5th stage of the 2005 KPWT

St Gilles Kitesurf Pro
World Cup of Kiteboarding
2005 Kiteboard Pro World Tour
St Gilles Croix de Vie РVend̩e РFrance - 26th October/ 2nd November, 2005

Thursday, October 27th – For immediate release

Charles Deleau winner of the simple freestyle elimination of the St Gilles Kitesurf Pro!!!

The St Gilles Kitesurf Pro, the only french stop of the 2005 KPWT started today with great conditions : beautiful sky, warm temperature and above all a strong steady South-West wind, reaching an average strength of 20-25 knots.

After the 4th first legs of the tour in Italy, Turkey, Brazil and Australia, the dramatic course of action of the 2005 world cup season is indeed going on in the city of St-Gilles-Croix-de-Vie in Vendée, well-known as one of the best water-sports centers of the french Atlantic coast.

35 pro international male riders and 6 female competitors made the way to “La Grande Plage”, wave spot where the competition is taking place : freestyle & wave will be the main event, with at stake a 25,000 $ prize money and points for the world title.

After the first skippers meeting this morning the race direction launched the freestyle competition, starting with the men pre-qualifications - as we had 35 registered riders for a 32 men board; no longer had we determined the 4 qualified riders than we went on with the simple elimination : to sum up things, among the international leaders who easily made their way to the 1/4 finals, we had the surprise to find the local Sylvain Chaillou who created the surprise by eliminating the italian Stefano Maselli (5th of the current KPWt world ranking), Pierre Vogel, Sébastien Garat (FR, 7th world ranked) and Antoine Auriol (FR, 4th KPWT ranking) in the loser final.
On the other hand we have to point out the spectacular ascent of Charles Deleau, current 3rd of the world ranking although, who successively beat Cyril Coste (FR), Antoine Jaubert, Antoine Auriol and Thomas Cocquelet in a most tight winner final.

On the women side, the sunlight didn’t last enough to enable the race direction to finish the first elimination draw, composed of 6 girls; the two spanish KPWT leaders Gisela Pulido and Noelia Nunez are neck and neck in the winner final, followed by Julie Simsar, current 3rd of the world ranking, who eliminated the french Caroline Adrien during the loser final.

To conclude, it’s been a great competition day here in St Gilles Croix de Vie where a crowd of 3 or 4000 spectators attended the show. The conditions still look promising for the week end, so see you tomorrow for the possible double elimination !!!! KPWT Team

Ranking freestyle simple elimination Men :
1st: Charles Deleau (FR) – North, Fanatic, Cool Shoe, Red Bull, Kitefix
2nd : Thomas Cocquelet (FR) – Cabrinha, Sooruz, RSC, Julbo, Axel’Air
3rd : Sylvain Chaillou (FR) – DLS, EH
4th : Antoine Auriol (FR) – Kiteloose, Mormaii





Thanks to the our partners :
Institutional : St Gilles Croix de Vie, Semvie, Pays de La Loire
Official suppliers : Smirnoff, 24 Power, Julbo, Mc Donald’s, Misultin
Media Partners : Europe 2, Sport+, Sailing Channel, Kitesurf Mag, Stance, KB.de, Kiteboarder
KPWT partner : Hawaii Surf

Competitors registration for the event : www.kiteboardpro.com

Media accreditation and FTP pictures services :
For media accreditation, please contact : kpwt@wanadoo.fr
For pictures, please contact : kiteboarding@wanadoo.fr

Media : National and International TV news :
International news available for each day of competition
There will be international news for the final day of event. DvCam PAL tapes with split no music & Effects audio tracks (tapes to be clearly labelled with series title and episode numbers in English). English language time-coded script (to be provided both in hard copy and sent via e-mail).
kiteboarding@wanadoo.fr

Media : Highlights TV programme :
26’ highlights for TV, Internet and DVD is available for worldwide distribution .
Betacam SP, Digital or Dvcam PAL and NTSC tapes with split no music & Effects audio tracks (tapes to be clearly labelled with series title and episode numbers in English) Premix or Fullmix english version. English language time-coded script (to be provided both in hard copy and sent via e-mail).

For further information :
please visit : www.kiteboardpro.com
And/or contact Frédéric Gravoille, Promoter of the Tour: kiteboarding@wanadoo.fr
or Bénédicte Samzun, Event Manager and Coordinator : kpwt@wanadoo.fr
Tel / Fax : 00 33 (0) 1 46 44 46 94
More informations and the 2005 KPWT Calendar :