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MTB World Cup XC #6 & DH #5 - CDM
Maribor, Slovenia, September 14-16, 2007
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Race 6 - September 16: Elite Men Downhill
Hill finishes off World Cup in style
By Rob Jones in Maribor
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Sam Hill of Australia took his third win of the five race series in Maribor today, adding to the world title he won in Scotland last weekend and cementing the fact that he is the strongest downhiller in the world. Today's victory gives Hill a massive winning margin of 384 points over Great Britain's Gee Atherton in the World Cup standings.
Rain, which had been forecast for the morning, never materialized, and the large and enthusiastic crowd of spectators were treated to perfect blue skies and temperatures in the mid-20s Celcius. This left the 2.57 kilometre course bone dry, and the soft loamy ground began to get more and more churned up as the day went on, making some corners ragged, and exposing roots all the way down the course.
Dan Stanbridge (Great Britain) set the first strong time of 3:02.42 which stood up for nearly half the field before it finally fell to Aurelien Giordanengo (France). After that, it dropped rapidly, with a new time going up every few riders.
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Defending champion Steve Peat (Santa Cruz) had his hopes dashed when he flatted high on the course. Julien Camellini (France) took the top time below 2:57 at ten riders to go, and it wasn't until Gee Atherton (Animal Commencal), at four to go, came over the last jump that the time dropped by a second.
Atherton's time was barely a second faster than Hill's qualifier, so there was every expectation that Hill could go faster, and he did - almost two seconds quicker to win by 1.33 seconds.
"I think this track suited me more than last week," commented Hill afterwards. "I really like it like this, with turn after turn, lots of technical bits and not as much pedalling. Everything went pretty smooth, but it was a fair bit looser than in qualifying, and some turns were completely blown out."
Hill's three wins in five events meant that he had won the World Cup prior to the final, and it was really a race for second. Peat's flat and Matti Lehikoinen's (G-Cross Honda) seventh place allowed the Finn to jump ahead into second overall.
Race Notes
- Fabien Barel (Kona Les Gets) crashed heavily in the semifinal, hard enough to have been knocked unconscious. He was taken to hospital and there is no report on his condition at this time.
- Crowds for the entire weekend were a reported 23,000 - 10,000 on Saturday and 13,000 today.
Photography
For a thumbnail gallery of these images, click here
Images by MTB.si
- Great Britain's Gee Atherton (Animal Commencal) finished second, 1.33 seconds down.
- Findland's Matti Lehikoinen (Team G Cross Honda) took seventh spot.
- Australia's Sam Hill (Iron Horse/Monster Energy) showed why he has the World Champion jersey on his shoulders.
- Great Britain's Steve Peat couldn't crack the top 10, but did manage to finish third in the World Cup standings.
- Jan Cestnik gets some air on his way down the track.
- Bostjan Volf demonstrates his style.
- Podium (L-R): Fabien Pedemanaud (France), Gee Atherton (Animal Commencal), Sam Hill (Iron Horse/Monster Energy), Julien Camellini (Team Mojo), Marc Beaumont (Team MBUK Santa Cruz).
Images by Rob Jones/www.canadiancyclist.com
- American Chris Boice came in 65th.
- Tyler Morland finished 47th in the final.
- Great Britain's Dan Stanbridge set the first strong time.
- US champion Cole Bangert.
- Mitchell Delfs.
- Jeff Beatty of Canada.
- Nathan Rennie finished 25th.
- Junior world champion Ruaridh Cunningham.
- Luke Strobel would be the top North American.
- Chris Kovarik was 40th.
- Ireland's Ben Reid was 21st.
- Aurélien Giordanengo set an early fast time.
- Brendan Fairclough came in 8th.
- Canada's Steve Smith finished 43rd, after a crash.
- Andrew Neethling finished 13th.
- Steve Peat flatted in the final.
- New Zealander Samuel Blenkinsop came in 18th.
- Dan Atherton's specialty is really the 4X event.
- Julien Camellini was 3rd.
- Fabien Pedemanaud was an impressive 4th in the final.
- Aussie fans made it to Slovenia.
- Michael Hannah was 10th.
- The Sam Hill fan club.
- Matti Lehikoinen's seventh place allowed the Finn to jump ahead into second overall in the World Cup standings.
