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Robbie Maddison Jumps Off the Arc de Triomphe in Las Vegas
Robbie Maddison pays tribute to the legendary Evel Knievel with a stunt that stands out as crazy — even for Las Vegas standards — on New Year's Eve.
You can imagine that New Year’s Eve in Las Vegas must be something crazy to behold at the best of times, but Australian Robbie Maddison, the modern-day incarnation of motorcycle daredevil supreme Evel Knievel, saw out both 2007 and 2008 in a grand manner that even had the denizens of Sin City gasping in disbelief.
On the last day of the year in 2007, the man who's known as Maddo for a reason, took part in the Red Bull New Year No Limits project at the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino, attempting to mark the 40th anniversary of Knievel’s famous leap over the fountains at Vegas’s Caesars Palace by recording the longest-ever jump on a motorcycle.
Knievel himself reckoned 300 feet was impossible but Maddison, hitting the ramp at 94 mph on his Honda CR 500, soared 60 feet into the air and landed the machine at a distance of 322 feet 7.5 inches — a world record by more than 45 feet.
Getting up there was the 'easy' part
© Jörg Mitter/Red Bull Content Pool
Maddo on top of Vegas's Arc de Triomphe
© Christian Pondella/Red Bull Content Pool
View from the top
© Christian Pondella/Red Bull Content Pool
So how do you follow that? Well, the following New Year’s Eve, "Maddo" had an ever madder idea. Teaming up with Red Bull again, he executed a soaring jump on to the top of the 96-foot-high Arc de Triomphe replica that stands proudly in the Paris casino.
Ah, but that was the simple part. In front of a global TV audience, the man who played Daniel Craig’s 007 stunt double in "Skyfall" then proceeded to ride off the top and effectively free-fall 60 feet before almost overshooting his landing area.
He made light of tearing the flesh between his thumb and forefinger on his thumping impact with the ground. "I’ve broken my neck, knocked my teeth out, broke my collar bone, punctured my lung, broke my left wrist twice … this is like a paper cut,” Maddo joked.
Still, he knew he had got a little lucky, conceding later: “I don't care if you offered me $10 million — I wouldn't do it again.”