In the 80s and 90s there were a lot of them, but definitely in France, there were some very stylish, fast French riders who raced in jeans and were maybe under the radar in Europe and probably unheard of in the US and on the world stage. There was no internet and limited magazine coverage, but they were phenomenal riders.
Here’s one, Frederic Hetmanczck, who I believe was from the South of France.
Frederic didn’t seem to race much outside France, but when he did, he made an impression. In 1986, he made the 14 Expert final at the IBMXF Worlds in Slough, England, in jeans, with long black curly hair, looking like he should be in a rock band. In that final, he was challenging for the holeshot but crashed out over the second jump with American GT rider Shan Hatfield.
Again, he showed up at the ’87 Worlds in Orlando, this time in full Factory Zeronine gear, and placed 2nd behind some US guy called Todd Lyons, I seem to remember.
Frederic kind of disappeared again from the international scene, but then raced the 1990 FIAC World Championships in Spain, in jeans again, and won the 17s.
But look who finished 2nd and 3rd. Brian Foster was 2nd and Christophe Leveque was 3rd. That’s pretty impressive from Frederic.
A week later at the IBMXF World Championships in France, Christophe doubled in the 17s. I’m not sure what happened to Brian, but it seemed like Frederic was a no-show. Even though the Worlds must have been somewhere near where he lived, he did race the ’91 Worlds in Norway, but after that he wasn’t really seen much on the international scene.