Our Steggy boy was in Val di Sole last weekend and sent us this present, a quick itw with three heroes from the UCI Downhill World Cup. Enjoy!

Do you have a dirtbike? Who is your fav rider?

Aaron Gwin: Yes I do! I’ve got 3 bikes: Ktm 500 exc street legal that I’ve just got, ktm 350 sxf and a ktm 450 XC and Uhh favourite rider…I don’t know man! I don’t know If I have one that I really like and sticks out of everybody else do I like Eli Tomac I used to train with his dad and him a little bit so I know him a little bit and Dungey was an incredible rider, I look up a lot of this guys, lites riders too, I can probably say something good for all of them! I really don’t have a favorite I’m kinda a fan of all of them!

Danny Hart: I do have one but I’vent ridden it in a while.I don’t have a real favourite rider, I think Ken roczen is a pretty cool rider , I had the pleasure to ride with him a few years ago and he was cool!

Loris Vergier: Yes, I ride motorcycle to train! I think mx is dh riders dream, if I could ride another sport would be mx! I got inspired from mx and watch every race, enjoy every battle!
I m not pushing fox/shift but I have to say that I m pretty pumped for the comeback of ken roczen! But you know my fav number is 7, I’m riding number 7 also today, my favorite rider is def James Stewart!

 

One of the biggest differences between motocross and downhill is in learning tracks, motocross tracks are easyier to learn and remember cause of the shortest laps and cause of you can watch at other riders lines easily, here you have to get the lift and try maybe a couple of times only in an hour. How do you prepare the perfect run for the race day?

AG: Usually we walk the track about twice once before practice and once after qualify, in then in practice I stop look at stuff figure out lines, usually my race run is probably my 10th to 11th run of the weekend , so yeah you gotta memorize pretty quick the hardest part of the track as we have practice in the morning ad race at 4.30 so you know is 4 and an half hours , the people are racing on the track and you haven’t been on it so you kind just gotta learn to adapt but you know is the same problem for the top guys so just part of the deal!

DH: Yes it’s true the track is there and you can look at the track everytime you need is easier than here, you can change lines lap by lap almost without risking, here I do 12 Laps to understand a track and couple track walks, is necessary to do the perfect run on the race day.

LV: Depends on the track, how much is raugh but I say, on a weekend I use to do 15 laps or less, maybe a couple of trackwalks! We need to walk to check the lines

 

“Retirement gate”, a lot of motocross riders are retiring pretty young, 25-28 yrs old is the average age of retirement this days, what do you thing about this? Downhill is pretty different.

AG: Yeah but we’ve got a more relaxed schedule, I mean each one of the race does requires about a week of time instead a couple of days but we got 8 races a year than we got the real big one and than I probably got eight other races, so I probably do 16 races and a lot are pretty close to my house so…the motocross guys, the amount of work the have to put in, the fitness level and to race every single weekend and only get a few months off, even they are doing straight rhythm, monster cup this phisically will be really really hard on your body and yeah I mean is a really dangerous sport as well so you see those guys, and a lot of those guys are racing series since they were 4 yrs old, usually in downhill you start racing a little bit later, you know 20 yrs of career racing and they are 24 yrs old,is it pretty crazy but I think they make anought money they get to a point where they are happy and its really hard to maintain their level of fitness and to ride at that level so Yes I understand them as a racer!

DH: In motocross they have a lot of races, mxgp season is long, supercross-nationals longer!
Here we are more relaxed, I would add 2 more Race to the season!

LV: Is pretty good that you have 6 months Off season, you can train and have a life out of the sport, than you have 6 world cups, world champs and few races more, but I’m pretty sure you can be here racing a long time, an example is Gregg Minaar, 36 yrs old still winning, for sure we earn less money than mx riders so, I guess, you can ride a bit longer cause you want to earn money longer but yes I think it’s pretty weird they are retiring at 25-28 but you know…there is a whole life after…

Interview by @SteGallo4

Pics by Yuri Cortinovis

 

Other shots from Val Di Sole: