are the one you can control when it comes down to talent and technicity on the bike it’s a different topic already when it when it comes to race management and mental it’s Again The Next Step so that’s why for me it was really important to push as hard as I could the boundary of what I could control that’s why I also try to isolate the the mental aspect of things and become my best friend instead of being my best enemy because it sounds completely stupid as a say but at the end of the day we can easily be our worst enemy when we come down to start yeah your life your education your past all the reason your ego your self-confidence all that can be a huge weight on your shoulder if you’re not in capacity to control that properly man don’t even take the start right so that’s why the appreciation of of risk of understanding about yourself is one thing but isolating everything that was controllable was a big one for me and I um I clearly identified that quickly I also understood that I could not uh have the competences myself I would say the the thing that I think I’m very proud of and still today is that I know I cannot do everything on my own I know that I don’t know everything and uh every time there is a topic where I want to improve and it’s through in business it’s through in racing through everything you need competent people around yourself and you need to give back to those people and uh in my race career I had amazing Partners from uh from coaching Paul Walton my mechanic at the time uh all the way in there is always a human story behind any any adventure and any success and failures so I would say uh this is something that I understood very quickly and I I put a lot of s sorts into my racing I always inspired myself from other which also was also one of my weaknesses is that I always thought that the others were better than me uh and I think every racer has a self-confidence issue because you always try to put your ego out there if you put your ego out there it means that you need to prove something to someone so every racer has an ego and every racer has a self-confidence issue no doubt and all that together um makes a strong understanding of what you should work on what you can work on and what you should give I would say like the threat of of what you should be should be happening so all that is really push to put a lot of ss into my Approach of racing and uh and yeah I I I start to understand how was my bike working what my bike could do where I could go I gave another call this morning to one of my Engineers I said guys I had an idea I have an idea of a technology I have an idea of something that we can make you make us fast let’s do it I always love that and I know you are you are a close friend of Sam Sam was a revolution on our sport when he when he came in well I’m talking about Sam obviously when he when he came in the sport with his talent with the flat pedal along with c and Ry and flying of stuff with the aonor bike and everything I was like what the hell where are we going here and and and that’s why I’ve been learning a lot about him you cannot how many you cannot imag how many things I change in my riding style in my in my bike just because of him he made me understand so many things about gek yeah and he make he made me he made me look into down King he made me look into monocross about my foot position the the the biomechanical aspect of the body to be centralized because he’s the one that was doing one with his bike bringing bringing the grip to a Next Level and now day we have another person doing that it’s Loris Loris verier is bringing something in the trend in the front wheel control that he’s doing that is next level Next Level it doesn’t have the the result yet that goes in line with with the with with these capacities but he is definitely bringing something very interesting into the sport and dakot N understood it this year and uh and uh and and you can tell that that there is a lot happening out there and obviously Lo with the work he’s doing mechanically and the combo the puzzle he’s bringing there he’s bringing the sport to Next Level so all this always has been an inspiration for me and I love I love I love people and I love Riders and I love to see them riding it was great to rise myself and analyze but nowadays being on the side of the track is is is an amazing fun for me like to analyze every single detail and try to bring it into success with rationality things that we were talking about control for the athlete is is bringing emotion to Next Level for me for sure no 100% And that’s brilliant to see you know that you’ve still got the passion that you had for racing and you’ve got that same and what you’re doing today I love that and you know I’m I’m no nowhere near as uh clever as you are I think but I I I’m the same I I love all that stuff oh don’t be too humble come on you brought some you brought a lot to our Sport and you still do today look you’re still bringing knowledge of people and making sure that people are are talking about the sport and about everything and you you’ve been doing great about sharing your passion and supporting all the athletes that you are around you well thank you um so but obviously one question that I uh I’d love to to know and you know it was only kind of what other people told me from coming you know down to your part of the world but you and Nicholas viio basically grew up and lived in the same street is that correct yeah like 50 meter from each other and did did you guys like Nico’s what is he’s he’s quite he’s a few years older than you what is he like yeah he’s same same age as my brother and Nico was based best mate of of of my brother in the young age and uh and yeah Nico I have photo of Nico when when I am I think it’s my second birthday where I have Nico Nico on the photo and his cousin and our parents were friends for a long time and and they still are today our friends not where because they still neighbors with each other and uh both of our parents used to have a piece of of the mountain behind the house and our lands were touching so we were designing tracks and uh starting from his to mine and we were making lines and and and training back in the days we have with our own playground and we we used to have the huge community of of friends that were coming and and ride with us and one one of them is someone probably you know is Yan B that came came and grew up I know Yan since he’s a kid same same street as us as a little brother of niik they didn’t have the same dad niika Philippi that was a world champion cross country Junior in 1999 so that that old Street has 33 National European and World CH Jersey that’s three 33 and what what do you think the reason to that is do you think it’s just because you know the the area that you live in you’ve got the mountains you’ve got good weather and and then obviously when you have one champion and you’re all riding together then it do you think that mentally like makes the makes everybody else believe that they can be a champion as well do you think I I I honestly think so I I think everything comes from the community from the community you you look at you look at lores you look at lo you look at tibo Della uh you look at all the riders that are coming from the south now comes from the same Community as well we used to have a community where we grew up with Nico back in the day that I moved on the other side of the city now but it’s the community that makes the Champions yeah the capacity of people to be able to beat together and Rise their game with each other uh is the only way to educate yourself to push boundaries yeah if you alone you you go you stay within your comfort zone yeah if someone in the front of you is permanently challenging you then you rise your game and that’s not true in sport only it’s true everywhere yeah yeah sure and obviously you know Nico’s record from winning World Championships is insane you know like he basically won every single World Championships in his category other than in sier nard when he got a front flat um did do you know what do you obviously you know Nico well is is there something that’s special about Nico that made that possible for him like what do you think that was his focus and his determination okay Nico Nico didn’t win Talent he is obviously talented but he won on his approach of racing and lo is doing currently exactly the same yeah because because right now it’s um it’s the way they put things together and niik at his time always were waye and I can tell you that Nico is is not in any compromises Nico would have no compromise for winning there would be zero discre you can talk about family you can talk about friends you can talk about anything the only thing