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.
Check back soon to see the riders actually riding!
The first world cup for season 2014 is done and dusted, this finals report from South Africa also happens to be the 300th article up on downhill247.com happy days all round! The crowds came out and lined the track with most down towards the bottom section where riders had to it big jumps after 3.5 minutes of flat out pedalling and exhaustion further up the track. The day kicked off with the junior classes, whilst it is great the juniors get recognised in their own category it means they don’t feature on the live broadcast. So if you’re not lucky enough to be trackside you can’t see just how fast these riders are going and believe us they are flying!
It was young American Luca Shaw who took the victory and the overall leaders jersey followed by Loris Vergier and in third Amaury Pierron. For the Aussie contingent it was AidenVarley in fourth who got everyone back home in Australia off their seats! Aiden matched his qualifying position, a great result for Aiden.
Junior Men
1. Luca Shaw 4:15.267
2. Loris Vergier 4:17.257
3. Amaury Pierron 4:23.668
4. Aiden Varley 4:27.376
5. Benjamin Boutie 4:29.731
Next up we saw the women divisions hit the course, there were three Aussies to watch out for, one junior and two senior riders. By default as the only junior rider to line up and take on the track here in South Africa Tegan Molloy claims the overall leaders jersey. Her race run didn’t quite goes as planned with a crash in the rock garden but she dusted herself off and finished her run. Moving onto seniors and Danielle Beecroft just missed a top ten in 11th place. The best Aussie result goes to Tracey Hannah in 6th place, no doubt she will be looking to do a lot better than that in Cairns in 2 weeks.
In the end a fresh new face grabbed her first world cup victory, after a successful transition from juniors Mannon Carpenter showed that she has made the jump and is now a contender in seniors too. Rachel Atherton did well to beat her sickness into second place and Jill Kintner put her 4X/BMX background to good use to take 3rd.
Senior Women
1. Manon Carpenter 4:34.923
2. Rachel Atherton 4:38.831
3. Jill Kintner 4:44.041
4. Myriam Nicole 4:44.651
5. Emmeline Ragot 4:44.662
6. Tracey Hannah 4:48.045
7. Tahnee Seagrave 4:52.285
8. Morgane Charre 4:52.400
9. Emilie Siegenthaler 4:58.117
10. Fionn Griffiths 5:00.973
The last class of the day Senior Men, with 80 riders battling it out it was set to be a good afternoon and it didn’t disappoint! We watched the Green To Gold team race their first Senior Men’s race, with Chris Barlin and Brent Smith finishing 68th and 65th respectively it was a successful debut. Dean Lucas cracked the top 50 in 49th with Jack Moir a few positions ahead in 46th, finishing just ahead of Jack was second fastest qualifier Josh Bryceland who lost his chain and couldn’t pedal, he ended up a not too shabby 43rd. Brook MacDonald and Brendan Fairclough have had better days in the office with 35th and 37th placed finishes respectively. Nick Beer crashed aboard his custom Devinci and finished 29th one place ahead of Danny Hart in 28th.
Moving up the results we see Connor Fearon in 25th, a solid result and as usual we will have his Inside Info for you all – watch this space! Bryn Atkinson was less than 0.5 of a second ahead in 23rd, with such close times a second could easily move you up 5 positions.
Home town rider Andrew Neethling was 17th one place behind Steve Peat, an honourable mention to Cam Cole in 12th who is a coming back from a A�nasty run of injuries but showing he still has it. Whilst South Africa has never been his strongest track we were surprised to see Gee in 10th, not a bad result but after 2013 double digit results are rare! One place ahead and the highest flat pedal finisher was Sam Hill. By this stage it was still Mic Hannah who was in the hotseat as he came down earlier on in the day, with a lot of heavyweights not getting close to his time it looked like this might finally be his day… The young guns of Loic Bruni, Troy Brosnan and Sam Blenkinsop couldn’t displace him and finished 4th, 5th and 6th respectively. Greg Minnaar, arguably the danger man here for Hannah came down and looked fast but even with the crowd egging him on couldn’t knock Mic out of the seat. Had he finally done it, with just one rider to come Mic was still on the hot seat. Aaron Gwin was up at the first split and the second and as he blasted into the finish area he was up there too. Proving a point to his doubters Gwin is back, Mic finished second, so close! We are sure Mic will get one back next round in Cairns.
