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MTB World Cup DH & 4X #3 - CDM
Vallnord, Andorra, May 15-17, 2009
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Race 6 - May 17: Elite men downhill
Peat breaks record with World Cup win number 17
By Rob Jones
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It was a record-breaking weekend in Vallnord, Andorra, for round three of the UCI Mountain Bike World Cup. Steve Peat (Santa Cruz Syndicate) took his second consecutive win in the men's downhill and the 17th of his illustrious career, breaking Nicolas Vouilloz's record for most World Cup wins, and extending his lead in the overall standings.
Saturday's good weather carried over to Sunday for the downhill final. Sam Hill (Monster Energy/Specialized) qualified first, but that didn't mean much when it came to final. The drying track was getting loose and dusty at the top, and three days of hard riding was making the lower wooded portion rutted and full of braking bumps, pounding the riders as they pushed to shave extra tenths of a second from their times.
The men's final saw six lead changes in the first 60 riders, with American Ryan Condrashoff the first to take the time below 2:30. Condrashoff was eventually bumped by Australian Josh Button, who knocked two and a half seconds off the lead time, but was still slower than Hill's qualifying time.
American Cody Warren went faster than Hill's qualifying time by a few hundredths, but it was Australian Bryn Atkinson who was the first to go under 2:26 and set the first strong time. Atkinson's time would prove to be hard to beat, as rider after rider came close but could not budge him from the Hot Seat.
It took Michael "Mick" Hannah, 20 riders later, to finally knock Atkinson out of the lead. Hannah, who had been sick during the week, crashed during qualifying and started 17th from last. His run on the upper part of the course was strong, but it was in the rough and technical lower half where he really shone, making up 1.5 seconds in the final 400 metres to take the lead with a time of 2:23.71.
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"I've been sick most of the week, and had a big crash yesterday," said Hannah "but I had a good, smooth run, and I'm back on the podium, so it's good."
Brendan Fairclough (Monster Energy-Specialized), four riders later, came within 35-hundredths of a second of Hannah, and that proved to be the pattern for the next dozen riders - close to or ahead of Hannah at the top, but losing ground in the lower section. It wasn't until round one winner Greg Minnaar (Santa Cruz Syndicate) that Hannah was displaced, by a quarter of a second.
"I didn't crack the top as well as I wanted," said Minnaar. "And a couple of corners in the middle were a problem. It's good to be up there for points, but I think Steve's running away with it."
The field was down to three riders, with Peat the next up. The World Cup leader was even with Hannah through the upper sections, but really came into his own in the woods, knocking 1.41 seconds off the leading time. World champion Gee Atherton (Animal-Commencal), the defending champion in Andorra, was next, and came within a infinitesimal two-hundredths of Peat, but it just wasn't enough.
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"I had a good run," said Atherton "but in a few places I was stalling and braking a bit. To lose by that small of an amount is pretty frustrating, I'm pretty pissed."
However, Hill was still to come, and he was everyone's favourite, after showing he was clearly in tune with this track, both in training and qualifying. The favouritism looked to be justified, when the Australian went through the upper portion 1.6 seconds faster than Peat, and enter the final sections two seconds ahead. But then disaster in the form of a crash in the woods, and Hill's chance for his first win of the year disappeared, while Peat saw his dream of a World Cup record realized.
"It was really close," said Peat. "I didn't think I had the best time, I thought for sure that Sam would beat it. I had a couple of little bobbles and didn't think I was carrying speed. I needed a bit of luck, but you can see that he crashed, and that's it ... history being made."
Race Note
- It was just last year at this same Andorra World Cup venue when a different piece of history was written. That's when the Atherton siblings won three of the four gravity World Cups - each of the three taking a win. Gee Atherton won the men's downhill, Dan Atherton won the men's four cross, and sister Rachel Atherton won the women's downhill.
