10TH MEGA VICTORY FOR ABSALON
30 November 2015
Rémy Absalon beautifully celebrated the 20th birthday of the Reunion Island Megavalanche taking first place this past Sunday.
Born in 1995 on the "Intense island", the Megavalanche remains one of the most famous MTB downhill marathon style races and Rémy knows it better than most with 6 victories here.
Once again, the Megavalanche hosted many pro riders like Thomas Lapeyrie (Sunn), Alex Cure (Rocky Mountain), Théo Galy (Devinci), Cédric Gracia (Santa Cruz) and many other local riders such as as Christophe Payet (SCOTT), Alexandre Sicard (Devinci) and Timothé Neytard (Trek), ready to beat the Metropolitan and foreign riders.
The qualifying rounds took place on Saturday afternoon. This year, guys had the pleasure to return to basics with mass start qualifying groups in order to obtain their Sunday start line. In the first group, Rémy fought with Christophe Payet but finally crossed the line in first position. He could start on first line for the Sunday race.
Well done, Rémy! All photos: Paul Humbert- Vojo Magazine
The famous Reunion Island Megavalanche started on Sunday from the top of the Maïdo - culminating at 2 205m - with 300 crazy riders ready to fight to the Indian Ocean!
Rémy didn't start very well, near the 7th position, but rode full throttle on the fast rocky lava to catch each rider. He finally passed Cédric Gracia and Alexandre Sicard who were leading the race. Cédric Gracia couldn't fight longer because of a flat tire and Rémy kept going to make a 15" gap in the technical wet jungle. He could control his advance in the physical sugar cane fields to the end. After the last stony and dry trail of the seaside, all under intense heat, Rémy crossed the line with another Megavalanche victory in 44:06.
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