- Josh Bryceland was top junior and won the junior World Cup title.
- Gee Atherton.
- Marc Beaumont.
- The unstoppable Sam Hill.
- Sam Hill greets the fans
- Marc Beaumont attracts an admirer.
- Sam Hill celebrates his World Cup title - the first World/World Cup double for a man in five years.
- The 'X' girls handed out the champagne.
- Men's podium (l-r): Fabien Pedemanaud, Gee Atherton, Sam Hill, Julien Camellini and Marc Beaumont.
- The World Cup top five (l-r): Gee Atherton, Matti Lehikoinen, Sam Hill, Steve Peat and Marc Beaumont.
Results
1 Samuel Hill (Aus) Iron Horse / Monster Energy 2.53.78 2 Gee Atherton (GBr) Animal Commencal 0.01.33 3 Julien Camellini (Fra) 0.02.56 4 Fabien Pedemanaud (Fra) 0.02.68 5 Marc Beaumont (GBr) Team MBUK Santacruz 6 Florent Payet (Fra) Ssangyong-Fusion Pro Team 0.03.28 7 Matti Lehikoinen (Fin) Team G-Cross Honda 0.03.56 8 Brendan Fairclough (GBr) Team G-Cross Honda 0.03.80 9 Josh Bryceland (GBr) 0.04.65 10 Michael Hannah (Aus) Cannondale The Cut 0.04.95 11 Oscar Saiz Castane (Spa) 0.06.27 12 Filip Polc (Svk) Gravity Group 0.06.60 13 Andrew Neethling (RSA) 0.07.53 14 Matthew Simmonds (GBr) 0.07.98 15 Ivan Oulego Moreno (Spa) Massi 0.08.05 16 Dan Atherton (GBr) Animal Commencal 0.08.12 17 Aurelien Giordanengo (Fra) 0.08.17 18 Samuel Blenkinsop (NZl) Gravity Group 0.08.31 19 Dan Stanbridge (GBr) 0.08.64 20 James Maltman (Aus) Ssangyong-Fusion Pro Team 0.08.92 21 Ben Reid (Irl) 0.09.04 22 Thomas Braithwaite (GBr) 0.09.12 23 Luke Strobel (USA) 0.09.19 24 Herman Olund (Swe) 0.09.21 25 Nathan Rennie (Aus) Santa Cruz Syndicate 0.09.40 26 Kieran Bennett (NZl) 0.09.49 27 Dominik Gspan (Swi) 0.09.59 28 Thibaut Ruffin (Fra) 0.10.30 29 Mitchell Delfs (Aus) 0.10.97 30 Ramon Antonio Leiva Figueroa (Chi) Ssangyong-Fusion Pro Team 0.11.14 31 Jonas Westmann (Swe) 0.11.47 32 Robin Wallner (Swe) 0.11.63 33 Joris Bigoni (Fra) 0.11.99 34 Georg Sieder (Aut) 0.12.21 35 Neil Donoghue (GBr) Team Mbuk Santacruz 0.12.44 36 Cole Bangert (USA) 0.12.48 37 Karim Amour (Fra) 0.12.66 38 Jared Rando (Aus) Giant Mountain Bike Team 0.12.70 39 Pasqual Canals Flix (Spa) Massi 0.12.90 40 Chris Kovarik (Aus) Ms-Intense Factory-Racing Team 0.13.05 41 Mike Skinner (NZl) 0.13.11 41 Marco Milivinti (Ita) 43 Steve Smith (Can) 0.13.63 44 Patrik Kotrla (Cze) 0.13.66 45 Adam Brayton (GBr) Mtb-Direct.Co.Uk 0.13.81 46 Chris Ball (GBr) 0.13.94 47 Tyler Morland (Can) 0.13.96 48 Chris Hutchens (GBr) 0.14.07 49 Samuel Zbinden (Swi) 0.14.49 50 Joseph Smith (GBr) 0.14.75 51 Daniel Wolfe (Irl) 0.14.77 52 Amiel Cavalier (Aus) Giant Mountain Bike Team 0.14.90 53 Quentin Derbier (Fra) 0.14.91 54 Florent Wolter (Fra) 0.14.99 55 Lorenzo Suding (Ita) 0.15.15 56 Ruaridh Cunningham (GBr) 0.15.28 57 