The usual suspects prevail at the Quiksilver Pro, France

The Quiksilver Pro, France started with the ladies and playful head-high beachbreak conditions, with the men held off for the morning. Today was all carves and airs with a few little tubes to slip into. But unlike the first two days that relied primarily on the barrel, today required more finely tuned surfing. World number two Adriano de Souza combo’d Jeremy Flores and John John Florence early in round four and we’ll see him and Owen Wright face off in the quarters, keeping his hopes for the title alive.

Kolohe Andino started off strong in this event. Coming fresh off his recent QS win, Brother was surfing in the form many come to expect of him. However, today he had a bit of a shocker. In round four and five he wasn’t able to string together any decent scores. His 10.47 and a 10.20 will see him out of the event. His heat with Bede in round five was all Bede. He surfed flawlessly, taking nice lines and linking strong stylish turns. Bede’s a refreshing dose of an unlikely quarterfinalist, and showed that once he’s on a larger wave, he’s a powerhouse.

Owen Wright and Jeremy Flores’ heat was an exciting one. The Frenchman was unable to rack up the scores to take out Owen’s combined 18.50. He put up strong scores and for a minute it looked like the hometown curse may have a chance to be alleviated. Owen linked together a powerful backside attack for a 9.60. Jeremy picked up a few waves in the closing minutes. He jammed a technical frontside rail grab 360 into the lip. But unfortunately the wave didn’t materialize into much after the first maneuver. A few more carves and the results may have been a little different.

That Gabs air! Are you fucking kidding me? That was absolutely huge. A single 10-point manoeuvre, well deserved. Everything about the leap was on point. This round four heat was a treat. Owen Wright and Wilko were delivering their finest backhand attacks but Gabs nearly surfed a perfect heat. And will be facing off against Mr Florence in the quarters. So, it’s a ‘super heat,’ an obvious term for the world’s best facing off, but rather fair in this case.

John John has the ability to land things that nobody else on tour does. Maybe Kelly does, but his near fall actually got scored today, unlike Kelly’s wizardly full rotation recovery. Although he lost round four vs Adriano and J-Flo, that recovery on his air reverse was pretty mental. In round five Wilko couldn’t grab the scores to compete with JJF’s aerial prowess. Hopefully for the quarters, John rides a different board to the sticky craft he surfed through rounds four and five on.