Back in the mountains proper, there is no shortage of views to be had all the way down the track. As always with all the mountainous venues we go to the weather can change in an instant.
Here we go, the final World Cup for 2013. We are back in Leogang, Austria – the host of the 2012 World Championships, to a track that hasn’t changed much from last years race. The big focus will be on the battle for the overall World Cup title between Gee Atherton, who is leading the series by just 17 points and Stevie Smith. We expect it to be close, real close, this is track isn’t the most technical and we expect racing to be tight. The top part of the track features plenty ofA�’bike park’ moments – well it is a bike park! So hardpack surfaces, big wooden berms, and jumps that need to be squashed as the riders are going way too fast. Other notable features on the track include some big jumps mid way down, a few rock gardens and a huge shoot into theA�finish line! To give you some idea of the overall nature of the track Stevie Smith has his World Champs bike primed and ready if he feels the need for it.
Tracey Hannah railing one of the wooden features on the track.
A few strange events have already occurred this weekend, none related to what the riders have been doing! First of all there is no timed practice as the schedule couldn’t fit it in?! The organisers appear to be flat out as there is still some work going on/near the track as riders are practicing, this is common occurrence but here we are seeing chainsaws clearing branches, etc for the cameras.
The other Hannah, Mic rails the same corner, with his form of late Mic has to be a real contender here in Austria.
Back to the riding though and some pretty big news floating around the pits that Sam Hill and Greg Minnaar may have both crashed hard enough to rule themselves out of the race, we didn’t see it but if this is the case the overall will really open up with these two out of contention – more news as we get it.
Sam Hill was looking good on track, currently sitting 5th overall word around the pits is he (and Greg Minnaar who is 3rd overall) may have suffered knee injuries.Talking about injuries, Leogang hasn’t been kind to Troy Brosnan over the past few years but he is going to make a mends of that this weekend.
An interesting few days lie ahead, already there has been a lot of action, check back soon.
That view! Distracting for everyone, well hopefully not the riders!
Connor Fearon looked strong on the track all week and was a definite favourite! Photo: Phunkt
We all know how well Connor Fearon did in Leogang but lets hear what he had to say about the week;
Well, well, wella�� The 2012 World Championships is done and dusted! For me I had a lot more pressure on me for this race than the rest of the season for a few reasons- Its world championships, ita��s my last year racing as a junior and unlike world cups there is a separate category for juniors so therea��s a good chance I could leave with a decent result!
For this race I stayed with the entire Australian junior team for the week. Wea��re all good buddies and Jared Rando was there to offer his wealth of experience. For me old Rando is a good role model and I trust him more than anybody in the MTB scene so having him around was a good for the team. We walked the track on Wednesday and it looked pretty good. The top section was made up of bike park turns and a few technical wood sections. The bottom was good with fast rooted and rough sections. Unfortunately there was a big pedal halfway which I didna��t like but felt I could make up for it in the tech sections.
Riders popped over this jump before they had to pedal a bit to get to the next tech section which was followed by another pedal! Photo: Phunkt
Practice and timed practice was a lot of fun. I got to ride with my friends from home and we worked as a team to figure out the lines down the track. In timed practice I place 4th which was a little disappointing as my goal all year was to come away with a medal. I knew my weakness was on the pedal and that seemed easy enough to changea�� just pedal harder, right?
Connor is always strong on the technical areas but in his own words he had ‘to pedal more’ in some parts for his race run! Photo: Phunkt
I had a good warm up before my race run I had my mechanic Matty and Rando both there to see me leave the start gate. My run was smooth I pedalled hard for the flat section mid way. Coming into the final sections I backed it off a little bit because I had crashed there that morning in practise. I came through the finish line in 1st almost 3 seconds up on Jack Moir a fellow Aussie junior from then on I got knocked down to 2nd, then 3rd and stayed there until the end! I was stoked to come away with a medal!
The goal of achieveing a medal complete! Now one more World Cup to finish off the international season for Connor. Photo: Phunkt
Ia��ve achieved a lot this year but ita��s not quite time to go home yet Ia��m currently sitting in my lodge at Norway waiting for the final world cup. I want to finish in the top 30 overall unfortunately for me Steve Peat is sitting right in front of me in the standings so ita��s going to be a challenging weekend for me!
There you go, straight from Mr Fearon himself! We will check back in with him after Norway, as always expect, all the coverage of the race on downhill247.com!
Marc Beaumont finished 14th, he was hoping for a better finish than that though.
We are still buzzing from the World Champs in Leogang! We thought we would put up a few more pictures from the week, enjoy!