for him that’s matter is winning and that’s and that’s and that’s his his dedication to the sport and I don’t say that in in in a sad way even if he can sound this way but I’m I’m saying that it is impressive how during more than 15 years of his life he has been focusing on only that with no other options for life it was only this yeah sure yeah I I I understand that some of the you know I was uh when he was doing the ebike racing um I found it incredible that he he knew that he had to be at a you know a certain weight to get around the the lap with his his bike that he designed what on a smaller battery and the weight of the bike and the weight of him for sure incredible yeah for sure I I definitely want to pass all my positive vibe and words to him because he’s in a sad moment of Life currently refocus himself really well onto remote cars that he is already national champion of so I’m sure he’s gonna have an amazing success after mountain biking and rallying uh but yeah unfortunately and currently he cannot ride his bike so my best thoughts to him for sure yeah I I I haven’t spoken to him since since that but yeah same you know I’ve been a huge fan of Nico’s my my whole career and yeah so so I am yeah um okay and so tell me this um obviously you know you got that contract with with common Sal and you guys had some amazing equipment and then you you went on to GT and then you went on to to cona was cona a factory program or was that kind of your own program that cona supported well first first of all when I went through GT it was a great experience because it’s first of all where I start to learn English and uh to speak properly which was quite important and also that where I learned to drink beer than at the time at the time it was a big one so we we we actually had a fantastic two years before GT bankrupt as well uh where he was he was a sad time for for the brand but it was an amazing experience to raise the noas and raise everything out there uh learning learning all the writers and uh and also getting myself known over there was a big one and when we had the bankr from from GT I had one year Racing for Maxis Europe you probably don’t don’t remember that it was like um uh something that I stopped very quickly I didn’t have the competence around that I wanted uh to to perform but it’s where I I I met Jack that is Lo’s mechanic today and MSC bikes yeah no he was on a tiir bike of course of course I choose my I choose my own bike and decide to work with Christian’s bike that was a beast at the time and I didn’t uh I I honestly think I could have won the worlds but I don’t know if you remember but I didn’t write world because of sui I had an issue with a with a marshall at the start that didn’t let me start what that was one of the questions I wanted to ask he was he was a mess at the start and I was more warming up and the Marshall didn’t let me take my start when it was my time because I didn’t sit in the lane properly and the UCI decided that if I was not doing qualifying I couldn’t Race Final so I I didn’t race and this one I can tell you was a big one that I believe I could have won I was it could have been my first world champion title and and I was more than ready for it and uh we we were really dialed with the bike and with what we could have done so it was a mess with the UCI and you know how UCI are when when they take arbitral decisions and on that case there was no negotiation on their side so he was it was very hard mentally for me to accept especially that the week after in Le I got second and the week two weeks before in t ride I got second as well so I was really on pace so he was the hard one uh but the competence of the team was not in line with my expectation and I met Paul Walton my mechanic after that and K wanted to build the team and I’m not sure I should say that on the podcast but we met at an bike around the party and with like mutual interest and we made a bet that I could be on the top five of the world cup with their bikes that at the time was a great bike Kona was big in three ride but not in racing guys let’s uh let’s make a deal and we we had a bit of fun Etc and I had no team at at this period and and they gave me the opportunity to take full control of the program and uh and work at the time with palap that was based in Birmingham with Russell Cy yeah you remember Russell that that was in in the management of the team and uh we did two years like that we developed the bike uh heav we changed everything with Paul we we put some sing and Paul was absolutely unique to every time I had a problem to put things into places yeah and uh and uh we really developed that bike we the team became private after two years but the first year I had this huge crash in mon sentan so didn’t raise prop I the bronze medal in Lugano when Greg Min had his first world chame title and I met the people from Le that Wasing organizing worlds and I made a a bet with them as well and I say sponsor my team so they became sponsor of the team with Kona at the time and I took full management of the structure and I said to those guys have only one goal is to win Le World Championship in 2004 that was a big one on my radar and and same thing with I committed full gas with only one goal for the season which to win this race and uh and yeah again I I honestly think that that my preparation was um was very important and very good but I don’t think I was the best on that day uh many riders were faster than me on that day including Steve uh that that that crash unfortunately in the last corner for him but um I put all my art into it and my mental is is what put me right up there is I was I was I was ready ready to give it all and and push as up as I could to to get to get down the track and and it was it was a crash or winning for me and it would not have been the case if Steve didn’t crash but Steve had a semi sleak on the back I was about that yeah and I was writing I was writing uh uh because I knew that the last sector was super important and it was all in dust and grass if you remember and so I sacrified the upper split uh Steve was 1 second. two ahead of me and then I really charged on split two U where I made up all my time and unfortunately Steve was super fast on the top and he lost the back end on the breaking two corners before last and uh and it was a victory for me which was probably highlight of my career because it was like home for me with all my friends in my own country and U hearing your National item item when when when it’s in your own country with your own crowd it was more than 85,000 people at the day and you know how can be it was H it’s something that would change my life forever without a doubt I’m sure I’m sure and yeah an amazing day an amazing race I I was watching and uh it was phenomenal even even the the for cross race was incredible uh it was a Fant Championship unfortunately I didn’t see much of the for cross I was already drunk so of course and um so on those different programs obviously there were slightly you know different times in in the Downhill Racing but out of out of the Sun the GT the you know the Kaa The talifa Bike what do you think was the best bike for the time that you you raced on back the best bike it’s um it’s a tough one you’re talking about early 2000 right yeah yeah from from the Sun bike through to the Cora bike obviously that you developed yourself but the K the K was the Kona was super advanced in everything that was about geometry it was yes yeah massively like we we gamble with angle Global chain St Ling and and global global front center rear center the end B with we we were completely Advanced compared to other I remember leaving your world championship um sitting in the chair left line next to Sam Sam H on the Aon no looking at me and say when I sit next to you I feel like I am on B bike because my bike was so high and so long compared to his he was like we not we not doing the same sport here yeah and and I I won livingo 2005 World Championship because of that yeah because of the choice I’ve made how I proceed Sam was ahead of the game because he did the podium he was he was bronze medal in Le and I did all practice in flat ped off wow to learn to learn even if I knew I was slower to learn how to use the terrain and where the grip was so I really to learn from what he could do but also use my competencies and my understanding of where geometry should be going and I won the race with my head and not with my talent uh but again I was I was very very strong physically and I I managed to hold the base top to bottom that that really created The Gap with Ser Place uh and Sam was the big one fighting with me on that race yeah I mean I I remember that race um and I remember watching