Jack Moir takes us on #15sectrackwalk for Lenzerheide Switzerland the fourth round of the UCI World Cup.
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World Cup 4 – Track Walk – Lenzerheide
Inside Info: Connor Fearon – Leogang
As long time supporters of Connor Fearon this has to be one of our favourite Inside Infos ever, without further adieu we hand it over to the man himself;
Coming into Leogang I had mixed emotions. The first two world cups this year I had a crash and a flat tyre so was disappointed to say the least. Especially after training so hard in the off season I had high hopes for this year. Leogang has always treated me well. In 2012 I placed 3rd in the junior world championships, 2013 I got my first ever top 10 (10th place) and 2014 I got my best result at the time of 9th. I was nervous that I would ruin another race in a row… Fun fact while I’m here, I ended up with plate number 36 for this race. A number I always thought was lucky because C and F are the third and sixth number of the alphabet… I’m not one to be superstitious but I was a little excited when I saw the number.
Anyways, we arrived in Leogang and had a look at the track. There where quite a few new sections which I think made the track better. People always complain about Leogang being to “bike parky”. Meaning it’s hard pack dirt with wide berms and braking bumps everywhere from having a lot of bike traffic on it. There was a lot off fresh loam but after it rained and practice went by all the dirt moved and exposed hundreds of roots. I felt comfortable on the track straight away but took some time setting up my suspension looking for the best performance I could get. In timed training at the end of the first practice day I put in a couple of solid efforts and was around 5th so I thought another top 10 in the finals wouldn’t be out of reach. Next was qualifying. I had planned to just have a solid clean run and not to push the envelope to much because I wasn’t protected. I thought this should land me in the top 20 somewhere. I guess I proved myself wrong when I crossed the line in 2nd place behind Aaron Gwinn. I was happy for about 10 minutes then the nerves started setting in. Getting a World Cup podium is a massive dream for mine and this was the golden opportunity.
I couldn’t really sleep that night because I was so nervous and on race day I just wanted to hurry up and get the race over and done with. I had 2 practice runs and then went back to the hotel and chilled for a couple hours before I had to race. My race run was really good. I hit all my lines perfectly and rode on the edge the whole way. I got to the halfway mark and knew I was on a really good ride so decided to just push it to the finish. Dropping into the last section I rode an inch wide off a fade away drop and landed just outside the track for a split second before returning to the course. I knew people had been harshly disqualified for this in the past so I didn’t know if that mistake would cost me. I came across the line in first which guaranteed me a top 2 spot.
Aaron finished and just beat me with no chain somehow but I really didn’t care I had rode the best race I could. Still feeling so nervous I was going to get disqualified I didn’t feel relieved until after the podium. It felt amazing to stand up there with the worlds best riders and especially my mate Troy who I’ve been racing for 10 years since we where 10 years old. It’s definitely a massive weight off my shoulders to get a podium and I think it’s going to make racing easier for me in the future with this new confidence.
Massive thanks to all my sponsors Kona Bikes, Fox Head, HT components, Fast Twitch gym Adelaide, Yakima racks, Maxxis and all the other team sponsors!
Follow Connor on Instagram @connorahoyhoy
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World Cup 3 a�� Leogang – Finals
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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World Cup 3 – Leogang – Track Walk
We have a 15 second look at the track, a few changes from last year to keep things interesting….!
Follow Tegan Molloy who kindly provided this roundsa�� track walk on Instagram @teganmolloy96
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Inside Info: Connor Fearon – Fort William
Coming off a devastating result at the first World Cup at Lourdes I really wanted to get a good result in Fort William. In the past I’ve done pretty well there and last year I was inside the top 15. Everyone who follows the world cups knows that Fort William is the roughest and longest track of the year. It has technical woods, flat out rocky sections and the infamous highway at the bottom where you have to pedal the last 45 seconds of the track. By the end your physically exhausted that’s for sure. This year there was a new woods section that had no shortage of slippery roots.The worst part about this race was the terrible weather. It rained non stop and was insanely windy. Especially the top half which is completely exposed as there’s no trees what so ever .
Practice and Qualifying was average for me. With the high winds it was hard to feel good on the bike. The whole top half felt really slow battling a head wind the whole way and also added to the exhaustion because sections of the track you could usually roll with quite some pace everyone had to be pedalling hard to maintain speed. Due to the high winds qualifying and practice was cancelled on Saturday. This meant that qualifying and racing would be held on Sunday, starting at 6:15am!
