The 2013 World Cup Season seems to have clicked up a notch every round. With an ever-growing intensity of crowds, weather, hype and action, Mont Saint Anne was no exception. Wild weather seemed to hang eerily over the Canadian resort throughout the four day event, only adding to the drama come race day. Here Stevie Smith has the finish in sight, powering in for the win.
For many Australian fans this was one early Monday morning to look forward to; a 5am start with the Top 10 Women’s DHI streamed on Red Bull TV. While Rachel Atherton has dominated the series so far, and qualified first, an error at the top of the course and a crash in the lower wooded section cost her vital time, and landed her in 12th place. Emmiline Ragot came away with the win by 4 seconds with a fast, clean run ahead of Manon Carpenter and Floriane Pugin.
Emmiline Ragot took the win with style, and with Junior Men’s teammate Loris Vergier taking 1st too, it was a great day for the Lapierre Gravity Republic team on the mountain.
As the Men’s race runs got underway, mechanicals and punctures littered the field, and even an unlucky broken wheel for ‘not Peaty’ Josh Bryceland. South African Andrew Neethling still held the hot seat with a time of 4:02:984, which held well into the Top 30, until Gee Atherton stormed through for the final dry run of the day with a 3:59:389. Then the sky opened up to make things interesting. It wasn’t long before the open areas were getting slick, slowing riders down in the top section and seemingly securing the win for Gee.
After proving his worth in previous years as a Junior, Troy Brosnan has his foot firmly in the door, placing pressure on the world’s fastest and doing Australia proud. After qualifying 7th, Troy laid down a solid performance in his race run, but the change in conditions slowed the whole group down.After a solid weekend of practice, and confidence coming into the event, Dean Lucas took a close second in Junior Mens, three hundredths of a second behind Loris Vergier. It’s easy to believe the future of Australian World Cup downhill is in safe hands watching these young guns ride!There’s no doubt that there were hearts in mouths when Sam Hill stepped up to the start. After his mythical performance at Champery in 2007, and his building performance throughout his first season back from injury, it was very plausible that he could steal the win from under Gee’s nose. Once again the wet weather stood its ground, but Sam put up a good fight to claim 3rd. And the words on Australia’s lips are “one of these days…”As Stevie Smith hit the track the home crowd roared; they roared as if they’d been silent all day. As he made his way down the mountain, with obvious speed and endless style, commentator Rob Warner took us back to Champery 2011, and got the Downhill world’s hearts pumping as Stevie came in with a time of 3:58:485 and the win.The grin of a well deserved winner, Steve Smith hasn’t got long to celebrate before heading to Whistler for Crankworx. It’s on with the job and onto the next race, but this win won’t be forgotten quickly.
The whole field is hungry for the top of the podium, and as the season progresses each rider gets even more determined. What will happen in Norway?
What a shambles! High speed winds ripped through overnight and caused some damage.
Everyone in Mont Sainte Anne woke up for the finalA�full day of practice to be greeted by a bit of destruction! Strong winds that came through overnight really made a mess of the pit area! For the riders the winds did cause a few issues in practice, one of the fastest courses on the circuit, MSA has some open areas and jumps where the wind can play havoc, keeping it low was the name of the game.
For the riders keeping low over jumps was critical, with a good qualifying result Sam Blenkinsop keeps it low to make sure he makes it through to Sunday’s race.Keeping low doesn’t mean you can’t look stylish though as Sam Hill demonstrates!The Santa Cruz Syndicate didn’t escape the carnage…Good thing none of the team bikes were there/damaged otherwise we couldn’t have got this banger of Greg Minnaar!Danny Hart will be wanting to get the ‘no World Cup win’ monkey off his back, second in qualifying shows this could be his race.There were plenty of different styles being thrown down over the jumps lining the course…
Will Gee Atherton’s big crash in qualifying be too much for him to overcome on race day? Connor Fearon is on a mission for a top 10 result and we all know he can do it! Will Sam Hill take his first win in a long time? Will Danny Hart claim his maiden victory? Troy Brosnan knows this track and won his first Junior World Champs here, with his parents support track side, will he take his maiden victory? So many questions – race day will answer all, check back soon!
Last minute practice for riders before finals! Check out the drop to the finish line, that’s steep!
Wow who picked that?! World Cup number three delivered a huge range of highs and lows, a classic race and one that really stood out. Lets rewind a little to Sunday morning, the weather A�was inclement and people were still unsure what would happen with it later in the day, as it turned out conditions were near perfect.
