LOIC BRUNI: Being world champion is
one of the best highlight you can have in your career,
you know?
I wasn't expecting it last year, you know,
21 years old is pretty young, and I
was chasing more my world cup win than my first world champ
title.
When I see myself with the world champs, jersey on my shoulders
or videos and photos, I'm like, whoa, that's me.
It kind of sounds weird, but I feel like it's not mine.
I feel like it's real still.
It's just amazing and everything went pretty quick,
and I had so many good memories now.
And I'm still a kid.
The year started pretty well.
And going to [INAUDIBLE] was good
again because it's the first round.
It's in France.
And straight away we felt that the pace was there
and I pushed a lot.
I was riding on the edge, but I felt
like everything was going well.
And then going to almost the last corner,
I just missed a little bit my breaking
and went to this corner a little bit too fast and just crashed.
Yeah, I was a bit frustrated because it's not the first time
that this happens to me.
So after [INAUDIBLE], we tried to analyze what was bad
and what was good, and we found a lot of solutions.
So I'm going to Cairns was pretty exciting because we knew
we were riding pretty good.
I knew pushing a lot and riding on the limits
like [INAUDIBLE] wasn't the solution.
The riding was more chill than [INAUDIBLE], more relaxed.
The weather was good.
The track was drying.
And we made a pretty good choice on the bike
setting with the tires.
We put [INAUDIBLE] tires.
We were almost the only ones to think about this.
And going to the bottom, I just gave everything and crossed
the line with a good time.
Finally, I got my first win.
This moment was insane.
All the cheers, we've been waiting so long for it.
And me too, you know, so explosion of joy and everyone
was stoked.
After winning Cairns, I went back home
and started training again for Fort William,
and on a random endure ride, I just went down
and broke my collarbone.
Being injured is the worst feeling
that can happen to you as a rider,
as a professional athlete.
For me, it's the first time I really get injured badly
in the middle of the season, like being
not able to ride anymore.
It really sucks you know.
It's not what you're looking for and what
you're planning for your season, especially when
you're lucky having successful races
and everything-- this momentum is cut right in the middle.
But it's good, you know.
It puts you back to work and make sure you're stronger.
We are in Pila and it's raining.
Yeah, it's been two months since I didn't ride,
since I broke the collarbone.
And, yeah, it's time to get back on the bike now.
I'm stoked because I can do some races
you know and my season wasn't over and I can do some races.
It's going to be a little wet today and slippery,
but it's good, you know.
I don't have this kind of rain and mud in France
where I live so perfect.
From my first run, I definitely didn't feel good at all.
I was like, oh my God, like a grandfather riding a bike.
And now I feel like the speed is better.
I definitely got faster than what I was in the first day.
It's still not where I want to be, but lucky for me,
the curve is good.
You know, it's a really positive one.
Like, we start and look good.
And we find the really good pace we want.
When you're riding your bike and you
feel like everything goes well, everything goes flowing,
and you can push so much harder.
You feel like you belong to the floor
and you will go everywhere you want and your precision is
just amazing and the bike is just part of you.
It's crazy.
You feel like it's invincibility.
You push, you push, you push, and it always goes well.
Yeah, I'm going to world champ.
I know it'll be harder.
I know everyone else wants it a lot.
Right now, I'm an underdog for the title.
People have been used to not having me around in the races
and I think they don't expect me to do well.
So I would like to create a surprise in being there
where they don't expect me.
I just want to be back where I belong, you know?