Source: Supplied.

The 2016 Red Bull X-Fighters will take place this weekend, 24 June, at the Plaza de Toros de Las Ventas in Madrid, Spain, marking the event’s 15th anniversary.

Australia’s reigning champion Clinton Moore will defend his crown, however it won’t be an easy defence as he goes against French hero Tom Pages, who won the past three Madrid events.

Moore will be back in action in Madrid after a brilliant 2015 season, in which he won three of the five stops. He also came out on top of Pages in their pressure-packed showdown for the 2015 championship at the season finale in Abu Dhabi.

The sport’s two aces, along with 10 other top riders, will have plenty of new tricks up their sleeves for the eagerly awaited Red Bull X-Fighters event in Madrid, which has traditionally been the venue for the world’s most breathtaking FMX stop for 15 straight years. Madrid has been the stop where riders have introduced pioneering new gravity-defying tricks.

Spain’s Dany Torres, who won Madrid twice in 2009 and 2011, and Levi Sherwood of New Zealand, who is also duly proud of his one victory in Madrid in 2012, will also be in the field attempting to stop Pages and claim the victory. Also in competing will be Australia’s Rob Adelberg and Japan’s Taka Higashino, both of whom have won stops in the past and are capable of winning in Madrid.

Spain’s Maikel Melero and David Rinaldo of France will round out the field along with two ‘Novilleros’, or aspiring young guns, who have been picked by fans and a Red Bull X-Fighters sport committee after submitting videos of their best tricks.

Sebastian Westberg, the first rider from Finland to compete in a Red Bull X-Fighters event, received the most fan votes for his video while Tom Robinson of Australia impressed the sports committee that included sports director Tes Sewell, Torres and Sherwood. ‘Novilleros’ is a term for young bullfighters in Spain who get their first taste of the action.

Robinson has more experience in front of large crowds in Australia, but has also only see the Madrid spectacle on TV before: “My excitement definitely outweighs the nerves,” said Robinson, who has trained a lot with Adelberg and sees his compatriot as the favourite to win. “I’ll be a little nervous when I get there but I love riding in front of huge crowds.”

Red Bull X-Fighters Madrid will broadcast live on www.redbullxfighters.com and Red Bull TV on 24 June at 10:00pm CET.