Twenty-three year old Alexandre Ferrer – Sherco is sure to get a warm welcome when he enters the Palais Nikaia arena in Nice, France this Friday evening for the closing round of the 2013 FIM X-Trial World Championship. Currently the young French rider sits seventh in the overall standings, but has a real opportunity to finish his first full season in this elite series with a top six ranking if he performs well on the night. Ferrer who lives in the historic town of Pertuis, which sits approximately two-hundred kilometres west of Nice, recorded his best result of the 2013 campaign to date at the opening round in Sheffield back in January.
However since claiming fifth spot at the curtain-raising event in Great Britain, Alexandre has failed to reach the same level at the following three rounds as his results show. Seventh in Barcelona, sixth in Malaga and a lowly eighth last time out in Bielefeld, Germany came after Ferrer suffered a nasty facial injury at a non-championship event not long after his opening round high. Despite this setback Alexandre was up beat as he explained about his season thus far.
“I was really happy how I started at Sheffield, my riding was at a good level after the winter training and I took a great result at Sheffield. Fifth place was the best I could hope for at that moment, against the other riders. I was hoping to move forward from that, but things then changed for me. I made a big crash at an event in Marseille and landed on my face. I had to go to hospital and they confirmed that my nose was broken.”
The 2012 FIM Junior Trial World Champion continued. “It was difficult to ride at the next round in Barcelona just a short time afterwards, not just with the injury and the pain, but also I think I had lost some confidence after the crash. Since then I have been fighting to be back at the same level I had in Sheffield and to have the same feeling on the bike again.”
Ferrer always had a big task on his hands this year having qualified to be one of the eight permanent riders thanks to his Junior success last season, though arrived as part of the series with high hopes much due to his strong showing as a wild card entrant in Paris, France at the close of the 2012 FIM X-Trial World Championship. “Last year in Paris I had no pressure and it was different, sixth place then was a good result as no one expected it, not even me. This year it is different as there is more pressure and you can feel that even though you try to block it out. It should not change anything, however still you do have a different feeling.”
As the lone French rider on the 2013 tour, Alexandre is only too aware of what it will mean to ride in front of a home crowd this coming Friday. “My house is quite close to Nice, so I will have many friends and family coming to support me, which will be good. I know that there will be some extra pressure, as I am the only French rider at the French GP, but I a sure that the noise from my fans will help me ride to my best level. Bernard Estripeau is the person responsible for the sections, and I know and like his sections very well. With these technical hazards I hope to be able to make my best result to finish the championship on a high point.”