MTB World Cup #2 - B

Fort William, Scotland, May 31-June 1, 2003

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Race 3 - June 1: Downhill

Powerful French perform in Downhill

By Martin Drummond

The treeless upper slopes of Aonach Mor, Fort William, Scotland are mainly peat, heather and rocks, with the purpose-built World Cup DH course weaving its way down from the gondola station. Because of the nature of the ground, the course is actually built above the soft peat in the style of a Roman road. Big rocks form the base, smaller crushed stones the topping. The track is punctuated by rock slabs, natural and artificial boulder fields, berms, drops and jumps. Over the 1.65 miles and 2,000 vertical feet the course packs a lot of variety. It's fast and open at the ends and steep and tight in the middle and was much appreciated by the competitors.

With the course being made largely out of rock and stones, bike set-up was important. Unbalanced suspension would rapidly lead to things getting very out of hand... Conditions were warm and dry, with just a hint of rain early in the finals. The weather appeared to be set fair during the qualifying runs, with little evidence of tactical qualifying to get an early run - the top placings in the final were taken by late starters.

In the women's event, a sizable British contingent including last year's winner Tracy Moseley (Kona Clarks) gave the home crowd hope for a local winner. And it looked like Fionn Griffiths could be it, as she set a 4:55.43 that left her in the hot seat for the next seventeen riders until Marielle Saner got three-tenths ahead. Saner didn't last long, though, with the very next rider, seventeen year-old Emmeline Ragot, knocking over two seconds off her time.

Neither Nolvenn Le Caer nor Moseley could beat Ragot's time, but Sabrina Jonnier certainly could with a 4:45.44, over three seconds clear. That just left Celine Gros (Morzine Avoriaz) able to clinch top spot, and a flawless run at an average of 21.06mph gave her the win with a 4:42.57, nearly three seconds ahead of Jonnier. A good day for France, though, with only Moseley breaking up an otherwise all-French podium.

Hopes were high for defending World Cup Champion Steve Peat in the men's event, but with the Orange rider recovering from a wrist injury and having picked up a fresh ankle injury in 4-Cross practice the previous day, a podium position started to look unlikely. There'd be little point in Peat pushing too hard in the first race of the series, especially with round 2 only a week later. As the number one ranked rider he should have had the first qualifying run but didn't appear, instead taking his run at the end of the session and qualifying a conservative 12th.

Mickael Pascal (Maxxis-MSC) was fastest qualifier, ahead of Fabien Barel (Kona Clarks), Cedric Gracia (Siemens Mobile Cannondale) and an on-form Will Longden (MBUK Scott). Slowest qualifier and hence first man down was Dave Smith. The upside of being first down is a guaranteed clear course and you're certain to be in the leader's hot seat for at least a minute. As it turned out, Smith was in the hot seat for a good ten minutes until Czech rider Kamil Tatarkovic nudged ahead. His reign lasted only two riders, with Rene Wildhaber taking over.

A massive cheer went up a few minutes later when British rider Stuart Thomson took half a second off Wildhaber's time to put a local boy in the hot seat. It wasn't to last, though, with Oscar Saiz (Maxxis-MSC) demolishing Thomson's time by nearly nine seconds. It was looking good for Saiz as he sat and watched rider after rider fail to get close to his time. Eventually, though, Finland's Matti Lehikoinen recorded a 4:18.43 to go ahead.

The big guns were yet to go, though, and it wasn't long before Eric Carter took his place at the top of the table before being rapidly deposed by Bernat Guardia Pascual (Maxxis-MSC). And then 17 year old Australian Sam Hill rocketed down the slopes of Aonach Mor to take three seconds off the leading time, a breathtaking performance and well-received by the crowd.

It wasn't quite good enough to hold on, though. Hill's countryman Nathan Rennie quickly shaved 2/10ths of a second off his time and settled in to the hot seat. There were still 14 riders to go, and the tension mounted. Steve Peat could only manage a 4:18.08. Several riders got close, and Chris Kovarik's 4:12.14 put Australian riders in the top three positions.

The Oz triumvirate was immediately split by Greg Minnaar, though. He wasn't quick enough to get on the top spot but got between Rennie and Hill. With only four riders left, Rennie's position started to look more secure. Will Longden couldn't shift him, but Cedric Gracia could, and by almost two seconds with a 4:08.05.

With two Frenchmen still to run, the possibility of the Australian 1-2-3 being replaced by a French one was still there, but Fabien Barel had a bad run ending up in 50th position. Which left only Mickael Pascal able to depose Gracia. The Maxxis-MSC rider pushed hard all the way down the course, but just missed the top of the podium by 1.11 seconds, although taking some consolation from pushing Rennie down to third place.

