Libor P
Back on the scene with a point to prove - the Czech
FMXer has shaken off several months of injury
and is ready to leave his mark on the Freestyle
Motocross World Championship.
Interview: Martin Zöllner / images: ESPN
Libor, how is your season going so far?
2017 has been interesting so far. Last year
in November I broke my collarbone at
the Night of the Jumps in Riga. That was
very frustrating because I was feeling very
good on the bike at that time. But I was
back on the bike three weeks later for the
Gladiator Games. The problem was that
the collarbone got a really bad infection,
so they had to cut me open in December
again to take out all the metal plates and
clean the infected areas.
Right at the beginning of 2017, I went to
Spain to practice hard. I was really in a
good mood. Then we had the first Night
of the Jumps in Basel and I crashed again
attempting my Cali’ Roll. That was really
a bummer. I didn’t get hurt that bad, but
I’d lost points already at the beginning
of the season. The next stop in Berlin,
however, was pretty awesome - I got a
second place in the first night and won
the second night. That was really great.
Right after Berlin, me and my brother
went to Vienna for Masters of Dirt - and
in practice I broke my hand. It really
pissed me off, because I didn’t even
crash - I got stuck on my seat handle and
twisted my finger! I still rode all days of
the shows. I taped a credit card on my
hand so it holds together and blocks the
movement a little bit. Right after Vienna I
went for the surgery to fix my hand. Five
days later I already had to ride at Night of
the Jumps in Krakow, but it was so painful
that I just did some basic tricks.
After Krakow I decided to chill for three
16 | FreestyleXtreme.com
weeks until Night of the Jumps in Munich
to heal up. In the meantime, I found out
that I had a hernia but decided to wait
until after Night of the Jumps to get it
fixed. I took second place at NotJ and
went for surgery the following Wednesday.
So, the season started good but all those
stupid little injuries were really a pain in
the a$$. I hope the last surgery will go
well and then I will totally concentrate on
the X Games.
You spend almost the entire winter in
Spain. What keeps you going back?
I think Spain is the best country for
freestyle motocross, especially in winter.
For the last three winters, I rode in
Lleides. Lleides is a group of people living
around the city of Lleida. The boss is
Antonio Navas, and I think they have one
of the best FMX parks in the business –
and since the start of this year they’ve got
a sick Supercross track in the middle of
the park.
So many guys from all over Europe go
there to practice during the winter, like
David Rinaldo and Kai Haase - and it is so
much fun to ride with all those guys. The
park itself is one of the biggest in Europe;
it has everything you can wish for as an
FMX rider.
I always take my family along. We stay
one hour from the park at the beachside,
because there I can relax more from
riding, play with the kids, go for a run, do
yoga or write my book… as I like to say:
“Life is good on the beach”. u