Sunday was a big day for everyone with the pits coming alive at about 5am. The weather didn’t seem much better although the rain had died out a bit the wind was still terrible. My practice runs where better on race day. I kept changing springs on my shock and never got comfortable on the Friday but I felt like I had it right finally. Most people only got to do one practice run in the morning due to the changed schedule. Since I was out of the top 20 I wanted to have a smooth run to guarantee me a spot in the finals. I must have hit something pretty hard because I broke about 8 spokes in my rear wheel about a minute from the finish. I could feel the wheel slapping both sides of my frame so cruised it to the finish to avoid the wheel collapsing. I still qualified 25th which came to a surprise. Still disappointed because if I hadn’t broken the wheel I could’ve got points for qualifying in the top 20.
My race run started out great I was riding all my lines fast and confident. My improved fitness was also helping me in the more technical sections because I wasn’t as fatigued as the last few years. I noticed my front tyre starting to go flat about halfway and I was devastated. It held enough air to ride but slowed me down significantly and was completely flat by the last section of the track.
I finished 34th still which means I at least got a few points. The last two races have been really disappointing for me because I know I had potential to do really well at them. The next race is Leogang which I’ve done great at in the past so I’m really hoping i’ll have a clean race there!
Thanks to everyone that helps me race- Kona bikes factory team, Fox head, fast twitch training centre Adelaide, Yakima rack, HT components
Follow Connor on Instagram @connorahoyhoy and we will check back with him after Leogang this weekend.
Images: Isac Paddock follow on Instagram @_paddock
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World Cup 2 – Finals – Fort William
We just witnessed a history making day in more than one way among the testing conditions of the Scottish highlands. Rewinding A�a day to Saturday and 60kmph plus winds meant there was no practice or qualifying, the weather meaning the organisers would have to run it before the race Sunday morning.
So once qualifying was done there was little time for the riders (and mechanics) to be ready for racing, the crowd had started to pour in. As always there was a huge turn out of passionate fans, not fussed by the weather.
Racing kicked off under better conditions and first on course were the junior riders, always a hotly contested category. As usual crashes were a feature in the final results. The win was taken by Martin Maes who is proving to be a force to be reckoned with in both enduro and downhill, he just edged out local and 2014 medal winner at the world championships’ Laurie Greenland (who had the crowd cheering him home) and Alex Trillo finished third. A tougher day for the Aussies, Andrew Crimmins the highest placed finisher in 9th, Remy Morton 11th, Max Warshawsky 14th and Jackson Frew 21st.
Next on course were the female riders, with both Tegan Molloy and Tracey Hannah representing for Australia hopes for a strong showing were high. In the end a solid result with Tegan in 11th and Tracey finishing 7th after a crash mid run. It was almost a British white wash on the podium with 4 out of the 5 places going to locals. 4X rider Katy Curd showed she can handle any sort of bike and took home 5th place, Manon Carpenter had a huge over the bars experience but still managed to grab 4th place, Emmeline Ragot continued her strong form after winning round 1 and took 3rd, second place went to the very pink Tahnee Seagrave in her best world cup result to date and the winner was Rachel Atherton who noticeably looked the fastest and smoothest of all the ladies.
Heading on to the men and it really felt like this race was wide open, a lack of practice and the track conditions were sure to ensure that anyone could win! We saw Stevie Smith back after a horrendous run of injuries, Sam Hill was absent and is rider who has won here before. After qualifying a few ‘lesser’ known riders such as Mike Jones showed they were up to speed and in the mix.
George Brannigan took the hot seat early and enjoyed it for a while, Wyn Masters and Bernard Kerr had good results in 11th and 14th respectively. Mike Jones couldn’t back up his second place qualifier and finished just outside of the top 10 in 12th.
Aaron Gwin came down on a stormer and went ahead by almost 7 seconds, everyone was questioning whether he had done enough to win his second race in a row this season. When Gee Atherton came down with a sloppy run but was only a few seconds off Gwin it looked as though his time may be beaten, Greg Minnaar came down and took the hot seat by over a second. Now with only a few riders left on course it looked as if it would require a Troy Brosnan like effort (he is the only rider to win his maiden world cup at this course). Speaking of Troy he had a bobble in the woods and finished 6th just off the podium. Last man on the hill Loic Bruni couldn’t put a run together to claim the victory finishing 7th, this left Greg Minnaar to take his 17th world cup victory, an all time record equal with team mate Steve Peat. Aaron Gwin finished second and takes the overall lead, Marcelo Gutierrez took his best ever result with third and is the first Columbian to step onto a world cup podium. Gee Atherton ended up finishing 4th with a sore wrist he has been nursing for a while now. Rounding out 5th was Sam Blenkinsop.
A rather different race weekend but run and won! Next weekend the circus heads to Austria for round 3.
Images: Isac Paddock follow on Instagram @_paddock
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