Mattieu Crepel - © Florent Ducasse / Quiksilver

A wind of innovation blows on the Tour these days. After the Quiksilver Natural Selection in Trice’s homeland, the Tour hosts the MC Invitational, a solid three star event introducing the “trick list” format, a brand new concept for a competitive freestyle event.

On Thursday evening, all the riders gathered and stayed over night at le Pic du Midi, on top of La Mongie - Mathieu Crepel’s home-resort. Located 3000 meter-high, it is a unique scientific site, with an exceptional view of the Pyrénées mountains.

© Florent Ducasse / Quiksilver

Yesterday morning, everyone had a freeride run from the top of the mountain down to the event location, a 25-meter long big air kicker. The training session went from noon to 5 pm and the riders were all super motivated. In the early evening, before an epic and typical dinner “chez Louisette”, each rider wrote down two tricks of his choice such as a frontflip, switch method, frontside 5, cab 9 or frontside 3, all the while screaming “I Love Mathieu!” From this trick list, the judges are going to draw 4 tricks for the riders to execute. Every rider will have to stomp three out of the four tricks drawn and the top three riders will make it to the super finals.

© Florent Ducasse / Quiksilver

The sun is shining and the event is on, in a super smooth atmosphere. TTR managed to grab a few words from the event host, Mathieu Crepel, who explained that “the kicker is perfectly shaped” and that he, and the “riders are more than happy.” We are now looking forward to the event itself, so be sure to check www.ttrworldtour.com for post event news, and event information. You can also head over to www.mcinvitational.com.