From an American perspective, the European riders in the Bike Stuntman Park final really put on a good show for the crowd in Barcelona Saturday. Despite some pretty nasty wind conditions and the women in g-strings walking around, the riders put some pretty tight runs together. First and second place took home some cash and an invitation to compete at this year's X Games which will be held August 17th in Philadelphia.

Although the hot sun and blustery wind gusts made the riders a bit cautious of throwing down the really big tricks, there were still some insane runs by Alistair Whitten, Chris Mahoney, Sebastian Keep, and Ruben “Pollo Loco” Alcantara among others.

Alistair Whitten and his Flip Flyout 180 that won it.

Alcantara elaborated on the not so sweet course and conditions, “I think everyone rode really good for the conditions. The way they put the ramps together was very simple and it was hard to do anything new. All you can do is old tricks, like jump the box because there’s nothing really to do. So that makes it harder because there are so many good riders.“

One of our favorites to win a trip to the X Games, Chris Mahoney, had a great first round ride that looked strong enough to place him in the top three but after a brutal second round fall that Chris luckily limped away from, he was out of the running. The twenty-one year old fell while attempting a wall ride just after throwing a big backflip over the sub box and seemingly heading for a top three finish. Look for this guy to be breaking out and doing well in competitions for a long time to come.

el pollo loco Ruben Alcantara

“I couldn’t pull up the wall, I crashed and I hurt my pelvis. I can’t ride, I don’t think for a couple of days. It happens,” Chris explained. “ I was trying to do a wall ride on the inside of the sub box and I just crashed it.”

Third place went to eighteen year-old Hoffman Bikes rider Sebastian Keep. Sebastian, from Hastings, UK, put together two solid runs and really earned his keep with the Hoffman Bikes crew and the fans today. He just missed qualifying for the X Games by .50 of a point with an 89.88 average score.

“El Pollo loco” landed a spot at the X Games next month with some tricks that he didn’t think were too spectacular. “I tried at first to do a transfer (between the middle spine and the sub box) but it was so windy that the moment I wanted to do it, it slowed me down a lot and I crashed. It was hard, it was hard to ride. Like in those conditions it scared me, it’s hot and windy. That happened yesterday (the windy conditions) too, I mashed my fingers and had to ride all like this… (makes a gesture with three fingers). Hard time." Ruben took second with a 90.38 average score.

Nineteen year-old Alistair Whitten from Chester, UK was the man to beat all day. Whitten, now riding for the newly formed MacNeil Bikes team, Sobe, Vans, Little Devil, 661, AXO and Loophole, had a couple of runs with as much amplitude as I’ve seen in any bike event. He stuck a Flip Flyout 180 and followed that up with a Flip turndown over the box jump that was nutty. Whitten mixed his big tricks with a few technical tweaks for a big win with tons of style.

We asked Alistair how he felt about riding in an event like the European X Games. “It’s all friends right, it’s all from Europe. All my friends come from England. It’s a good vibe, like the vibe’s not super great at the X Games but you know all the friends come and it's amazing. That’s more important to me.”

MacNeil Bikes founder Jay Miron declined comment with us but he has to be pretty happy to have two more of his new team (Whitten and Alcantara) going to Philadelphia for Summer X. That’s MacNeil Bikes if any of you want to check them out. Whitten had this to say about being on the team, “Oh, it’s crazy, just staying in hotels with Jay and Ruben, all the adults that you look up to and you’re on the same team, you get treated like family, it’s amazing.”

See you at the X Games guys.

Overall Results:
1. Alistair Whitten - 92.38
2. Ruben Alcantara - 90.38
3. Sebastian Keep - 89.88
4. Markus Wilke - 89.50
5. Markus Hampl - 89.13
6. Sven Fanghanel - 88.75
7. Chris Mahoney - 87.50
8. Juergen Funk - 87.13
9. Alex Bender - 86.88
10. Sergio Layos - 84.25

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