LIVE THE ODYSSEY
LIVE THE ODYSSEY
Whet your appetite for adventures ahead by checking out the Komoot’s film which documents the final running of our epic race event.
2024 RESULTS & RECAP
SANTA CRUZ
STONE KING RALLY
A TRANS-ALPINE MTB ODYSSEY
44.6673° N, 7.0904° E
THE RACE ROUTE
Same but different: a fresh route and different trails each year.
We have always believed that the Southwestern Alps of Europe contain the best rideable terrain in the world in terms of quantity, quality, and out-there feel. What started with -and worked for- Trans-Provence is a formula that we’re sticking to: an itinerary commencing on the edge of the High Alps, and finishing at the Mediterranean Sea.
Each year our itinerary passes through the Queyras Park, the Occitan Valleys of Piemonte, the wild Roya Valley, and the hallowed hills of Liguria; all incredible areas in their own right, all previously unseen on a multi-day rally. However, whilst the nightly stop-offs largely remain the same from one year to the next, the trail itinerary changes almost entirely between each edition, providing a mind-blowing amount of fresh terrain for you to race (or indeed just ride!) each year.
2022-2024 RACE RESULTS
All the action from Stone King® Rally Volumes 1-3
STONE KING® TOURING CLUB
Live the dream & ride the route without race pressure
Stone King Rally, Vol.3 | 18 - 23 June 2024 | CLICK HERE FOR SIGN UP DETAILS
DATE & ENTRY
Stone King® Rally, Vol.3 [2024] will take place from 18/06/2024 – 23/06/2024 inclusive (6 days of racing) and has a capacity of 90 entrants.
ENTRIES ARE NOW CLOSED
PACKAGE
The Santa Cruz Stone King® Rally Volume 3 [2024] all-inclusive package price is €2595. This price includes almost everything imaginable within the realm of your Stone King race experience, as follows:
- 6 full days of racing. Exclusive first access to the annually-renewed Stone King Itinerary, which will take in around 23000m of descending on some of the Southwest Alps’ best singletrack.
- 16 huge vehicle shuttles for a total of over 15000m (43000ft) of off-bike height gain.
- Breakfasts & Packed lunches
- Evening meals with wine
- Feed station salads, snacks, hot & cold drinks
- Mechanical assistance from SRAM’s race support team
- Unlimited post-ride appetiser food, beers and soft drinks
- Convivial daily tent accommodation and village (using the latest and best tents and mats!)
- Baggage transfer from camp to camp
- Airport transfers (from/to NCE) on arrival and departure day
- Access to private digital SKR route guide collections on the Komoot app
- Free 12-month subscription to Komoot Premium (for offline maps, etc)
- SKR official welcome pack, including 2024 event T-shirt, printed route notes & lots more
- Value Added Tax, local taxes & fees
€2595 is a lot of money! What does it actually finance? >>>
€2595 IS A LOT OF MONEY! WHAT DOES IT ACTUALLY FINANCE?
VAT
Approximately 12% of the entry fee is lost to non-recuperable elements of Value-Added Tax (VAT / TVA / IVA).
INSURANCE
We possess a mandatory 3rd party / civil liability insurance cover to be able to operate Stone King Rally. The international nature of the route (France-Italy-France-Italy) makes it a complicated and expensive event to insure.
EVENT TEAM
Stone King® Rally is a complex, autonomously-run event which relies on a professional team of approximately 35 off-bike staff members, all of whom are properly paid. Nobody working in a camp, catering or logistics-related role does so on a voluntary basis. Staff members’ costs of travelling to and from the event, as well as accommodation and meals at the event are all covered by us.
MARSHALLS & MEDICS
We have a team of 4 paid on-bike professionally qualified marshals and 2 on-bike doctors, as required by the Italian cycling body to which Stone King Rally adheres (CSAIN). In addition to their day rate, we cover these teams’ expenses.
EMERGENCY SERVICES
We are required to have a dedicated ambulance on standby at the base of each one of our 24 timed Special Stages. Each ambulance is part of a professional (i.e. not voluntary) service, with 2-3 paid staff in attendance.
CAMP EQUIPMENT
The quality of your nightly rest is paramount. We commit very significant investment each year to ensure that tents and mats are either new or feel new, and are as comfortable as anything on the market.
RENTALS
Vehicles, campgrounds, village halls, tables, chairs, media staff accommodation… over the course of a week-long journey. The rental items list is really, really long!
