Wikipedia

Megavalanche

45°5′43″N 6°4′13″E / 45.09528°N 6.07028°E / 45.09528; 6.07028 (Megavalanche Alpe d'Huez)[1]

"Mega Avalanche" redirects here. For other uses, see Avalanche.
Megavalanche
Alpe d'Huez and Le Bourg-d'Oisans from Pic Blanc, the start of the Mega Avalanche
Race details
RegionFrench Alps and Réunion
Nickname(s)Mega
DisciplineMountain-biking, downhill
TypeTwo-day, mass-start
OrganiserUCC
Race directorGeorge Edwards
Web sitewww.ucc-sportevent.com/en/megavalanche-alpe-dhuez-en
History
Editions27 (as of 2023)
Most wins Rémy Absalon (FRA)
Most recent Hugo Pigeon (FRA)

Megavalanche (nicknamed "Mega") is a enduro mountain bike race held annually at the Alpe d'Huez ski resort in the French Alps since 1995, and annually on the island of Réunion.

The Alps event, being the more widely publicized and famous among downhill cycling enthusiasts, starts on the glaciated summit of Pic Blanc in Huez and descends to the valley bottom at Allemond, for a total of over 2,600 vertical meters (8530 feet) and a 20 km (12 miles) distance.

The mass-start race is known for its fast speeds and winding turns over varying terrain, with hundreds of riders descending the mountain at once. Famously, racers are allowed to progress down the mountain by any reasonable means, and riders often cut corners and walk their bikes for extended periods of time. Many other enduro races have similarly lenient course guidelines. Despite the inherent dangers, officials state that injuries are modest, and that the race is less dangerous than it may seem to outsiders. The course is designed to slow the riders down around tight curves and the width of the glacier at the race's start line allows the riders to spread out.[2]

History edit

The Megavalanche race was the creation of mountain bike pioneer George Edwards, who was involved in creating some of the first downhill tracks in Europe. The first race, held in 1995, saw 400 riders in attendance.[2] The race has been managed by Edwards since its inception, and is organized by his company, UCC. The exact route of the course may change from year to year, depending on terrain and weather conditions, taking riders between 20 minutes to over 1 hour to complete, but on average lasts 35-50 minutes.

The 2007 race saw a significant increase in participants from outside France, likely driven by an increase in press coverage of the event.[3] The 2013 race saw 2000 riders in attendance from over 30 countries.[2]

On November 11, 2018, Edwards issued a statement notifying participants that the 2018 Réunion Mega race was cancelled. He stated UCC race organizers had "taken note of the prefectural orders not to authorize the organization of the event", due to the yellow vests protests taking place across France.[4][5]

Megavalanche organizers announced in 2018 a series of races entitled the 'European Mass Start Series', including the Megavalanche race and other races dubbed 'Maxiavalanches' (using the same mass-start format), to take place in 2019. The winner of the series' races will receive travel, accommodations and entry fees covered for the Reunion Island Megavalanche race.[6][7][8]

Race Format edit

Since 2014, the format of the event follows three main days:

  • Practice Day - Lifts and courses are open and free to anyone with a race plate. Riders are encouraged to familiarize themselves with the course.
  • Qualifiers - Riders run qualifying races consisting of six heats of about 250 riders. The resulting qualifier times are broken down into starting lines designated by a letter, with 'A' being the front.
  • Race Day - The top 35 riders from each Qualifier start the Elite race on Sunday. The following 35 from each qualifier then race in a similarly mass-started event called the 'Megavalanche Challenger' on Saturday. Any riders outside these two categories are grouped into the 'Megavalanche Amateur' which starts after the Elite race on Sunday, and the 'Affinity' group where they can start at any time after the 'Megavalanche Challenger' on Saturday. Riders' times are recorded automatically by transponder chip.

