Not only is Steve Peat racing to top 10s in World Cups but he is continuing his mentoring with the Steve Peat Syndicate. One of the SPS juniors hitting the rock garden.
Cairns world cup, the hardest race in the series for quite some years. It was a combination of the track and the tropical weather that really made things difficult, not only for the riders but the media, the A�event crew and the spectators! Come with us as we relive the action, the emotion and the mud!
Ben Power shreds the last of the prime switchbacks that open the course, ready to head into more technical features.Sam ‘Blinky’ Blenkensop keeping control on perhaps the slickest part of the course.In fact he kept it under control most of the weekend being the fastest qualifier meant he was last rider down on Saturday.Blinky’s teammate, Emmeline Ragot, fully focused during qualifying.Not everyone got it right though…Loris Vergier drops in to the final off-camber chute, on his way to the finish of a flying race run.Tegan Molloy on one of her first runs of the weekend, scoping and easing her way into the course.Renowned for his wet weather ability Danny Hart works the rock garden.Red goes faster?!You can’t get an idea of how much water fell over the week unless you were there!Aaron Gwins kit didn’t stay white despite his white hot speed!Styles for miles!Not sure about the style here…Greg Minnaar gets sideways, holding a technical line through the roots and mud. We’d like to tell you he rode out of this one, but instead he layed down and held the bike off the mud!Troy Brosnan sporting the national champs sleeve.
Dean Lucas smashing the corner.Run forest run!
No doubt downhill is one of the toughest sports going around, to finish off this Pick of the Pics we finish with some lifestyle shots, showing the emotion and energy at a race!
Tory Brosnan at the finish line.Josh Button after an off.David McMillan sucking in the big breaths.Mitch Ropelato after breaking the finish line beams.
Tracey Hannah gives the crowd the thumbs up.Chris Kovarik at what was essentially a hometown race.Deep in thought…Rachel Atherton just after finishing the line.A little bit later after getting her breath and some sponsors merchandise!How you doing?
We wrap up our coverage of Cairns 2014 with Conor Fearon’s Inside Info – coming soon!
Images: Jason Stevens Photography, JB Photomedia & in house images.
What a backdrop for the race, the rain forest that surrounds Cairns provided many unique challenges.
A successful return to Cairns for the world mountain bike circuit and what a return it was. No denying it was hard, riders were saying it was definitely one of the most challenging races they have done. As per usual there was practice session to allow the riders who had qualified one last chance to sort their lines. It was mainly a chance to see how the track had developed after the inclement weather we had been experiencing all week.
Practice saw many riders crash despite the fact they were supposed to have their lines dialed to race on shortly!Local Chris Kovarik was looking for a good result at his home town race, he was throwing some big whips during practice to the delight of the crowd.The track was running faster than previous days but the mud was gloopy and was causing riders to crawl along at walking pace on some sections of the track.The fans were flooding the hill from early in the morning and they were cheering so loudly in some sections such as the rock garden it was surprising the riders.There was no denying who they were cheering for though….As you can imagine some of the biggest cheers were for riders who unfortunately didn’t quite conquer the conditions.26, 27.5, taco’ed, where will wheel trends head next? This one was courtesy of the rock garden up top.Greg Minnaar watches on as a competitor negotiates the course.You can see the gloop on bikes, kits and the course!
Racing, if you’re not first your last as some would say! On that note it was the junior men who got things underway, due to the UCI rules that allow the host nation to enter a larger than usual quota of riders there were plenty of Aussies to watch.
In true Australian (and World Cup) style, all the die-hard fans were out cheering home the best of the best.
As many of the juniors we spoke to said, it was hard, next level in fact. Many struggled to make the transition from Australian national races to the world stage but experience is invaluable at this level which for many of the guys is what this event is about. The two stand outs for the juniors were Ben Hill and Aiden Varley, both races with overseas experience. Ben took 7th and Aiden Varley was in the hot seat until the last rider unfortunately getting knocked out by French rider Loris Vergier but grabbing 2nd at his home race was an amazing achievement!
What a ripper result for Aiden Varley, second in finals and now sitting in third in the overall!Not everything went to plan for round 1 winner Luca Shaw who crashed and ended 10th, relinquishing the overall leaders jersey in the process.
Moving onto women and there was only one rider in the eyes of the crowd that should win, local Tracey Hannah! Before we got to see Tracey the junior girls were on course, Australia’s Tegan Molloy won the class. After her Danielle Beecroft came down in the Senior class finishing 14th. Eventually Tracey was on course, she came down and took the hot seat so it looked like it may be a fairy tale win. There were still some big names to come though…
Tegan Molloy took the win in juniors and keeps the overall leaders jersey.This shot of Danielle Beecroft shows just how taxing the race was, riders slumping over their bars as they came into the finish arena.Storming across the line and taking the hot seat Tracey got the crowd to erupt.
