This is the day we have all been waiting and working for. Sam Pilgrim won the 2013 FMB World Tour for NS Bikes and is the first European to win the Champion title! Congratulations Sam!
Here is the official press release:
With an outstanding season and back to back podium results, Britain’s Sam Pilgrim has finally achieved what he has been fighting for over the last few years: the FMB World Tour overall title. Sam is the first ever European to win the FMB World Tour title. Besides writing FMB World Tour history, Sam will be presented with the golden CamelBak Eddy Bottle and a major part of the 30,000 EUR overall cash prize money.
Pilgrim’s consistency during the season was incredible. He landed on the podium at almost every event he competed in. The TSG rider entered the season with a huge bag of tricks and the courage to send them at some of the biggest FMB World Tour Slopestyle competitions. In the end, his determination and focus gave him the victories he deserved and consequently enough points to claim the FMB World Tour title before the season finale at Red Bull Rampage. His top 6 results which collectively crown him FMB World Tour Champion are:
Event / Event Level / Finished / Points
Red Bull Berg Line (GER) / Gold / 2nd / 682,5
26TRIX (AUT) / Gold / 1st / 750
Crankworx Les2Alpes Slopestyle (FRA) / Gold / 2nd / 682,5
Colorado Freeride Festival Slopestyle (USA) / Gold / 5th / 555
Red Bull Joyride at Crankworx Whistler (CAN) / Diamond / 3rd / 840
Bearclaw Invitational (CAN) / Gold / 2nd / 682,5
We caught up briefly this morning with a little sleepy Sam to congratulate him and ask him what he has to say about his victory: “Since the world tour first started I’ve always wanted to win the overall title cause after all that’s what it is all about – you travel the world and compete at events with the goal of winning the overall title. For the last three seasons I have always been in the lead of the FMB World Tour overall ranking but never managed to hold it together till the end. Finally I managed to stay in the lead and came out on top. This is just awesome.”
The whole FMBA team congratulates Sam Pilgrim on his 2013 FMB World Tour victory.
Of course we also have to take into account that his strongest competitors Martin Soderstrom (SWE) and Brett Rheeder (CAN) got injured during the season, missing out on some important events and crucial FMB World Tour points. Until now, Canadian fans had their fingers crossed that Rheeder, who was the only rider with enough points to challenge Sam Pilgrim for the title would fully recover just in time for the final event, Red Bull Rampage. Unfortunately for Brett and his fans, this is not the case. It was a tough call for the young Canadian who dominated the first half of this year's FMB World Tour season, but Brett officially informed the FMBA offices today, saying that he is “not going to be competing at Red Bull Rampage. My back is not 100% yet and even when I regain full strength, it will take a few weeks of training before I can participate in ‘high impact sports’”.
Even if the fight for the top spot of this year’s FMB World Tour is over, there are numerous athletes still in contention for the remaining podium spots. Martin Soderstrom currently ranked 2nd and Brett Rheeder currently ranked 3rd can still be passed in the overall ranking by Thomas Genon (BEL), Yannick Granieri (FRA) or Anton Thelander (SWE) depending on the results from Red Bull Rampage.
So make sure you tune in to the live webcast of 2013 FMB World Tour grand finale at Red Bull Rampage on October 13th, live on redbull.com/bike and fmbworldtour.com.