Photography
For a thumbnail gallery of these images, click here
Images by Enric Moran Gimeno
- Elite men's downhill podium
- Steve Peat (Santa Cruz Syndicate) races to a record-breaking win in the downhill final.
Images by Team Animal Commencal
Images by Gary Perkin
- Mick Hannah (GT Bicycles) finished fourth.
Results
1 Steve Peat (GBr) Santa Cruz Syndicate 2.22.05 2 Gee Atherton (GBr) Animal Commencal 0.00.02 3 Greg Minnaar (RSA) Santa Cruz Syndicate 0.01.41 4 Michael Hannah (Aus) GT Bicycles 0.01.66 5 Justin Leov (NZl) Trek World Racing 0.01.88 6 Nick Beer (Swi) Scott 11 0.01.95 7 Brendan Fairclough (GBr) Monster Energy / Specialized / Mad Catz 0.02.01 8 Bryn Atkinson (Aus) 0.03.21 9 Josh Bryceland (GBr) Santa Cruz Syndicate 0.03.34 10 Steve Smith (Can) MS Evil Racing 0.03.35 10 David Vazquez Lopez (Spa) Lapierre Powered By Saab Salomon 12 Chris Kovarik (Aus) Chain Reaction Cycles/Intense 0.03.50 13 Dan Stanbridge (GBr) 0.03.67 14 Filip Polc (Svk) MS Evil Racing 0.03.89 15 Samuel Blenkinsop (NZl) Yeti Fox Shox Factory Race Team 0.03.91 16 Aaron Gwin (USA) Yeti Fox Shox Factory Race Team 0.04.24 17 Cody Warren (USA) Specialized Team America 0.04.26 18 Matti Lehikoinen (Fin) MS Evil Racing 0.04.32 19 Bernat Guardia Pascual (Spa) Massi 0.04.42 20 Robin Wallner (Swe) 0.04.54 21 Antoine Badouard (Fra) 0.04.61 22 Marc Beaumont (GBr) GT Bicycles 0.04.69 23 Joshua Button (Aus) 0.04.88 24 Joris Bigoni (Fra) 0.05.04 25 Aurélien Giordanengo (Fra) 0.05.35 26 Andrew Neethling (RSA) Trek World Racing 0.05.47 27 Mitchell Delfs (Aus) Kenda Morewood 0.05.56 28 Thibaut Ruffin (Fra) 0.05.63 29 Fabien Pedemanaud (Fra) Scott 11 0.05.66 30 Rémi Thirion (Fra) Team Sunn 0.05.67 31 Samuel Hill (Aus) Monster Energy / Specialized / Mad Catz 0.05.84 32 Danny Hart° (GBr) Lapierre Powered By Saab Salomon 0.05.92 33 Joseph Smith (GBr) Kona 0.06.16 34 Nathan Rankin (NZl) Iron Horse-Kenda-Playbiker 0.06.19 35 Duncan Riffle (USA) Duncan Riffle Racing 0.06.21 36 Ruaridh Cunningham (GBr) Chain Reaction Cycles/Intense 0.06.22 37 Joe Barnes (GBr) 0.06.32 38 Cesar Rojo (Spa) 0.06.40 39 Thomas Braithwaite (GBr) 0.06.49 40 Antonio Ferreiro Pajuelo (Spa) XMS-Devinci World Cup Team 0.06.56 41 Damien Spagnolo (Fra) Subaru Mountain Bike Pro Team 0.06.79 42 Kyle Strait (USA) Specialized Team America 0.06.80 42 Luke Strobel (USA) Team Maxxis-Rocky Mountain Bicycles 44 Fabien Cousinie (Fra) 0.06.94 45 Romain Paulhan (Fra) 0.07.09 46 Jared Rando (Aus) Giant Mountain Bike Team 0.07.18 47 Kieran Bennett (NZl) X-Fusion-Intense 0.07.21 48 Ryan Condrashoff (USA) X-Fusion-Intense 0.07.22 49 Matthew Simmonds (GBr) Chain Reaction Cycles/Intense 0.07.46 50 Cyrille Kurtz (Fra) Team Sunn 0.07.61 51 Benny Strasser (Ger) 0.07.75 52 Pierre Charles Georges (Fra) Solid Aclass Factory Team 0.07.86 53 Ben Reid (Irl) Just Reid Race Team 0.08.25 54 Arnau Sugranes Mateu (Spa) 0.08.44 55 Tom Deacon (GBr) 2Stagefactory 0.08.84 56 Nicolas Ortiz (Fra) 0.09.29 57 Emanuel Pombo (Por) 0.09.56 58 Curtis Keene (USA) 0.09.84 59 Matej Charvat (Cze) 0.09.85 60 Markus Pekoll (Aut) Solid Aclass Factory Team 0.09.99 61 Matthew Scoles (NZl) 0.10.13 62 Nathan Rennie (Aus) Kenda Morewood 0.10.29 63 Esteban Deronzier (Fra) Morzine-Avoriaz 74 0.10.48 64 Adam Brayton (GBr) Just Reid Race Team 0.10.50 65 Maxime Remy (Fra) Suspension Center 0.10.53 66 Bernard Kerr° (GBr) 0.10.89 67 Bradley Benedict (USA) Duncan Riffle Racing 0.11.05 68 Kim Petersson° (Swe) 0.11.32 69 Iago Garay Tamayo° (Spa) 0.11.41 70 Jorge Aguin Castro (Spa) 0.12.25 71 Markus Olkkonen (Fin) 0.12.37 72 Georg Sieder (Aut) Solid Aclass Factory Team 0.12.49 73 Mickael Pascal (Fra) MSC Bikes 0.12.72 74 Arran Gannicott° (GBr) 0.12.81 75 Boris Tetzlaff (Aut) Solid Aclass Factory Team 0.13.64 76 Lorenzo Suding (Ita) Dytech DH 0.15.68 77 Rhys Willemse° (Aus) 0.23.94 DNF Cameron Cole (NZl) Team Maxxis-Rocky Mountain Bicycles DNF Jared Graves (Aus) Yeti Fox Shox Factory Race Team DNS Julien Camellini (Fra) Chain Reaction Cycles/Intense DNS Marco Bugnone (Ita) Argentina Bike Gravity Team Teams 1 Santa Cruz Syndicate 94 pts 2 Trek World Racing 65 3 MS Evil Racing 51 4 Scott 11 48 5 Team Maxxis-Rocky Mountain Bicycles 40 6 GT Bicycles 39 7 Suspension Center 35 8 Animal Commencal 35 9 Chain Reaction Cycles/Intense 33 10 Yeti Fox Shox Factory Race Team 31 11 Morzine-Avoriaz 74 30 12 Monster Energy / Specialized / Mad Catz 24 13 Iron Horse-Kenda-Playbiker 24 14 Norco World Team 22 15 Team Sunn 22 16 Lapierre Powered By Saab Salomon 21 17 Ancillotti Doganaccia Racing Team 17 18 Specialized Team America 14 19 Massi 12 20 2Stagefactory 12 21 Kenda Morewood 4 World Cup standings after three rounds Individual 1 Steve Peat (GBr) Santa Cruz Syndicate 645 pts 2 Greg Minnaar (RSA) Santa Cruz Syndicate 518 3 Michael Hannah (Aus) GT Bicycles 512 4 Gee Atherton (GBr) Animal Commencal 482 5 Samuel Hill (Aus) Monster Energy / Specialized / Mad Catz 427 6 Justin Leov (NZl) Trek World Racing 316 7 Brendan Fairclough (GBr) Monster Energy / Specialized / Mad Catz 295 8 Andrew Neethling (RSA) Trek World Racing 254 9 Samuel Blenkinsop (NZl) Yeti Fox Shox Factory Race