Nicolas Vouilloz (born 8 February 1976) is a French professional

mountain bike A mountain bike (MTB) or mountain bicycle is a bicycle designed for off-road cycling (''mountain biking''). Mountain bikes share some similarities with other bicycles, but incorporate features designed to enhance durability and performance in r ...

r and former professional

rally Rally or rallye may refer to: Gatherings * Political demonstration, a political rally, a political demonstration of support or protest, march, or parade * Pep rally, an event held at a North American school or college sporting event Sport ...

driver.

Biography

He won the Downhill Mountain Bike World Championships ten times, starting as a junior in 1992 and finishing his career with his 10th victory in 2002, only placing lower in 2000 finishing 8th. 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 Nice ( ; ) is a city in and the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative city limits, with a population of nearly one million World Rally Championship The World Rally Championship (abbreviated as WRC) is an international rallying series owned and governed by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile, FIA. Inaugurated in 1973, it is the oldest FIA world championship after Formula One. E ...

at the 2001

Monte Carlo Rally The Monte Carlo Rally or Rallye Monte-Carlo (officially Rallye Automobile Monte-Carlo) is a rallying event organized each year by the Automobile Club de Monaco. From its inception in 1911 by Albert I, Prince of Monaco, Prince Albert I, the rally ...

. His best result in the WRC is ninth place at the 2004

Wales Rally GB Wales Rally GB was the most recent iteration of the United Kingdom's premier international rallying, motor rally, which ran under various names since the first event held in 1932. It was consistently a round of the FIA World Rally Championship ( ...

, driving a

Peugeot 206 WRC The Peugeot 206 WRC is a World Rally Car based on the Peugeot 206. It was used by Peugeot Sport, Peugeot's factory team, in the World Rally Championship from 1999 to 2003. The car brought Peugeot the manufacturers' world title three consecutive ...

for the

Bozian Racing Bozian Racing is a French auto racing team founded in 1969 by Arthur Bozian. Although it also run in circuits, the rally represents the principal activity of the team. It was related to Renault for a long time. In 2002, Bozian Racing became the s ...

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 Didier Auriol (born 18 August 1958) is a French former rally driver. Born in Montpellier and initially an ambulance driver, he competed in the World Rally Championship throughout the 1990s. He became World Rally Champion in 1994, the first drive ...

Following Peugeot's decision to pull out of the WRC, Vouilloz competed on a full-time basis in the

Intercontinental Rally Challenge The Intercontinental Rally Challenge was an Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile, FIA-sanctioned rallying series organised by SRW Events and Eurosport, Eurosport Events, and aimed to "give new opportunities to young or amateur rally drivers ...

from 2007 to 2009. He was runner-up in 2007 with three wins. In

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

, he won the championship in a

Peugeot 207 S2000 The Peugeot 207 S2000 is a Super 2000 rally car developed by Peugeot Sport. It is based upon the Peugeot 207 road car. Drivers Enrique García Ojeda, Nicolas Vouilloz and Kris Meeke won the Intercontinental Rally Challenge The Intercontinental ...

, ahead of Belgian teammate Freddy Loix, with one win, six second-place finishes and top 5 finishes in each race. In

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

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

IRC results

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

References

External links

Official site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vouilloz, Nicolas French rally drivers Downhill mountain bikers 1976 births Intercontinental Rally Challenge drivers World Rally Championship drivers European Rally Championship drivers Living people French male cyclists Racing drivers from Nice UCI Mountain Bike World Champions (men) French mountain bikers Cyclists from Nice Peugeot Sport drivers Škoda Motorsport drivers