At this point, all that remains of last month’s Toyota Challenge skate vert competition is the bigger gap distancing overall points leader Pierre Luc Gagnon from the rest of the Dew Cup contenders.
Pierre Luc Gagnon
But it’s hard to get Shaun White off the brain, even though he’s in a distant fifth-place overall after missing out on the first stop of the season in Boston due to injury. Bucky Lasek sits in second, Andy Macdonald is third, and Sandro Dias is fourth, and all guys have a chance at the Dew Cup.
But since White’s return, he’s thrown the run of his life at each event, and racked up wins in Portland and Salt Lake, so nobody is putting anything past him.
Shaun White celebrating his winning run
“I’m giving them a hard time, huh?” White said half-jokingly after his win last month in Salt Lake.
He can throw an even bigger wrench in the standings because for the first time in Dew Tour history, Vegas will offer a 50 percent boost to the points system. For example, a win will give the rider 150 points, instead of the usual 100, and so on down the line.
Pierre and Shaun on the deck
“That would be nice,” White said of the points boost. “I need more points, apparently. It’s tough to miss an event and be playing catch up. Can you imagine if I was at the first event? I would be sitting pretty nice, I think."
But PLG isn’t even sweating it. He would need to place an unlikely dead last and Bucky and Andy would have to place no higher than fourth for White to collect the Dew Cup with a win in Vegas.
The first ramp of the Dew Tour season, at Boston's Skate Open in June
“Vegas is extra points, but it’s still the same ratio between first and second and second and third,” PLG said. “So I’m just going to do the same thing, I’m going to skate well, make sure I make the top five. I would have to screw up really bad for him to catch up.”
Bucky Lasek
In fact, Pierre only needs to finish in fourth place or higher to win the Dew Cup. But if he places fifth, and Bucky wins, the Dew Cup goes to Bucky for the second year running. But if Andy wins, and PLG places fifth, Andy gets the Dew Cup. Dias also has an outside chance to take the Dew Cup with a win if the rest of the top-three falter.
Andy Macdonald
“I think the race is there, and it’s a tight one,” Lasek said. But he also has his predictions.
“I guarantee Pierre is going to go home and pretty much go into training for the next month before the next contest,” Lasek said.
Sandro Dias
Even though the Dew Cup is in PLG’s grasp, Bucky doesn’t consider White out of the running.
“I don’t put it past him because he’s so consistent and he’s powerful,” Lasek said. “He’s got his bag of tricks and they’re really big. The guys got power and he’s got heart. He wants it.”
Shaun White
But Bucky wants it too, and after last month’s finals in Salt Lake, his podium finish boosted him into second place overall.
“That was probably one of the hardest finals to compete in with Shaun, Pierre, Bob and Andy,” Lasek said. “Because you know Andy’s going to stay on, you know Bob’s going to pull something crazy, and same with Pierre. Pierre is Mr. Consistency with tech tricks, and he kills the ramp. Then you throw Shaun into the mix, and he’s all of the above. He comes out, he definitely has the height, the momentum, the power, the tricks.”
Pierre Luc Gagnon
Macdonald said even though White’s not the leader in Dew Cup contention, his presence in the competition this season has made everyone take notice.
“Shaun shows up at a contest and everyone is vying for second place,” Macdonald said. “We know if Shaun puts his whole line together, he’s going to be two or three points ahead of the next best line. You really have to do something special to beat Shaun if he puts his line together. He’s able to just put together combos that most people aren’t able to, at a height that most people aren’t able to.”
Another twist to the Vegas competition is that the vert ramp will be set up outside on top of the pool at the Hard Rock.
The vert ramp for Vegas, Bucky said he's bringing extra boards, a bathing suit and snorkel gear
“That’s definitely going to change things a bit as far as wind is going to be a factor and sun is going to be a factor,” Macdonald said. “You’re dealing with elements and generally at the Dew Tour you’re inside, it’s an air-conditioned, controlled environment, and you don’t have to deal with that stuff.”
Pierre Luc Gagnon saying what's up to the fans
This season brought a lot of media hype around a pseudo Shaun/PLG rivalry, but it also brought a new crew of vert up and comers, including first timers on Tour Pedro Barros and Ronaldo Gomes from Brazil, and the UK’s Sam Beckett. These are the next generation of Dew Cup contenders, and they’re soaking up every minute of their first year on Tour.
Bucky Lasek
“It’s sick, just being able to skate with these guys that we always saw in the videos,’ Barros said. “Being able to share the ramp with them and skate with them, it’s just amazing.”
Andy Macdonald
“It’s crazy,” Beckett said. “The competition is pretty heavy and you have to be sure that you can make a run. The standard is absolutely insane. That’s the biggest difference between skating back home.”
Sandro Dias
Dew Tour tickets are available to the skate vert and BMX vert finals on Sunday, Oct. 17 in Las Vegas at the The Hard Rock Hotel Beach Club Pool ($25, GA). The competition is followed by the Dew Cup Awards Ceremony featuring WaVves LIVE in concert at The Joint ($20 Floor/$15 Balcony). The Dew Tour’s Festival Village will be open from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Sunday at The Plaza, and admission is free. For more information, visit the Dew Tour Championships site.
Check out the Alli photo gallery of the guys in the running for the Dew Cup in skate vert.
Watch highlights from all season of the Skate Vert Dew Cup contenders
