For those of you who are struggling to come to terms with the weather we are 241009RC02currently experiencing around the UK, rain, floods, gale force winds and I’ve even heard there may be snow on the way for some of us, all is not at a loss if you feel that your training is off to a bad start and you’re not sure what races you’re going to be race ready for come next season. What if I tell you that you could compete in a road race where the emphasis is not initially on your fitness, more maybe relying on a certain sense of skill and courage. A certain well known energy drink sponsor maybe here to save you!

lead-in-the-quarter-finals-editedThe first Red Bull Road Rage event in the French Pyrenees. Ten years after retiring as a professional road cyclist, two-time Tour de France stage winner Frédéric Moncassin has proved he’s still got it. On a perilous 4km track on the descent at St Lary Soulan, the veteran called upon his years of racing wisdom to win the inaugural French Red Bull Road Rage. He managed to keep a who host of top mountain bikers and road cyclists at bay such as Red Bull Road Rage veteran Guillaume Gualandi, Cyril Despres and mtb crack Cedric Gracia amongst others.

Ireland’s most successful Road Rage competitor – Janos Köhler who finished a very respectable 6th place had this to say about the event:

There are several characteristics that play a decisive role in making a good RBRR racer: It involves two distinctly different disciplines, the first one being an individual time trial for the qualifying and seeding run and the second racing as a group of four, similar to 4X in mountain biking. There are loads of twists and turns at speeds of up to 100km/h, so you have to be a confident technical bike handler capable of high levels of concentration who is also comfortable with the fear factor and high adrenaline levels. The important thing isRoad Rage to get the right lines through the corners to carry your speed through as well as have qualities of a sprinter to accelerate quickly out of bends. That said doing all the above correctly doesn’t automatically result in victory, as sometimes you also have to play it smart. Drafting competitors can give you the edge in top end speed down the finishing straight and help you cross the line in first place which is why Moncassin won in the end. His massive drafting experience after years of competing at the top level of the pro tour helped him to his first win of the Red Bull Road Rage series.

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So if you think you’ve got what it takes to compete then check these out.

Keep up to date with 2010 series here:

Red Bull Site

Check out the video here:

Red Bull Road Rage France



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