It turned out to be quite the season for ROSE Rad Squad rider Jakub Vencl. After getting second place at the Dual Speed&Style in Whistler 2016, a result that caught him by surprise, the Czech slopestyle expert gained confidence for 2017 and started the 2017 season off even stronger, resulting him acing the whole Dual Speed&Style season, with winning the World Tour Champion title.
Jakub secured the top step at the first stop of the Crankworx World Tour in Rotorua and proved that it wasn’t just a one-off result, as he then went on to repeat his performance, winning the Dual Speed&Style at the next round at Crankworx Les Gets. He also won a wildcard for the the Crankworx Innsbruck Slopestyle at the FMB Gold Event 26TRIX and managed to put down two solid runs. Clearly on a tear, it would prove hard for any other rider to challenge him in the hunt for the Dual Speed & Style overall title as winning the first two rounds put him far ahead on top of the leader board.However, after a small mistake at the next stop at Crankworx Innsbruck resulted in no points at all for Vencl, the only other rider that was able to challenge him in the hunt for points, was the reigning Dual Speed&Style World Tour Champion Adrien Loren. The point race was close and at the last round, Loren managed to catch up. However, Jakub´s previous wins ensured him the champion title.
Jakub Vencl:
Man, what a ride this season of Dual Speed&Style was”, comments the man of the hour himself. “I had a feeling that this could be something I should try after the success of my first ever appearance in this discipline last year in Whistler, but I could have never imagined where this would lead in the end. Four stops and four races on the Crankworx tour. I knew I had to try. I´ve put some work into specific training in the off season, as well as making a couple of changes on my ROSE The Bruce set up, to fit the discipline and it turned out to be the perfect weapon.
I had an unbelievable start with a win in Rotorua, New Zealand, and surprised everyone, myself included. Then we moved to Europe and I struck again and pulled another win in Les Gets. During both of these events everything worked just perfect, but tougher times were just around the corner. In Innsbruck I made a small mistake in the second round and was eliminated early on in the competition. After that, three other guys had the chance to steal the overall title away from me so it all came down to the battle in Whistler. I knew what I had to do, and made it to the round of 8, where I made a couple of mistakes again and was eliminated. It all came down to the smallest possible points difference but thanks to my two wins, I secured the Overall World tour championship title just a few points ahead of Adrien Loren. I´m so happy it all came together and I was able to win such a prestigious title. It’s definitely the biggest success of my career so far, and I can’t wait to battle it out again next season.
Jakub also won a wildcard for Red Bull Joyride at Crankworx Whistler at the FMB Gold Event at the Colorado Freeride Festival and put down a solid run that saw him finish in 12th place. His Canadian team mate and Crankworx Whistler’s fans favorite Anthony Messere secured 4th place by schowcasing the huge bag of tricks he can pull out of his sleeve once again. Vencl and Messere, together with ROSE Rad Squad team members Torquato Testa and Lukas Knopf, are in the riders line-up for next weekend’s Red Bull District Ride. Stay tuned for the final battle of the FMB slopestyle season.
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Photos: Rich K photography