Troy Brosnan was looking good and a lot of people ‘in the know’ had him tipped to do well. With racing though, nothing is guaranteed!There was a lot of amazing scenery surrounding the race track, we saw lots of animals to, we didn’t realise they had snakes in Austria!Beer, the other Beer! Matt Beer was fast all week and finished 43rd!The life of a World Cup photographer has plenty of highs but also plenty of challenging times, here Sven Martin ponders his next move whilst taking refuge from the weather!Our favourite ride from the Champs had to be Bryn Atkinson’s rig, maybe it was because of the way he was riding it?!What a view!Third place in Junior Women for Danielle Beecroft was an awesome result!Gee Atherton makes up one third of the ‘big three’, which also contains Greg Minnaar and Aaron Gwin, one them is always going to be in the mix! Second for Gee Atherton this time.When the rain came it felt like it wasn’t going to stop! The course held up well though with the builders all to aware of the amount of rain that can fall in the Alps.With the addition of new kickers, the jumps in the middle of the course were quite large! Not all riders were hitting them, Andrew Neethling shows us how it is done.Understandably Greg Minnaar had to have a good look at the jumps before he would send them!In the end though Greg got it right and to the victor go the spoils!
The highlight of the day for us at downhill247.com was seeing Connor Fearon claim a thoroughly deserved third place! We have been long time supporters of Connor and know how much work he has done for this one race.
Another World Championships in the bag and what a race in so many ways! After a week that could best described as average, in terms of the weather, Mother Nature smiled on us and brought the blue sky and sun out for finals. The morning practice session was still very muddy and talking to the riders after their finals run, many said conditions on some areas of the track surprised them after a wet practice session.
Once practice was over and finals started the countdown was on…The fans were out in force, obligatory support signs included!This World Champs was Justin Leov’s last one after 10 years on the circuit.If there was no action on the track you could count on some spectators to serve up some action. This corner at the bottom was Hecklers Rock style with Aussies and Kiwis partying! Their partying went well into the night with various degrees of success!
JuniorA�Women started the day off and it was Canadian Holly Feniak that upset hot favourite Tahnee Seagrave to take the win. After dominating the junior World Cup circuit Tahnee was displaced by the Canadian who had not raced any World Cups and was unknown to many. Third place was Australian Danielle Beecroft, this result was definitely not a surprise as we were aware of her speed from her racing exploits back home.
Danielle Beecroft started the day of well for Australia with the bronze medal, here she hits one of the more technical chutes on the track.
Junior Men were next on track and Australia had a real chance to stack the top ten positions with riders. In the end we had a very good result and lost out on the overall number one junior ranking by a single point to France.
A disappointed David McMillan crashed twice in his race run and finished 64th.Luke Ellison jumping his way into 37th.Thomas Crimmins came home in 31st place, while Joey Vejvoda, above, took 21st place.Dean Lucas brought home 12th place and was happy with his result.Jack Moir in his first World Champs placed 5th, a super impressive result, look out for him next year in South Africa!Connor Fearon said he gave it everything and was happy with his run.He took the hot seat at the bottom and had a nervous wait to see how his time would hold up.The tension at a World Champs is always high but with two juniors having to do re-runs the tension was even higher.In the end there were smiles all round for Connor’s third place and the collective efforts of the team! Aussie Aussie Aussie Oi Oi Oi!
Junior Women
1.A� Holly Feniak 4.01.62
2. Tahnee Seagrave 4.09.72 + 8.10
3. Danielle Beecroft 4.19.57 + 17.95
4. Geraldine Fink 4.22.63 + 21.01
5. Chloe Gallean 4.22.86 + 21.24
Junior Men
1. Loic Bruni 3.29.14
2. Richard Rude Jr 3.32.26 + 3.12
3. Connor Fearon 3.34.08 + 4.94
4. Noel Nieder 3.35.17 + 6.03
5. Jack Moir 3.36.98 + 7.84
…
12. Dean Lucas 3.40.72 + 11.58
21. Joe Vejvoda 3.43.13 + 13.99
31. Thomas Crimmins 3.46.80 + 17.66
37. Luke Ellison 3.49.82 + 20.69
64. David McMillan 4.04.21 + 35.07
With juniors finished Elite Women hit the course and in what is one of the feel good stories from the Champs, relatively unknown privateer Morgane Charre took the victory ahead of the biggest names on the circuit. It was a surprise but good to see.
Surprise! One that doesn’t happen often in this sport but happened in both Junior and Elite Woman this year, a relatively unknown rider upset the established names on the circuit. We would like to think Morgane could secure a factory ride now!
Elite Men was a really strange race, the feeling at the bottom when it became apparent Aaron Gwin had problems was an odd one. Many people wanted to see what he could do on this track. Gwin wasn’t the only one with problems, Steve Peat crashed on a flier of a run, as did Josh Bryceland who said he will looking back on this racing thinking ‘what could have been?’. Troy Brosnan’sA�horrendous overseas season and run of terrible luck here at Leogang continued, crashing within the first 100m of the track dislocating his shoulder.
