2004, Monday, January 5
The weather is absolutly perfect for this first day of competition : it’s full of snow, sunny and windy !
For sure, it’s a great start for the 2004 Corona Extra Winter Tour…
Riders register in the morning : 19 snowboarders, 16 skiers, 5 juniors and 5 women. There are eight nationalities represented : riders came from USA, Norway, England, Switzerland, Spain, Germany, Denmark and France. Most of them already scheduled to join all the different events of the 2004 Corona Extra Winter Tour.
Once again, the family gathers together !
At 2.30 pm, the snowboard’s qualifyers begin. The three judges and the race director, Stéphane Bodou, watch the heats. Eleven riders succeed and join the five already qualifyed competitors in the main snowboard’s heat (best 16 riders).
With a 10 to 15 north-east north wind’s knots ( some gusts even reached 20 knots), these three qualifyer’s heats proved that the show will be crazy in the next days.
Next meeting tomorrow at 10am for the skier’s heats…
2004, Tuesday, January 6
The skiers arrive on the event's site at 10am, they meet the organization's team on the spot. As the sun shines, they wait for the 8 essential knots of wind to begin the contest .
At 11am, there's between 8 and 10 knots : the riders use their big kites and the first ski round begins. The best guys of last year (Ingrosso (CH), Tripier-Mondancin (F), Dons (N/F)) are super motivated but must resist to the new comers. For sure, kiteloops (kite 360°) are everywhere and push the level more and more. In an obvious way, Fabrice Tripier-Mondancin trained a lot : he wins this first round.
In the afternoon the wind keeps blowing around 8 knots. The first women and juniors round are done : Zoé Parmentier is the women winner and the first juniors place goes to Damien Pattou. For the first time in the Corona Extra Winter Tour's history, there's a juniors ranking : the level of these teens is really high and people are astonished.
The first two heats of the first snowboard's round close the day.
The snowboarders will be first on stage tomorrow at 10am !
