It doesn’t even look real but Val di Sole (or the Valley of the Sun) is a very picturesque place! It also happens to be home to one of the most brutal race tracks on the planet!
There will be no more world cups until 2016! Seems crazy to write that because it feels like only last week we were racing the first round but it is the truth. Fortunately there is still the world championships to come but before we get ahead of ourselves, Val di Sole (VDS) and what a race it was for the finale. The overall competition for the juniors and the women had already been determined but the men’s competition was still Greg Minnaars to win and Aaron Gwins to lose! Of course there were so many other plots as well, could Loic Bruni snag his first world cup win? Could Troy Brosnan grab the win after crashing in Windham the race prior? Would we yet again see another fresh out of the juniors field rider grab their first elite podium?
Track walk is always interesting, this year there were many new features which meant riders couldn’t just go back to the lines from previous years.This was one of the biggest concerns, moisture… it was always there lurking but never had a big say in how the event turned out.Aptly named…The man getting all the attention!It was good to see Steve Peat back on a bike, his weekend didn’t quite go to plan scoring another injury, at least this one is a lot more minor!
Racing saw an Italian junior, Loris Revelli, step up to the plate and take away the coveted gold medal much to the delight of the home crowd! Andrew Crimmins was the highest placed Aussie in fourth place,he took home second overall a fantastic result!
Junior Men:
1st. Loris Revelli
2nd. Jacob Dickson
3rd. Laurie Greenland
Remy Morton had a promising first junior season, roll on 2016.
In the elite women it was the same story as it has been most of the season, Rachel Atherton took the win! Myriam Nicole showed that she can handle the technical tracks, a good sign before world championships. Third went to current world champion Manon Carpenter.
Tracey Hannah took the last place on the podium in 5th.Manon Carpenter looked to ramp up her title defence ahead of world championships taking 3rd.Myriam Nicole took second.
In the elite men all the attention was on the last few riders as they were the ones who had more to gain than just the race victory! Brook MacDonald was in the hot seat when Greg Minnaar started his run, it wasn’t long before he made an uncharacteristic mistake and sampled the Italian dirt, in the process he awarded the 2015 series to Aaron Gwin. Next up was Lolo aka Loic Bruni the young French man rode well displacing Brook MacDonald from the top spot. Next on course was Aaron Gwin, he rode a smart race and ended up just ahead of Loic’s time. This left fastest qualifier Troy Brosnan on track, he was fastest at split one but a crash/bobble/incident meant he broke his finger but still managed to charge home for third place.
You don’t often see Greg Minnaar crash, especially in a race run.Gee Atherton couldn’t repeat his world championships success here from a few years ago.Fastest qualifier translates to last rider down the hill. We now wait for the 2016 season.The race is won or lost, long before riders cross the finish line.2015 was a break through year for many riders including Tahnee Seagrave.Still no world cup wins for this maestro, hard to believe really!Rachel Atherton showed to be the class act of 2015 in a league of her own.What could have been…. emotion levels were high!Captain America takes his 14th world cup win and 3rd overall series.Aaron Gwin again showed he can handle a bike on a variety of courses to take the win here on a totally different track to the last race in Windham.
That wraps up the 2015 UCI downhill world cup series, what a great year it has A�been. Of course join us in Andorra for the world championships in a few weeks time.
Your alarm goes off, it is 6.30am, you are nervous but not overly hungry, you force yourself to eat something. That bowl of oats gets forced down while you are checking the old social media before you realise it is getting close to go time, you go put your fresh kit on before you get in the hire car to get to the pits. What is this music station? Why do they always play such strange songs haha. Driving through the pits you see your fellow countrymen you put the window down and yell ‘the amateur race was yesterday mate! haha’ – you crack a smile as you drive off, I got him! As you get to the pits your mechanic wheels your steed out, fresh cut down tyres, all set and ready to go. First chair up for the day, it’s cold gah why aren’t these jerseys thicker! You look across to the track, is that ground wet? If so you might need to take the line around the rocks as you come out of the woods. You ride from the chair lift to the start gate, your left leg is stiff from that crash you had in practice, it will come good later you say. There are a few riders ahead of you at the start gate before you push off for the first run of the day, you have 2 hours of practice before racing starts. You are in the gate and the marshall nods and says ‘whenever you like’, you crank out of the start gate… welcome to race day. Windham 2015.
