Andreu Lacondeguy: eerste Backflip van een snowboardschans

Bron: Pinkbike

Andreu Lacondeguy is the first one to land a backflip jumping a snow big air ramp on a mountain bike. Exactly a week before his 19th birthday, Kona-Teamrider Andreu made his way into mountain bike history. About 7.000 visitors of the Snowboard Big Air World Cup in Graz paid tribute to the courage of this uprising young Spanish athlete.

Jumping a huge sized snow ramp constructed for skiers & snowboarders is a risky attempt itself. Only a few mountain bikers did take this chance before. The snowy surface in combination with the high speed and the distance of the jump itself are the factors that make it a real stunt.

Arrived at the location in Graz, the Spanish native didn't fight the own excitement but the temperatures: "I didn't expect that it would be that cold, I should have taken some more warm clothes with me." Attempting one straight jump on Friday, this challenge seemed to be no problem for Andreu at all.

After the quarterfinals of the Snowboard Big Air World Cup on Saturday, Andreu Lacondeguy rolled into the steep bank and pulled his whole body backwards while loosing the ground under his tires. The whole crowd screaming and yelling, he pulled his bike in a nice smooth vertical rotation and did fly about 20 meters before landing perfectly safe. Only reducing the speed after touching the landing table made the bike a little bit bumpy. Long standing ovations followed, before the main contest was to proceed.

Andreu's statement after the jump: ”I was a little bit nervous on the start. I never rode snowboard jumps before and I was not really sure, if it would work out. I just did one practice jump yesterday because jumping that wide is really risky. Today I just flipped it and I landed it clean and perfect. That was the first event of the year for me and I did my biggest backflip ever. That is just amazing for me! Thanks to Red Bull for making this great experience possible.”

Andreu Lacondeguy once again did show his amazing talent and fearlessness that makes him to one of the superstars within the mountain bike sport. Be sure the summer will be exciting. The scene should look forward to see him conquering the airspace at the most important freeride events all over the world.