Results edit

Megavalanche Alpe D'Huez edit

Year First place Second place Third place
1995   François Dola   Pascal Yen Pon   Guillaume Pallarès
1996   Fabrice Taillefer   Pascal Yen Pon   François Dola
1997   Fabrice Taillefer   Lilian Sergent   Olivier Guincêtre
1998   Samuel Peridy   Bruno Tschanz   Olivier Guincêtre
1999   François Dola   Samuel Peridy   Lionel Sequéra
2000   Alexandre Balaud   Olivier Guincêtre   William Balaud
2001   René Wildhaber   Alexandre Balaud   Karim Amour
2002   René Wildhaber   Alexandre Balaud   Olivier Giordanengo
2003   René Wildhaber   William Balaud   Samuel Peridy
2004   René Wildhaber   William Balaud   Alexandre Balaud
2005   Jérôme Clementz   Rémy Absalon   Franck Parolin
2006   Nicolas Vouilloz   René Wildhaber   Mickaël Pascal
2007   René Wildhaber   Tomas Misser   Gregory Doucende
2008   René Wildhaber   Rémy Absalon   Gregory Doucende
2009   Rémy Absalon   René Wildhaber   Nicolas Vouilloz
2010   Jérôme Clementz   Nicolas Vouilloz   Sam Blenkinsop
2011   Rémy Absalon   Jérôme Clementz   René Wildhaber
2012   Rémy Absalon   Nicholaus Lau   Dan Atherton
2013   Jérôme Clementz   Rémy Absalon   Dan Atherton
2014   Pierre Charles Georges   Thibaut Ruffin   Reon Boe
2015   Rémy Absalon   Thomas Lapeyrie   Yoann Barelli
2016   Rémy Absalon   Damien Oton   François Bailly-Maître
2017   Damien Oton   François Bailly-Maître   Martin Maes
2018   Damien Oton   Jose Borges   Nicolas Quere
2019   Jose Borges   Kilian Bron   Kevin Miquel
2020 Cancelled due to COVID-19 Pandemic
2021   Stefan Peter   Kilian Bron   Alexis Chenevier
2022   Stefan Peter   Liam Moynihan   Olivier Bruwiere
2023   Hugo Pigeon   Damien Oton   Olivier Bruwiere

Megavalanche Réunion edit

Year First place Second place Third place
1995   Nicolas Vouilloz   François Gachet   Patrick Boisvilliers
1996   Pascal Yen Pon   Christian Lemmerz   Samuel Peridy
1997   David Dijoux   Samuel Peridy   Guillaume Koch
1998   Patrick Boisvilliers   Frédéric Nauche   Jacky Séry
1999   Nicolas Filippi   Lionel Sequéra   François Dola
2000   Samuel Peridy   Pascal Yen Pon   Jacky Séry
2001   Steve Peat   Samuel Peridy   Jacky Séry
2002   Cédric Gracia   René Wildhaber   Alexandre Balaud
2003   Fabien Barel   René Wildhaber   Alexandre Balaud
2004   René Wildhaber   Fabien Barel   Olivier Giordanengo
2005   Rémy Absalon   René Wildhaber   Fabien Barel
2006   Nicolas Vouilloz   Rémy Absalon   Tomas Misser
2007   Nicolas Vouilloz   Rémy Absalon   René Wildhaber
2008   Rémy Absalon   Fabien Barel   René Wildhaber
2009   René Wildhaber   François Bailly-Maître   Franck Parolin
2010   Rémy Absalon   Nicolas Vouilloz   Nino Schurter
2011   Rémy Absalon   Julien Absalon   René Wildhaber
2012   Nicholaus Lau   Aurélien Giordanengo   Cédric Gracia
2013   François Bailly-Maitre   Jérôme Clementz   Rémy Absalon
2014   Rémy Absalon   Nicolas Quere   Alexis Chenevier
2015   Rémy Absalon   Alexandre Sicard   Théo Galy
2016   Rémy Absalon   Jérôme Clementz   Cédric Gracia
2017   Thomas Lapeyrie   Loris Vergier   Jean Max Laurestant
2018 Cancelled due to Yellow vests protests
2019   Damien Oton   François Bailly-Maître   Kilian Bron
2020 Cancelled due to COVID-19 Pandemic
2021   Hugo Pigeon   Alexis Chenevier   Stefan Peter
2022   Olivier Bruwiere   Antoine Vidal   Romain Payet
2023   Hugo Pigeon   Olivier Bruwiere   Léo Abella

External links edit

References edit

  1. ^ "Megavalanche France VTT Map/Itinerary 2019".
  2. ^ a b c Greenwood, Susan (2014-04-18). "Is this the craziest mountain bike race in the world?". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2018-12-09.
  3. ^ "Megavalanche Alpe D'Huez - En Chiffre" [Megavalanche Alpe D'Huez - "By The Numbers"]. Maxiavalanche.com (in French). Archived from the original on 2008-06-17. Retrieved 2018-12-09.
  4. ^ Edwards, George (2018-11-29). "Compétition annulée" (Press release) (in French). UCC Sport Event. Archived from the original on 2018-12-09. Retrieved 2018-12-08.
  5. ^ "La Mégavalanche est annulée" [Megavalanche is cancelled]. Imaz Press Réunion (in French). 2018-11-30. Retrieved 2018-12-09.
  6. ^ "Megavalanche Organizers Announce a European Mass-Start Downhill Series". Pinkbike. 2018-11-29. Retrieved 2018-12-09.
  7. ^ "European Mass Start Series" (in French). UCC Sport Event. Archived from the original on 2018-12-09. Retrieved 2018-12-09.
  8. ^ Nayener, Julien (2018-11-29). "Un nouveau challenge European Mass Start Series" [A new challenge: European Mass Start Series]. www.velovert.com (in French). Retrieved 2018-12-09.


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