Whistler marked the third and final stop of the 2019 Crankworx world tour series after making it's way to Innsbruck and Rotorua. The finale in Canada would also prove to be the biggest and most exciting round with Troy Lee on hand, giveaways and TLD athlete's having so much success.
Vaea is always all smiles on the bikeGarbanzo DH
The seven-kilometer decent that is the Garbanzo DH features some of the gnarliest terrain offered on the Whistler mountains. This year Mitch Ropelato shocked everyone and clocked an unreal time that not only took gold in the event, but also beat the second place by over 12 seconds! Youngster Tegan Cruz followed suit in the youth 13-14 class to take gold and Vaea Verbeeck grabbed bronze and some valuable points in the pro women's category.
Mitch on his way to the big winAir DH
The TLD bike crew continued to push through the week and the Air DH was next on the list. Sram TLD Racing's Lucas Cruz lined up for this one in the junior 17-18 class and his little bro Tegan would race alongside in the 13-14 brackets. Both boys would take medals home, Lucas with gold and Tegan with silver. The reigning junior women's world champ and Sram TLD Racing teammate Vali Höll decided to throw herself into the pro women's class for the first time and she crushed it! Vali brought home bronze in the pro class,' she's only 17!
Vali with the big check 🤑Troy Lee Paint Nights
Troy Lee and Jay Stemska graced the TLD Whistler Store Thursday and Friday night and offered customers FREE paint on their TLD helmets. Can't think of a better gift than that! Scroll to see a couple of our favorite helmets from the two paint nights.
Jonny Boy on a youth A1 Helmet, the stoke is real
Troy hand lettering a D3Dual Slalom
A fan favorite, dual slalom was located on the hill this year near the pump track course. With TLD athletes competing in four categories odds were looking good. Mitch Ropelato earned gold in elite men's and took the King of Crankworx lead, Lucas Cruz added another first-place result to his week, Vaea would go on to take third in elite women's and last but not least the youngster Tegan Cruz snagged silver. After tallying up all the points from the dual slalom events at the Crankworx series, Mitch and Vaea were both crowned overall world champions of the dual slalom!
Cheers to the slalom win Mitch 🍻
podium buddiesAutograph Signing
This year's TLD athlete autograph signing went down at the Whistler Store and the lineup included Brandon Semenuk, Brendan Fairclough, Canyon Factory Racing, Kialani Hines, Kyle Strait and many more! Fan left with some sweet posters as well.
Brandon Semenuk and the crew lined up
Pump Track
Finals would take place under the lights, and the crowd could not be more stoked. Kialani Hines, the event's favorite pro women would add bronze to her collection and the Crankworx pump track overall championship! A couple of TLD groms, Brooke Anderson and Tegan Cruz followed in Kialani's footsteps to take the win in their youth classes.
woop woop! Kialani is the pump track world champ!Giveaways!
With a slew of epic prizes up for grabs at the event, giveaways at the TLD Whistler Store toped the rest. Everything from a custom painted D3 helmet, to a Spawn Bicycle and Sram TLD Cranks were up for grab this year. Check out some of our stoked winners who were congratulated by some of our special shop guest...
Troy with the winner of the custom painted D3 lid
This TLD grom just won a Spawn Bike!Speed & Syle
Maybe the biggest shocker of Crankworx Whistler, Mitch Ropelato who hasn't competed in any free-ride events was able to pull off the pro speed and style win!
Tom VanSteenbergen and Mitch Ropelato in the first round of the finalsKing and Queen!
After all was said and done and the points were added up from all three Crankworx World Tour events, Mitch Ropelato and Vaea Verbeeck were crowned KING & QUEEN OF CRANKWORX! The highest honor you can receive, these two showed they are arguably some of the most well-rounded riders on the scene today. To say the least, we're stoked to welcome Mitch and Vaea into some elite company.