your race run and it on the on the on the feed that we were able to watch it didn’t look like that you you made any mistakes you hit all your lines perfectly you were carrying speed everywhere um he was it was a better run than leg I think leing knew was one of the best run of my career there was no zero mistake there was two jumps down where I knew I should take the risk to overshoot The Landing and go break in the breaking holes uh because he was just before split two and I knew it was a place where I had to take the risk but all the rest I was perfectly dialed at that time we um we were very Advanced with the French team and we were using video comparison of each passage to optimize the line and it was a software that back in the day was used by SK and um and we used that on on on on very Advance uh in 2005 when we barely start using it now in 2020 so we were 15 years ahead of the game yeah and and that correct me if I’m wrong but that was a race where you chose to when you were able to to to go slower so you had an earlier start time in for the race but he was the case also in Le um my my plan is leer was not necessarily because of weather because the weather on Race there was good but I simply want to wanted to play a mind game which I want to place a really high time and put pressure on the athletes okay and and and I knew that if I was around 30’s place before the guys would go up to warm up they would see my time on the chair left because the chair left was right by the screen so uh I wanted to make sure that when they were going up they would see my time on the screen so the the strategy was there and uh if I’m correct we have to ask but from from my meory I think when he saw my time he changed his retire and uh he lost the race because of the breaking of the last corner but uh if if I’m correct he was one of the reason and U and it was a bit of the mind game because at the end racing is also uh trying to position yourself in a very leading position compared to your competitors and uh and it’s it was it was the fact over there he was yeah and in 20 2005 it was mainly due to the reain that we we had the early start because uh we were really concerned on the rain on that day so we really slowed down to make sure that I could have a early start and try to avoid the rain compared to others yeah and obviously not not that you want to win no by having better gamble but you don’t want to lose because because you do so it it was more of a strategy there and uh and 2007 in in for Willam I lose world because of the weather and because of the wind uh when Sam is 0.7 on the front of me um just again weather rain and Sam didn’t even pull a teer off where where I had I had a really bad weather on the upper section that didn’t allow me to succeed yeah he I remember him telling me about that he said you know he thought that the the year before you he had more wind at the top of the track and then it changed around in he did to be honest in leaving you I almost lost the race because of the helicopter that was filming the race on one of the jump he was too close of me and I felt the lateral wind that was that was a big one and Sam Sam here in livo had more wind at the start than that I did and it was a long Traverse and uh yeah so that that’s why you know uh in in 2009 uh camra I lose the back end in the last corner where I have best split and I finished 0.8 from Steve that wins the world championship that he was more than deserved for him side so he was the payback from Le and and Sam Sam in Leo for William was the payback from Le so it’s good you know life is good for everyone that is working hard and trying to uh and trying to win and and I found the sport absolutely amazing in that way yeah unbelievable and you know all you guys a quite different per obviously he similar Personalities in amazing athletes and and Racers but very different in in other aspects I mean you you know you mentioned Sam coming in and changing the sport um you know I think I think that Sam just came in and he had that incredible raw talent and the body position on the bike and he was Fearless do you think you know if if if you’d have been not racing at that time and you’d have been a mentor working with Sam what would you have sort of done to improve him and get more results for him overall would you say I I think I think Sam was a great athlete in also in his preparation I I think you really quickly understand that our sport was close to Motocross that he loves and I think his physical preparation has never been weak I think he was good on physical prep and always considered that that that as as a strength his his bike was on point and his approach of of the racing details into his line he was bringing something very Innovative so I don’t think Sam had weakness at the time um if not if not that maybe his mental at the point of his career has has been has been something that he struggled with because you could see that his position in the global environment of racing was was his own challenged and I don’t want to step into his own intimity but he he is someone that is that is absolutely a great human being but very shy socially and when you have massive ego of racing without giving any name that are providing a certain influence of him when he comes with too much success was something that was really hard for him to and that’s why at some point of of his career when he had injuries when he when he had problems he rather step back instead of fighting I had I had an opposite character of is and I have a lots of respect for Sam as as a human above the fact of being a racer I I honestly believe he’s he’s a great human and and the like if you if you eat me I will come to fight I will I will go and harder you will eat harder I will fight Sam I think is someone that when he had too many impact on himself and too much from the other Etc is someone that ra a step back and work in a different route and he will probably AI at some point in the same result but I do believe that this made him suffer at some point of his career and uh and that’s why he also reborn in uro with a complete different environment and also maybe more respect for the community compared to at the beginning he had huge fan from the outside in downhill but inside the scene he was a little more complicated for him uh because he was so unique so talented that it was almost too much for him to take and feel comfortable with and uh I would say that if I was a mentor of Sam I would give him a bit of my PS in that direction to to succeed great cool and um so um obviously the the Le World Cup World Championships when that was probably the highlight of your career would you say the the the yeah yeah he was he was he was a highlight without doubt it was it was the best race of my career I did plenty of Amazing Race but the crowd there the motion there was I would say the the beginning of my real career because after that I start I finished my engineer degree I start to develop my own bikes uh I start to create my own thingsam uh and and from that moment uh I also uh put a lot of pressure to Kona to put me into those Free Ride videos to make sure that in terms of communication I could I could get uh the amount of exposure that I wanted to have at the time and I start doing new World Disorder sections and doing trips and and really try to bring my image also abroad in North America uh and and I started I would say to to be really installed in the industry at that moment with a legitimate as a racer as a developer but also as an influencer and uh this really helped me to uh to grow through the sports and uh and this year as a as a quick story is my 30th years of pro contract wow so so that that means that the work done at the time was not too bad oh of course and and so um obviously as outside of the country you know we we always looked at you guys as being you know super super serious and everything dialed you know from you know the French Riders um the whole you know French program at World Championships that you’ve mentioned with the technology that you had back in the day as French Riders what was what what was super like cool and influential to you guys was it going and racing in America like you mentioned the the American names what what what was exciting for French Riders outside of France I I would I would I would say that going abroad in the us at the time was the was the big thing because there was a lot of mountain bike brands was originally from the us and me for me going to GT and and meet anre and Brian at the time and all those guys was a big one was was a huge one and I got I got to learn so many people that that was a great opportunity so this this was one of the big one and for sure UK at the