Of his first “tricks” [figures] At the top of world BMX with no less than nine world titles, Matthias Dandois is undoubtedly the greatest representative and athlete of BMX Flat. His love affair with two-wheelers and riding began in a suburban car park in Épinay-sur-Orge, in Essonne. Dreaming at the beginning of handball and football, there was the show “Jackass” and the X-Games. Over time, it became a Bitumen figurethis is also the title of his work published by Flammarion. An autobiography which recounts this journey which resembles a fairy tale.
franceinfo: Your family was the first to believe in you, with this first bike offered at Christmas. And then this route finally from Flat in the garden built to know where you were, to prevent you from going out too much in the evening.
Matthias Dandois : Yes, that was the first big part of the problem, it was having a family who was crazy enough to let me do it. My parents, in fact, were kind and really encouraged me by building me this place in the garden. It was more to keep an eye on me because I spent hours and hours at the Épinay-sur-Orge tennis club, but in the parking lot. I saw the tennis club coach again not long ago and he said to me: “Mbut what were you doing?“Literally, I spent ten hours there. What I say in the book is that in this parking lot, I saw crazy things. There was a man who came every Wednesday with his mistress and in the car, they did their thing and I did my tricks Everyone did their tricks, it was perfect.
The first trigger was indeed a meeting with Alex Jumelin and Raphaël Chiquet who were BMX freestyle stars. They will accompany you during the first round of the World Cup in New Orleans. You will rub shoulders with those who were on the walls of your room through the posters that you looked at while dreaming of becoming like them. And what's more, you're going to win this incredible competition.
It was the summer that changed my life, the summer of 2007. To come back to Alex and Raph, to compare, it's as if a kid is a fan of Kylian Mbappé and all of a sudden, he becomes his best friend. And it's true that this summer of 2007, I arrived in New Orleans, I was the total outsider and I won this competition. And there, I am on the podium and I say to myself: “But what is happening to me ?” And I land Monday morning at Charles de Gaulle and my father comes to pick me up and says to me: “I hope you haven't forgotten, these are the baccalaureate results today“.
There was a deal between you, which was that if you ever passed your baccalaureate, he would let you continue your journey.
No one really made a living from BMX in 2007. We arrived at the academy and I looked for my name, I had the baccalaureate and then I said to myself: “Go fire !” The next day, I moved to Paris to live with Raphaël and we started the life of Pro Rider.
“My parents were right, it was super important to pass the baccalaureate and have my back.”
Matthias Dandoisat franceinfo
There were very difficult times, money was very lacking and you even thought about quitting on several occasions because you had to eat.
At the time, I only had one sponsor, it was more or less 1,000 euros per month. Moving to Paris, having to travel everywhere to compete… this money was not enough. After six months, I was broke. I said to myself: “Okay, that’s it, I’ll have had fun for six months, it doesn’t matter.” And there, a brand that gives wings to athletes arrived in France in 2008 and gave me my first professional contract and behind it I won my first world championship. And then it was gone.
You will have a series of victories to the point that, without defeats, you no longer have motivation. Winning all the time becomes difficult.
When we reach our goals too quickly, we have this feeling of: what's next? What's happening now? From 2008 to 2012, I don't think I lost a single competition, I really won everything. And from 2012, as soon as I made a very small mistake, even if I was stronger than the others, the judges would put me second or third and it drove me completely crazy. So, I said to myself: “You know what ? Forget me, I'm going to do another BMX discipline.”. And it was a saving grace for me to look elsewhere, the Street. It's much more physically involved than Flat, much less artistic, but it really gave me another vision of BMX and it allowed my career to continue. I'm still active, I still have the European Championships and the World Championships. If I hadn't had the Street, I would never have had such a long career. Sometimes you really have to look elsewhere to return to your youthful loves.
Even today, you have a smile on your face when you ride. Are you going to ride for the rest of your life?
Of course ! Even if I put an end to official competitions after the end of the year. There, I have the European Championships on November 16 and the World Championships on December 20. I'm going to try to win both, take a tenth title and then I'm going to hang up the handlebars.
“Everyone should try BMX, at least Flat BMX, because you don't need anything, just a bike, flat ground and that's the greatest thing that exists. Go BMX!”
Matthias Dandoisat franceinfo
I will ride BMX every day for the rest of my life, at least until my body allows me to, because it's the craziest feeling.
