Last night’s Veolia Slopestyle took Queenstown Bike Festival 2015 to new heights with a global field of riders thrilling a packed downtown crowd of around 4,000.

Final results showed it was tight at the top with less than four points separating the best five riders in this Freeride Mountain Bike (FMB) World Tour bronze event.

Tomas Zejda came out on top scoring 85.3 with his first run. The Czech edged out last year’s winner, local rider Conor Macfarlane (84.3) into second place with Polygon UR Team’s Sam Reynolds over from England (83.3) to scoop third.

The podium shared a cash pool of more than NZ$3,000 from Veolia plus prize merino from Mons Royale.

Six monster hits began with an 8m-long flat drop into a 5.4m high quarter to wall hip before flowing into the main line of a trick in-and-out fruit bowl, 7m ‘money trick’ jump and finally twin quarters with a wall option.

Tomas Zejda’s winning run featured a 360 X-up on the first drop, bar spin to wall, tail whip step up and truck driver step down, double tail whip on the money booter and a big flare on the final wall.

“It was my plan for the first run. I actually wanted to do a bit more on the second one but it didn’t go how I planned but it was a totally awesome evening for me. Everyone killed so hard today that’s why I’m so pumped for the next year,” he said.

Head judge and course designer, Tom Hey of Extra Mile Trail Building put Zejda’s win down to him maximising the potential of each feature.

“He basically tricked everything nice and clean, including both of the wall rides which are harder to trick. Every trick was a good trick and he didn’t leave any blank spaces which a couple of the other guys did,” he said.

“The overall standard was really good – one of the highest levels we’ve had here, definitely in practice with a couple saving themselves for Crankworx. It’s been great to have the international guys here, a couple of the Red Bull riders killing it.”

Antoine Bizet took home a cheque for NZ$1,000 by winning best trick off the final booter. His fellow competitors judged the French ace’s cash roll – a front flip 360 rotation – best in show during the jam-style final session.

Before leaving to celebrate at the Rhino’s Ski Shack after-party, Bizet said he learned the cash roll last year but hadn’t practiced much due to injury.

“I did some last week and I’m pretty stoked I got it first run on these jumps. I really love Queenstown. There are so many activities and the biking here is awesome, the parties as well. This is my second time in Queenstown and I love it!” he said.

Top amateur was once again Hamish Burrow from Dunedin who scored 63.3 to repeat his 2014 victory. Burrow finished more than four points clear of closest rivals, Drew Strijland from Ashburton and William Green from Australia.

Veolia Slopestyle at Queenstown Bike Festival is the second stop on the FMB World Tour after the season opener in Austria. The tour stays in New Zealand for round three at Crankworx Rotorua next weekend.

The 2015 Queenstown Bike Festival continues today (Sunday) with another of its showpiece events, the Vertigo Bikes Dirtmasters DH ending with a final huck down the concrete steps into town from Man St. Then the Finale Party at Lone Star tonight marks the end of part one of the festival with the Tour de Wakatipu, a family-friendly trail ride from Millbrook Resort to Chard Farm winery, still to come on Easter Saturday (4 April).

More information and results are available on the Queenstown Bike Festival’s website at www.queenstownbikefestival.com. Video edits are available to watch on the festival’s YouTube channel.