With a quality field it wasn’t too long before Tracey got displaced off the hot seat, the question was where would she finish in the overall scheme of things. Emmeline Ragot was looking good but a crash undid her chance of a win, round 1 winner Manon Carpenter gave everything to take the win but finished second. It was the most dominant female rider of these times, Rachel Atherton, who claimed the win, Tracey ended up with a podium in 5th!
A colourful podium with Tracey Hannah taking 5th.
Moving onto the senior men and by now the crowd was ready and raring to go! Unfortunately one member of the crowd was a little too keen and used an injured competitors bike to attempt to navigate the whoops on the course. Next thing he was bucked wild, crashed and in a bad way, this caused a course hold for some time. It favoured Steve Peat who was red flagged in his run who got a re run after admittedly being on a less than impressive first run, in the end he finished 7th so was quite happy! Steve thought there had been a punch on in the crowd when he saw the gentleman laid out cold on the track as he came past.
Hamming it up for the crowd Steve Peat crosses the line for his first run before going up and eventually claiming 7th.Andrew Needling does the same after having a flat during his run.Whilst Greg came down the track with a reasonable time because he ran off the course and entered back down further along the course he was disqualified. Greg was gutted finding this news out later in the day.Peaty and Minnaar sit back and discuss as the finals unfold. Scenes like this show the camaraderie of Downhill racing.Another disappointing result for Brook MacDonald who is use to being at the pointy end of the field but finished 27th.
Just like the juniors and women prior it was the Aussies the crowd were rooting for, it was Dean Lucas who was the first local to hold the hot seat for a considerable period of time. He was there only to be displaced by Graeme Mudd! The crowd loved it as Graeme Mudd was flanked by Dean Lucas and David ‘Mayhem’ McMillan!
Dean Lucas didn’t have his dream run, but did pull off a sweet footplant to drop in the final chute. Lets hope Dean can get the results he’s working for as the series progresses.Dean Lucas with sweat beading off him showing just how taxing the track was before Graeme Mudd pushed him out of the hot seat.Some serious contemplation going on?! Dean didn’t have the weekend he dreamed of but in the grand scheme of things is still young and has plenty of time on his side.Josh Button said hello tot he ground during his run, here he congratulates the lads.Big time! The locals were more like rockstars.David ‘Mayhem’ McMillan throwing horns.
Rider after rider came down, some had ‘what could have been runs’ with crashes others beat the conditions and took the results they wanted. Jack Moir was the next local to hold onto the hot seat for a long time, during the course hold he got to keep it warm too. In the end he finished 11th a sterling result. A�The big threats to take the won for the locals early on in the piece were Sam Hill and Mic Hannah who had average qualifying runs. Sam came through and took the hot seat much to everyone’s delight.
Hill had the home crowd roaring, as he pumped out a fast run which got him 5th on the Podium. A great result despite the pressures of racing at home and a very recent comeback from injury.The fans loved it!Not only did Sam have home crowd support but he had family on hand too.
Next was Mic Hannah, the man with the most pressure of anyone in the field, cruelly he crashed, it just wasn’t his day. At this stage Sam still had the hot seat. One of the most impressive rides we have seen for some time was Neko Mulally who with a crash claimed third, by this stage Josh Bryceland had pushed Hill out of the hot seat and was looking good for his maiden win. Gee Atherton came through on flat pedals, a rarity for him and pushed Josh out of the top spot.
Gee, finally able to rest after a gruelling (and super fast) 4 minute flat run, securing first place. With talk of the Mountain Bike ashes, the UK has won this round. Australia will be back to put up a fight again next year!By this stage Peaty was off the podium and spectating.
The last Aussies on course were Troy Brosnan and Connor Fearon, two of the youngest riders. Unfortunately neither had the runs they had hoped and finished off the podium.
Brosnan comes in, emptying the tank on the 700m finish pedal to claim 9th.There was a lot of support for the Aussies.Nor did Connor have the run he planned, we know how bad he wanted it…
Aaron Gwin couldn’t do it leaving Gee in the hot seat, by this stage it was a question of who would win. It wasn’t to be an Aussie, at best we could expect a top 5 for Sam Hill.
Gwin, 4th congratulates fellow USA rider Neko Mulally in the 3rd place on the hot seat podium.What could have been… Aaron still holds the overall leaders jersey though.Loic Bruni, another rider on a ‘what could have been’ run, the fastest to split one he crashed further down and ended up down the field.
In the end it was the last rider on the hill, Sam Blenkinsop who could knock Gee off from the top spot but he didn’t leaving the day as an Atherton double.
Winner winner! Gee Atherton did what it took, stayed upright and claimed the number one prize.
We still have some images to show you all from what was an incredible race!
Images: Jason Stevens Photography, JB Photomedia & in house images.
