Andreu Wins White Style

Sickness in the Snow

Photos by Lars Scharl.
Date: 2009-02-03

Leogang, Austria, January 31st – Twenty year old Spaniard Andreu Lacondeguy won White Style presented by Kona on January 30th. Lance McDermott added to his hardware collection with the Sickest Trick Award.

white style leogang andreu lacondeguy
 Andi Whitman turns one around.
 
White Style riders had to cope with a super-sized slopestyle course in combination with a soft and snowy surface. Not an easy job for the 23 athletes from 12 nations who made their way to Leogang, Austria. Kona Clump Team rider Grant “Chopper” Fielder designed and built the whole track with just one aim: to enable the riders to go big!

white style leogang andreu lacondeguy
 Niki Leitner grabs it like Superman.
 
Indeed, the guys just went crazy: Thomas Zejda from the Czech Republic throwing down tailwhips at the starting drop, Amir Kabbani showing off with a backflip one foot x-up on the step-up or the Swede Martin Soederstroem pulling clean double tailwhips off the final booter. Lance McDermott threw himself into a tuck nohand-frontflip at the last jump. Unfortunately he didn’t stick it 100% clean, because he slipped both pedals. It was the first tuck nohand-frontflip seen at an international mountain bike competition.

The situation might have reminded Lance of the Crankworx Slopestyle. It was the same game: Andreu Lacondeguy again bumped Lance into second place - this time by sending huge flatspin 360’s, extended superman seat-grabs and backflips up and down the “inabler” (step-up-step-down box). Andreu, who put his FMX experience to good use, had this to say about White Style: “Man, I love those doubles. Chopper made a great job! That’s the way they should be: BIG! I hope most of this year’s comps will go even bigger than last season. The progression has to go on. We ride mountain bikes, not BMX bikes. We need huge jumps at least 10 meters + in distance!”

white style leogang andreu lacondeguy
 Andreu Lacondeguy going big on his way to victory.
 
Amir Kabbani (3rd place), Martin Soederstroem (4th) and last year’s White Style winner Trond Hansen from Norway (5th) also showed sick tricks including opposite 360’s, frontflips, 360-tailwhips, superman seat-grabs or 360 drops.

white style leogang andreu lacondeguy
  Lance McDermott throwing down what is apparently the first tuck no-hander front flip ever in comp.  Unfortunately he didn't land it cleanly.
 
The results:

1st   Andreu Lacondeguy (ESP / Kona)  
2nd  Lance Mc Dermott (GBR / Scott)
3rd   Amir Kabbani (GER / Cannondale)  
4th   Martin Soederstroem (SWE / NS Bikes)
5th   Trond Hansen (NOR / Specialized)  
6th   Grant Fielder (GBR / Kona)
7th   Yannick Granieri (FRA / Giant)
8th   Sam Pilgrim (GBR / Diamondback)
9th   Damian Siriski   (CZE / Author)
10th Niki Leitner (AUT / Kona)
 
white style leogang andreu lacondeguy
 A good crowd braved the cold at Leogang.

All the riders rode hard, showing their skills on the tricky surface, and partied even harder. The official White Style after party ended at five o’clock in the morning and some of the athletes had the energy to continue the party at their hotel.

white style leogang andreu lacondeguy
 Amir Kabbani enjoying the sunshine.
 
The Bikepark Leogang, KONA, CamelBak and ONE BIG PARK are proud to have presented Europe’s best riders, a lot of airtime, the newest tricks, as well as a rocking party.
 
Watch out for the official White Style video clip that is being edited by Boston Joy Productions right now and will be available mid of next week.