Sunnies on! Bryn Atkinson was just a spectator – which as a racer is never the best but with an injury at Val di Sole he was sub par in the health department and at this level being less than 100% means you might not be in the big show come Sunday.
It was the juniors who kicked proceedings off, a shame that there were no Australian Junior females present and only a few males but such are the demands of racing a whole season it is just not viable.
Tahnee Seagrave taking the Junior Female win and sporting the World Cup leaders jersey as she does so.Junior Men’s winner – Michael Jones kept it upright which was half the battle for the junior riders, some stacking literally insight of the line…Loris Vergier may have been the unlucky junior to crash literally within an arms length of the finish beam… Well yes it was him, devastating for him considering he was second by less than half a second!Our juniors still did us proud, Luke Ellison pulled a strong 7th place and after catching two other riders Dean Lucas finished 9th. Dean retains the overall leaders jersey heading into round 4.
The Elite Men put on one heck of a show, there were a few moments that were not nice to see, the most notably Cam Cole crashing hard and having to be airlifted out. Cam is a nice guy, with time for everyone and has had a bad run of luck with injuries over the past few seasons, we wish him all the best! Mic Hannah scored a flat up on course and as he said the realisation that your tyre is deflating when you are giving it everything is never nice! Big news of course is that Cedric Gracia chose his home World Cup to retire, a true legend but one we will still be seeing more of in the future outside of the World Cup circuit.
A bit of style off the end of what must be one of the best quality construction pieces in a World Cup for some time!Yeah David! 58th for David McMillan against the best racers in the world is pretty awesome for a privateer giving it a real go!Unstoppable! Rachel Atherton was really pushed by Manon Carpenter but still took the win, three from three – can anyone stop her?!Aaron Gwin finished 10th on his bigger bike but after the domination he has shown in the past two season that is a low result by his standards – crazy a top ten at a World Cup is a low result but it shows the pressure these guys are under.Another threat at any race, in any condition, on any track – Greg Minnaar, one spot off the podium in 6th place.34th for Connor Fearon, a strong result but the weekend didn’t quite go to plan for him, wait for his Inside Info where he will give you more insight to his race.The crowd were crazy! So were the media – in their own special way, it is a huge mission to bring you guys the coverage we do believe us!So close! Last rider down and the rider many picked to take the win! Sam Hill missed out just, 3rd place but steadily climbing up the rankings every race and with Troy Brosnan rounding out the podium in 5th place it was a good race as far as us Aussies were concerned.Qualifying proved it wasn’t our eyes playing tricks on us, Remi Thirion was the fastest! What a result for the young Frenchman, congratulations.Cedric Gracia showing the love! Nice one all.
Elite Men:
1. Remi Thirion 4.13.66
2. Gee Atherton 4.15.016 + 1.350
3. Sam Hill 4.15.422 + 1.756
4. Steve Smith 4.15.939 + 2.273
5. Troy Brosnan 4.16.142 + 2.476
The next round in a few weeks time is the infamous Mont Saint Anne – join us there!
Connor Fearon throws down the horns for what looks to be the track of the year!
After what seems like ages we are back racing World Cups! For race number three we hit up the small principality of Andorra, home to many wealthy people, Cedric Gracia and this weekend’s race. For many this track was an unknown with the track walk revealing that it was steep, really steep. The description we use is ‘like Champery but dry’ so far anyway… There was some water early in the week but whenever it rains the track seems to soak it up quickly, so it will take quite a lot of precipitation to make it muddy. Sam Hill has said “It is the best downhill track he has seen” which says quite a lot!
The track has a real mix of options, some open parts, forest sections, steep sections and a step up for the finish! Bryn Atkinson will be looking to improve that number plate this weekend.Aaron Gwin has been riding different versions of bikes between races to help him get up to speed and comfortable. For this race he has settled on a frame with a longer wheelbase. Check out the bridge in the background, a serious piece of work!A lot of riders who have made the switch to clips have gone back to flats for this race, so many riders love this type of course it is hard to say who will do well, Danny Hart is a name being thrown around as we all know what he did on the steep at the World Champs a few years back. We would complain if Mic Hannah pictured here took the victory for Australia.
After track walk and practice day 1 there is till a few days of practice left, for many riders being a new course and a reasonably long one at that it will require memorising of all their lines. The difference a podium and a top 20 could be remembering exactly where everything is. Check back for more action soon.
