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GALLERY: Exclusive Look at Red Bull Valparaíso Cerro Abajo 2017

By Frantiska Blazkova/Jan Kasl

You might say that some of the photos fall in the “why women live longer” meme category. When you watch the helmet GoPro footage from any year of this “bike parkour” event you can’t but wonder how could anybody came up with the course. We wouldn’t even think of walking through some of the segments, let alone ride a bike there.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xEftm_IkJ3g

This year’s winner is a Czech Tomáš Slavík, who beat the competition at 2:48,480, managing to put more than 2 seconds between him and Bernard Kerr (GBR) who was second. It was the fourth time Slavík attended Valparaíso. “Cerro Abajo was always the highest goal to achieve for me but my coveted victory kept slipping out of my hands just by the seconds. I simply almost stopped believing that it was possible for me. This year I had a great time riding, after all the years I knew what to expect of the course and I was ready to put everything into my final ride” said Slavík to We Love Cycling. The warm and enthusiastic atmosphere of the whole event is world-famous and now you have the chance to experience it through our colourful gallery by Jan Kasl.

This year’s Valparaíso winner – Tomáš Slavík
Cerro Abajo celebrated its 15th anniversary this year. The Chilean historical city of Valparaíso receives thousands of enthusiasts of urban downhill racing every year.
It took some time for this cycling discipline to shift from events for a few insane MTB riders who were bored off-season to a full-blown race recognized by the downhill community.
Not only the accomplished stars of the cycling world take part in this adrenaline-rushing ride.

A lot of locals participate regularly, which explains what draws such a big crowd – not only is it a jaw-dropping experience to watch, but you can literally root for the kid next door.