What a race and it answered many questions but created a few new ones too! Will Gwin be unstoppable? Can Mic use this to win in Cairns? Will Stevie Smith be back in time to shake things up? Will a young Aussie such as Connor or Troy bring something exceptional out of the bag and show the world how Aussies ride on home soil?
Senior Men
1. Aaron Gwin 3:59.344
2. Mick Hannah 4:01.381
3. Greg Minnaar 4:02.168
4. Loic Bruni 4:02.237
5. Troy Brosnan 4:02.675
6. Samuel Blenkinsop 4:03.387
7. Sam Dale 4:05.347
8. Neko Mulally 4:05.705
9. Sam Hill 4:06.195
10. Gee Atherton 4:06.243
Tune in for Cairns where we will be going all out for our home world cup, Aussie Aussie Aussie!
Before then there is still plenty coming up on the site.
Well, well, well,who picked that? Results from qualifying here in South Africa are complete and there is definitely a few eye brows being raised in the pits. Aaron Gwin showed everyone he is back finishing some 2.5 seconds ahead of Josh Bryceland, who has been training hard during the off season. Fellow teammate and pre-race favourite Greg Minnaar was in position 3 just 0.1 behind Josh, it was then a Lapierre double with Loic Bruni (how fast is this kid) and Sam Blenkinsop rounding out the top 5.
In 6th place was Australia’s own Troy Brosnan, the next Aussie was Sam Hill in 9th place, a bit of a gap back to Bryn Atkinson in 23rd. Bryn spent some time in the local hospital after a concussion during practice but got the all clear from the quacks to suit up and race, fortunately he did as all the points riders can get for the overall are super valuable. Connor Fearon was a few spots back in 26th place and ready to pull the trigger on Saturday (for this race the finals are on Saturday instead of the usual Sunday). In his first senior men’s world cup Dean Lucas grabbed a super respective 41st. With only a few weeks on his new bike Jack Moir was 52nd, watch out for Jack this year as his speed improves. In their first world cup Green to Gold racing had all their riders qualify, Brent Smith in 62nd and Chris Barlin 74th (their female rider Danielle Beecroft also qualified). The biggest surprise was Mich Hannah in 92nd, having a moment on the track, possibly related to a mechanical but being a protected rider he will still ride finals despite finishing out of the top 80.
Looking at some of the other results Gee Atherton crashed and tumbled down the results to 15th (see what we did there!). Brendan Fairclough rode his trail bike to 28th and Brook Macdonald crashed finishing 66th.
In the women’s race Manon Carpenter showed she means business, first place by over 9 seconds ahead of Rachel Atherton who had to take her IV drip out to go to the track! Emmeline Ragot was thrid, Tracey Hannah fifth. We saw Danielle Beecroft in 13th at her first senior race. Junior Tegan Molloy was 16th and will give her more confidence as her experience increases.
Junior men was taken out by American Luca Shaw, Loris Vergier was second and Taylor Vernon third, these names might not be common place but as the season continues and the years roll on it’s the juniors who will be making inroads tot he senior classes. One name you should recognise in fourth is Aiden Varley! Riding well we would love to see Aiden crack the top 3 this weekend, fingers crossed!
Racing will be taking place on Saturday so check back soon for all the action.
Practice is done for the day here in South Africa, an interesting day, there were still a few trail style bikes kicking around under riders but there were a lot more ‘light’ downhill bikes. Specialized, Devinci, Chain Reaction just to name a few were all getting around on beefed up trail style bikes, so less travel than full on downhill bikes but more beefy than regular trail bikes. Riders were sporting triple clamp forks to deal with the new rock additions.
