Steve Smith Takes Podium Aboard The New Devinci Carbon WIlson

LEOGANG, AUSTRIA—Devinci Global Racing’s Stevie Smith continues his late-season dominance, snatching bronze on his custom Carbon Wilson with a series of podium crushing times at the UCI Mountain Bike World Championships.

Leogang is home to one of Europe’s top bike parks and features a lightning-fast, jump-filled course. Wavering weather conditions wreaked havoc as they moved from desert dry to monsoon conditions through the week. Saturday’s rain filled practice saw Smith slide into 2nd on a sketchy track after pinning it in the timed runs against the elite pack. Nick Beer finished the day in 6th.

Sunday’s main event brought fans out en masse to see the crowning of a new World Champion. The first podium worthy time was set by the French rider Florent Payet, who remained in the lead until the detonation of the final ten riders.

Smith dropped in from the 10th position and was down by 1.5 at the first split. Seeing the podium through the forest he hit the throttle through the roots, sending it into the hot seat by over half a second—where he sat until the third from last rider arrived. After the fog lifted and final times were registered, Smith would settle for third behind two previous World Champs—Greg Minnaar in first and Gee Atherton in second.

“It’s great to see Steve finish on the podium on the new bike,” said DGR Team Manager, Gabe Fox. “He’s had a hell of a season and the results have solidified nicely with his consecutive wins at Crankworx and now this finish. I’m looking forward to the final World Cup.”

DGR closes out the 2012 World Cup season in Hafjell Norway this weekend.

Devinci Global Racing is proudly supported by: Cycles Devinci, SRAM, RockShox, Avid, Truvativ, Easton Wheels, Schwalbe, E-Thirteen, ODI, Selle Italia, Fox Head Clothing and MyPackage.

Cycles Devinci is a Canadian bicycle manufacturer based in Chicoutimi, Canada. It has led the industry by way of manufacturing expertise and product development since its inception in 1987. Cycles Devinci continues to forge ahead with suspension guru Dave Weagle’s patented Split Pivot suspension platform. Combined with the company’s Axis Technologies, Devinci is set on a path for domination. For more details on Devinci and DGR, visit devinci.com.

2012 UCI MTB World Champs By MS Mondraker

The UCI MTB world championships 2012 of Leogang/ Austria are over and even we missed the win of the rainbow stripes we end up with a 2nd place in the women’s race and pretty good team result. But lets start at the beginning…

After a couple of days with a lot of rain and temperature drop close to 0° we were lucky for race day. The weather turned back to good and so the conditions on the track changed quiet a lot from deep and slippery to a really fast and rough piste.

After a descent timed training on Saturday where Emmeline set the fastest time for women’s and all male riders end up in the top 15 we were prepared for the race.

Emmeline came down as second last rider with some little mistakes here and there. When she came to the finish she knew that it hasn’t been a winning run and so it was when she checked on the timing board . Emmeline came in in 2nd place and there was Rachel Atherton still to come. Rachel was handicapped by a back injury and so she was not able to put a winning run together as well. The winner of the day was the 19 year-old Chaare Morgane from France- maybe the unexpected racer of this weekend even she showed up already and the one or other worldcup podium.

The boys showed a strong performance in seeding already and the boys knew what’s possible. Starting by the current UCI ranking Markus Pekoll was the first to come down of the MS boys. He is Austrian and so he was in the position of being the local hero, which puts some pressure on him. Markus had a solid run on and managed it to hop into the 2nd position of the hot seat. He sat there for a while and a few top riders haven’t been able to beat his time and in the end this brought him into 9th position.
Second last of MS-RACING to come down was Damien. He has a good but not perfect run, but in the end he finished in 6th position. Brook was the last man of MS to come down and he was on his limits, but not without mistakes, which cost too much time in the end for being on the podium- Brook ended up in 8th position.
Even we haven’t been able to win the infamous rainbow stripes we are happy with what we have reached in co-operation with our partners. One rider on the podium and 3 others in the top 10 is an awesome result and makes us one of the best teams on the circuit.

Thanks to all our sponsors and partners, who helped us during this week with special products, service and hospitality.

Greg Minnaar And Morgane Charre Are The 2012 Downhill World Champions

The first weekend of the 2012 UCI Mountain Bike and Trials World Championships in Leogang, Austria, concluded on Sunday with the crowd favourite Downhill. Morgane Charre (France) took her first world title in the Elite women's race, while Greg Minnaar (South Africa) returned to the top step of the Elite men's podium after a nine year absence. Holly Feniak (Canada) and Loic Bruni (France) won the Junior women's and men's titles, respectively.

The women's race was expected to be between defending champion Emmeline Ragot (France) and Rachel Atherton (Great Britain), the two riders who have been battling it out all season in the UCI World Cup. However, Atherton was not a factor in the race, suffering from an undisclosed injury and finishing fifth. After Canadians Micayla Gatto and Casey Brown came close to breaking the four minute barrier, Charre obliterated it, taking the lead time down to 3:50.654 with six riders remaining.

