The competition takes place from April 5th, 2014 at the Vienna City Hall Square on occasion of the free ARGUS BIKE FESTIVAL, the largest bike festival held in Europe. With plentiful booths of leading exhibitors showing the latest trends of the forthcoming bike season and entertaining side events for everybody regardless their age, the City Hall square will transform into a heaven for all bike lovers. The "King of the dirt" will be announced after a 2-day combat, from April 5th to 6th right in the city center. The riders will have three massive jumps to show off their skills, style and new tricks. Located between the historical Rathaus (Town Hall) and the old Burgtheater, originally known as K.K. Theater an der Burg make this place special and is regarded as the most “photogenic” bike event of the year.
Every year a crowd of roughly 120,000 spectators attracts the Argus Bike Festival to ensure the adrenaline is pumping throughout riders veins. With FMB World Tour points up for grabs and the eyes and cheers of spectators set on the riders – they will be pushed to give it their all!
The rider line-up comprises of 20 invited FMB World Tour top riders, plus around 40 pre-qualifiers. During the pre-qualifying on 5th of April, ten of the 40 riders will be selected to advance to the qualifying round and compete with the well-established set riders for the overall prize purse of 10,000 Euro. Dirt jump and slopestyle stars like Sam Reynolds (third in 2013), Thomas Genon (second in 2013) and the defending champion Brett Rheeder have staged some impressive battles for the Vienna Air King title in the past and all three have confirmed their participation for 2014.
Russian crowd pleaser Pavel Alekhin amazed us with his technical skills last year, with a spectacular world premiere trick, his backflip barspin to barspin to tailwhip. Needless to say, that incredible stunt secured him the Best Trick award. It is anyone’s guess what awesome tricks the riders have in store for us at this year’s edition. However, it is certain that the spectators can expect some big names and a royal mountain bike show in the city center of Vienna.
Saturday, April 5th
10:00 am - 01:00 pm practice
02:00 pm - 04:00 pm qualifying "Vienna Air King"
04:15 pm - 05:15 pm Panasonic-Best-Trick-Competition
Sunday, April 6th
10:00 am - 01:00pm practice
12:30 pm signing session at Red Bull Mobile
02:30 pm – 04:00 pm finals & super finals "Vienna Air King"
04:15 pm prize ceremony "Vienna Air King"
For additional information you can go to: www.vienna-air-king.at
Source: fmbworldtour.com website. All images are property of vienna-air-king. Video: Youtube
