The FMB Diamond Series has a new leader and his name is Brett Rheeder!

The 2015 FMB World Tour season is officially underway. A week of awesome mountain bike action was brought to an end with the Crankworx Rotorua Slopestyle contest – the first of five FMB Diamond Series stops. The people’s rider, Kelly McGarry helped design and create the course along with local builders and shapers from ‘Extramile Trailbuilding’. We all knew that if the course had Kelly’s stamp of approval then Crankworx Rotorua was going to be epic. What we didnt know however, was who was going to stand on the podium at the frist diamond stop.

The event was full of suprises. Anthony Messere who was on fire last season, came out the gate just as strong but stuggled on both runs to make a difficult 720 stick. Sam Pilgrim returned and showed a solid first run – he was eager to nail his second but cased a hip jump hard leaving him with no speed to continue. Most notably however, Brandon Semenuk was not in lead after the first runs and did not complete his second, leaving the doors wide open.

The podium was not short of candidates. Tomas Zejda (CZE) showed great progression and his first ever contest backflip double tailwhip. Sam Reynolds was having so much fun on course, and that showed in his riding. Logan Peat is another athlete who left the crowds hungry after last season, but has come back and impressed once again in Rotorua.

However, the man everyone wanted to see, Martin Soderstrom, has returned and gave his fans what they have waited for. Two amazing techincal runs packed with tricks but sadly, it was not enough to put him up on to the podium, finishing in fourth.

In third place was the combo genius, Thomas Genon (BEL). This athlete has the championship in his sights this year. A solid podium finish at the first FMB Diamond Series is a great way to start the season.

The young gun, Nicholi Rogatkin debuted in 2014 on the FMB World Tour and is a very quick learner. His techincal riding and huge tricks left him with a very impressive second place. 

The man of the hour though was Brett Rheeder. Brett has won the first Diamond stop of the season and is now leading the FMB Diamond Series.

After the contest Brett Rheeder told Redbull.com/bike: “I have always been in the shadow of Brandon Semenuk”. Well maybe, the 2015 season will be the game changer for this talented Canadian athlete.

For the full results please visit the event page.