FOOD
What we offer both in terms of quality and quantity of meals and snacks is hard to match on an event of this type. We take care of preparing and providing all the food you could possibly need, when and where you need it. To help us ensure a high level of service, we carry out yearly investment in the servicing and renewal of our catering infrastructure.
LOGISTICS
We run the best shuttle and travelling camp village operations in the game. It takes a lot to get it right: experienced staff; enough of the right type of vehicle; everything fitted-out, planned and managed in the right way.
THE ROUTE
We go to crazy lengths to fulfil our promise of a new itinerary every year. Scouting is a fulfilling part of the job, but it is also very time consuming and demands significant resources.
TRAIL PREPARATION & PROJECTS
We manage the assessment and preparation of every trail on Stone King Rally’s 250km route. The work required can be anything from cutting back Springtime vegetation growth, to instigating and running full-blown shaping projects on neglected or damaged trails. We have received invaluable help towards these projects from Santa Cruz Bicycles’ Paydirt scheme and from local voluntary trail associations. However, the sheer volume of the manpower required also necessitates considerable time and financial investment on our part.
BRANDING
There is nothing out of the ordinary here. Everybody knows that building and renewing a website, and servicing social media accounts take time and money.
OFFICE TIME & MANAGEMENT SALARY
Outside of the race event week itself, we spend approximately 300 man-days per year in the planning, recruiting for and preparation of each Stone King Rally edition. There are two of us and we each take a genuinely modest salary but we love what we do!
The above is neither apologetic, nor lamenting of the facts. It is stated neutrally and simply intended to provide a level of transparency regarding what Stone King Rally’s ticket price goes towards paying for. When quantified, €2595 is the per-person amount needed to cover all of the above outlays for the 2024 event.
STAY UP TO DATE
OUR TRAIL MISSION
Without trails there is no mountain biking and it is our responsibility as organiser and promoter to see that trails are maintained. Much more specifically, the improvement of trail networks within a context of positive MTB tourism is in fact a central premise of Stone King’s raison d’être. Our pledge is to leave terrain in a better, more rideable state than that in which we found it.
This involves a wide range of project types; everything from problem solving in already heavily used (and/or sensitive zones), to reopening and breathing new life into underused or abandoned trails of yore.
Facilitation and funding of such projects is also wide ranging. To date, projects along the Stone King itinerary have been carried out either by voluntary trail associations, or with funding from our sponsors, or thanks to direct action from municipal councils. A certain level of encouragement and coordination is required and it is also within our remit to lobby for touristic funding; To advocate for a culture of authorities investing in trails, for the good of adventure eco-tourism, for the good of the many valleys through which we pass.
Click here for details of projects which we have undertaken, oversaw or were significantly involved in within the context of Stone King® Rally 2022, 2023 & 2024.
PARTNERS
Stone King is an ambitious project tasked with building upon the race legacy and core values of Trans-Provence (2009-2019) whilst concurrently increasing accessibility to such an adventure. This complex undertaking would not have been started without the incredible support of a handful of the world’s best MTB and outdoor brands. These are the companies and people whose partnership makes STONE KING® RALLY (& related future projects) reality:
MORE ON OUR PARTNERSHIPS
SANTA CRUZ BICYCLES
Santa Cruz Bicycles’ exciting product line-up and industry-leading engineering need no introduction. Today we’re proud to announce Santa Cruz as Stone King’s title partner and sponsor, with their marketing team collaboratively involved in every step of our project, from first concepts all the way through to race execution and tour platform production.
“Santa Cruz has always been about supporting access to the best trails and bringing the relevant communities together. Following on from sponsoring Trans-Provence and its message about what an MTB rally could look like, it seemed obvious to take part in this next step, the more community-centred adventure that is Stone King”
– Loïc Delteil, SANTA CRUZ BICYCLES
SRAM
Mountain biking is made better by the innovative prowess and attention to detail which go into producing SRAM’s components, and Stone King could not be happier to have their support as first associate sponsor. SRAM will provide comprehensive neutral mechanical assistance to all participants of the annual Stone King Rally.
“Great rides make great stories, and for a great ride sometimes you need to get lost. Airing a battle cry for those that are hungry for seemingly endless grinds, life-changing descents and unforgettable friendships is Ash Smith’s specialty. The Stone King Rally pushes our products to the limit, as well as leaving a lasting legacy on the people and communities that it touches.”