We are still getting use to some of the new kits getting around, no missing Pom Pom and her Fox/Commencal set up!
Val di Sole is a totally different race/track location/everything, pretty much you name it and it is different from last week’s race at Fort William. One of the biggest changes was the practice time and qualifying times, qualifying occurred on Friday. If you didn’t get a ticket to the big show then you sit out Saturday and Sunday, essentially group B riders got 4.5 hours of practice over 2 days, tough gig on the beast of the track that is Val di Sole! Lighting was tough on the riders as they would change from bright sunny into the shaded dark areas of the track at warp speed (and any one who is trying to get photos of this!). As you can imagine the first couple of runs saw riders trying to get their feet before getting up to pace. This course is very rough, there areA�roots, rocks, no berms and some corners already shot after practice because the ground is very soft and loose in bits.A�With all that in mind the juniors did well and the results looked like so; Luke Ellison 5th, Dean Lucas 9th, Aiden Varley 18th, Peter Knott 23rd, Ben Hill 53rd andA�Thomas Crimmins 55th.
Ben Hill had a nice trip over the bars at Val di Sole it didn’t stop him from riding though, 53rd in qualifying something he can easily improve on come finals.
Fastest Aussie junior during qualifying, Luke Ellison in 5th place!
Braaappp! 9th for Dean Lucas.
Moving our attention onto the females and Tracey Hannah came in 7th, she will be wanting at least a top 5 this weekend! Our junior girls, Danielle Beecroft and Tegan Molloy came in 36th and 37th respectively.
Qualifying yielded 7th for Tracey Hannah.
Finally a huge field of Elite men tried their hand at qualifying, Gee Atherton showed he is the man to beat again this weekend in first, in second place back from the nether regions and with a larger bike, was Aaron Gwin. The next three riders, Smith, MacDonald and HillA�all looked capable of a victory here, it is going to be a good race.
Elite Men:
1. ATHERTON Gee 3:15.475
2. GWIN Aaron 3:16.837 + 1.362
3. SMITH Steve 3:17.482 + 2.007
4. MACDONALD Brook 3:18.741 + 3.266
5. HILL Samuel 3:19.406 + 3.931
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12. HANNAH Michael 3:23.850 + 8.375
19. BROSNAN Troy 3:25.370 + 9.895
36. FEARON Connor 3:29.021 + 13.546
54. MOIR Jack 3:33.139 + 17.664
83. VEJVODA Joe 3:38.046 + 22.571
84. McMILLAN 3:38.233 + 22.758
93. DELFS Mitchell 3:39.859 + 24.384
123. ATKINSON Rhys 3:46.545 + 31.070
143. McKILLOP 3:55.167 + 39.692
148. McCARROLL Sean 3:56.272 + 40.797
152. BARLIN Chris 3:58.731 + 43.256
ATKINSON Bryn DNS
GRAVES Jared DNS
Gee Atherton, he is no stranger to victory here having taken out the World Champs here back in 08, with the fastest qualifying time he increased those credentials to take the win again.
Second and with a point to prove Aaron Gwin.
Sam Hill charged into 5th on a track we know he enjoys!
Mic Hannah will be the first to admit this course isn’t his most successful but after qualifying 12th it looks like a change might be on the way.Connor Fearon felt he was going faster than his 36th position in qualifying indicated but so long as he is going fast for the run that counts!
Mitch Delfs describes this track as his nemesis track.. After 19th last weekend he was relived to think he would be protected come qualifying but the UCI had something to say about that. He missed the cut and continues his battle racing here at VDS!
Bryn Atkinson had a nasty crash in practice, he is okay but decided to sit out this weekend.
Rachel Atherton is the girl to beat, we must admit her colour scheme ties in well with our own here at downhill247.com!
Phil Atwill was the fastest male junior, it is hard to know who is fast when these guys are on track because you are not as familiar with them as the elite riders.
More practice is on the cards before Sunday’s finals, check back soon!
Race day and yet again Mother Nature smiled down on to the highlands with beautiful race conditions.
World Cup number 1 and did thatA�turn outA�like you expected? We are betting there are a lot of people who were expecting a different podium to what we saw. Lets start with the juniors though, unfortunately they aren’t covered by the online footage so the live timing provided by the UCI is the next best thing. In the female class Tegan Molloy finishedA�21st (3rd in junior – an awesome result for her first World Cup) and Danielle Beecroft snapped her chain within the first 5 seconds of the track, she rolled down to finish 24th. A�We are sure in next weeks raceA�at Val di Sole we will see them climb higher up the rankings.