Results

Men
 
1 Cedric Gracia (Fra)                    4:08.0
2 Mickael Pascal (Fra)                   4:09.2
3 Nathan Rennie (Aus)                    4:09.9
4 Greg Minnaar (RSA)                     4:11.6
5 Samuel Hill (Aus)                      4:12.0
6 Christopher Kovarik (Aus)              4:12.1
7 Bas De Bever (Ned)                     4:14.0
8 Justin Havukainen (Aus)                4:14.2
9 David Vazquez Lopez (Spa)              4:14.5
10 Bernat Guardia Pascual (Spa)          4:15.1
11 Ivan Oulego Moreno (Spa)              4:15.6
12 George Atherton (GBr)                 4:16.0
13 David Klaassenvanoorschot (USA)       4:16.1
14 Crawford Carrick-Anderson (GBr)       4:16.5
15 Julien Camellini (Fra)                4:17.6
16 Damien Mermoud (Swi)                  4:17.6
17 Eric Carter (USA)                     4:17.8
18 Will Longden (GBr)                    4:18.0
19 Steve Peat (GBr)                      4:18.1
20 Matti Lehikoinen (Fin)                4:18.4
21 Oscar Saiz (Spa)                      4:18.8
22 Markolf Berchtold (Bra)               4:19.0
23 Marcus Klausmann (Ger)                4:20.3
24 Dave Wardell (GBr)                    4:20.8
25 Mark Beaumont (GBr)                   4:21.0
26 Cesar Rojo (Spa)                      4:21.3
27 Chris Ball (GBr)                      4:21.9
28 Daniel Atherton (GBr)                 4:22.3
29 Adam Vagner (Cze)                     4:22.6
30 Ed Moseley (GBr)                      4:22.9
31 Michal Marosi (Cze)                   4:23.8
32 Kris Hargreaves (GBr)                 4:24.1
33 Filip Matus (Cze)                     4:24.5
34 Maciej Jodko (Pol)                    4:24.5
35 Glyn O'Brien (Irl)                    4:24.6
36 Nigel Page (GBr)                      4:25.4
37 Jordie Lunn (Can)                     4:25.6
38 Rob Warner (GBr)                      4:25.9
39 Himar Sanchez (Spa)                   4:26.4
40 Filip Polc (Svk)                      4:26.7
41 Justin Leov (NZl)                     4:26.8
42 Pascual Canals Flix (Spa)             4:27.1
43 Stuart Thomson (GBr)                  4:27.1
44 Rene Wildhaber (Swi)                  4:27.2
45 Dan Harper (GBr)                      4:28.7
46 Jon Cheetham (GBr)                    4:28.9
47 Koen Valkenhoef (Ned)                 4:29.4
48 Gregorz Zielinski (Pol)               4:29.6
49 Todd Bosch (USA)                      4:30.0
50 Fabien Barel (Fra)                    4:30.1
51 Ashley Mullane (GBr)                  4:30.6
52 William Corry (Irl)                   4:31.1
53 Scott Beaumont (GBr)                  4:31.6
54 Julien Poomans (Fra)                  4:31.6
55 Romain Saladini (Fra)                 4:31.7
56 Kamil Tatarkovic (Cze)                4:32.1
57 Gertje Tholen (Ned)                   4:32.4
58 Mathias Haas (Aut)                    4:33.1
59 Espen Johnsen (Nor)                   4:33.5
60 Trevor Porter (Can)                   4:33.6
61 Steve Barker (GBr)                    4:33.6
62 Dave Smith (GBr)                      4:33.7
63 Ben Reid (Irl)                        4:34.0
64 Ashley Cross (GBr)                    4:34.1
65 Mathieu Troquier (Ger)                4:35.2
66 Nick Platt (GBr)                      4:35.3
67 Neil Donoghue (GBr)                   4:35.7
68 Richard Cheetham (GBr)                4:36.1
69 Vlastimil Hyncica (Cze)               4:37.1
70 Andrew Yoong (Irl)                    4:38.2
71 Paul Angus (GBr)                      4:40.4
72 Jamie Popham (Irl)                    4:40.5
73 Stuart Hughes (GBr)                   4:44.0
74 Nicolas Ortiz (Fra)                   4:46.8
75 Shaun Keppler (RSA)                   4:47.7
76 Daniel Critchlow (GBr)                4:54.2
77 Todd Leduc (USA)                      5:09.2
78 David Young (GBr)                     7:01.3
79 Roger Gonzalez Salvador (Spa)         7:29.7
80 Ian Mcintosh (GBr)                    8:36.1
 
Women
 
1 Celine Gros (Fra) Morzine Avoriaz      4:42.6
2 Sabrina Jonnier (Fra)                  4:45.4
3 Emmeline Ragot (Fra) Maxxis-Msc        4:49.6
4 Tracy Moseley (GBr) Kona Clarks        4:51.2
5 Nolvenn Le Caer (Fra)                  4:51.6
6 Marielle Saner (Swi)                   4:51.7
7 Fionn Griffiths (GBr)                  4:55.4
8 Moi Suemasa (Jpn) Trek-Volkswagen      4:55.8
9 Marla Streb (USA) Luna Womensteam      4:57.3
10 Vanessa Quin (NZl)                    4:57.7
11 Bernardita Pizarro (Chi)              4:58.4
12 Helen Gaskell (GBr)                   5:00.3
13 Kathy Pruitt (USA) Luna Womensteam    5:01.8
14 Anneke Beerten (Ned)                  5:02.7
15 Lisa Sher (USA)                       5:02.9
16 Petra Bernhard (Aut) Siemenscan.Dale  5:04.3
17 Anita Molcik (Aut)                    5:08.8
18 Amelie Thevoz (Swi)                   5:10.3
19 Sandra Walker (Swi)                   5:14.1
20 Miriam Blas (Spa)                     5:17.9
21 Lucy Loftus (GBr)                     5:18.5
22 Anja Rees Jones (GBr)                 5:22.1
23 Emily Horridge (GBr)                  5:34.1
24 Violeta Janeiro (Spa)                 5:35.3
25 Rhian Atherton (GBr)                  5:50.5
26 Jules Coventry (GBr)                  5:52.7
27 Jaymie Mart (GBr)                     6:17.4
28 Michelle Mccartney (Irl)              7:10.9
29 Lesley Anderson (GBr)                 7:31.3