(bright intro music)
- Downhill street racing
is particularly big in South America.
You've got Manizales in Columbia,
Taxco, Mexico, and here, this is the 17th edition.
The Red Bull Cerro Abajo in Valparaíso in Chile,
the World Heritage City.
(light urban jazz music)
Back in the early 2000's,
downhill mountain bike racing was taken to the streets.
It all started, as far as I can recall,
in Lisbon, Portugal.
Sponsored by Red Bull, of course,
it took proper mountain bike racing
out of the forests and into the cities.
(light urban jazz music)
And it was really fun.
I raced in Lisbon downtown a few times.
There's always something really cool
about using the streets in a really busy city
for a proper downhill race.
It was almost like the type of riding
I did growing up in the streets, bobbing down steps,
but now, you can see the pro racers doing it.
You can watch a downhill world champion
hoppin' the tram lines,
drifting down the cobble streets
and ducking washing lines.
(light urban jazz music)
- [Man] He's back.
- And what are the dangers of racing in the streets?
Well, of course, it's super unforgiving.
We're talking about racing drones,
dogs,
low electricity cables,
being blinded by barbecue smoke.
The riders here are checking us out.
We've got a gap into a whale tail,
and a big gap.
Super unforgiving.
Also, there's really limited practice time,
so the riders got to try and get this down quick
before it's time to race.
What a great place to have a mountain bike race,
in a city where thousands of locals and tourists
can become interested spectators,
but also an easy location
for proper mountain bike crowns to travel to,
enjoy a trip to the city, and see their heroes race,
but it was also carnage.
Limited practice time because they literally have
to shut down part of the city to run the event.
Not to mention
put up 30 of the world's best downhill racers
in a fancy hotel
free of charge in a city center
and there will be partying.
The course here in Valparaíso is 1.9 kilometers long.
We've already caught riders at 52 kilometers an hour;
in pretty much their first full practice run.
So, I imagine that will get up above 60
when it comes to race time.
Big risks here, but also big glory and big rewards,
the €6,500 euros for the winner.
Who are the modern kings of urban street racing?
From Slovakia, Filip Polc.
Remy Metailler, France.
Marcelo Gutierrez from Manizales, Columbia.
The German, Johannes Fischbach.
From Valparaíso, Matías Núñez.
Another Chilean rider, Pedro Ferreira.
Czech rider, Tomas Slavik has won Valparaíso in 2017 and 18.
(light urban jazz music)
So, that's it from here in Valparaíso,
and a bit of the history of street racing.
Seen a really dramatic race here.
Saw some bikes smashing.
We saw some big crashes, one from Tomas Slavik.
Hopefully, he's okay.
I saw a really popular win for the Chilean rider,
Pedro Ferreira.
If you wanna see some more videos from this race,
click over there for a bike check from one of those bikes,
and over there for Blake's vlog, see how he got on here.
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