time was at the exception of Steve was not out there yet but when I went to write the BDS in in 2003 and 2004 I had one of some of the best of my life there like going going on the back of of of trailers with tractor going up seeing people sleeping in the field and trying to commit and don’t care about the setup and and shredding in the mud like crazy eating Flapjack and baked potatoes on the side of the field was was all great souvenirs and I met so many great characters that also proved me that um there is a different approach of racing where where you have to also learn how to Get It Free at at some point and I would say the the globality of my skills nowadays also come from all those experiences and the French the French approach looked very very professional and Technical but this was not influenced by anyone it was just a Community Drive that was impacted by the top athletes because you could see the guys arriving with a setup that was doing things a certain way and obviously that was the Next Generation that was in insired and I would say l Loris berier all those guys are still inspired by this today and um many many other Riders around the world are now because they realize all the competencies and I think in The Way We Were ahead of the game and when I see a skin shoot back this year that’s a crazy loop around for me to see how many things we have been involved from Wild and wi end um slack angle forward geometry with moner um the suspension system how the pivot point should be working uh pedal Kickback everyone is on pedal Kickback I have a photo of my Kona back in the days with a PO around the main pavot when we had ra terrain we had ghost gears into our cassette uh already back in the days so we we have been uh leading idas and Technologies and the arrow of skin suit and and the approach of racing all that we have been part of and I feel very rewarded to see all those athlete around the world now that are applying it yeah I was I was the first one to do visualization inspired from skiing because ski yes SK skiing was skiing was a big one and and I had a great friend that was a pro SK and I say guys how do you approach I went to talk to people on more cross I went to talk to people on biomechanic on skiers I always try to learn and the guys yeah we do visualization I’m like what is this well we learned because they didn’t you know in SK you don’t have practice Yeah so they go the side they learn the gate they visualize the gate and boom they go full speed I was like well wait a minute this this is a great tool for us because you create um an instinctive and automatic movement of your body based on your brain rep comptition that sounds like a great tool and I start to learn about it I remember people making fun of me when I was closing my eyes and visualizing the track Etc back in the days now you go at the top of the track for warm up there isn’t a single riter out of the top 40 that doesn’t do visualization sure everyone does so I I I honestly believe and I had I had the Euros sport interiew last week where I said there is a French expression that say when an old man dies it’s like when a biblo is burning yeah and and I really feel that our role today the sport has giving us so much as a champion to create our life and the privilege to work in what we love I believe it is our responsibility nowadays to share this back with the industry with the athlete for the sport to go to the next step and I’m I’m super happy to see what down it is becoming and I really hope that Warner Bros with with the investment they’re doing they find the right key to bring the sport to the next level yeah well you know you you’ve been a a huge influence in many different parts of the sport um progressing Fab and um you know it’s you should be very proud of yourself with with your results and everything else you’re doing um but do you think obviously we’ll touch on it now you you guys have got a um you know you’ve got a really good role and you’re really heavily involved at Canon um you know you had a similar role like I take it at monre where you help them de develop bikes and race bikes and um you’ve got a new bike now at Canyon um can you give us a little bit of an Insight on on how you come up with a brand new bike like where do you start off from do you test lots of different other bikes before you you even start how does that process work for you yeah well that now now it is is all all process behind it but to jump back on one of the things you mentioned is that I had this Ro at MRE where we we collaborate for for five years and MRI is like a family to me I was super happy to see them coming with a brand new team this season and and doing what they have done with the uh with with the new team he was absolutely brilliant and and congratulation to them he was it was a big one and my my role into Canyon um moved in first of all uh in in R&D my goal was to develop bik for them before even racing uro it was not planned to race Ando at the time I moved to Canyon in 2013 so it’s more than 10 years now that we collaborate together and um and uh we we did we the down program was a big one I I say to the onor at the time we I help you I have an ID for uro we develop uro but once we have won races in uro give me three year to do so but please if I do that we build we create a d bike and we create down and he he respected his word where where we developed the first bike in 2015 uh the sender one uh and and we learn a lot how we could approach we hired Troy on our side to try to to push the boundaries on on the on this bike and we uh we really push the development and and learn a lot with the two faces of the center and um and after that uh the new bike that we just developed uh for sure we Benchmark we try the bikes to understand what makes the bike fast and that’s where I get really involved I can still ride okay and and push the bike to a certain limit to uh to try to understand uh what is the what are the positive what are the negative and then we create combos I don’t want to give you too many Secrets but we create combos to be able to understand how you can link things together but there is a a lot of testing Pro process and you need to have quite some R&D resources to be able to cross over information there is many parameter on the bikee from goo to compression curve or to the curve of the of the kinematic the axle bath the anti rise the anti squat um the rigidity stiffness front triangle rear triangle rear St stay there is tons of parameter that can that can influence the global combo that you are choosing to do and uh you try to isolate as many parameter as you can to be able to to understand the direction you want to go and then it’s like racing you put the puzzle together and uh today this is what we bring out so uh that’s um that’s that’s where we ended up we we work for a year and a half on that uh on that project uh obviously I was stucked to see this bike uh we had three Proto in for William and three bikes Podium so that was that was really amazing and to be honest we should have been on the podium again in um in in Poland uh but we made one choice that I won’t mention in in in final that that make us lose the game with Troy and yeah and and and and a very unfortunate mistake for Luca before a flat Traverse where he he lose a second or second. two so it is racing also but our pick speed and the pace we had was the winning Pace again so he proved that the work we’re doing is definitely in the right direction we are growing massively our internal competencies at the team level which really bring us to a different level and I expect the next two years to be very very interesting with with what we’re trying to build brilliant and so obviously the the B I was watching for William and you know watched the feed in in Poland but especially in Fort William you know your new bike looked like it was working really well and tracking ground really well and obviously all the Riders had great results on it how much do you think it’s actually the bike and how much do you think it’s the confidence that the rider believes in the new bike I think the the two aspect are going together you cannot you cannot you cannot Placebo a rider telling him the bike is better than the old one not at this level when the rider sits on the bike he will create his references and build up his confidence with the bike you you cannot push it in you can you can tell him and and and but then at the end don’t forget that we are doing the sport where only the clock talk and at the beginning they were riding the bike telling me I don’t like this I feel slow there etc etc said guys let’s put the clock yeah and when they start see the the performance of what they were in capacity