Rimini BMX Recap

By Chris Mitchell

Day One (July 30, 2005)
Barbero whips the competition: Of the fifteen riders that showed up for Saturday's preliminaries, nobody could stand the onslaught of Cuneo, Italy's Alessandro Barbero. He flipped the launch box, whipped the quarterpipe and 360 whipped the spine. "That's real shit," said Sophisticated Rider's Jared Souney. Second place, Stefan Lantschner had smooth style. He did a trails-style turndown over the box, tail whipped the quarterpipe and generally flowed around the course.

Day Two (July 31, 2005)
The temperature had skyrocketed to 94 degrees by the time the bike comp got under way. The top ten riders, all Italians, were comfortable with the heat, but the judges looked about ready to spontaneously combust. When the announcer called the end of the vert demo, the crowd stampeded to the park course and the comp began.

The riders looked more comfortable on the course after a day of practice. Fabio Limonta had a fan club of friends who cheered him on with tearsheets from Italian porn mags held high in the air. He pulled together a great line that included an alley oop double peg grind up on the sub box, but it came just after the buzzer.

Alessandro Tissoni’s opposite 360 look back over the box helped him to win the bronze. Stefan Lantschner and Alessandro Barbero were close after the first run. Lantschner pulled a turn down over the box, a 360 over the spine and a wedge to wedge 360 transfer. But the gold medal went to Barbero whose flip X-up and 360 whip over the spine were unparalleled.