What a shambles! High speed winds ripped through overnight and caused some damage.
Everyone in Mont Sainte Anne woke up for the finalA�full day of practice to be greeted by a bit of destruction! Strong winds that came through overnight really made a mess of the pit area! For the riders the winds did cause a few issues in practice, one of the fastest courses on the circuit, MSA has some open areas and jumps where the wind can play havoc, keeping it low was the name of the game.
For the riders keeping low over jumps was critical, with a good qualifying result Sam Blenkinsop keeps it low to make sure he makes it through to Sunday’s race.Keeping low doesn’t mean you can’t look stylish though as Sam Hill demonstrates!The Santa Cruz Syndicate didn’t escape the carnage…Good thing none of the team bikes were there/damaged otherwise we couldn’t have got this banger of Greg Minnaar!Danny Hart will be wanting to get the ‘no World Cup win’ monkey off his back, second in qualifying shows this could be his race.There were plenty of different styles being thrown down over the jumps lining the course…
Will Gee Atherton’s big crash in qualifying be too much for him to overcome on race day? Connor Fearon is on a mission for a top 10 result and we all know he can do it! Will Sam Hill take his first win in a long time? Will Danny Hart claim his maiden victory? Troy Brosnan knows this track and won his first Junior World Champs here, with his parents support track side, will he take his maiden victory? So many questions – race day will answer all, check back soon!
A promising 2013 season and 6th in Qualifying suggests this will be a big weekend for Hill. He’s got the speed, can he pull it off?
Qualifying went well for Aussie riders with 6th for Sam and 9th for Troy Brosnan. Mitch Delfs and Bryn Atkinson rode 19th and 21st respectively, meaning plenty of Australian talent at the top end of the competition. Fastest on the day for the DHI class were Stevie Smith and Rachel Atherton. While the trail dries out and the weekend gets ever closer, the anticipation is building. Another event in an epic season of World Cup racing!
Qualifying one second ahead of Danny Hart, Stevie is showing his speed but still has to fight for the win on home soil.Rachel Atherton is looking unstoppable this season with 3 wins from 3 races, first in qualifying means she is again the rider to beat!That hip! Mic Hannah qualified 7th, showing he will be in the mix come Sunday.Just behind Mic was Troy Brosnan in 9th on one of the schmickest looking bikes on the circuit, can anyone say baller?! Troy won his first World Champs here and has the support of his parents at the race this weekend, could this be his first victory?Mitch Delfs snuck in to the top 20 with a 19th place, primed for a big result no doubt.A big Aussie contingent is on the ground this weekend, including junior Jackson Davis, who pulled out a super strong 15th in qualifying.
Rain has again fallen here in MSA after initially looking dry, so with that comes another set of challenges. Check back soon.
Round 4 of the UCI World Cup is underway, after some incredible weather wednesday night the trail was slick for the first day of practice.
A stop on the UCI World Cup since 1991 (more commonly known as the beginning of MTB time), Mont St Anne is a well raced track. The natural track changes dramatically from top to bottom with tight, rocky wooded sections (with fresh ruts) that lead into gnarly steeps and fast open straights. What will the weekend bring?
It’s not all bad news though, Thursday afternoon showed promise of a drier weekend. Here Dirt/Norco team rider George Gannicott (IRE) soaking up the sunshine.Sik Mik was feeling the mud during practice, but went well in timed practice. With plenty of Aussie support for Mik and Tracey, this weekend will be a nailbiter!Did we mention the mud?
Rock gardens and punctures aplenty, the woods won’t be so quiet when the crowds get there in a couple of days. For now, they’re a thinking space for riders getting their lines together.
After round 2 at Val di Sole there was a 5 week gap in races. I took this time to head
back to Australia and dig into some training, eat a lot of Chicken Parmigianaa��s and
do heaps of Go Karting. By the time I flew back to Europe for Andorra world cup I
felt I was a lot stronger, fitter and ready to continue the season.
Nobody really knew what to expect of the track in Vallnord. There were rumours of it being steep, long, technical and also physical. After walking the track on the Wednesday it was apparent that the rumours where true. The course was very long, steep, rough, fast and technical. I liked the look of the track except the first section which was very flat and had you sprinting for the first 40 seconds of your run. When the first day of practice rolled around the track was pretty wet from the heavy rain it received leading up to the event. Some sections of track where so slippery you could hardly brake or steer down them.
Qualifying was on Friday and I had been feeling really good on the track. It hadna��t rained at all so the course was drying up and getting almost dusty which I preferred. In my qualifying run everything was working well until about halfway down when my hands where cramped so badly due to arm pump I was reduced to just crawling down the track. I didna��t have this problem in practice because I would stop 2 or 3 times a run. I qualified 63rd which is my worst qualifying result by far in the 3 seasons I have competed in.
On Saturday my mechanic and I worked on changes to help me down the track. We changed the settings on my suspension a lot to try and make it easier for my Hands! I walked the track on Saturday as well and scoped out some smoother lines which might be a little slower but in the long run would make me go faster. On Sunday my practice was good and the track was dry and dusty in sections which made for a really fast course. I knew if as long as I could hold on I could get a good result here.
The crowd is always loud on a WC race day, but Connor is quietly focused, on the job.
My plan for my runs was to make as much time up at the top of the track before my hands got cramped. This seemed to work pretty well for me. My final run was fast, the track had changed quite a lot since my last practice run so I had to guess what to expect in some sections. I finished in 34th position, which was good considering my qualifying result and I didna��t lose to many points for the overall.
Next race is Mont St Anne which I have done well at in the past. At the moment Ia��m already in Bromont, QuebecA� spending a lot of time on my bike getting prepared to get a great result there in two weeks!