Esteban Deronzier (Fra) Chatel Mountain Cycle 0.15.40 58 Mathias Haas (Aut) 0.15.96 59 Valentin Juillard (Fra) 0.16.18 60 Jan Javornik (Svk) 0.16.49 61 Rowen Sorrell (GBr) 0.16.51 62 Falco Ruppert (Ger) 0.17.75 63 Gerard Wolfe (Irl) 0.18.19 64 David Vazquez Lopez (Spa) Msc Bikes 0.18.39 65 Chris Boice (USA) 0.18.51 66 Mathieu Troquier (Fra) 0.19.32 67 Jan Cestnik (Slo) 0.19.75 68 Bostjan Volf (Slo) Arbö Rsp Downhill Racing Team 0.20.76 69 Ralph Jones (GBr) 0.22.01 70 Livio Zampieri (Ita) 0.22.93 71 Mads Weidemann (Den) 0.23.73 72 Claudio Cozzi (Ita) 0.24.72 73 Andreas Sieber (Ger) 0.24.79 74 Marcus Klausmann (Ger) Ghost International Racing Team 0.27.05 75 Bernat Guardia Pascual (Spa) Msc Bikes 0.30.89 76 Jeff Beatty (Can) 0.32.94 77 Claudio Caluori (Swi) Ms-Intense Factory-Racing Team 0.39.95 78 Steve Peat (GBr) Santa Cruz Syndicate 0.48.84 79 Alan Beggin (Ita) 1.12.58 80 Marco Bugnone (Ita) 1.31.30 DNF Frederico Xavier Temporal Bassa (Spa) DNF Sasa Merljak (Slo) DNS Fabien Barel (Fra) Kona Les Gets Final World Cup standings 1 Samuel Hill (Aus) Iron horse / monster energy 1057 pts 2 Matti Lehikoinen (Fin) Team g-cross honda 673 3 Steve Peat (GBr) Santa cruz syndicate 646 4 Gee Atherton (GBr) Animal commencal 575 5 Marc Beaumont (GBr) Team mbuk santacruz 526 6 Greg Minnaar (RSA) Team g-cross honda 520 7 Michael Hannah (Aus) Cannondale the cut 469 8 Fabien Barel (Fra) Kona les gets 391 9 David Vazquez Lopez (Spa) Msc bikes 360 10 Julien Camellini (Fra) Mojo orange 318 11 Mickael Pascal (Fra) Q by saab-salomon 308 12 Brendan Fairclough (GBr) Team g-cross honda 298 13 Nathan Rennie (Aus) Santa cruz syndicate 291 14 Fabien Pedemanaud (Fra) 235 15 Josh Bryceland (GBr) 221 16 Florent Payet (Fra) Ssangyong-fusion pro team 219 17 Ben Reid (Irl) 208 18 Dan Atherton (GBr) Animal commencal 187 19 Bernat Guardia Pascual (Spa) Msc bikes 184 20 Andrew Neethling (RSA) 168 21 Justin Leov (NZl) 167 22 Dan Stanbridge (GBr) Mojo orange 161 23 Matthew Simmonds (GBr) 156 24 Marcus Klausmann (Ger) Ghost international racing team 148 25 Samuel Blenkinsop (NZl) Gravity group 142 26 Ruaridh Cunningham (GBr) 137 27 Luke Strobel (USA) 136 28 Neil Donoghue (GBr) Team mbuk santacruz 133 29 Marco Milivinti (Ita) 124 30 Filip Polc (Svk) Gravity group 122 31 Adam Brayton (GBr) Mtb-direct.co.uk 118 32 Pasqual Canals Flix (Spa) Massi 116 33 Alan Beggin (Ita) 115 34 Thomas Braithwaite (GBr) 114 35 Oscar Saiz Castane (Spa) 105 36 Nico Vink (Bel) Dolphin bike team 105 37 Adam Vagner (Cze) 100 38 Dave Wardell (GBr) Gt / burgtec 99 39 Ivan Oulego Moreno (Spa) Massi 88 40 Cedric Gracia (Fra) 82 41 Ben Cathro (GBr) Q by saab-salomon 75 42 Remi Thirion (Fra) 75 43 Dominik Gspan (Swi) 72 44 Herman Olund (Swe) 68 45 Chris