Disappointing times for the Kona team with junior rider Andrew Crimmins out after crashing in the ‘Money Maker’ A�section of the track, the crash leaving his knee cap in two pieces… Now on his way back to Australia the world champs in Norway will become his focus. A real shame as he has the potential to mix it up in the juniors with anyone. He wasn’t the only rider to succumb to the track here in Pietermaritzburg, Innes Graham went down and broke his ankle or foot. We also saw Bryn Atkinson eat dirt but not sure how he pulled up afterwards, hopefully fine!
Tomorrow sees qualifying and a true indication of who has been training hard in the off season, catch you soon!
World cups are back! The 2014 season has kicked off in South Africa, home of the 2013 World Championships and Downhill247 as always is bringing you all the action! Today was the track walk day, a chance for riders to check out the track and see any changes. Having been on the circuit for a few years now most riders knew where the track would go but what they weren’t expecting was what was in their way, rocks! The course builders have been busy adding big rocks to make it a ‘proper’ downhill track, this raises the question, medium bike or full size downhill rig? Check out some of the antics from the walk below, it looks casual but believe us things are going to get serious real quick here in Pietermaritzburg!
Now we are keener than ever for the bikes to be rolled out and practice to get underway! Check back soon as we bring you all the action from practice.
That’s it! With a spectacular finish, the 2013 UCI World Cup is over. The heart of every rider was in this race, on the famous slopes of Leogang, Austria. With 3 Aussie riders in the Top 10, we’re a proud DH Nation! Read on…
The Elite Men’s Top 10 in Austria for 2013. Packed with the most well-known DH racing teams, and over 1/4 Australian (equal with the Lads!).
1
SMITH Steve
CAN19891125
DEVINCI GLOBAL RACING
3:23.959
2
BRUNI Loic
FRA19940513
LAPIERRE GRAVITY REPUBLIC
+1.311
3
HANNAH Michael
AUS19831121
HUTCHINSON UR
+1.934
4
ATHERTON Gee
GBR19850226
GT FACTORY RACING
+2.858
5
BRYCELAND Josh
GBR19900323
SANTA CRUZ SYNDICATE
+3.402
6
GUTIERREZ VILLEGAS Marcelo
COL19900509
GIANT FACTORY OFF-ROAD TEAM
+4.267
7
BLENKINSOP Samuel
NZL19881028
LAPIERRE GRAVITY REPUBLIC
+4.320
8
BROSNAN Troy
AUS19930713
SPECIALIZED RACING DH
+5.577
9
PEAT Steve
GBR19740617
SANTA CRUZ SYNDICATE
+6.039
10
FEARON Connor
AUS19940119
KONA
+6.620
Familiar names throughout the Women’s Top 10 too, with Tracey Hannah Bringing Aus home in 8th place.
1
RAGOT Emmeline
FRA19860527
LAPIERRE GRAVITY REPUBLIC
3:52.866
2
ATHERTON Rachel
GBR19871206
GT FACTORY RACING
+0.502
3
CARPENTER Manon
GBR19930311
MADISON SARACEN DOWNHILL TEAM
+4.817
4
KINTNER Jill
USA19811024
TEAM NORCO INTERNATIONAL
+7.562
5
NICOLE Myriam
FRA19900208
COMMENCAL / RIDING ADDICTION
+7.815
6
CHARRE Morgane
FRA19900609
MS MONDRAKER TEAM
+10.592
7
SEAGRAVE Tahnee A�
GBR19950615
FMD RACING / INTENSE CYCLES
+10.609
8
HANNAH Tracey
AUS19880613
HUTCHINSON UR
+13.078
9
SIEGENTHALER Emilie
SUI19860919
GSTAAD-SCOTT
+13.178
10
GATTO Micayla
CAN19880821
A�-
+15.348
Here are the full Aussie results, starting with Elite Men: