cycling: Red Bull Rampage 2017: Kurt Sorge wins high-profile spectacle

MTB News: Canadian Kurt Sorge has won the 2017 Red Bull Rampage. The 28-year-old is the first driver in the history of the event to end up on the top step of the podium three times. Cam Zink and 20-year-old newcomer Ethan Nell complete the podium. There are discussions about some controversial jury ratings.

For many, the Red Bull Rampage is one of the highlights of the gravity season each year, while others never tire of criticizing the event because the participants are exposed to a very high level of risk. In the past there have always been bad falls with often serious injuries. All the better that there were probably fewer falls this year than ever before. A large number of the starters brought the respective runs safely down to the finish line. Ironically, last year's winner Brendon Semenuk was one of the drivers for whom a crash threw a spanner in the works, at least in the first run. A controversial jury assessment of Antoine Bizet's first run caused displeasure among the spectators.

Red Bull Rampage 2017: Cam Zink narrowly misses second Rampage triumph

"It was the run of my life" said an unusually emotional Cameron Zink after his first run into the microphone. The American had not only skied what was probably the steepest line in the history of the event, but his wife and two kids weren't the only ones holding their breath at the finish line during his unbelievable Flat-Take-Of Flip Drop. All went well and the YT rider safely got his run down, not without throwing in a trick or two. The judges rewarded the performance with 90.33 points - 1st place at this point.

As a result, Zink was the leader in the hot seat for a long time – until Kurt Sorge rushed towards the finish line. The two-time Rampage champion didn't choose a line that was quite as extreme as Zink and did without too crazy tricks, but no other rider drove the sometimes almost vertical rocky slopes to the finish line with so much style, such a high density of tricks and a precision bordering on perfection. With that he pushed past Zink – 92.66 points.

In the second run, Zink again put everything on one card. The same stunning line. The same flat flip drop. Towards the end of his run, he took full risk and attempted a frontflip on the last trickable jump, which failed and Zink came to a halt in a large cloud of dust. Unhurt - but the dream of a second Rampage victory was over.

Red Bull Rampage 2017: Rookie Ethan Nell stuns everyone

Compared to the otherwise top-class starting field, 20-year-old Ethan Nell is still quite a blank slate. He started at the Rampage for the first time, but he had a decisive advantage: He lives in the region, lives less than 15 minutes away from the Rampage location in Utah and, as he says himself, knows every grain of sand - and you could feel it. Even his first run was very risky for a newcomer and at times a bit wild and impetuous, but successful: he crossed the finish line without falling, earned thunderous applause from the spectators and an 80 rating from the jury.

You'd assume as a young fella and a newbie to Rampage you'd be happy with that. But far from it: Nell went one better in his second run, took full risks and rushed down the valley with impressive carefreeness and a lot of style. At the finish he threw his bike on its side and cheered along with the fans. He knew it was an incredible run: 90 points! In doing so, he pushed none other than last year's winner and slopestyle superstar Brendon Semenuk off the podium.

Things were rather unfortunate for Semenuk himself. He started at the end of the first run and fell quite early after a somewhat unsuccessful 360 drop. His bad luck: Since this year, there has been a new mode at Rampage, according to which the drivers start in the second run according to their score from the first run. For Semenuk, that meant – as soon as he was downstairs, he had to go back upstairs. Mentally not quite fresh and physically a bit damaged, he did a very good, but by his standards rather unspectacular run. In the end it was enough for 89.66th place with 4 points.

Red Bull Rampage 2017: Jury reaps boos for rating Antoine Bizet

Last year, Antoine Bizet landed the first double backflip in Red Bull Rampage history, only narrowly beating eventual winner Brandon Semenuk overall. The expectations of the at times somewhat crazy Frenchman, who, by the way, has been riding bikes from the German manufacturer ROSE since this year, were correspondingly high. So the pressure was definitely there, but Bizet didn't seem to care. Not only was there a technical line and a spectacular frontflip in the first run, but he even repeated his double backflip from the previous year.

Everyone was counting on a top placement, possibly even ahead of Cam Zink, who had been leading up to that point. The judges were of a different opinion: Bizet's attempt was worth a good but by no means outstanding 81 points. There were loud whistles and boos from the spectators, Bizet himself looked smiling but a bit incredulous. In the interview he said: "I don't know, but it's not that important to me either. I'm super happy with my performance!"

On his second try, he showed that he didn't really care. Quite a few expected that with a little anger about his belly he would go one better. But things turned out differently, very differently: he casually buckled on his backpack (!) at the start, relaxedly rolled down, but not without stopping again and again to goad the spectators. They acknowledged the protest run with loud cheers. Incidentally, in the online voting for the People's Choice Award, Bizet won by a huge margin and almost half of the votes cast. That earns him at least a $5.000 consolation prize.

Red Bull Rampage 2017: final result

Red Bull Rampage 2017: The entire event in replay