Sam Pilgrim successfully defended his Vienna Air King title to start his Freeride Mountain Bike World Tour campaign in perfect fashion.

Pilgrim, who now has three Vienna victories to his name, topped the podium with 89.94 points from three runs, with the best two scores counting, after pulling a backflip tabletop, followed by backflip nohand, with a 720 and a 360 tailwhip to finish the show.

Yannick Granieri, who only qualified for the finals after Andi Wittmann withdrew, took second with 86.67 after a superb third run, with a truck driver off the starting tower, followed by a backflip tailwhip at the second jump and the next 360 was swiftly trumped by a 360 tailwhip on the last hit.

A truck driver was also Greg Watts’ first trick, which he followed with a backflip barspin. Add a 360 x-up to that along with a backflip tailwhip and you have a third place.

Andreu Lacondeguy’s super-clean double backflip earned him the Best Trick title, while Tyler McCaul pulled a never-seen-before 360 double downside whip out of the bag and was rewarded with second place. A 360 tailwhip at the step down landed Martin Soderstrom safely on third place.

Full Results

1.   Sam Pilgrim (GBR/NS Bikes)
2.   Yannick Granieri (FRA/Commencal)
3.   Greg Watts(USA/HARO)
4.   Martin Söderström (SWE/Specialized)
5.   Mehdi Gani (FRA/Probikeshop)
6.   Sam Reynolds (GBR/DMR Bikes)
7.   Tomas Genon (BEL/UMF)
8.   Szymon Godziek (POL/Dartmoor Bikes)
9.   Bartek Obukowicz (POL/NS Bikes)
10. Pavel Vishnevi (RUS/Blackmarket Bikes)
11. Antony Rocci (FRA/Rick the World)
12. Tomas Zejda(CZE/Dartmoor Bikes)
13. Jakub Vencl (CZE/Rose Versand)
14. Niki Leitner (AUT/YT Industries)
15. John Alm Högman (SWE/Scott Bikes)

Best Trick:
1.   Andreu Lacondeguy (ESP/Mondraker Bikes)
2.   Tyler McCaul (USA/GT Bikes)
3.   Greg Watts (USA/HARO)