Last minute practice for riders before finals! Check out the drop to the finish line, that’s steep!
Wow who picked that?! World Cup number three delivered a huge range of highs and lows, a classic race and one that really stood out. Lets rewind a little to Sunday morning, the weather A�was inclement and people were still unsure what would happen with it later in the day, as it turned out conditions were near perfect.
Sunnies on! Bryn Atkinson was just a spectator – which as a racer is never the best but with an injury at Val di Sole he was sub par in the health department and at this level being less than 100% means you might not be in the big show come Sunday.
It was the juniors who kicked proceedings off, a shame that there were no Australian Junior females present and only a few males but such are the demands of racing a whole season it is just not viable.
Tahnee Seagrave taking the Junior Female win and sporting the World Cup leaders jersey as she does so.Junior Men’s winner – Michael Jones kept it upright which was half the battle for the junior riders, some stacking literally insight of the line…Loris Vergier may have been the unlucky junior to crash literally within an arms length of the finish beam… Well yes it was him, devastating for him considering he was second by less than half a second!Our juniors still did us proud, Luke Ellison pulled a strong 7th place and after catching two other riders Dean Lucas finished 9th. Dean retains the overall leaders jersey heading into round 4.
The Elite Men put on one heck of a show, there were a few moments that were not nice to see, the most notably Cam Cole crashing hard and having to be airlifted out. Cam is a nice guy, with time for everyone and has had a bad run of luck with injuries over the past few seasons, we wish him all the best! Mic Hannah scored a flat up on course and as he said the realisation that your tyre is deflating when you are giving it everything is never nice! Big news of course is that Cedric Gracia chose his home World Cup to retire, a true legend but one we will still be seeing more of in the future outside of the World Cup circuit.
A bit of style off the end of what must be one of the best quality construction pieces in a World Cup for some time!Yeah David! 58th for David McMillan against the best racers in the world is pretty awesome for a privateer giving it a real go!Unstoppable! Rachel Atherton was really pushed by Manon Carpenter but still took the win, three from three – can anyone stop her?!Aaron Gwin finished 10th on his bigger bike but after the domination he has shown in the past two season that is a low result by his standards – crazy a top ten at a World Cup is a low result but it shows the pressure these guys are under.Another threat at any race, in any condition, on any track – Greg Minnaar, one spot off the podium in 6th place.34th for Connor Fearon, a strong result but the weekend didn’t quite go to plan for him, wait for his Inside Info where he will give you more insight to his race.The crowd were crazy! So were the media – in their own special way, it is a huge mission to bring you guys the coverage we do believe us!So close! Last rider down and the rider many picked to take the win! Sam Hill missed out just, 3rd place but steadily climbing up the rankings every race and with Troy Brosnan rounding out the podium in 5th place it was a good race as far as us Aussies were concerned.Qualifying proved it wasn’t our eyes playing tricks on us, Remi Thirion was the fastest! What a result for the young Frenchman, congratulations.Cedric Gracia showing the love! Nice one all.
Elite Men:
1. Remi Thirion 4.13.66
2. Gee Atherton 4.15.016 + 1.350
3. Sam Hill 4.15.422 + 1.756
4. Steve Smith 4.15.939 + 2.273
5. Troy Brosnan 4.16.142 + 2.476
The next round in a few weeks time is the infamous Mont Saint Anne – join us there!
Qualifying here in Andorra has produced a mix bag of results to say the least!
Big news out of the qualifying session is Sam Hill sits atop of the time sheet, a mere 0.046 seconds ahead of Greg Minnaar but in front none the less, as Sam said he must really like this track! A few quick Frenchmen Loic Bruni and Remi Thirion close out the top 5. Remi had all sorts of data acquisition equipment strapped onto his bike throughout the day – maybe that is what gave him an edge on most of the other riders?
Back on a track that suits his style and back on top, a huge confidence boost for Sam Hill who is chasing his first World Cup victory in a few seasons – a drought by his standards.
A few noticeable results were Brook MacDonald with a DNF, rumour is he is nursing a shoulder injury and has been taking it easy all week. David McMillan qualified for the big show on Sunday in 74th place.
Elite Men:
1. HILL Sam 4:20.660
2. MINNAAR Greg 4:20.706 + 0.046
3. ATHERTON Gee 4:22.004 + 1.344
4. BRUNI Loic 4:23.544 + 2.884
5. THIRION RA�mi 4:23.758 + 3.098
a��
11. HANNAH Michael 4:27.063 + 6.403
17. BROSNAN Troy 4:30.794 + 10.134
22. DELFS Mitchell 4:31.704 + 11.044
56. MOIR Jack 4:41.891 + 21.231
63. FEARON Connor 4:45.119 + 24.459
74. McMILLAN David 4:47.509 + 26.849
106. ATKINSON Bryn 4:55.304 + 34.644
115. VEJVODA Joe 4:59.218 + 38.558
Remi Thirion taking care of business for 5th place.A not so good day for Bryn Atkinson who missed the cut and isn’t a protected rider.
Junior Men and a depleted Australian contingent as the majority of the juniors are watching from home. Luke Ellison was the highest Aussie in 7th place and Dean Lucas way down the order in 47th but he qualifies anyway so the result that counts is still to come!
Manon Carpenter was the quickest female on the hill, edging out the dominating Rachel Atherton, will Manon take her first World Cup victory on Sunday?What a shot! Mic Hannah laying waste to a corner in true Sic Mic style.Connor Fearon is hungry for some more good results, looking good in practice don’t put a top 20 past him, easy.
The riders who qualified for the main show now have a few more practice sessions to get their lines dialed, will the weather play a part in the race? We will just have to wait and see, check back soon!