Team 241 10 Marc Beaumont (GBr) GT Bicycles 239 11 Steve Smith (Can) MS Evil Racing 232 12 Nick Beer (Swi) Scott 11 230 13 David Vazquez Lopez (Spa) Lapierre Powered By Saab Salomon 213 14 Aurélien Giordanengo (Fra) 209 15 Bernat Guardia Pascual (Spa) Massi 198 16 Aaron Gwin (USA) Yeti Fox Shox Factory Race Team 196 17 Mickael Pascal (Fra) MSC Bikes 192 18 Duncan Riffle (USA) Duncan Riffle Racing 191 19 Filip Polc (Svk) MS Evil Racing 191 20 Josh Bryceland (GBr) Santa Cruz Syndicate 184 21 Julien Camellini (Fra) Chain Reaction Cycles/Intense 171 22 Mitchell Delfs (Aus) Kenda Morewood 169 23 Robin Wallner (Swe) 154 24 Thibaut Ruffin (Fra) 153 25 Jared Graves (Aus) Yeti Fox Shox Factory Race Team 141 26 Fabien Cousinie (Fra) 141 27 Dan Stanbridge (GBr) 141 28 Matti Lehikoinen (Fin) MS Evil Racing 139 29 Dan Atherton (GBr) Animal Commencal 134 30 Damien Spagnolo (Fra) Subaru Mountain Bike Pro Team 133 31 Cameron Cole (NZl) Team Maxxis-Rocky Mountain Bicycles 128 32 Rémi Thirion (Fra) Team Sunn 124 33 Ivan Oulego Moreno (Spa) Massi 118 34 Danny Hart* (GBr) Lapierre Powered By Saab Salomon 118 35 Chris Kovarik (Aus) Chain Reaction Cycles/Intense 117 36 Cody Warren (USA) Specialized Team America 113 37 Thomas Braithwaite (GBr) 113 38 Tom Deacon (GBr) 2Stagefactory 110 39 Kyle Strait (USA) Specialized Team America 109 40 Joris Bigoni (Fra) 105 41 Nathan Rennie (Aus) Kenda Morewood 102 42 Pasqual Canals Flix (Spa) XMS-Devinci World Cup Team 101 43 Ruaridh Cunningham (GBr) Chain Reaction Cycles/Intense 100 44 Bryn Atkinson (Aus) 98 45 Joseph Smith (GBr) Kona 96 46 Pierre Charles Georges (Fra) Solid Aclass Factory Team 95 47 Nathan Rankin (NZl) Iron Horse-Kenda-Playbiker 89 48 Joshua Button (Aus) 84 49 Cyrille Kurtz (Fra) Team Sunn 81 50 Luke Strobel (USA) Team Maxxis-Rocky Mountain Bicycles 81 51 Jared Rando (Aus) Giant Mountain Bike Team 81 52 Fabien Pedemanaud (Fra) Scott 11 80 53 Bradley Benedict (USA) Duncan Riffle Racing 70 54 Markus Pekoll (Aut) Solid Aclass Factory Team 69 55 Antoine Badouard (Fra) 68 56 Sam Dale (GBr) 68 57 Florent Payet (Fra) Subaru Mountain Bike Pro Team 66 58 Lorenzo Suding (Ita) Dytech DH 64 59 Ben Reid (Irl) Just Reid Race Team 63 60 Cédric Gracia (Fra) 62 61 Matthew Simmonds (GBr) Chain Reaction Cycles/Intense 62 62 Adam Vagner (Cze) 61 63 Marcus Klausmann (Ger) Ghost A.T.G. Pro Team 59 64 Nicolas Ortiz (Fra) 57 65 Benny Strasser (Ger) 55 66 Ryan Condrashoff (USA) X-Fusion-Intense 54 67 Boris Tetzlaff (Aut) Solid Aclass Factory Team 53 68 Wyn Masters (NZl) Ancillotti Doganaccia Racing Team 