Milan, Italy will be the home of the dirt venue for the second stop of the Qashqai Urban Challenge, where riders will bring out their biggest and best tricks on three huge dirt jumps in the Piazza Duca dAosta.
Another 20,000 euros is up for grabs at the second stop of the tour, and riders are anxious to drop some of the new tricks that they have learned during the off-season. The Milan course will offer riders a chance to land on soft dirt landings, so they will be inclined to try new tricks with much higher difficulty levels. The bar was set extremely high after the final runs in Newcastle, but we can expect to see even crazier riding in Milan for the dirt jump contest.
The course for Milan starts with a 25-foot tall roll-in, into a 25-foot gap, followed by a 20-foot and 16-foot gap. Riders will be judged in two qualifying heats, then the 12 finalists have three runs to impress the judges for a spot on the podium. All it takes is one good final run to get onto the podiumand with a field of riders who can 720, front flip, 3-whip and double tailwhipanything could happen.
Phil Sundbaum, the winner of Newcastles best trick contest, is invited to the Milan event to ride against the 15 tour riders. Phil made his mark on the tour already when he landed a 720 during his first run of the best trick contest in Newcastle, so the riders are curious to see what else he will bring out on the dirt in Milan.
The riders come to Milan after an incredible weekend in Newcastle, UK. Darren Berrecloth amazed spectators and riders alike with his second run in the finals of the Northshore event. Bearclaw and the rest of the tour riders set a precedent at the first event of the Qashqai Urban Challenge that the riding level would be beyond what anyone had seen before in a mountain bike contest, and we can expect that to be true as the riders take the course in Milan.
Visit the new Qashqai Urban Challenge website (
www.nissan-qashqaichallenge.com) with information about each city, the events, rider bios about the invited tour riders and also the listings of the specialist riders for each discipline.