Kovarik (Aus) Ms-intense factory-racing team 66 46 Mike Skinner (NZl) 55 47 Tom Deacon (GBr) 55 48 Carlo Gambirasio (Ita) 55 49 Thibaut Ruffin (Fra) 53 50 Claudio Caluori (Swi) Ms-intense factory-racing team 53 51 Fabien Cousinie (Fra) 52 52 James Maltman (Aus) Ssangyong-fusion pro team 51 53 Jurgen Beneke (Ger) 51 54 Joris Bigoni (Fra) 49 55 Aurelien Giordanengo (Fra) Chatel mountain cycle 49 56 Mathias Haas (Aut) 49 57 Samuel Zbinden (Swi) 48 58 Damien Spagnolo (Fra) Q by saab-salomon 48 59 Duncan Riffle (USA) 48 60 Sam Dale (GBr) Mtb-direct.co.uk 46 61 Kamil Tatarkovic (Cze) Kona les gets 45 62 Antoine Badouard (Fra) 44 63 Karim Amour (Fra) 40 64 Markolf Berchtold (Bra) 40 65 Jared Graves (Aus) 39 66 Chris Ball (GBr) 35 67 Joseph Smith (GBr) 33 68 Mathieu Troquier (Fra) 31 69 Bryn Atkinson (Aus) 31 70 Mitchell Delfs (Aus) 30 71 Ramon Antonio Leiva Figueroa (Chi) Ssangyong-fusion pro team 29 72 Espen Johnsen (Nor) 28 73 Kieran Bennett (NZl) 25 74 Amiel Cavalier (Aus) Giant mountain bike team 25 75 Jeff Beatty (Can) Mojo orange 24 76 Scott Mears (GBr) 24 77 Georg Sieder (Aut) 22 78 Nick Beer (Swi) 21 79 Tyler Morland (Can) 20 80 Nathan Rankin (NZl) 20 81 Jonas Westmann (Swe) 20 82 Nicolas Vouilloz (Fra) Team lapierre international 20 83 Robin Wallner (Swe) 19 84 Remy Charrier (Fra) 18 85 Lee Bertram (GBr) 18 86 Ralph Jones (GBr) 17 87 Esteban Deronzier (Fra) Chatel mountain cycle 16 88 Cole Bangert (USA) 15 89 Richard Cunynghame (GBr) Mtb-direct.co.uk 15 90 Patrik Kotrla (Cze) 13 91 Jared Rando (Aus) Giant mountain bike team 13 92 Benny Strasser (Ger) 13 93 Marcel Beer (Swi) 12 94 Joel Bain (Aus) 12 95 Arnaud Delente (Fra) 12 96 Steve Smith (Can) 11 97 Damien Mermoud (Swi) Bikepark.ch tui 11 98 Chris Hutchens (GBr) 10 99 Vincent Saut (Fra) 10 100 Nicolas Ortiz (Fra) 9 101 Joe Barnes (GBr) 9 102 Elias Somvi (Ita) Playbiker - iron horse 8 103 Rowen Sorrell (GBr) 7 104 Pierre Charles Georges (Fra) 6 105 Hans Lambert (Can) 6 106 David Smith (GBr) Mtb-direct.co.uk 6 107 Toni Berg (Fin) 5 108 Will Longden (GBr) Team mbuk santacruz 5 109 Marco Bugnone (Ita) 4 110 Helder Padilha (Por) 4 111 Luke Kitzanuk (Can) 3 112 Glenn Haden (NZl) 3 113 Julius Syvanen (Fin) 2 114 Charles-Alexandre Dube (Can) 1 115 Matej Charvat (Cze) 1 Teams 1 Team G-Cross Honda 302 pts 2 Santa Cruz Syndicate 188 3 Iron Horse / Monster Energy 183 4 Animal Commencal 157 5 Team Mbuk Santacruz 139 6 Cannondale The Cut 116 8 Q By Saab-Salomon 99 9 Kona Les Gets 86 10 Mojo Orange 69 11 Gravity Group 54 12 Ssangyong-Fusion Pro Team 52 13 Massi 39 14 Mtb-Direct.Co.Uk 37 15 Ghost International Racing Team 35 16 Gt / Burgtec 26 17 Ms-Intense Factory-Racing Team 22 18 Dolphin Bike Team 18 19 Giant Mountain Bike Team 4
