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	Peyragudes World Cup (15. - 18.07.09) The dark blue Daihatsu Materia, my ride for the next two months
	One of my practise runs in Peyragudes
The event started with freerides on wednesday and then right away qualification on thursday. My first timetrial was a bit disappointing but luckily I improved in my second run to place 4th behind Mischo, Louis Pilloni and James Kelly. It rained pretty much all friday, so some of us went to he hot cave in Luchon which was a hell lot of fun. The sun came back for saturday and afer some drifting on a few other roads near Peyragudes we had a crazy race late in the afternoon. I made my way through to the finals with sick runs against Jojo Martinez, Yvon Labarthe and then I met Mischo in the semifinal. Erik Lundberg, Louis Pilloni, Mischo and then met in the big final. I stayed way behind the others for the first part of the track and then tried to catch up after the three corners in the middle of the racecourse. It was a pleasure seing Louis Pilloni drift into the corner after the fast section. I came closer towards Mischo and Erik. Luckily I could avoid Mischo's board when he crashed in the last right hander and then gave my best to maybe catch Erik - but he was too fast! My strategy worked well for third place but wasn't enough to win. Even tough the race was so much fun! The next few days we will freeride in the south of France and then head towards Annecy.
	The three winners: Martin, Louis, Erik And like last year I placed third, what a race!
	Peyragudes on Orange sport TV Here's a short report on the race...
	Peyragudes to Argonay Mischo and I drove straight to Cassis in the south of France and eat awesome pizza for dinner. The next day we trew rocks down the cliffs on the Route de Crêtes, almost gote fined for parking our car under trees and then got sent of the road by the cops after five runs. So we drove to our next road, the infamous Mont Ventoux. Did some early morning runs the next day and then left towards Annecy to skate Semnoz... Mont Ventoux: Isn't it just impressive?
	Argonay World Cup (23. - 26.07.09) I'll bring it to the point right away: the road in Argonay is one of the most technical ever on the IGSA World Cup circuit. It's narrow at the top with two tight and one bigger corner before it opens a bit in the second part. There are another five corners, all quite challenging. This race will be crazy... I'm happy I worked on my drifting skills in the last few weeks... So tomorrow will be 2 timetrials and I'm really excited about this. I'll be riding 76mm flywheels, keep your fingers crossed for me.
	3rd place at the timetrials I gained almost 3 seconds in my second timetrial to place third behind Louis Pilloni and James Kelly. The run is really intense, I'd say without a doubt the most technical racecourse in the IGSA circuit ever. Now let's see how the race goes... Downhill Skateboard Top 10 Qualifiers: 1. Louis Pilloni, USA, 2:08.451 2. James Kelly, USA 2:09.155 3. Martin Siegrist, SUI, 2:09.492 4. Christoph Batt, SUI, 2:11.505 5. Mischo Erban, CAN, 2:11.702 6. Patrick Switzer, CAN, 2:12.414 7. Scott Smith, CAN, 2:12.843 8. Robert Nicholas, SUI, 2:13.333 9. Stefan Ruefli, SUI, 2:13.512 10. Yvon Labarthe, SUI, 2:13.789 And Switzerland would win the nations cup for sure, 5 out of ten are Swiss, awesome!
	Disappointing 9th place in Argonay I'm not sure if I can blame that result on my wheels but my last run was horrible. I crashed twice and almost a third time and was out in the quarterfinals I guess... Ended up on the 9th place most probably. My wheels were fine for two runs and then I thought I would be fine for another run, unfortunately they didn't. I slid out more than ever which was quite a surprise. Graveyard Call video by Yvon Labarthe Off to Col d'Izoard... Freeriding on one of the best roads ever!
	The french alps are one big downhill skateboard freeride paradise! What more do you want?
	Victory in Teolo (31.07. - 02.08.09) After a safe first timetrial I improved quite a bit to earn first place in qualification almost a full second ahead of Louis Pilloni. The race heats were crazy.
	I had to race Scoot three times and then met Mischo and Patrick in the semifinal. Braking very late for the first corner was my key to success. And then further down the track I pumped my speedboard with Magun trucks and Reflex bushings. First I didn't think that would work but now I know it does work and it helps quite a bit. I was able to stay in front...
	This is my first World Cup win after two years, so happy! Another cool thing about Teolo is the big screen at the finish line, where spectators can see almost the whole race, filmed by 6 or 7 cameras. Thanks to all the nice people from Roll Club Padova for organizing another unforgetable event in Teolo. I enjoyed it very much! Video by Yvon Labarthe Concrete Wave Magazine Eurotour review On my way back home to Switzerland I wanted to skate Stilfserjoch, the 45 hairpin road. Unfortunately it started raining with no signs of sunshine for two days so I drove straight to Liestal.
	Quick trip to Ticino I made use of my Materia and packed a few skateboards and my mountainbike for some freeriding in the south.
	A nice road in the middle of nowhere! There's pretty much no trafic the whole day long
	Kozakov, Czech Republic (12. - 16.08.09) The racetrack at Kozakov is amazing. It starts with a very fast drop leading into a nice corner section. The speed part at the end with a very fast sweeper shortly before the finish line makes for a perfect race course. Not to forget is the perfect smooth pavement all the way down the hill. Some trackfacts: length 2.5 km, difference in altitude 210 m, topspeed 85 - 90 km/h, perfect pavement, variety of corners and technical features...
	After two days of freeriding we did both timetrials in one day. I must have ridden a bit too safe and ended up on 7th place only. Thanks to Sven von Schlachta for always taking nice shots of all racers. Check out all of his pictures on his website: sven-photo.de
	Followed by Mischo Erban and Stefan Rüefli.
	The race started very well and I managed to win pretty much all of my heats. When I passed Fredrik Lindstrom and Mischo Erban shortly before the finsih line in the semifinal, I knew that I could win the race. Still, the final was hectic: I took the inside for the last corner in the forest and then got passed by Mischo, who then crashed on the straight. I was lucky to be able to avoid him. Christoph Batt then passed me relatively early and like in the semifinal I passed him right to the finish line.
	This is right after Yvon Labarthe rode off the road with his luge, trying to push and follow us to film the final... Batt and I couldn't stop laughing. We were in no rush, he gave me a friendly push so we wouldn't ride side by side.
	The last corner.
	Christoph Batt and I.
	European Champion again! The podium was all green, 76mm Flywheels are the key to success on czech, excuse me, tech tracks... 1. Martin Siegrist, SUI 2. Christoph Batt, SUI 3. Sebastian Hertler, GER top 3 riding 76mm flyhweels 4. Mischo Erban, CAN - riding centrax Official race video Video by Yvon Labarthe
	Switzer///land Patrick Switzer made his way to Liestal and I took him to the best roads Switzerland has to offer. 7 roads in two days... check out the pswiss flickr photostream
	Thanks to my EuroTour main sponsor It's been a great pleasure to travel across Europe with my Materia!
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