to do without feeling necessarily exactly what they wanted to feel because we’re talking about references here you always look for references you build up confidence with references if you have zero references you don’t build confidence so when you come on a new bike you look for the references of the previous bike which is a major mistake but it is a natural instinct so my job is to rational this rationalize this approach with them slowly and build their expectation of references and build new one and I’m very happy to see that we have done a great job on this aspect trying to slowly guide the writers in One Direction and the other to be able for them to find this references and build up confidence and succeed at the level they are right now yeah definitely and and how many different bikes would you test if you were going to make a new bik like how obviously you just pick the brands that you think are the best bikes out there or or is it the brands that are getting the best results how how do you you look at the results yeah and then and then you you gauge this on your thoughts you’re not going to test 10 bites uh there is some bikes that you cannot access to so we’re talking about three four bikes maximum that was interesting and also old bikes also I also old bikes yeah I also choose old bike that that that succeed in the past to understand the reason why so so we tested five different bikes and then we did many prototypes and and and did a lot of time of testing with the engineers and to be honest I’m very passionate by that because first of all he forced me to be on the bike which is good because sometimes I feel like I do too much computer and too much talk and I like to ride my bike so that’s that’s the number one thing and also and also he forced me to keep a certain speed because I did hear that you turned up at the team camp and beat everyone’s time last year which um Riders I I did I didn’t beat the Riders time I just insist that they were not testing fast enough okay and and they were arguing with me that the p of the track was set at speed and I showed them it was not and then they pushed the boundaries further and they were at the right speed and the the struggle in the in the offseason is to find tracks where you ride fast enough yeah most most of the tracks are a 28 to a 32 kilomet average speed when it comes down to racing you are 36 37 average spe so if you if you not comparing egg to eggs or apple to Apple you end up making choices that are not in line with the racing condition you will end up to so it is very important to know how to push yourself when it is the time and yes there is a risk but our sport is a risk yeah it’s a SC line because you don’t want to bring the Riders on the floor you don’t want to push them too much but you don’t want them to put to be in their comfort zone either yeah so my role is a very tough role and uh and also very human because you need to adapt to them in the way you talk to them in the way you approach to them because you don’t want to unbuild their ego because their ego is what make them succeed so you want them to be proud and and and confidence in himself in themsel but you also want to be able to drive certain messages to help them to grow and Rise their game yeah so it is a very interesting and passiona work where you is in the center of everything you do yeah yeah get it and so do you think obviously you know there’s been eras where there’s been you know a a group of riders that are at the top all the time and then there’s another era and there’s a few people that staying in that top group um obviously still talking about downhill at the moment um obviously Lock’s been doing phenomenal um you know the results he’s had over the last few years and he’s he’s always up there and this year he’s absolutely flying um you mentioned you know before Sam coming into the sport which changed your mindset on learning new skills do you think the likes of Jackson Goldstone and ACA vet are going to do a similar thing that Sam did or do you think it’s bit more they’re just similar but just fast kids coming through no it definitely bring something out there in terms of talent that is absolutely unique and you can see a result at the beginning of the season is absolutely unbelievable and Jackson at the time along with Jordan that is not succeeding now but it was impressive also two years ago is is is a big one and I think the Fearless approach of young athletes align with new talents is something absolutely uh uh Game Changer like I can I can tell you that it will really hard to uh for the the French Rider sou of French Rider Etc to keep on growing the way we did because the community now are elsewhere what is happening right now in Canada what is happening right now in Australia what is happening right now in the UK I can tell you it’s different that was happening in Fr sure so all all this mentality is is is from again from community that rise different games to athletes and um for the athletes and for sure the talent will gamble with experience but experience right now is still right up there because you can see that Lo’s approach is absolutely unique but you will need to know uh when and and how to stop at the right time yes I I I’ve heard you know a few interviews with him and I think he knows that himself he seems like a really he does he does from chatting with him on that topic for sure he does yeah and do you think now like now the the the big pro teams um in in downhill there that they so professional now you know the the amount of people that work for a team is is pretty incredible um but do you think do you think to to be competitive now you have to sort of go to a different place in the offseason to test and ride like you know you see a lot of people going out to the southern hemisphere now to Queenstown and stuff do you think it’s still achievable to to win the World Cups by staying in your own sort of you know Hometown in the W I’m honest with you it all depend where you live and what you have access to uh are you agree that nowadays with the competencies of the team and the level of expectation the teams are Etc you’re looking at athletes that are going to be able to do a proper full-time preparation over the winter and that includes also the competencies that are aligned with this um now without this you can you can make like a highlight but it will be very hard to be very constant on the season performance- wise so uh I I I do believe that the amount of winter testing is what makes the success of your season and if you don’t do a great winter I don’t see how you can do a great season sure and I I mean it’s obviously the amount of work that lock and his mechanic must put into to to that program you know any track you see Lo on the bike is glued to the floor and it it seems to be working obviously it suits his riding style he’s really strong he’s planted um but I mean Ace of a met who’s coming obviously we’ve heard about him but you couldn’t get a much more basic bike than what he’s riding could you what what Nico put together what’s your thoughts on on that for sure you can see that uh that we are at the point where Talent meet technology and without a doubt Lo preparation is the best that that there is on the circuit right now and he has a huge Advance on on everyone um but uh with with Talent there is still potential you can see ronan’s performance in in Poland that was absolutely unique and I can tell you that the Buy and what ran is riding is miles away from what L is riding so but but the performance was there so there is a gamble there is a possibility but it will be very hard to have the consistency that currently Lo can also fin has got because is is right behind with with the level of competencies there is so um for for sure uh when you’re going to be able to take those kids at young age and make competencies that talented um or achieved Riders got that’s where you’re going to be able to really put the program and the game into into the next level yeah I I get it so um say you were gonna start off say you got say Charles lir came to see tomorrow morning said Fab we’ve decided um we’re going to make a downhill bike and team with Ferrari we’d like you to um you know help us do this with um you might not be able to answer this question but this is just my uh fantasy you know go ahead go ahead um and obviously you know you’re doing an incredible job at Canyon and I’m sure they wouldn’t want you to go anywhere but H hypothetically uh we want you to develop a brand new bike for Ferrari we want you to pick three downhill Elite men and an elite woman what and you you have a Ferrari F1 budget yeah what do you think you would do in that situation like what what Rider I would