In many parts of the event village and out on the course this was spot on…
Qualifying and everyone got a little quieter today, a little more serious and a little bit more focused! First up for the day was a practice session for everyone to see what the track was like after last nights rain, it should also be mentioned that riders were still deliberating on line choice so this practice was, for many, still about coming to terms with the track. The weather has really come into play, the course is running a lot slower and with so many rocks/roots there are riders slipping left right and centre.
During practice riders were cleaning their bikes after every run just so they could go up top and use them again.Some were also cleaning more than bikes…
With practice finished it was time to start qualifying and it was the junior riders that got the proceedings under way. It was a tough day in the office, many who are still coming to terms with racing at the highest level. Fast French rider Loris Vergier took the top spot, it was a mixed day for the Aussies with Aiden Varley the fastest in 4th immediately followed by Jackson Davis & then Max Warshawsky. Some of the other juniors had crashes which put them further down the list. It was much the same for the junior women, Australia’s highest place getter was Ellie Wale in 20th.
First round junior winner, Luca Shaw, was second in quallies today.Not all the riders had it so easy though, there were a LOT of crashes out on the course today.Look into my eyes!!! Riders were literally scared on many sections, after witnessing it first hand we don;t blame them!
Junior Men:
1. VERGIER Loris FRANCE 4:33.924
2. SHAW Luca UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 4:43.248 +9.324
3. VERNON Taylor GREAT BRITAIN 4:46.240 +12.316
4. HAMILTON Connor NEW-ZEALAND 5:05.033 +31.109
5. VARLEY Aiden AUSTRALIA 5:05.620 +31.696
6. DAVIS Jackson AUSTRALIA 5:06.154 +32.230
7. WARSHAWSKY Max AUSTRALIA 5:08.117 +34.193
Whoops!The crowd filled out as the day went on, getting louder and rowdier too!Moving on from the juniors it was the senior classes next on the track.
The senior classes kicked off and it was the women first on track, Rachel Atherton smashed the field by a whopping 18 seconds, it looks like everyone else has some catching up to do tomorrow! For Australia, Tracey Hannah, the local hope qualified a respectable 6th, we know she will want to do a lot better than that for the home crowd tomorrow.
Senior Mens was a totally different kettle of fish, times were a lot tighter, fittingly for ANZAC day it was a Kiwi on top of the time sheet, Sam Blenkinsop taking the first spot. It was the American Dream, Aaron Gwin in second, his second split time was blindingly fast, some 5 seconds faster than anyone else! Current world champ Greg Minnar was in 3rd, I think everyone was surprised with Ed Masters grabbing 4th and Same Dale 5th! For the Aussie contingent it was Connor Fearon in 9th, with what he described as an average run, crash included! Troy Brosnan was just outside the top 10 in 11th, the local boy, Mic Hannah looked good on course but had a crash which sent him tumbling down the placings, 34th in the end.
Senior Men:
1. BLENKINSOP Samuel 4:22.233
2. GWIN Aaron 4:22.961 +0.728
3. MINNAAR Greg 4:24.411 +2.178
4. MASTERS Edward 4:28.267 +6.034
5. DALE Sam 4:29.307 +7.074
Fastest Aussie qualifier Connor Fearon 9th.11th for Troy Brosnan, with all the home town support he will be looking to climb the rankings.Second fastest qualifier Aaron Gwin, his bike, just like most competitors gained over 10kgs in weight by the tie he got to the bottom.Brook MacDonald’s year hasn’t gone as he would have hoped, 28th in qualifying still leaves lots of room for improvement!Danielle Beecroft didn’t quite have the run of her dreams, tomorrow is the one that counts!You can never discount Greg, no matter what the track or the conditions, 3rd today and a threat tomorrow!A crash for Sam Hill pushed him down into unfamiliar territory on the time sheet.After a poor result in South Africa Gee Atherton is looking to wind things up a notch.Danny Hart is use to the wet but not the heat!Riders really had to crank to get any sort of speed in the thick mud.In a lot of cases it seemed as though riders almost let there guard down after navigating some of the really technical parts of the track only to get caught out somewhere simpler!
We can’t wait for finals tomorrow! You know where to get all the images tomorrow!
Images: Jason Stevens Photography, JB Photomedia & in house images.
Ahh what a day… Sunny, beautiful Cairns became wet, beautiful Cairns! Practice kicked off early in the morning with the Group B practice which comprised of junior, female and elite men’s riders that were ranked out of the top 100. Conditions were good and riders were enjoying the track, however, just before midday the skies opened up and down came the rain!
