FISE in Montpellier is unlike any event with BMX that I’ve ever been to. The crowds are just so enormous and the love for BMX can really be felt. It’s an awesome experience from my “media person” perspective, and I can only imagine how hyped it makes the riders. Another thing about Montpellier that makes it so awesome are all the BMX events they feature, including Park, Spine, Street, Flatland, and they brought back Dirt—with classes for different skill levels for both men and women. They pack so many BMX events into four days that it’s almost impossible for one person to cover all of it (even just the Pro events), so this year Justin Benthien and I went at it together. The first two days were a little more mellow, so Justin handled most of the filming and I shoot photos. As the events started to pick up—and even overlap in some instances—I switched over to filming as well. In the end, I didn’t get a chance to shoot Park Finals, or any Street or Flatland, but here’s some of my favorite shots from Park practice/qualifying, Dirt best trick/finals, and Spine qualifying/finals.
Check out all of our video coverage from FISE Montpellier 2019 here…
Drew Bezanson had this roll-in to the curve wall dialed. Unfortunately, he tried to manual into it during Best Trick, but he crashed and broke his femur. 
Ryan Nyquist was on fire during qualifying. 
Full speed and maximum altitude at all times… Jose Torres. 
Leave it to Jason Watts to combine a decade and lookback in the same jump. 
Tom Van Den Bogaard was an absolute pleasure to watch ride. 
I’ll never grow tired of seeing Peraza do this one. 
Safe to say Jaie Toohey has the nothing bike front flip dialed. 
Can’t go wrong with a Hucker 360. 
Hucker is always a crowd favorite. 
Leandro snapping a turndown into perfection. 
Peraza with the less is more. 
Jason Watts 
Jack Clark was shredding the Spine ramp—table 540. 
17 year-old Kieran Reilly was a force to be reckoned with on the spine. This kid has all the tricks and was super consistent too. 
Sergio Layos cranks one over fellow Spaniard Danny Leon. 
Kostya Andreev is a miniramp powerhouse. 
Special guest Rob Darden with the classic. 
Peraza, half-cab whip. 
Kyle Baldock, 720 during practice. 
Alex Coleborn, 720 barspin. 
Nyquist. 
James Jones with a flair whip at height. 
Jack Clark, upside down and folded. 
Sergio Layos. 
Mark Webb, turndown flair. 
Ratty Matty with a FISE first… the ass slapper. 
The crowd came for a show and Ratty Matty gave it to them. 
Boyd Hilder, coping inspector. 
Jason Watts doing what Jason does. 
Dennis Enarson, double bar. 
Jason Watts. 
James Jones. 
Brandon Loupos. 
The seatgrab Indian air seems like the new park rider prerequisite, Jose Torres demonstrates. 
Torres. 
Sergio, making every photo look awesome. 
Watts, no-handed 360. 
Webbie whip to tap, to foot jam, to most likely something else… 
Imagine being in this position over a double coping spine… Jaie Toohey got super close to pulling this over a spine for the first time. 
Alley-oop suicide no-hander. Classic Nyquist trick selection. 
Hucker, giving the crowd a show. 
Jake Leiva, massive front flip. 
Peraza. 
James Jones, picture perfect. 
Justin Dowell. 
Ben Wallace, keepin the classics going. 
Rim Nakamura, blasted double whip. 
Baldock, flair whip. 
Mike Varga, no-handed 360. 
Sergio, one foot, all the style. 
Jack Clark, folds em every which way. 
Jason Watts with some visual ecstasy. 
Jason, perfect form, knees together. 
Justin Dowell. 
Bryce Tryon. 
Peraza, always making photos easy. 
Enarson, doing nothing to qualify first in Spine. 
Enarson, tire grab and a swift kick of the leg. 
Justin Dowell, flairwhip. 
Mike Varga. 
Leandro, suicide en route to second place in Dirt Finals. 
Leandro, victory lap? 
Kenneth Tencio, flair drop-in off the friggin’ wall. 
The most dialed transition rider on the planet, Logan Martin. 
Pat Casey. 
Peraza. 
Tom Van Den Bogaard, spinning sideways with a foot off. 
Pat Casey, 360 whiop. 
Pat’s cashrolls look so sick. 
Pat Casey’s Dirt Finals win was celebrated properly. 
The Torres show about to begin. 
Jose Torres warming up for the win. 
Torres, tossing the bars. 
Jose was in a different altitude all weekend. 
Torres. 
Jose’s crew raised him up for the win.
WHAT IS OUR BMX?! In short, we are the Ride BMX staff out on our own. We’re building from the ground up and our goal is pretty simple. We want to continue what we love. We want to create great content, feature awesome riders, and contribute, push, and show why we love BMX. We sincerely appreciate any and all support… —Ryan Fudger, Jeff Zielinski, Adam Watkins, and Justin Benthien.
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