Kitesurf Tour Europe overall + Video

by Kitesurf Tour Europe on 6 Nov 2013 The MINI Kitesurf Tour Europe 2013 had its Final in Castelldefels from October 10th-13th. The European Champions in Freestyle and the Tour Winner of the KTE have been crowned.

First we went to Almanarre in France. End of May, the sun and the Mistral welcomed us at the beach. The conditions for freestyle and course racing were really tough and some competitors were struggling in the strong wind and choppy water. A great change for the Course Racer – the Single Elimination and the Doubles were done in Freestyle – and still strong wind for two days of high speed races in average 25 knots. Almanarre was a great start for the MINI Kitesurf Tour Europe 2013. Mario Rodwald and Sabrina Lutz, both from Germany, won the first stop in the Freestyle discipline. In Course Racing Steph Bridge and Maxime Nocher saved their first position.

After France there was a small break until the second stop of the year – the Kitesurf Cup Sylt. In the beginning of July we all met again at the beautiful island in the north of Germany. Sylt is the biggest event of the tour and always a highlight for Riders, the Crew and visitors. This year we were quite unlucky with the wind. The past years we always had stormy conditions on the island – this year the sun was shining every day and a slight sea breeze was blowing, which was just strong enough for Course Racing. Maxime Nocher, again, won the Tour Stop in Germany. On the girls podium we saw Katja Roose from the Netherlands. Due to lack of wind there was no result for the Freestyle competition.

Weeks later Scheveningen, near The Hague, welcomed the MINI Kitesurf Tour Europe at their beach. The forecast for that weekend didn’t look promising at all, so that the number of participants was not that high as usual. In the end we coped with offshore, cold wind and managed to get Course Racing and the Single Elimination for Freestyle Men and even the Doubles in the girls division done. Sabrina Lutz had to run the super final against Wiktoria Rosi?ska from Russia. Mario Rodwald won against Frenchmen Paul Serin, who was more than happy about his first podium place on the KTE. Course Racing offered some surprises as well – Anastasia Akopova (only 14 years old) from Russia won her first race and bet Katja Roose and Steph Bridge, who was on the podium again. Florian Gruber, from Germany, took over the lead in the men’s division.

Only a few days after the KTE in Scheveningen the Crew was already on their way to Barcelona for the final set up of this year. Luckily it was sunny all day long and the set up went smooth. Riders arrived all over the world during the week and took the offer from the Olympic Cable Park to go wakeboarding for a very nice price. In the northern part of Europe autumn arrived – in the southern part the summer was still on with 25 degrees and sunshine nearly every day. Only for the Friday the weather changed – good for the competition – enough wind to run the Single Elimination in Freestyle. Alex Pastor, from Spain, was one of the favorites for the podium. In the end he got beaten by Austrian Rider Stefan Spiessberger in a very close heat. Mario Rodwald became third for that tour stop. Also overall leader Sabrina Lutz had her problems to win this stop.

Annelous Lammerts, European Champion Freestyle 2012, won against Sabrina und Danish youngster Therese Taabbel. In the end it made no difference on the overall ranking. Sabrina Lutz and Mario Rodwald are the new and old European Champions in Freestyle 2013! But who is the Tour Winner in Course Racing? The men’s fleet was very close! Florian Gruber won again that Tour Stop – which was unfortunately not enough to win overall. Instead of him, Maxime Nocher from France won the MINI Kitesurf Tour Europe 2013. Astrid Berz, from Switzerland had her first podium place in Castelldefels. She won in front of Katja Roose and Anastasia Akopova. Overall Katja Roose took the win – Aga Grzymska became second and Anastasia Akopova third.



An extra award was given by XS Power Drink for the Best Trick Contest to Alex Pastor and Sabrina Lutz. The Chupa Chups Kite Team crowned Katja Roose with the 'Chupa Award'.

All in all we are very proud and happy about the MINI KTE 2013. We hope to see you all again for the events in 2014. Kitesurf Tour website