Nicolas Vouilloz

Nicolas Vouilloz (born 8 February 1976) is a French professional mountain biker and former professional rally driver.

Biography

Vouilloz won the Downhill Mountain Bike World Championships ten times, starting as a junior in 1992 and finishing his career with his tenth victory in 2002, only placing lower in 2000 finishing eighth. He also won sixteen World cup Downhill races and is widely considered as the greatest male downhill racer of all time.

Vouilloz was born in Nice, France. In 2000, he started rallying in local and then national rally series. He debuted in the World Rally Championship at the 2001 Monte Carlo Rally. His best result in the WRC is ninth place at the 2004 Wales Rally GB, driving a Peugeot 206 WRC for the Bozian Racing team. Being a Peugeot protégé and development driver, Peugeot Sport paired Vouilloz with experienced codriver Denis Giraudet (winner of the 1994 WRC title with countryman Didier Auriol).

Following Peugeot's decision to pull out of the WRC, Vouilloz competed on a full-time basis in the Intercontinental Rally Challenge from 2007 to 2009. He was runner-up in 2007 with three wins. In 2008, he won the championship in a Peugeot 207 S2000, ahead of Belgian teammate Freddy Loix, with one win, six second-place finishes and top-five finishes in each race. In 2009, he finished fourth with the same car, collecting three podiums but no wins.

After several years absence from the mountain biking scene, Vouilloz returned to race professionally in 2007 at the fourth round of the World Cup in Champery, Switzerland. He races for Lapierre Ultimate Cycles and is currently involved in the Enduro World Series.

Complete World Rally Championship results Year Entrant Car 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 WDC Points 2001 Nicolas Vouilloz Renault Clio RS MON SWE POR ESP ARG CYP GRE KEN FIN NZL ITA FRARet AUS GBR NC 0 2004 Bozian Racing Peugeot 206 WRC MONRet SWE MEX NZL CYP GRERet TUR ARG FIN GER12 JPN GBR9 ITARet FRARet ESP10 AUS NC 0 2005 Nicolas Vouilloz Škoda Fabia WRC MON SWE MEX NZL ITA CYP TUR GRE ARG FIN GER GBR JPN FRA11 ESPRet AUS NC 0 2006 Equipe de France FFSA Peugeot 307 WRC MON SWE MEX ESP FRARet ARG ITA GRE GER FIN JPN CYP TUR AUS NZL GBR NC 0

IRC results Year Entrant Car 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 WDC Points 2007 Peugeot Sport España Peugeot 207 S2000 KEN TUR1 BELRet RUS3 POR9 CZE1 ITA3 SWI1 CHI 2nd 42 2008 Peugeot Team Bel-Lux Peugeot 207 S2000 TUR2 POR3 BEL2 RUS5 POR1 CZE2 ESP2 ITA2 SWI2 CHI 1st 68 2009 Peugeot Team Bel-Lux Peugeot 207 S2000 MONRet BRA2 KEN POR3 BELRet RUS POR4 CZERet ESP3 ITA3 SCO 4th 31 2010 Škoda Motorsport Škoda Fabia S2000 MON3 BRA ARG CAN ITA BEL AZO MAD CZE ITA SCO CYP 15th 6 2011 Škoda Motorsport Škoda Fabia S2000 MON7 CAN FRA UKR BEL AZO MAD CZE HUN ITA SCO CYP 14th 6

Palmarès World Cup Downhill Champion : 1995, 1996, 1998, 1999, 2000 Downhill World Champion : 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2001, 2002 Downhill Junior World Champion : 1992, 1993, 1994