He’s threatened to retire before, but then somehow always ended up back on the trails competing. But this weekend at the final round of the EWS in Finale, Nico Vouilloz announced his retirement, and at 40 years old perhaps this time he means it. Certainly he’s been talking about it all year – we caught up with him at the launch of the new Lapierre range earlier this year.
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His final season hasn’t delivered the last EWS win he hoped for, but he did grab a second place finish in round seven at Valberg, France. This rounds off a career which started on the Downhill scene, where he bagged 10 World Championship titles before ‘retiring’ in 2002 to do a spot of rally driving. The trails called however, and he returned to the professional mountain biking circuit in 2007, competing in the EWS. A knee injury and the general feeling that his body takes longer to heal has had him considering his future, with this retirement announcement being an anticipated end to this season’s EWS.
It’s perhaps not retirement as many of us would think of it though: more a change of focus from steep and fast stuff to longer ‘adventure’ style races, with a smattering of pedal assist thrown in. He mentions wanting to do week long races like the Andes Pacifico and Trans Provence events – hoping (and there’s surely more than a touch of innuendo in that interview?) that the long slow(er) ride will play to his strengths.
Nico has been more than a racer for some time now however, being an integral part of the Lapierre development team and working closely with company owner Gilles Lapierre to develop the ranges each year. This year saw the launch of the Overvolt AM Carbon – an e-bike which Lapierre, and Nico, think brings the handling much more in line with a ‘standard’ bike. It was Nico who pushed for the lower centre of gravity which led to the radical shaped frame, and he is pleased with the result.
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E-bike haters may struggle to reconcile the fact that heroes such as Nico are happy to ride, and even race, e-bikes – but if Nico reckons they have a place, surely there must be something in it? We don’t think it’s all about the e-bikes though – when we met, Nico talked to us at length about how he enjoys working with Lapierre to find ways to make all the bikes in the range better. While he has the benefit of a support team and access to mechanics, he recognises that the average rider on the trail does not, and enjoys the challenge of devising improvements that will have mass market appeal. Which makes us wonder whether we’re going to be seeing week long race ready rigs from Lapierre in years to come?