Troy Brosnan in the morning practice, immediately after this drop is where Troy crashed in his race run.Whoops, that shouldn’t do that! Aaron Gwin’s prototype brakes failed spectacularly on the most important run at the biggest race of the year! The mood at the Trek team was a very somber one.With his race done Josh Bryceland put in for the crowd and the assembled media.Steve Peat may have crashed in his race run but he still got his hands on a rainbow jersey, the UCI presented him a special edition Leogang World Championship jersey to honour his 20 years of racing World Championships. When Peaty spoke people were waiting to here news on his retirement but he dashed these claims by saying he still thinks he has a few more years left in him.Bar Troy Brosnan’s crash Australia had another solid World Champs. Jared Graves powered home for 32nd place.It was awesome to see Josh Button Crack the top 20 with 20th place, likewise for Mitch Delfs who tied with Andrew Neethling for 18th position. Bryn Atkinson who was looking fast all week charged home for 13th place and Sam Hill who had a lot of family support here in Leogang finished 5th, just 3.41 seconds off the win.Timed practice showed what everyone could see, Mic Hannah had speed on this track. In the finals he came down and took the hot seat, he missed out on a podium spot by under a second finishing 4th.Stevie Smith had a few loose moments in his run, including this corner at the bottom where he ran wide and almost snagged a pedal on the ground! It must not have slowed him down too much, third place at the end of the day.One of the most consistent men in downhill racing, Greg Minnaar, finally took the top spot after last being there in 2003.Once he knew he had won Greg Minnaar had a smile on his face that would stay there for the rest of the day and night!
Elite Women
1. Morgane Charre 3.50.65
2. Emmeline Ragot 3.51.85 + 1.20
3. Manon Carpenter 3.52.14 + 1.49
4. Floriane Pugin 3.52.27 + 1.62
5. Rachel Atherton 3.56.55 + 5.89
Elite Men
1. Greg Minnaar 3.21.79
2. Gee Atherton 3.22.37 + 0.58
3. Stevie Smith 3.23.00 + 1.21
4. Mic Hannah 3.23.93 + 2.14
5. Sam Hill 3.25.20 + 3.41
…
13. Bryn Atkinson 3.28.58 + 6.79
18. Mitch Delfs 3.29.77 + 7.98
20. Josh Button 3.29.99 + 8.20
32. Jared Graves 3.32.41 + 10.62
DNF. Troy Brosnan
With the 2012 World Champions crowned manyA�riders actually head to Norway inA�two weeks time for the final World Cup, expect full coverage from downhill247.com on this event too!
Day 3 here in Leogang had a practice session for the riders in the morning followed by a timed practice session afterwards. Conditions were much the same in the morning but fortunately towards the end of the day they had improved.
This morning’s practice sessionA�finished without a hitch, the odd flat tyre or crash but no notable events.A�By this stage most riders should have a fair idea on their lines and the timed practice session is the first true indication of rider’s speed. For the juniors their time determines the starting order with the fastest time being the last person down the hill for finals. In Elite men the time does not play a part in the start order, this is determined by rank.
All that stands between the riders and glory! Add mother nature into the mix and you have the ingredients for an awesome race.
With timed practice out of the way it was time for the timed run. The first riders down the hill were the junior females and Australia’s Danielle Beecroft proved she is a real chance of a medalA�by coming in third place.
Third place in timed practice for Danielle Beecroft puts her in a strong position for finals.
The junior mens field was made up of 76 riders with Australia looking to feature heavily at the pointy end. For their timed runs we sat in the one spot to get an idea of how each rider negotiated that section of track. It was interesting to note that the Australian riders all took the A-line (as shown in the photos below) whereas many of the other top junior riders didn’t.
Junior Men
1. Loic Bruni 3.34.17
2. Noel Niederberger 3.38.96 + 4.80
3. Fraser McGlone 3.40.79 + 6.62
4. Connor Fearon 3.41.10 + 6.93
5. Jan Cepelak 3.41.71 + 7.54
…
10. Jack Moir 3.43.85 + 9.68
20. Dean Lucas 3.45.71 + 11.54
22. David McMillan 3.45.77 + 11.61
29. Joe Vejvoda 3.48.95 + 14.79
36. Tom Crimmins 3.51.70 + 17.53
47. Luke Ellison 3.55.16 + 20.99
Connor Fearon was the top placed Aussie junior in fourth place 6.93 seconds off first, Connor has stated his goal is to at least claim a medal here at Leogang.Jack Moir finished tenth, an excellent result considering this is his first World Championships campaign.Dean Lucas was sporting a new paint job on his helmet, as were many of the juniors, that was finalised earlier in the day!David McMillan will be looking for a solid result tomorrow, after finishing 22nd in timed practice a top 20 is definitely on the cards.This is Joey Vejvodas second junior World Championships, 29th in timed practice.Tom Crimmins was hot property in the pits here at Leogang, he has been having his photo taken everywhere. It didn’t affect him out on the track, 36th place.Luke Ellison at his first World Championships came home in 47th.
