Round 3 of the UCI mountain bike world cup in Leogang, Austria was one of the most memorable races for years, if not ever. By now everyone knows the results and what a one Mr Aaron Gwin did sans chain but there’s more to the race than just that race winning run.
The week was a constant guessing game in relation to the weather, the alpine weather could change at the drop of the hat. Conditions went from dry and dusty to monsoonal and wet in no time flat, in the end the conditions for racing were okay, the biggest challenge for the riders were the strong winds.
Juniors were on track first and for anyone that wasn’t fortunate enough to be track side the live timing was the closest to the action you could get. As there often is it looks like the race for the overall will be a see-sawing battle, this time it was Australia’s own Andrew Crimmins who took the win by 3 seconds over Irish rider Jacob Dickson who is being mentored by Ben Reid. Laurie Greenland, one of the other strong overall contenders finished 3rd with a broken chain (did he start a trend for the day?!). It is also worth mentioning Jacckson Frew took home a solid 5th place and Remy Morton suffered a mechanical and finished down the bottom of the list but is as positive as always!
The women’s race was always going to be interesting with a few riders capable of the win, in the end the British showed why they are the power house of the sport taking gold and silver. Rachel Atherton, the most dominant female rider of this generation, surprisingly had never won at Leogang before. Rachel was quietly hoping for rain but in didn’t need it as she took a 3 second victory, finishing second, for the second race in a row, was Tahnee Seagrave. You would think that Tahnee is going to grab a maiden victory sooner rather than later. For Australia Tracey Hannah grabbed 6th, missing the podium on her birthday weekend by one place and Tegan Molloy A�finished 15th.
Moving onto the men’s race and the anticipation was high, Loic Bruni came down early on after issues in his qualifying run. He was blunt during his hot seat interview saying he didn’t think his run was enough for the victory. True to his word he eventually finished 8th.
Coming into the race there were any number of riders who could have won the race, Greg Minnaar has a fantastic record here and had won just the weekend prior. Unfortunately for Greg (who is a tall fella) he hit his head on the start gate and had to rearrange his helmet/goggles and in the end couldn’t notch up another victory.
Flo Payet came over the finish line jump and had a tyre blow of the rim, sending tubeless sealant all over anyone standing close by. Dean Lucas powered home for 24th, his team mate Stevie Smith wasn’t so lucky crashing and finishing way down the order. Gee Atherton couldn’t replicate his sisters race and finished off the podium in 6th. Trpy Brosnan finished 4th, a solid result and one that will help his chances for the overall, 0.2 ahead of Troy was Remi Thirion claiming 3rd. If there is a danger man for the world championships in Andorra later this year surely it is Remi.
Much to the Australian downhill communities delight Connor Fearon managed to replicate his qualifying position and finished second!!! It was a nervous few minutes while officials waited to see if he gained any advantage after he ran off course near the bottom where Manon had earlier. His first world cup podium, check downhill247 for his Inside Info on his first world cup podium. First, without a chain, was Aaron Gwin who admitted ‘strange things happen here’ after losing his brakes at the 2012 world championships, his tyre at the 2014 race and then this year his chain! His win will go down in history as one of the most amazing runs of all time.
Next world cup is the new track is in Lenzerheide, Switzerland, Steve Peat is helping create it so no doubt it will be epic.
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