In his time on blades, Stéphane Alfano has established a reputation as one of the world’s most thrilling bladers. Known for logic-defying transfers and seeking out high-risk situations, he has dominated competition tours, wowed crowds, and alienated fellow skaters with his abundance of self-confidence. But now, gaining perspective with time, maturity, and the experience of recovering from an injury, Stéphane is ready to return to rollerblading. He recently spent a month traveling and skating throughout Mexico, taking his trademark fearless approach to a wide variety of spots and terrain. Along the way he made new friends and laid down big tricks on a handful of impossible spots, all documented by local videographer Vincent Romain and presented here for our entertainment. We took this opportunity to find about more about the trip and what’s going on with Stéphane’s life, so watch the edit and learn more about this talented French skater. Enjoy!

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What was the inspiration for your trip to Mexico?
In 2018 I travelled to Mexico for the first time with one of my friends, Jimmy Dubost. I’ve wanted to return ever since, because I met so many welcoming skaters and got to ride with people passionate about rollerblading. But when I travel I like to experience the places I visit, and the landscape in Mexico was extraordinary too. So when I saw Julien Cudot organizing a month-long tour I reached out to see about participating and he graciously asked me to join him.

What cities did you visit and who did you skate with?
Let’s see… In Cancun we skated with Angel Valdez. In Playa del Carmen the crew was Rocco and Alex de Pedro. Then in Mexico City (CDMX) I skated with Angel Cocolero, Ryuk, Jeremy, Miguel Reyes, Arturo, Daniel, Jon, Huitzilin Lucio, Emiliano, Matéo, Jovanny, Xareni, Majo, Val, Pao, Clau, Zai, and more! And in Monterrey we joined Frai, Walter, Dante, Karina, and Isa.

So there were a lot of skaters there — that’s awesome!
For sure, especially in Mexico City. There was the Lira skatebar Friday night session, and the San Jose Skatepark Thursday night session.

Was there one spot that stood out from all the rest?
The spot where I did soul ledge on the roof to transfer soul rail. That was a hard spot and I almost didn’t land it. After several attempts I sprained my ankle, but I didn’t want to give up because I knew I could do it. So I went back up and after three additional tries I landed it clean. Then it took two weeks for my ankle to recover.

How crazy were the skateparks? They looked huge? How many did you visit?
In Mexico City they have a lot of concrete skateparks. There are really all sizes and transition styles. Some are really huge, with deep bowls and big transfers. Others are in street plaza mode with curbs and rails of different sizes, either round or square. In total I visited seven skateparks: one in Cancun, one in Chetumal, and five in CDMX: Cuitlahuac, Lira, Iman, Atlantis, San Jose, and they have many more.

What is the best memory from the trip?
Skating with the kids at the skatepark in Iman, and when I organized the Baguette Session at Cuitlahuac Skatepark.

And there are two tricks that will for sure stay forever in my memory. The first was my transfer from the bowl to Royale drop to Farside Soul down the handrail. The other was my ending trick, the Topsoul transfer Topsoul on the kink rail. I saw that spot my first day in CDMX but had to wait until my last day to go get the clip, because it was far away from the city and it took a special mission with Miguel and Jeremy by train to get to it.

Other highlights include watching the sunrise in Parque la Huasteca, visiting the Tolentongo Cave hot springs and waterfall (some of the best I’ve seen in my whole life!), and skating with my new girlfriend at the San Jose Skatepark.

Is there anything else we should cover?
I would like to thank Vincent Romain for welcoming and accommodating us during the tour. And especially for filming and editing my profile! Thanks to all the Bladers and Bladies I met and got to make stories with! You brought me a lot of good energy, we did beautiful rollerblading sessions together, and I especially enjoyed the time we spent exchanging real life stories. All this does me good and frees my mind, giving me a lot of strength for my return to the world of rollerblading.

Thanks to Bastouil for his friendship and this passion of rollerblading.
Thanks Thomas for making pictures and sharing time together.
Thanks Julien for be my friend.
Thanks to Kaltik and Razors for supporting me.
And thanks ONEblademag for sharing my Profile.

All Love
Only Good Vibes
Peace and believe in yourself — Stéphane

Well, happy new year! We look forward to seeing more!

[The END]

Shot and Edited by Vincent Romain

Photos by Thomas Camus