After the junior men elite women started off the proceedings for the elite riders. With Tracey Hannah out injured the closest Australia had to a representative was Claire Buchar who finished tenth but is here representing Canada. Elite men is what a lot of the fans really come to see but with the timed run not having any bearing on Sundaya��s start order, it is hard to know just how much the riders were pushing. Either way it was Sic Mic Hannah who topped the time sheets half a second ahead of Steve Smith. Talking to Mic before his run he was calm and with a solid year of racing under his belt his confidence should be high, leta��s hope tomorrow pays off for him. Three of the big contenders, Greg Minnar, Aaron Gwin and Gee Atherton took out third through fifth respectively.
Elite Men
1. Mic Hannah 3.26.63
2. Steve Smith 3.27.16 + 0.52
3. Greg Minnaar 3.27.94 + 1.30
4. Aaron Gwin 3.28.79 + 2.16
5. Gee Atherton 3.29.06 + 2.39
a��
16. Bryn Atkinson 3.36.05 + 9.42
20. Troy Brosnan 3.37.14 + 10.51
29. Jared Graves 3.38.74 + 12.11
32. Sam Hill 3.39.92 + 12.76
43. Mitch Delfs 3.42.30 + 15.66
107. Josh Button 4.20.13 + 53.50
Mic Hannah had a flier of a practice run and took out the top spot on the time sheet, Mic has been looking fast all week.Steve Smith always looks fast, just over half a second behind Mic.Greg Minnaar appeared to be really pushing when he flew past us in the woods.Aaron Gwin was definitely cruising in his practice run, not hitting all the lines we expected him to.Gee Atherton rounded out the top five 2.39 seconds back.Bryn Atkinson has been looking fast all week, he has been going big over this step down/roll in every run.You have to think Troy Brosnan has more in the bag for finals.Jared Graves, solid in the top 30.Sam Hill cruised his practice run, not jumping all the jumps on the course.Mitch Delfs has had a good year, a solid result at Champs would seal this for him.Josh Button crashed in front of us, nothing major but good he got it out of the way before tomorrow!
Tomorrow is the big day, finals! We cana��t waita��
Sam Hill is one to watch even more when the weather turns pear shaped and pear shaped it did!
Typical Alps weather in Leogang, perfect one day miserable the next! It has been raining forA�24 hours non stop, you wouldn’t believe it unless you were stuck in the middle of it like the riders here at Leogang. The mud meant riders lacked some speed for the big jumps in the middleA�of the course but the comments were that the track was super grippy. This is testament to the local trail builders who are all to aware how much water can fall quickly in these parts.
Joey Vejvoda hits one of the jumps near the bottom of the course, split practice meant juniors were first off in the morning.
With such average conditions riders weren’t taking too many chances,A�Aussie junior David McMillan snapped his shock early inA�practice but managed to get it fixed in time to get a couple more runs in.A�The rest of the juniors were looking fast and will all be contenders on Sunday. In senior men the usual suspects were all going fast, Bryn Atkinson looked super pinned, whipping off jumps most riders were struggling to clear. Jared Graves was busy all day, possibly doing the most runs of any Australian rider, clearly a man on a mission. As was Mic Hannah who was riding with his trademark flat out style.
Jared Graves didn’t let the conditions bother him, instead he punched out run after run, saying it was the most fun he has had on a bike in the wet for a while!Mic Hannah has a super distinctive riding style and position on the bike.Mitch Delfs was also super distinctive today, for a slightly different reason to Hannah though…Pretty standard photo of a pretty standard trick, cutting down spikes!Connor Fearon was fast all day long, he was also sporting a 2013 model helmet which he was happy to show to people!The last part of the course drops away quickly, here you can see the pits in the background.Troy Brosnan was doing runs all day, sometimes with team mates, some times with other riders, such as Aaron Gwin.This may look like a random picture of tyre marks but it is not. It was taken directly after Sam Hill hit this corner, yes they are his tracks on the left there. He has such a unique style of cornering, whatever works for you!Mechanics and pressure sprayers were working over time today.Brook MacDonald has been looking comfortable all week, here he is being followed by Andrew NeethlingNo matter how cold and wet it was this made us smile, Cedric Gracia out and about! Lets hope he gets a stint in the commentary box on Sunday.
More rain is forecast for tomorrows timed practice session which could provide an interesting indication of who has genuine speed here at Leogang.
