Who Jumped It Best? The Big, Bad Pau CCI5* Water Drop Edition

Last week’s coverage of Pau on EN is brought to you with the support of Kentucky Performance Products. We couldn’t do much of what we’ve done these last few years without the support of sponsors such as KPP — which, by the way, is a horses-first, women owned and operated company based in, you guessed it, Kentucky — and without you, our readers! So as we head into this final hurrah of our season, too, we thank each and every one of you.

We couldn’t exactly let the final five-star of 2022 go by without our favourite game of all, could we? For this week’s edition of Who Jumped It Best, we journey back to Les 5 Etoiles de Pau in the south-west of France and, more specifically, to the second water complex, which ended up being one of the most influential sections of the course. It featured an A and a B element, and it was the B element — a yellow MIM-clipped open corner on a right-handed four-stride turn — that ended up being a particularly busy segment of this year’s track, as the clip was activated nine times throughout the day, including by the first-phase leaders, Felix Vogg and Colero.

But our focus today goes to the A element instead, which was a beefy hanging log drop on a wide right-handed turn. Riders needed to land tidily to catch the reasonably tight four strides to the B element, and they needed to get it very right, or risk that clip being activated. Have a look at each effort and then scroll down to cast your vote on who you think made the best job of it.