choose yeah what what kind of fight would you design for Ferrari where would you start what Riders you would choose you know if I if I answer those questions uh first of all I I cannot really Riders wise to position myself on what I can do or what I cannot that that’s a tough one but I could tell you that on on the on the bike aspect of things um the there is clearly a lot that could be done yeah I’m still believing that we are still very planted in some of the way we design products to be align with the cycling market and um downhill if the sports grow enough and becomes Formula One as we all want this to become uh will need to step out of those limitation to create a product that is OB obviously in line with UCL regulation but properly optimized with new technology and this I can tell you that there is a lot to do yeah I I agree um you know there’s so many different suspension companies from other sports that that you know haven’t been introduced into into our Sport and suspension is so important for Downhill Racing sure so this suspension tires Innovation with grip uh transmission breaking everything everything can be worked on when I I visited actually Charle speed last year with some of the engineers on the on the way they were working with the electronics versus mechanics that is a direct link and the level of expertise there is in those Sports is giving us 15 years of velopment for cycling so we we have plenty of things that can be done if the industry is growing in the direction we all wish to and that the exposure is going in line with TV and what wabos is trying to do uh we will have plenty of room to get out of the sport sponsors that will create larger public interest than the Riding community and this will give us a huge potential to develop what we want and need for D racing and I really hope will end the there too um well do you so obviously I I’ll I’ll step back before I I come back into the the the current where we’re at currently but um obviously after after your amazing downhill career uh and then working with with Mon rer and then going on to Canyon how did you how did you switch into the Enduro um racing was that something that you always planned to do obviously you became world champion at that as well and and did you have to did you have to change your approach to racing and you’re training a lot to to achieve that approach to racing not necessary I would say my experience in down was one of the strengths when I was racing Andrew physically massively yeah massively the physical preparation was completely different he was and actually my down uh background was was a help with my strength Etc but my weight was a big issue so I should not say when we see Rich’s Ro performance but the power weight ratio was an issue for me when it’s not for him my strength was not high enough to carry my weight for long runs like he was in endu um but um when I move on to Canyon again it’s it’s for technological reason where mandrier was more in a commercial phase where they didn’t want to invest so much after the the forward geometry and the zero suspension system they didn’t I had an ID for Ando at the time where I wanted to have something that could helps to variate the geometry between aill and downhill with the newws I wanted to develop a product and MRE was not keen to do that they were more focusing on growing the brand and slow down R&D and I met at eurobike the corner of Canyon that was just stepping to mountain biking coming from Road and and uh we discussed about my ID of geometry and uh he invited me to visit the factory we discussed about the ID he introduced me to one of his engineer that had a similar ID and we combined everything worked on a Proto and launch ourself with a team uh not planning to do the season not planning to race for a long time but just to see on racing if we could validate and approve what we have developed and we won punala the very first race obviously I let you imagine the excitement of the owner and uh we went on a full program developed the concept full gas for three years um at the time he was in R&D with like a tire manufacturer and that that was very enthusiastic and also mavic wheels that were very invested because the connection between Canyon and myself was linked to mavic from the marketing manager of mavik and and and that’s how all that story it and uh until now we never quitted each other we we had great success with many of the WSS uh breaking my back in 2014 coming back with a success at the end of the year and vice world champion world champion with the bike in 2015 and I did say I would do only three years because I wanted to develop a GH bike and develop a GH program so I stopped in 2015 Focus full on the developing the DH bike created DH and since then uh uh we we developed the development team we developed the ebike team uh behind the uro team so we we develop a full concept of pro pro sport racing that is fully aligned with R&D to develop product create marketing for the brand and storytelling obviously had the chance to H some of of the best rider in the world to to race for us and uh and the latest story as you said was eik class year when we I developed an ebike for racing for uh with that was a replica back of mine and same thing we say okay we do the first race so we do a marketing campaign and then won the first round and you know when you get the finger into the thing you get the all arm and got super excited about this and um it was 10 years I didn’t race almost I finished in 2015 and I I raised 2013 so it was eight years uh but uh those automatic that was in my head from racing was was not lost and I I tried to stay approximately in shape and it worked out super well I I had a great fun time to experience the season with with some great athletes and it was a great opportunity to put the the the canyon strive on out there on on the top spot and I’m very happy to see Jose competing Jose bz competing so well this season as well with the product so it’s really trying to launch and um lead my group and my people with example I’m trying to apply the same dedication I have of what I expect from them to really try to rise the game and push boundaries within the brands within the athletes and uh and as you said earlier the the passion is what is driving me I I love my sport I love mountaining I love racing and all that is one is uh is making every every breath of my day and uh you see I am in the office now even if there is no one and I am putting IDs on the table trying to process some of the stuff to make sure that we are faster at the next race brilliant love it I love it and obviously huge congratulations what you did in the ebite uh races last year you know I think some people don’t understand how how challenging ebite racing is and how fast you were going last year it was uh pretty incredible and um with the development of the bike I mean you your bike was looked amazing and I had a little go on it in the car park and um it was definitely a bit better than my um Shimano ep8 standard nuk proof that I’ve got I wouldn’t have minded your bike yesterday when I was racing ebikes but um obviously before you got fully into that race program you know you guys had you know just a stand Shimano motor was it your idea did you push to get the the Bosch motor into your signature bike yeah yes for sure 100% we Benchmark all the product and I say guys if you want to build a race program this is how the bike needs to be and I am lucky enough to have people internally that are hearing my voice and having having a collaboration with Bosch was very important to succeed as much as having the correct Chassy that was the perfect compromise in terms of uh appeal performance but also stability and attacking and rigidity especially with like an internal battery that was one of the criteria that the brand asked me say you do whatever you want but you need the battery to be internal and this is like a massive disadvantage design wise to get what you need in term of rigidity and I was really happy to see what we achieved and and the bike the bike was was a great success so yes for sure the the choice are all mine it could have been the the wrong one but we had the great support and uh and uh the fact that the brand wants to win as much as I do is making our dialogue very very much easier very much e that’s brilliant and do they is the is the like budget restrictions on certain projects like obviously you know companies are selling a lot a lot of ebikes at the moment ebikes are on the on the rise you know just where I live uh here in in the Tweed Valley you know i’ I’ve lived here for two two and a half years now and and in that time I’d say the amount of people that com and R at the weekend