Countrywoman Floriane Pugin came within 1.617 seconds, with last year's Junior world champion Manon Carpenter then getting a tenth of a second closer. Ragot was next, but she could only get within 1.2 seconds, leaving Atherton the only rider who could deny Charre the championship. Atherton was within two-hundredths of a second after the first intermediate time check, but faded badly in the second half of the race, allowing the 22 year old Charre to step into the rainbow jersey.

"I did not expect this," admitted a visibly shocked Charre. "I thought that Emmeline [Ragot] would beat me for sure, or Atherton. I had a very good run and pedalled a lot, with only little mistakes, but I have never had a result like this before."

In the men's race, there were a dozen strong contenders, and Minnaar's victory came down to the wire. Australia's Bryn Atkinson set the first sub-3:30 time, with nearly 50 riders to go. Sam Dale (Great Britain) quickly took off three-tenths of a second and held the Hot Seat for 20 riders before he was replaced by Florent Payet (France), with a drop of two seconds in the lead time.

Australian Mick Hannah took the leading time below 3:24 with ten riders to go, but was immediately replaced by Canada's Steve Smith, who was bumped by Gee Atherton (Great Britain) with two riders left to finish. Minnaar came in next, half a second ahead of Atherton, but everyone knew that the final rider, American Aaron Gwin, could quite easily upset the standings. Gwin has won an incredible nine World Cups in 13 races over the past two seasons, so everyone was waiting to see what he could do.

However, it became apparent early in his run that Gwin was suffering mechanical problems, eventually finishing a distant 83rd. Minnaar jumped to his feet from the Hot Seat as he was mobbed by well wishers, ecstatic to win his second world title.

"It’s been nine years and this run it was tough," commented Minnaar. "I had a lot of pressure today, I was super nervous. To be honest, I tried to nail the top section, just after the bridge I lost a lot of speed, I had to pedal hard. But I held it together, in a way same as in the Pietermaritzburg World Cup earlier this season. I couldn't believe I crossed the line in first."

"I am a bit bummed for Gwinny, he seems to have a mechanical, I am not sure what happened. It is not exactly the best way for me to win, or how I'd like to win, but we are all out there trying our best. We all have mechanicals from time to time, that's part of racing."

Roger Rinderknecht And Anneke Beerten Are The 2012 4X World Champs

The first medals of the 2012 UCI Mountain Bike and Trails World Championships were awarded Saturday night in Leogang, Austria, for the men's and women's 4-cross. Anneke Beerten of the Netherlands won her second career title, while Switzerland's Roger Rinderknecht won his first title in the final race of his career.

The crowd favourite 4-cross did not disappoint the thousands of fans who lined the course. It was clear early on that the men's race was between the Swiss and the Czech riders. The two nations split the top four spots in qualifying, and dominated the heats on the way to the final. Rinderknecht was joined by countryman David Graf for the final, with Czech team mates Tomas Slavik and Michael Mechura taking the other two spots.

On paper, it should have been Graf who won, after qualifying first and winning every one of his heats; including beating Rinderknecht in the semi-final. However, Graf tangled with Slavik just after the start gate, when the Czech rider moved out of his lane, causing both riders to crash. Rinderknecht took the lead from Mechura out of the first corner, fought off an attack after the second corner and then rode clear to take the title. Mechura took silver, with Slavik the first to get up from the crash and grabbed bronze.

"This is the last race I am ever going to do in my career, so I really wanted it to be a special night," commented Rinderknecht. "I felt good all night. Didn't have the best legs ever, but I felt it was coming together. It worked out on the end. The other two guys unfortunately came together on the first straight, so it wasn't the battle to the line, but nevertheless I am extremely happy."

"I really cannot believe it. I really did not expect to do that good in the beginning. I knew I was in good shape, but I wasn't sure what to expect from my bike handling point of view. But I felt comfortable right away from the first practice, so I knew if everything went perfect it could be my night."

Beerten came into the eight rider women's race the favourite, and did not disappoint. After qualifying first, the Dutch rider won her semi-final to get into the championship race, and was joined by Romana Labounkova (Czech Republic), Celine Gros (France) and local Austrian favourite Anita Molcik.

Beerten got out of the gate fast and led Labounkova by the first corner. The Czech rider tried to stay in contact, but by the end of the second straight, Beerten was clear and on her way to her second 4-cross title. Labounkova held on for silver, with Gros taking bronze.

"Words cannot describe how I feel," exclaimed Beerten. "It is unbelievable. It started out as such a hard race, I didn't have the gate that I wanted, and I pulled it off in the first corner. I just thought to my self 'Don't brake, just go' and that's what I did. It seemed to work. I am so happy."

2012 Leogang World Champs Downhill Final Results

2012 Downhill MTB World Championship Mens Final Results

2012 Downhill MTB World Championship Womens Final Results

2012 Downhill MTB World Championship Junior Mens Final Results

2012 Downhill MTB World Championship Junior Womens Final Results