– Ross Measures, SRAM
FOX RACING
There is no better-known name in moto and MTB apparel and protection, and no other brand that Stone King staff would rather be kitted-out by! Fox Racing’s exceptional range of clothing, helmets, pads and bags covers every eventuality on the mountain, from solo scouting to party trains. We’re stoked for them to join our adventure.
“Building on the legendary Trans-Provence’s foundations, Stone King Rally is a true MTB riding event which builds unforgettable memories for all participants. Fox Racing is proud to be supporting such a race that develops an amazing riding experience for the community as well as much the technicality of our products to the extreme.”
– Vincent Saccomani, FOX RACING
SUUNTO
Suunto produces second-to-none sports watches covering the full extent of GPS hardware needs for our route research, and of course your discovery and analysis of the Stone King itinerary.
“Suunto was founded over 85 years ago when we started making more accurate and reliable compasses. Since then we have been enabling adventure. And that’s exactly what Ash Smith and the team is doing as well: They scout the terrain and find the best trails to ride. We are super excited to be part of the Stone King Rally and also to enable people to navigate and ride it on their own.”
– Antti Laiho, SUUNTO
KOMOOT
Centred around an adventurous community spirit, Komoot is a cycling app allowing riders to find, plan and share adventures. We are working with Komoot to provide the perfect digital accessory to the Stone King adventure; a powerful, purpose-built navigational aid for race and tour versions of our itinerary.
“Komoot is all about community driven adventures and the desire to explore. Komoot and Stone King share the mission to enable riders to explore new places and trails by bike. By working with Stone King Rally we help to render a once-in-a-lifetime experience accessible to all mountain bikers who seek adventure, amazing trails and community spirit.”
– Calixta von Feilitzsch, KOMOOT
COOLBUS
Stone King’s transport requirements are fulfilled by the absolute best in the Alpine airport transfer and MTB shuttle business.
“Cool Bus has a relationship with Ash Smith that stretches back some twenty years and we are very proud to have played an active part in his innovative and ever evolving, point-to-point race formats since the very start.
We clock up over 80% of our kilometres shuttling clients around the northern French Alps through knee deep snow in the depths of winter. Providing shuttles for Ash’s events and tours provide a welcome contrast, with their own different sets of challenges and the added bonus of being able to wear shorts to work! We are incredibly excited to be working on this project which is once again pushing the boundaries of what a mountain bike race can be.”
– Rob Forbes, COOL BUS
MONVISO: THE STONE KING
Standing 500m higher than anything else in its approximate vicinity, Monte Viso, Mont Viso or simply Monviso [3841m] is the Alps’ 10th biggest peak by prominence and its north face gives rise to Italy’s longest river, il Po.
Known locally by the moniker il re di pietra (“the stone king”) this legendary rock pyramid is the undisputed dominant summit of the Southwestern Alps, visible from as far away as Milan. It was mentioned by writers from Dante to Chaucer, housed a rare but renowned neolithic jadeite quarry and is believed, in some circles, to have inspired the widely recognised Paramount Pictures logo.
SANTA CRUZ
STONE KING RALLY
A TRANS-ALPINE MTB ODYSSEY
44.6673° N, 7.0904° E
CALENDAR
2025 TOUR DATES
• STONE KING® CLUB WEEKS
• STONE KING® PREP COURSES
23-30 SEPTEMBER
2023
STONE KING CLUB WEEK 2
(2023 ROUTE)
14 NOVEMBER
2023
STONE KING RALLY 2024
ENTRY APPLICATIONS
30 SEPTEMBER –
07 OCTOBER 2023
STONE KING CLUB WEEK 3
(2023 ROUTE)
18-23 JUNE
2024
STONE KING RALLY
2024
02-09 SEPTEMBER
2023
STONE KING CLUB WEEK 1
(2022 ROUTE)
PLAN YOUR
OWN TRIP
JOIN THE STONE KING
TOURING CLUB
02-09 SEPTEMBER
2023
STONE KING CLUB WEEK 1
(2022 ROUTE)
23-30 SEPTEMBER
2023
STONE KING CLUB WEEK 2
(2023 ROUTE)
30 SEPTEMBER –
07 OCTOBER 2023
STONE KING CLUB WEEK 3
(2023 ROUTE)
14 NOVEMBER
2023
STONE KING RALLY 2024
ENTRY APPLICATIONS
18-23 JUNE
2024
STONE KING RALLY
2024
PLAN YOUR
OWN TRIP
JOIN THE STONE KING
TOURING CLUB