Rider's Simple Mistake Leads To Pileup Crash

Side by side downhill mountain bike racing really is something else. It defies all the "controls" of the time trial format of downhilling that we are all used to and very quickly devolves into pure chaos.

Nothing better embodies that chaos than the Megavalanche races. They are huge top-to-bottom races that cover - in the case of the Reunion Island race which you're about to see - over 7,000 vertical feet of descending in one run. That's like racing a full two day enduro in one run.

Take a look at the wild start to that Reunion Island race through the eyes of Damien Oton below.

The rider who went down got off to such a good start, it had to feel, in those 5 or so seconds, that he actually stood a chance of landing a podium worthy finish.

But, with these super-endurance downhills, it's not so much about how you start as it is how you can sustain. And sustain is exactly what Hugo Pigeon did, taking the win at Reunion by quite a nice margin.

Here is a full recap edit of the race for some more context of what all these riders went through to finish this marathon of an event.

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