With Nathan Rennie and Jared Rando providing their years of wisdom and experience to the team we knew they could really deliver. In the end Dean Lucas grabbed a podium position in 3rd,A�Peter Knott 12th, Aiden Varley 13th, Luke Ellison 24th, Thomas Crimmins 29th and Brent Smith DNF. There were a few issues for some of the guys, Luke and Thomas crashed in their runs knocking them down the time sheet.
Next up and we move onto Elite…
Check out the head cam run with Tracey Hannah down the Fort William Track in our previous post.Tracey Hannah reflecting on the past few months which have been riddled by injury…
Tracey Hannah was our sole entrant in the elite female class, her pre-season was less than ideal but she will improve no doubt. Check out the helmet cam run of one ofA�her practiceA�runs here. In the end Rachel Atherton broke her voodoo at her home race by taking the win by 10 seconds! Until this year Rachel had six 2nd place finishes at Fort William… Little did we know how her victory would set the scene for the elite men.
The spectators (and marshals) at Fort William always get praised by the riders, this year was no different. Some marshals have been to every World Cup held there, taking the usual marshalling spot to boot!
Still under glorious conditions the elite men kicked off, Rhys Atkinson was one of the first riders on course but had a “rubbish run” but with the crazy crowd and all the Aussies around was still happy and looking forward to next weekends race in Italy. Despite having a rough time during practice with crashes on the rough track Jack Moir finished 55th, no doubt he will climb the rankings as the season goes on. Bryn Atkinson and Jared Graves finished 36th and 37th respectively, we have no doubt Bryn wants to climb into the top 20 to get one of the coveted protected positions. Jared Graves just continues to impress with his flexibility between four cross, BMX, enduro, downhill and whatever else he chooses to do!
First World Cup of the year and Connor Fearon claims the best result of his career in 21st place. This result will set him up for the rest of the year.
With a strong qualifying result Connor Fearon openly admitted he was hunting a top 20, his run was good and he went into the hot seat. In the end he finished 21st, his best World Cup result to date, despite not getting the top 20 he was looking for it is a positive sign for the rest of the season. As always we will be checking in with Connor for his Inside Info on the race. One position in front of Connor was Aaron Gwin, like an elephant in the room no one really knows what is going on with Aaron, he never looked dangerous all weekend. However, after dominating last season no one would have put him outside the top 5 let alone the top 10! It will be interesting to see what happens in Val di Sole as he destroyed the field by over 5 seconds there last year. Is it his new team? Was his injured hand re-injured? Who knows… One position in front of Aaron was Mitch Delfs, a top 20 is an awesome start for Mitch and we hope this form continues all year.
Flat tyres and crashes claimed a few victims, Matt Beer, Harry Heath and Matt Simmonds all succumbed to one or the other.The jumps this year were big, really big! With many a rider struggling to clear them all, especially after the punishing top section of the track.
It was good to see Troy Brosnan back and racing at the highest level after a horror season last year. A highly respectable 12th shows TB is back in the game. Sam Hill came down and booted Greg Minnaar out of the hot seat by over a second. It was good to see Sam Hill back on fire, he held out manyA�a rider and was looking down the barrel atA� a top 5 finish in the end he finished 6th 2.13 seconds behind the winner.
Always a crowd favourite, Sam Hill finished 6th but we know it is the numero uno spot he really wants!The serious end of the day… Danny Hart heads up to the top.
One position ahead of Sam was Mic Hannah, just under 2 seconds shy of the victory. Up until now Brook MacDonald was holding the hot seat and looking comfortable, Stevie Smith nor fellow Kiwi Sam Blenkinsop couldn’t push the bulldog and hisA�flat pedals out.A�After her sister won early in the day Gee Atherton put a stormer of a run in to relegate Brook down one spot, with one rider left, Danny Hart, it was going to be a home town victory of sorts but who? In the end Danny couldn’t knock off Gee and the Athertons took out the double.
A strong Mic Hannah, one who has lost considerable weight over the off season and is looking lean and mean claimed 5th.Winner of round one, his first World Cup win since 2010, Gee Atherton. A dream debut for the new GT Fury too.
We can’t help but think this year will mark the changing of the guard, last year the big three, Gwin, Minnaar and Atherton seemed untouchable but already we have seen the new school of Smith, MacDonald and Hannah come out and make their mark. We will find out soon as the next round continues next week in Italy and as always we will bring you all the action.