uh on ebikes as opposed to normal bikes is triple quad quadrupled so I can see that visually you know that people are buying ebikes um obviously the the downhill bike Market isn’t huge but as as a company at Canyon are they are they worried about spending so much money on a on a uh a bike design that isn’t going to sell mad numbers of or are they just happy that that’s more of a marketing tool for the whole whole brand there is there is a strategy at every level you you never have project that are endless money Everything is bued Everything is restricted sometimes you step in sometime you step out of the limits we are that we have provided but no there is a budget to everything and uh ebike with the the large Market there is the potential uh of what of what uh of what they want to do is for sure something larger that when you talk entry level model that has no communication you spend more time more energy and more money there is no debate there but um but the strategy of the brand are always very uh install also budget wise but I am lucky enough to be part of this discussion right from the beginning of the project and if I feel like the uh resources provided for a certain project are not a line we all discussing and brainstorming but globally I would say the brand know what it takes to do a great bike we have a large experience now Canyon is a 30 years old brand uh so and and of experience so we we are lucky enough to have real engineers and and strategy manager that are really align with what you’re trying to do brilliant well that that’s great that you you you know all the experience and passion you’ve got you know you’re able to use that with a company that that wants to I I I really I really feel privileged I’m honest with you because uh the brand is uh is very much interested by Pro Sport and racing and very much interesting into technology uh the brand until still a couple years was owned by one person that is a very good human uh with a real Sensi Sensi ibility for business but also relationship and and I I’ve been very much inspired by him and I think the brand has been very lucky to have a stue leader for all those years and he’s still very involved and when I’m telling you every story is a human story it’s because um it’s also uh and Always by relationship that you build up project especially when passion is invol sure and going back to your racing career um you know obviously they’ve been at different times in your life but what has been the most um what’s been the most fun for you um the downhill the uro or or the ebik and Juro which is which which has been the thing that you’ve enjoyed doing the most they all came they all came to me at a different moment of my life sure so I I cannot tell you one I enjoy more than the other I am I am passionate by downar racing before anything and that’s where I come from and that’s what I’m still passionate bike about but um I I really enjoy the Enduro it make me discover a new sport a new approach new location uh to be honest being in the lift uh going up for downhill doing a seven run a day so maybe 15 minutes on the bike at some point I was tired of that yeah and when we discover Ando we were out for three days in the wood riding the trans provance discover the mon taking the time racing blind which is something we didn’t talk about but racing blind is something you don’t do in downhill when you do the trans provan I Pacifico in South America you don’t know the trail and you pin it it’s completely the opposite of down it’s different skill different anticipation different bike setup and I really enjoyed that this was absolutely amazing blind racing was one of the things that was the most fun and when and when I came to ebike ebike something people don’t understand is that ebike in downhill is almost as fast as a downhill bike yeah last year I I um I I beat the guys on normal bike one out of the two stages yeah because you increase stability you have more progressivity when the grips comes up and if you have a good bike properly set with like a good balance Etc you can charge like a mad man yeah I remember myself in chatel um there was one Bike Park section where we we were like 60 K an hour into flat off cury grass Corners old school I remember myself two wheel drifting the ground was just Stucky and like perfect passage in the line like properly full speed with the bike on the edge Etc and I remember in my head telling myself if I had a downhill bike I don’t think I would have rode this faster yeah yeah and and that’s what ebikes was so interesting for me is because obviously the testing and the development Will Made Me Realize a lot of things but when you you put your head on fire and the clock start you rise your game everyone does you rise your game and and you go to the next step and when I realized the potential of of the bike we created and how fast you could go man that was fun that was super fun I really enjoyed that especially after stopping downhill for like eight years ago I I did some runs where I was arriving my eyes wide open my heart rate fully ey but not from the fatigue just from the adrenaline yeah that I got during my run and this this is priceless for me this is what I love and when I do Moto when I do rally Etc I like to be on the age and some of the stages we did on theik last year insane really insane sure and and from doing that has that influenced your thoughts and Designs going into the downhill bike would you say 100% for sure you know every day is a school day you guys say yeah so so you you you are different every day than what you were yesterday and you are different today than what you’re going to be tomorrow so your approach your evolution is non-stop that’s why I found really hard for me to stay granted three years on the same chassis with the same suspension we need to be on Perman Evolution if we want to bring the sport where we want to we need to be able every day to make modification on what we have because every day we Le something yeah sure and yeah I mean I going back to I think it was 2021 maybe um um you know Sam Sam was in a bit of a a lull after the covid year and wasn’t really enjoying the Enduro you know he didn’t have that drive and passion that you know when he has he does well um so I talked him into doing an ebite race here um and you know he basically hadn’t rode an ebike until the week before and we I took him out riding on the trails here you know and the’re very you know like you you know they’re quite Steep and tight in the trees so it’s not super fast but it it the smile on his face was was just great to see and uh and ended up doing the Race I mean If he if he hadn’t have been so terrible at the uh the the first climbing stage I actually overtook him I was the rider behind him and overtook him up there you know but the the rest of the stages he he was you know on on the same Pace as um reys Wilson who was racing um until he crashed and and and reys you know has lived around here his whole life and Sam just said to me that the grip and how good the bite you know said we need to have we need to go back to heavier downhill bikes in my opinion you know the grip that they have um and that you know where I live I would love to have an e downhill bike like a proper downal bik geometry with an ebik motor um that would be such a good tool for me you just you just need to call me we have one you do yeah the talk on 180 mm travel on the rear 180 in the front 63 Dee head angle proper CH St and 60 full mullet 750 wat battery you have the ep8 it’s a shut shuttle bike and I did in Blas here uh within a minute and a half time I was approximately two second a minute from the down bike no way so do you would you say say you change the geometry of that bike a little bit maybe in no not the geometry but say you adapted it to put a a boxer 200 on the front and you were able to give it the same amount of travel as your downhill bike do you think you would be able to take pick that in two seconds up you I I don’t think you would because at some point the the weight and what you get is creating an effect on the bottom out of the suspension that will demand the kinematic to be to be radically different so there is a compromise to find if you look at the race in Poland for example track was flat yeah we have too much variation of track to start creating putting too much weight on the chassis sure and right now even for William for William is flat yeah William is not heavy he not steep you take Poland it’s monan in some sector you really charge Val most of the track you really in the Sip yeah but not not everywhere so that’s why there is definitely uh compromises to do yeah and the ebike weight is too much to match the to match the compet the competencies