White Style Countdown and Rider Lineup
January 4, 2015The countdown for the first FMB event of the 2015 season is on! Only 18 days to go until some of the world’s best freeriders present what they have up their sleevesafter the winter break. Who will come out on top and steal the first win of the season? All the action will go down at White Style in Leogang!
Spotlights on, trick bag open and we are ready for White Style! This unique mountain bike slopestyle contest on snow is the FMB World Tour season opener in Europe. On January 30th some of the world’s most eager bike riders will kick off their season under Saalfelden Leogang’s Schanteilift. They will be bringing their whips, flips and spins with them as well as high hopes of taking the 2015 title. Spectators might even get to see some new tricks, which the riders have been working on during the off-season.
Course-designer Markus Hampl and his crew are already knee deep in snow, working hard to build the massive snow-made features, which create the notorious White Style course. Markus Hampl and the crew will ensure the riders get all the airtime they need to fly high and throw it down!
Speaking of riders: a wide range of athletes will be packing their gear and heading to Saalfelden Leogang for the ninth consecutive White Style. From France, Antoine Bizet will try to defend his title from last year. Will his spectacular double backflip be enough to secure him another victory? The competition will be hot. A tough rival will be Poland’s Szymon Godziek, famous for his Tsunami Backflip which won the best trick contest atthe Red Bull District Ride last year. The UK is sending high flyer Daryl Brown and with Franck Paulin a second athlete from France will be taking on the challenge. Italy has got two promising young guns on the roster with Torquato Testa and Diego Caverzasi. Czech pro Jakub Vencl is back in the saddle after his long injury break. The Nordic shredders are also coming in strong with the SwedishMTB viking Elof Lindh and Norway’s Adrian Tell. Xavier “Sherwy” Pasamonte never misses a chance to get rad, so he will come to Leogang to fly the Spanish flag. After a great 2014 season, Carson Storch is keen to keep the momentum going and will make the long-distance flight over the pond from the US to attend White Style.
Hosting country Austria will be represented by Eric Walenta. But the line up will be dominated by some of Germany’s best athletes: Patrick Schweika, Nico Scholze, Steffen Graf, Max Mey, Simon Kirchmann and Lukas Knopf.
Here is the preliminary rider line-up for White Style 2015:
| Name | Country | Name | Country |
| Eric Walenta | AUT | Nico Scholze | GER |
| Jakub Vencl | CZE | Patrick Schweika | GER |
| Xavier Pasamonte | ESP | Diego Caverzasi | ITA |
| Antoine Bizet | FRA | Torquato Testa | ITA |
| Franck Paulin | FRA | Adrian Tell | NOR |
| Steffen Graf | GER | Szymon Godziek | POL |
| Simon Kirchmann | GER | Elof Lindh | SWE |
| Lukas Knopf | GER | Daryl Brown | UK |
| Max Mey | GER | Carson Storch | USA |
After a day of training on Thursday, January 29th, qualification takes place on Friday from 4:30pm, with the 10 best riders going to the finals later that evening starting at 8:30pm. Riders will get two runs, the better score will count and give them their final result. Who will come out on top? Head down to Leogang and find out!
Teased by all the action, visitors will be able to get loose and kick up some snow on trendy Fat Bikes. The Big (Shr)ED – Fat Bike Battle, is a dual slalom race all about ruling a flowy slalom-course as fast as possible. The competition starts after White Style qualifying on Friday, January 30th at 6:00pm. Fat bike qualifications will take about an hour and from 7:00pm on, the fastest rippers will race in the finals.
What is a season kick-off without a good party? On Friday, fans and athletes will raise the roof of the Kralleralm from 10:30pm for the After-Contest-Party – the most appropriate way to complete an awesome MTB contest.