For those Top 45 surfers sitting in the re-qualification bubble, there was a certain urgency to score a result and climb back up the ASP World Tour ratings at the Quik Pro France, the 7th stop on the tour. With 9 results taken into account at the end of the year, surfers can only afford to drop 2 out of the 11 events. And the last two legs on tour Brazil and Hawaii are renowned for being hard places to launch a last-minute comeback against the fiercely competitive locals there.

With so many of the top seeds going out in Round 2, Hossegor and the Quiksilver Pro France therefore looks like one of the last good opportunities for many of the surfers and especially for two members of the Euroforce: Tiago Pires and Miky Picon. Both had tough heats ahead of them, Tiago coming up against Timmy Reyes and the Frenchman Miky Picon versus Heitor Alves. Tiago must have felt huge relief on hearing his 9 point score for his last wave that saw him make it though to the 3rd round.

But the ocean had a different fate in mind for Miky. The surfer from Capbreton has trained hard and surfed the Estagnots sand bank as much as he could before the contest to maximize his home turf advantage. But at the sound of the hooter, his local break went flat, the strong current turned on and the onshore wind came up. Alves took off on the first decent wave available (that turned out to be the only one of the heat) and posted a 8.67. 5 minutes into the heat, Huey had already chosen his winner.

Miky will now be looking to the Billabong Pro Mundaka for a serious result to boost his rating points.