Ordino (Andorra) (AFP)

After having moved away for a long time for the love of the mountains and the desire for freedom, snowboarder Victor de Le Rue has returned to freeride competition, and continues the family tradition while following his own trail.

Preferably in powder snow.

As the crow flies, beyond the forests and snow-capped peaks, Saint-Lary-Soulan, a picturesque scene of its first glides and bowls, is only a hundred kilometers away.

Almost at home in Andorra, in the Pyrenees which saw him grow up with a snowboard on his feet, the youngest of the de Le Rue failed on Friday at the foot of the podium of the first stage of the Freeride World Tour 2021.

So, barely finished the official ceremony, which he attended for once as a courteous spectator, the 31-year-old Frenchman has only one desire: to get back on his board to make the pleasure last.

"I'm not necessarily a big competitor," he told AFP, his eyes hidden behind the tinted visor of his ski mask.

Attracted in his youth by slopestyle, an Olympic discipline contested on a track strewn with obstacles, the Bigourdan gradually freed himself from the rankings, calendars and regulations.

To better devote himself to the making of documentary films with careful aesthetics, financed by his sponsors, which allowed him to "ride" in some of the most beautiful places on the planet.

- "New challenge" -

"The thing that I like at the base is really taking beautiful pictures, going to the mountains, paragliding, climbing, mountaineering, freestyle in powder snow ...", he lists -he as if reading the contents of an outdoor magazine.

And then a "new challenge" presented itself to him, in the form of an invitation for the Freeride World Tour (FWT), the benchmark circuit for this off-piste discipline.

An acceptable compromise for such a freedom-loving athlete.

"Even if it's a competition and it's a bit framed, that we are supposed to ride a D-Day at a T-moment, it's still freeride. We can express ourselves as we want and it's cool to see how everyone sees the mountain, ”he explains.

A snowboard purist, the Pyrenean snowboarder has not lost the winning culture of his early years: he won the FWT as soon as he tried his hand, in 2019, before finishing second. last year.

"He's the kind and benevolent guy, who always has a nice word for everyone", testifies one of his friends, the skier Maël Ollivier.

"But it's impressive how he is able to change suddenly and fit into his bubble when it comes to competition. He's ultra-determined."

- Young daddy -

By embarking on the freeride circuit, Victor de Le Rue has to a certain extent approached the general public, "who understand a little better what we do" than through his videos, more intended for enthusiasts of the genre .

He also slips in the footsteps of his big brother Xavier, 41 years old, triple winner of the FWT in 2008, 2009 and 2010.

"He gives me some advice, but we do not really have the same style, nor the same skills. So I will not ask him his opinion," said the younger.

Still between two mountain ranges, the two brothers don't have enough time to go sliding together or with Paul-Henri, bronze medalist in boardercross at the 2006 Turin Olympics.

But the siblings, who also include François and Sabine in its ranks, mounted like the others on a board from an early age, meet each year to celebrate Christmas in a village near Saint-Lary, where the parents ran a store of sport at the foot of the slopes.

There was one more person around the New Year's Eve table last December: eight months ago Victor became the father of a little boy.

© 2021 AFP