Antoine Méo got on a bike when he was four years old. It was a Honda QR50 and he basically hasn’t got off ever since that day in 1988. He was born in Digne, in the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence department, where the beginning of Victor Hugo’s “Les Misérables” – the Bishop helping the unfortunate Jean Valjean – is set. However, he prefers being called Antonio in honour of his father’s Italian origins in Irpinia.
He started racing in other motorcycling disciplines. He won the European Championship in Supercross (125) in 2002 and, a year later, the French national championship in Motocross in the 250 class. After having to stop for two years because of an injury, switching from Motocross to Classic Enduro with Husqvarna in 2008 was a decision taken with his heart. “I wanted to try a new experience with Enduro. I liked it, the first good results came in, and, most importantly, I started having a lot of fun. The mentality is fantastic! There is no rivalry or bad blood that are so typical of Motocross races”, he explains. Even if it might seem impossible, he says that he learned how to ride watching hours and hours of videos. “I observed the champions and then I tried to do the same things with my bike”, he adds.
He clearly learned very well and very quickly. He debuts in the last stage of the Indoor Enduro World Championship at the Fiera in Genoa. Everyone is impressed by his speed. It’s almost impossible to find a rookie who performs like him in such a specialised discipline. Méo starts with a bang and wins ahead of David Knight and Ivan Cervantes. His enthusiasm after the race is both understandable and contagious. “The final was fantastic, it was my first indoor race and it took me a while to get the bike set-up for the track. I made some changes because I was riding a 450, and not a 250 like I had planned. It was so great to win, it was my dream to finish at the front and I managed to do that – he said -. I was getting good starts all night, which definitely helped me. I still have a lot to learn, this was my first indoor, but I am so happy to have won. I knew David was always there behind me and it was good to have him pushing me. It meant I had to push hard and I was under a lot of pressure. But it was good, I hope to continue riding like that and I will work hard at it so that I can get good results in the WEC as well”.
In 2010, he wins his first World Championship in E1, the queen of all Enduro classes. He is victorious in eight of the sixteen days of competitions. It’s the first title for the Husqvarna of the CH Racing team from Varese in this category since 2003. For Husqvarna, it’s the 78th title in its history, and the 46th in Enduro. Méo collects the decisive points in the French Grand Prix where his strategy is meticulous: he gets in third in the first event, and first in the second competition.
He doubles this win in 2011, even if in the E2 class. The championship is decided one race before the end, thanks to a third and a first place during the two days in Andorra. “I’m very satisfied and really don’t know how to express my happiness today”, Méo says at the end of the race. “On Saturday I really gave my all to increase the gap between Guerrero and me. Today, I only had to defend that lead and that’s what I did. Two world championships in a row…a big dream came true for me.”
In 2012, Méo joins the KTM Factory team, managed by Fabio Farioli, in the E1 class. He rides a EXC 250-F and this is how he explains the difference between his bike and the serially produced ones to the Turin newspaper La Stampa: “Apart from the special look with stickers and an orange frame, it has official suspensions, different wheels (only for aesthetic reasons and for the sponsor), an optimised engine with a piston and connecting rod from our KTM Power Parts catalogue, particular junction boxes, an Akrapovic exhaust, and a different throttle body (which will be a serial part in the next motorbikes produced.” He adds that the main value is the engine “with power both at low and at high revs, its superior reliability, and a great general equilibrium”.
Expectations are very high and Antoine doesn’t disappoint. He is crowned world champion in the competition at Heinola in Finland. From the very first races he demonstrate huge talent and a clear difference to his competition, which only became more obvious from race to race. The managing director of KTM Motorsport, Pit Beirer, says that Méo revealed himself to be “a great ambassador of Enduro for France” throughout the season.
His supremacy continues also the following year. In fact, between 2012 and 2013, he crams in two world titles as well as twelve victories in fourteen rounds. His passion for skiing and wakeboarding is evident in his advice to kids wanting to try out Enduro: they should always look ahead and anticipate danger. Unfortunately, exactly that, an unexpected danger, a terrible accident in Finland, ruins what appeared to be another triumphant season in the saddle of his KTM 350 EXC-F in 2014. He redeems himself in 2015 when he becomes world champion ahead of Alex Salvini.
He then pursues new routes and different passions. He dedicates himself to rally, participates in the Dakar, even if a fall in 2017 causes fractures in both his hands. He doesn’t race for two years and returns to Enduro in 2019. He carries the weight of his titles which include three wins of the International Six Days of Enduro World Trophy (2007, 2009, 2010), two titles at the Assoluti d’Italia (2009, 2015), and five French titles in E1 and E2. He races on a Honda CRF 450RX, but collects a mere eight points in the World Championship.