of the H right it’s too much even if you can get really close yeah yeah but believe me we tried it okay I’m sure but maybe like on a a track like leer do you think that the the extra weight is sometimes a an advantage or do you think it comes the extra weight is is is an advantage in section without a doubt but don’t forget that there is many moment on down track where you need to re accelerate the bike when the bike it’ss up to speed it’s better yeah but every moment you are down to speed is an issue so it’s all a matter of compromises where to be honest to find a track where in all round it’s better not that easy currently with the track design we have if tomorrow if tomorrow we take a black ski slope we put poles in the grass uh then potentially sure and where do you obviously you you know you’ve WR rode on so many different uh tracks and terrain over the years um W with all the different disciplines you’ve done um and you mentioned before you know the the Discovery Channel coming in they’re new to it I can see changes that are happening already you know um what kind of tracks would you like to see the future of Downhill Racing like if you were going to sort of make the tracks similar what kind of tracks would you like to see the sport going down I I think we uh we should go towards faster and more open yeah that’s what’s going to bring up a lot of more interest into the TV and and give a stronger potential to our Sport and uh I do believe sometimes we kind of step back you take the example of of Poland really nice in section but in some section not good you have a beautiful start it was absolutely insane super good but then you have a middle section you have a beautiful wood but then you have a middle section that is completely flat like like uro and I think that this we should have a little more attention to that if we want to bring the sport where we want to sure okay and on tracks what would you say is the best and your favorite track that you’ve you’ve ever been to down track monan isett un mon is is absolutely fantastic and Le the moer side and and the track they’ve done are that are absolutely unique So based based on that it’s it’s he makes those those two plac is absolutely first of all unique to my art but also absolutely great riding over here okay brilliant what I like about most time is that you have long fast and STP I I found that downhill should be in a way in that profile of slops yeah fair enough um okay well and I know that you you know you you’re a little bit pressed for time today so um I’ll ask you a couple of questions that I’ve been thinking about lately uh I think I’m going to start this this off with you on on the on the podcast series you know new to this but uh there’s not many better people to start off and ask you this question so who would you say is and by all means put yourself into this because you’re one of the the greatest ever downhillers but who would you say is the is the best downhiller to date the best Downer to date I I I cannot give you a name because I would say it’s all based of if you’re asking Talent race approach mental all those parameters everyone has been different and there is too many riders that has been great to put a certain combo to be able to provide you one let’s let’s split it up then so pure talent pure talent for me Sam Loris verier Jackson Goldstone okay brilliant um and then just all round approach everything to getting a result race approach Etc you would take ni Lo Greg Minar um that that that’s where you can stand Aon G Aaron gon Gwyn okay yeah I’d have I’d probably have to throw you into that mix as well um yeah than you and then for the kids upand cominging kids throughout the you know the the buzz behind the Down Sport who would you say are the most influential riders that have been that that that just makes you want to go and do the sport well Lo has been doing an amazing job on this side as well bringing himself out there and that’s been amazing Jackson is definitely bringing bringing something big but then I don’t want to I don’t want to miss the old guys where I think the person that has done absolutely great for the community and us today Steve that is that is a big heart and and now is a lot fatherhood towards everyone and it’s been amazing to to Mentor support and show example to to everyone so we we’re lucky in this sport to have lot of different personality that has brought many different aspects and uh as I said we have enough money to create something but we still at a level where there is Humanity into relationship that makes our sport very unique yeah okay well thanks for those answers all all super good answers and then you know do you you know I’ve heard a few rumors moving into 25 and 26 that the World Cup’s going to go to smaller bigger teams do you think that’s the right way to go for the for our sport well there there is rumors uh go going out there without a doubt to make the sport more professional we need to shrink the the amount of access there is to be able to provide a real show uh but if this happen we need to not forget the roots of our sport that is the community that I mentioned earlier where it should be a parallel series that still allow people and talent to highlight themselves to be potentially detected by those by those by those structure so um I think it is the right direction as long as we don’t forget the roots and the base of the pyramid that is the core of what mtbs about yeah I agree but the thing thing that I’m worried about is that all the money will go into the the big teams and the companies that can afford to do the down World Cups and obviously the race series where do you think the budget is going to come from for these other race serieses and then to give sponsorship for these kids that are going to be doing those race serieses and not not the World Cup where they’re potentially going to get the the and and and there will there will be no choices because the brand and the teams will have to have feeding structure to be able to uh develop young athletes and other talents uh as as the manufactur championship could potentially become more relevant you will need to replace athlet if they injured you need to replace the athlet if they don’t perform at the end of the year and if you don’t work as growing other the athlete you you’re dead you don’t exist so that’s why uh I think it’s old chain that should be very uh suitable for the brand and in line with the potential invest of the industry and be relevant enough for out of the sport sponsor to invest into our Series yeah okay yeah good good stuff and then um where do you see the Enduro going do you see the Enduro staying around with normal bikes or do you see the future of Enduro with the way bike sales are going is going to move more towards ebiking it is a hard topic to say it’s h it’s very depending on how much investment one Ross is willing to do on that series uh we know that currently they haven’t done enough based on the brand expectation and the cost that there is uh this is factual and they are uh pushing they are well aware obviously the fact that the ebike Market is huge is helping also the industry to in one category more than the other now it’s the sport that should be deciding and and see where to go but you can tell that the two discipline right now it’s a bit too much for sure yeah yeah I agree okay well brilliant um well I could go on for another uh episode so I think if if you don’t mind it another another time we’ll do another one if you don’t mind please please pleasure will be all mine and maybe we do something on site with bikes or anything but thank you for taking the time and exchanging and it’s always a privilege especially with a personality like you uh as as a writer and as a friend and uh yeah we we’ll make sure we catch up at some point again oh thank you well thanks thanks very much for your time Fab and keep doing everything you’re doing you’re doing an amazing job after and um yeah it’s been lovely to have you all and thanks very much and I’ll see was good I see you soon as you guys are on for sure thank you bye by by well that was really enjoyable for me uh getting all those interesting questions over to Fab and some brilliant answers there so I hope you’ve enjoyed this episode as much as I have um if if you don’t mind please like subscribe and do all that stuff uh to keep us running uh again a big thank you to um the the supporters we’ve got so far on the channel big thank you to liquid death for keeping us hydrated again thanks to 67 Racing for sending me this uh cool t-shirt going to try and get some of those made um and yeah looking forward to the next episode already so stay tuned and thanks for listening and watching cheers