Tracey Hannah has traditionally done well in Windham, fourth here put her onto the podium again.
It was a race that had it all. A few points of interest;
Rachel Atherton won by 9.3 yes 9.3 seconds, she had won the overall title by this stage.
The Aussie juniors ride strong filling various positions from 5th on.
Aaron Gwin won by 3.5 seconds ahead of Greg Minnaar. That 3.5 seconds was the same time gap from 2nd through to 15th. Gwin has now won 12 world cups.
Loris Vergier shows he is another French rider who will be winning races soon claiming his first podium in 3rd after stepping up from juniors last year.
Stevie Smith gets back onto the podium in 5th.
Troy Brosnan finishes 6th with a crash, his time from the first split to the finish is only 0.398 seconds slower than Aaron’s time…
Matt Walker from the VANZACS does the privateers proud with an impressive 11th place.
Dean Lucas keeps his good season rolling with a 15th place.
Connor Fearon steadies his results with a solid 25th.
Loic Bruni flatted which really hurts his chance for the overall and ends up in 66th, Greg Minnaar now overtakes him into 2nd place in the race for the overall world cup win.
Another solid result for Danny Hart in 14th place.With his third win in a row Laurie Greenland has won the overall junior men’s title with an insurmountable points lead over Andrew Crimmins.Gee Atherton has had a quiet year by his standards, 4th here shows he’s still in the mix as ever.For a short period of time there it looked like Greg Minnaar might be adding to his overall wins tally but not today, second for the South African.Man or machine?Absolutely no denying Aaron Gwins speed, it looked as if he was in fast-forward mode.As humble as ever, Arron Gwin said he was delighted to win at home, with this week having been one of his most memorable races to date.
The next race sees riders head back to Europe for the last world cup in Val di Sole and the world championships in Andorra, see you there!
Images: Jeff Henson follow him on Instagram (@JHENSONPHOTO) orA�www.jhensonphoto.com
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We packed our back bags and headed south into the good ol’ US of A. Image: Zach Faulkner.
We headed down south from Mont Sainte Anne to Windham in the United States of America for round 6 of the world cup. In relation to last race this track is much shorter, around half the time overall. It does have a combination of fast sections, jumps and some rocky shale which is common in the area.
After last race where Josh Bryceland proved he’s back will Windham be his second win this year?
Qualifying took place in pretty dusty conditions and results are as below. A few pointers, Rachel Atherton is the 2015 overall world cup champion, after qualifying first she now has an insurmountable points lead! Congratulations Rachel. The juniors are again racing to hone their skills, solid result by the group as they lead into world championships. Aaron Gwin shows he is keen to win at this home race, a solid gap on short course means he is the man to beat.
The juniors have been neck and neck all season, this trend continues in Windham, it is anyone’s guess as who will take the victory.Rachel tops the timesheet and has wrapped up the overall, it looks like she is on track for win number 5 this season. Look closely and you will see old school racer Missy Giove making an appearance. Throwbacks for days…Who is your pick? In reality there is a handful of riders who could take the win here, do you fancy the hometown here Gwin? Or do you think Bruni will claim his first win? Maybe you have a darkhorse picked as a surprise.Fastest qualifier, Aaron Gwin, shows us he is the man to beat at his home course with a 2+ second gap from 2nd place.Loic Bruni dancing across the rocks, second qualifier and hoping to improve one place come finals.Troy Brosnan was so close last race, you just know he is hungry to take the win here.You can never rule Greg Minnaar out, the most successful male world cup racer of all time can increase his haul at anytime!14th in qualifying Connor Fearon is one spot behind compatriot Dean Lucas, both looking for at least a top 10 this weekend. Image: Zach Faulkner
That gives a quick snapshot of qualifying, finals yet to come! Tune back for more.
Images: Jeff Henson follow him on Instagram (@JHENSONPHOTO) orA�www.jhensonphoto.com
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Wow what a great race! So many amazing performances. Just one facet of the race was the juniors on hand to hone their race skills before the world championships in Andorra.