52 69 Romain Paulhan (Fra) 52 70 Jonty Neethling (RSA) 51 71 Matthew Scoles (NZl) 49 72 Antonio Ferreiro Pajuelo (Spa) XMS-Devinci World Cup Team 47 73 Ben Cathro (GBr) 45 74 Joe Barnes (GBr) 44 75 Kieran Bennett (NZl) X-Fusion-Intense 44 76 Cesar Rojo (Spa) 43 77 Aari Barrett* (NZl) Scott 11 40 78 Georg Sieder (Aut) Solid Aclass Factory Team 40 79 Johann Potgieter (RSA) 38 80 Esteban Deronzier (Fra) Morzine-Avoriaz 74 38 81 Adam Brayton (GBr) Just Reid Race Team 38 82 Vlastimil Hyncica (Cze) 37 83 Matej Charvat (Cze) 36 84 Will Rischbieth (Aus) 35 85 Brook Macdonald* (NZl) Ancillotti Doganaccia Racing Team 34 86 Dennis Dertell (Swe) 33 87 Herman Olund (Swe) 30 88 Neil Donoghue (GBr) 29 89 Rowan Sorrell (GBr) 28 90 Arnau Sugranes Mateu (Spa) 27 91 Dominik Gspan (Swi) 27 92 Marco Bugnone (Ita) Argentina Bike Gravity Team 26 93 Claudio Cozzi (Ita) Dytech DH 25 94 Emanuel Pombo (Por) 24 95 Kevin Aiello* (USA) GT Bicycles 24 96 Curtis Keene (USA) 23 97 Maximilian Bender (Ger) 21 98 Rémy Charrier (Fra) Team Sunn 19 99 Scott Mears (GBr) 19 100 Harry Heath* (GBr) 18 101 Marco Milivinti (Ita) Dytech DH 17 102 Maxime Remy (Fra) Suspension Center 16 103 Carlo Gambirasio (Ita) Surfing Shop 15 104 Bernard Kerr* (GBr) 15 105 Pierre Van Der Merwe* (RSA) 15 106 Timothy Bentley* (RSA) 14 107 Kim Petersson* (Swe) 13 108 Iago Garay Tamayo* (Spa) 12 109 Louis-Bresler Knipe (RSA) 12 110 David Eme (Fra) 11 111 Laurie Dinham* (Aus) Suspension Center 11 112 Jorge Aguin Castro (Spa) 11 113 Gary Barnard (RSA) 10 114 Markus Olkkonen (Fin) 10 115 Darryn Stow (RSA) 9 116 Hayden Brown (RSA) 8 117 Arran Gannicott* (GBr) 7 118 James Hughes (GBr) 7 119 Emyr Davies (GBr) 5 120 Martin Frei (Swi) 4 121 Rhys Willemse* (Aus) 4 122 Simon Dinkelman* (RSA) 4 123 Daniel Critchlow (GBr) Chain Reaction Cycles/Intense 3 Team 1 Santa Cruz Syndicate 239 pts 2 Trek World Racing 225 3 GT Bicycles 142 4 Team Maxxis-Rocky Mountain Bicycles 138 5 Monster Energy / Specialized / Mad Catz 119 6 Yeti Fox Shox Factory Race Team 110 7 Animal Commencal 109 8 Chain Reaction Cycles/Intense 105 9 Scott 11 103 10 Suspension Center 98 11 MS Evil Racing 91 12 Iron Horse-Kenda-Playbiker 88 13 Norco World Team 76 14 Morzine-Avoriaz 74 56 15 Massi 49 16 Kenda Morewood 43 17 Lapierre Powered By Saab Salomon 41 18 Ancillotti Doganaccia Racing Team 39 19 2Stagefactory 36 20 Specialized Team America 34 21 MSC Bikes 32 22 Duncan Riffle Racing 24 23 Team Sunn 22 24 Team Vario Racing 19 25 Subaru Mountain Bike Pro Team 14 26 Ghost A.T.G. Pro Team 9 27 XMS-Devinci World Cup Team 6