Walking up to the start line and about to start the day!A couple of Aussies watch on, Tracey Hannah, Will Rischbieth and Josh Button.Straight out of the gate and it is into a set of tight corners.Ben Power hits the corners, being a QLD local he knows the drill.If anyone knows the track inside and out it is this man, Rhys Atkinson, the track builder!Once the rain started coming down people were getting creative with ways to cover their electrical goods! Ty from Captyvate media remained patriotic with his covering! Check out his raw edit from today; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KnCxSSkozzYThere were other ways the action was being captured too!The wet rock garden didn’t seem to faze Sam Hill, everyone watched on in awe.Sam’s former team mate Troy Brosnan was out on his small bike from South Africa, the whole Specialized team were today!Troy’s team mate Aaron Gwin didn’t look exceptional today but then again no-one did!Brendan Fairclough boosted the jumps down the track something chronic! He did alright in the rocks too….Ben Hill, still no gloves! It didn’t seem to affect him none the less.Team Green To Gold going ejecto!Boost! Some riders were not afraid to go massive despite the conditions.
There was a timed practice session today but many riders didn’t ride in it, Connor Fearon did get the second fastest time behind Gee Atherton. We saw lots of media whose cameras succumbed to the conditions but qualifying tomorrow will tell the real story….
The scenery in Cairns is pretty epic! It makes a nice change for the world cup to stop somewhere different.
Here we go! After 5 years the highest level of downhill racing returns to Australia. Cairns in far north Queensland plays host to round 2 of the UCI World Cup series. Today was the track walk and gave riders their first chance to look at what they will be racing on come Saturday.
It was time to head up for the track walk and everyone was excited to see what the track had to offer.Make no mistake the uplift was pretty crazy itself!Riders were keen to check out the track and straight of the gate there were a heap of tight corners before riders will be confronted with this! A pretty epic rock garden, Nick Beer checks it out.Connor Fearon points out some lines while Ty from Captyvate Media looks on. Dean Lucas looks up from the bottom.And then thinks about it some more….You have to watch out for everything in Cairns, chances are they will bight or sting, regardless how small!Getting out from the rocks revealed some wider open sections. The track had some contrasting technical areas then wide open.It was pretty muddy in some parts…Making it a whole lot of fun just to walk!For some people their shoes were disposable by the end of the walk.Riders were definitely scratching their heads at some points.Others were just chucking a ‘Super Mr Casual!’Others were just super stoked!This had everyone deep in thought and conversation. You would have seen the pics by now of the whoops section, There was a lot of talk about whether riders could quad the first part in a double…This was also pretty interesting… Will Rischbieth stands up on the top left pointing out the landing bottom right….The iconic 270 corner leads riders into the aforementioned gap!69 – Rumble in the rainforest!
Check back soon to see the riders actually riding!
25th for Connor who was trying to match his plate it would seem, he will drop that number at the next few rounds we are sure.
Let’s check in with Connor Fearon as he gives us the Inside Info on World Cup number 1 for 2014! Over to Mr Worldwide himself:
Last time I raced here I finished in the 60’s with a good run and that was my worst World Cup result ever. I’ve trained hard this off season to change all that. I was excited for the season to start and get back into racing with my new team mate Andrew Crimmins. As far as the team goes not much has changed. I still have my trusty mechanic Dupelle working on the Kona. Matty had already set my bike up with an air shock and single ply tyres to help bring the weight down to move along the pedal a bit faster. The track walk showed a lot of changes the track builders have made since I was here in 2012. A lot of the top section had been diverted and remade with the inclusion of a few very technical rock gardens. Apart from that the track was the same with the lung burning pedal and 4x style bottom third. My first few runs made me realise how hard the top section was going to be now with the added rock gardens. Everybody on trail bikes looked like they were struggling a bit. I opted to put my coil shock and downhill casing tyres back on. My plan was to make as much time at the top half and figure out the pedal section when I get to it. Unfortunately my team mate Andrew Crimmins crashes badly on the first practice day and broke his kneecap in half… He’ll be back eventually and will get to the top step I’m sure.
Roaring into the finishing area you can be sure the riders were hurting. Connor has been training hard in the off season and it shows!
Qualifying was good. I put a solid run down and pushed hard through the technical sections. I qualified 26th. I really want to stay in the top 20 this year, statistically this is my worst track but it made no difference to my expectations. With racing on Saturday there was no practice day after qualifying, just a short session before racing. I made a few changes to my lines in some sections that would help me go faster. My race run was really good only some minor issues at the top and set my lungs on fire throughout the whole pedal section. Overall it was pretty good. I finished in 25th, to be honest I’m a little disappointed and I expected better of myself this season. After looking at the split times I was happy with my effort on the pedal. I was 18th at the last split then went back from there… Now my focus is on the cairns World Cup in a week where I really want to be up there in the results. Thanks to my sponsors for making this season possible- Kona, Fox Head, Maxxis, Giro Shoes, SRAM, Rock Shox, Avid, Yakima racks and Breese High Performance.
Next stop for the world cup is no where other than Cairns Australia!