You couldn’t have picked a more exciting race to celebrate the 150th UCI downhill world cup and the 25th year that Mont Sainte Anne have held a world cup/championships. There was plenty of action before finals with qualifying throwing up a few surprises of its own, Aaron Gwin was a DNF as he crashed in the first corner, Danny Hart and Marcelo Gutierrez were up at the pointy end of the field which was headed by Troy Brosnan. With rain falling during qualifying it was with baited breath everyone went to sleep. Race day dawned and it looked like we might have a clear day ahead of us, only time would tell.
Racing came around and it looked like the rain was going to hold off…
There were a few crashes in the last practice session before racing, some more severe than others. Unfortunately it looks like Emmeline Ragot will miss out on world championships after breaking multiple bones in her leg and arm, healing vibes.
Getting into racing and the aforementioned juniors took to the track first, Remy Morton went into a tree with his front wheel but was still upbeat, Harry Bush finished 26th, Max Warshawsky came 12th, Jackson Frew 11th and Joel Willis was in 10th finishing the trifecta of Aussie results next to each other! Andrew Crimmins was the highest placed finisher with 3rd place as he battles for the overall junior title.
1. Laurie GREENLAND
2. Alex MARIN TRILLO A�+6.663
3. Andrew CRIMMINS +7.528
Remy Morton had an unfortunate excursion into a tree! A taco was his payment for doing so (wheel that is!).
Next up were the women and you have to say that Rachel Atherton is the lady to beat at the moment, the other riders gave it a real shake but Rachel went on to claim her 24th world cup victory. Unfortunately for Tracey Hannah she had an excursion into the ground during her race run and Tegan Molloy matched her number plate finishing 14th.
The overall is now firmly in Rachel Atherton’s grasp, solid riding by all the girls though means it is anything but guaranteed.
Moving onto the men’s race and there was drama, action and some amazing riding. For a track that was nearly 3 kilometres long the top times were extremely close. The rain came and went for the men’s final but in reality it didn’t noticeably change the results as it never came down hard enough to cause issues. A few notes; unfortunately for the locals Stevie Smith couldn’t repeat his victory of a few years ago, unorthodoxly he crashed in the same place as his qualifying crash, washing out on a steep corner. Fortunately Mark Wallace gave the locals something to cheer about in 6th, his team mate Dean Lucas racked up another top 20 finish in 18th. Connor Fearon went over the bars in one of the gnarly rock sections on course and finished way lower down the time sheet then he had hoped. We also saw the return of Mic Hannah to world cup racing, regaining confidence before world championships. It was also Sam Hills second world cup since returning from injury, he finished a handy 20th.
It was great to see Mic Hannah back from injury and racing again.
Aaron Gwin was on the hot seat after an early run when ironically Loic Bruni knocked him off with a bike that had its chain wrapped around the cranks thanks to a big impact further up the course. Everyone was wondering could it finally be Loic’s turn?! It would seem his tough luck of getting podiums but not winning (would anyone really complain about that though?! We know Loic isn’t) continues after getting knocked down right towards the end of the day. It was Josh Bryceland that did it, with a few riders left to go it was only Troy Brosnan who troubled Josh but in the end Josh held on by 0.2 of a second over Loic, just 0.025 seconds behind Loic was Troy! What a crazy time gap after 4.5 minutes of racing! Truly nail biting stuff.
Not the result Connor Fearon was looking for after his recent podium, it is just a matter of time and it won’t be long!
Danny Hart got wild off the drop into the final straight, almost leaving the course and collecting some spectators!
Troy Brosnan lurching for any time he can get!
So close, Troy knew world cup win number 2 was so close but there are more opportunities around the corner, next weekend in fact as we head to Windham.
Loic Bruni again just missed his first world cup victory,maybe his chain issue cost him? Then again maybe it helped him by keeping smooth when he was tired towards the botom?
The Rat is back! Josh Bryceland said his run wasn’t perfect but at MSA it doesn’t have to be for the win, it just needs to be the best.
Next weekend we head south into the US of A for the Windham world cup, tune in then.
Images: Zach Faulkner (Instagram: @zachfaulkner)
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Mont Saine Anne plays host to the 150th downhill World Cup this weekend and it is quite the venue! Long, rough and fast. This year the legendary booter has been replaced with a few different features, we will wait until practice to see what the changes are like. For now enjoy the video below.
Peter Varley also supplied a few images of the junior riders as they are here getting practice in before the world championships in Andorra.
Some fresh faced juniors ready to learn the craft.Who better to learn then from Sam Hill, he has won more world cups here than anyone, including the 2010 World Championships’.
Check back soon after practice and look out for our coverage over the weekend.
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Welcome to Lenzerheide! A picturesque town in Switzerland and home of World Cup #4.
If downhill was a novel then 2015 would be a book full of twists and sub plots, sure while the race winners have been pretty much the ‘established’ riders the rest of the podium positions/top 20 have been going to some different faces!
With Steve Peat overlooking the tracks design and construction you could be sure racers were in good hands. The total bill to build this tack was in the hundreds of thousands!Practice, qualifying and racing all took there toll. With Andrew Neethling, Brendan Fairclough, Josh Bryceland, Jack Moir (who did our #15secondtrackwalk from this round) and Andrew Crimmins all scored some pretty dramatic injuries of one type or another over the course of the week. In some cases, such as Andrews’ they could still race, in other cases like Jacks’ it was home for surgery/rehab.Brendan Fairclough still managed to lay down plenty of style! (and speed, he finished 15th in a stacked field).Sam Hill was back racing, even before his doctor said he should be, so he was using this race to get some ‘race feel’. The next round takes us to Mont Saint Anne where Sam has won countless times before. We feel he will have his eyes on this race to launch his season comeback.Stevie Smith was another rider who is/was on the comeback. He snuck into the top 10 with 9th place but you know he wants to get back on the podium. Again we feel Mont Saint Anne will be his springboard.Caption this haha! The girls watch on closely…The female podium, featuring a disappointed Emmeline Ragot in 5th who qualified fastest but crashed in her race run. Morgan Charre in 4th who hasn’t seen the podium for longer than she would have liked. Third place went to Tracey Hannah who is moving up the overall rankings with consistent results. A very relieved Mannon Carpenter in 2nd, this year has not been kind to her. Top step goes to Rachel Atherton for the third race in a row.You put your right leg out, you put your…. With Rachel Atherton’s form and confidence at the moment it is going to be a hard task stopping her running away this year. This marked her 23rd world cup victory,truly amazing.
By now you would have no doubt seen the results of the race, unfortunately for anyone trying to stream the race there were some technical issues during the men’s finals but at least the coverage is free and they rectified the problem before the end.
After his best ever result at the last race we know Connor Fearon was primed to go one better.In the end Connor went all or nothing and ended up going over the bars in the wooded section. He finished the race and as usual check out his full Inside Info to get his take on the weekend.Never rule Gee Atherton out, he finished 5th in the race and is always up there.Troy Brosnan gave us hints of his new kit before he unleashed it to the world. We have to say it polarised opinions! Not that Troy would mind he was busy going fast.Troy Put up some footage of him riding and it is well worth a watch.You can even see the crazy stump jump line he took, much tot he fans excitement!For the finals he chose a more traditional kit, here he lunges for the finish and 4th place.Dean Lucas well, well, well…!Dean has really made a push at stepping up his racing this year. We know how much he was training before the season started.As he came hurtling towards the finish line it was Ed Masters in the hot seat who had put together a great run (Ed would eventually finish 11th).As Dean crossed the line he checked the time, in his mind he knew he had put together a good run.And the timing board confirmed that! A few seconds ahead of Ed meant he would be inline for his best result to date. Little did we know just how good his run was.As riders were unable to beat his time it went from being a top 10 to a top 5 to a top 3 time! In the end 3rd place was his reward. Dean commented how much the track reminded him of riding back home and this result was testament to that.Loic Bruni was again the last rider down the hill and again finished second! The most over used phrase when captioning anything to do with Loic is that his maiden race win will come soon!What can be said about Greg Minnaar that hasn’t already?! After equaling the all time male wins record in Fort William Greg can now lay sole claim to it with a victory in Lenzerheide. A true legend in his own right.Winners are grinners!Just quietly we wouldn’t mind an all Australian podium! With the form in camp Australia at the moment that doesn’t seem un-achievable!Another podium shot why not!Drink it up! New podium boy Dean Lucas being ‘minted’.
That wraps up the World Cup action for a little while as next race is across the ocean in Canada and we can’t wait to see what that brings!
