2012 Val d'Isere UCI World Cup Wrap Up

Round Six of the DHI UCI World Cup saw big wins for Rachel Atherton and Brook MacDonald

A bouyant Rachel Atherton extended her lead at the top of the Downhill standings today with victory in the penultimate round of the UCI MTB World Cup.

The British rider was 1.4 seconds faster than reigning world champion Emmeline Ragot and 3.1 seconds quicker than Floriane Pugin, who was riding on home soil. Atherton's fellow Briton, Manon Carpenter, also put in a fine performance and came home fifth quickest.

In one post-race interview, Atherton had this to say: “I had a good run, tried to keep up the momentum but not mess things up. The track is very dry and fast and pretty sketchy, with hard turns, so it's easy to make a mistake. I like it, I didn’t think it would be that good here.”

Atherton is now on 1,200 points – 80 ahead of her closest rival Ragot.

In the men's finals, Aaron Gwin missed out on the top three but still managed to claim the overall Downhill World Cup title, which more than made up for crashing badly in qualifying.

Gwin was quickest for much of the afternoon, until Greg Minnaar and Gee Atherton took to the track. The latter notched a lightning quick 2:19.973 to take the lead from South Africa's Minnaar and it looked like the Brit might win his first Downhill World Cup since 2010.

It wasn't to be, though. New Zealand's Brook MacDonald put in a brilliantly controlled yet aggressive performance in one of the afternoon's final rides to take the victory. He came off the final jump 0.4 seconds quicker than Gee Atherton and 0.6 seconds faster than Minnaar's British team-mate Josh Bryceland.

“I can’t even explain it in words," said MacDonald after the race. "I had a solid run, no mistakes. It was just one of those runs were you come down strong, I’m over the moon."

"I’ve had big struggles over the season," he continued, "and I was at the point where I was actually hating riding. But I changed a few things, including the set-up, and it’s paid off. I think I’m going to party for a week now.”

Overall champion Aaron Gwin did well to finish fifth after his crash in qualifying. The Californian put in a still-impressive ride with five stitches in his hand.The Downhill riders return to the UCI World Cup tour on September 14-15 when they reconvene in Hafjell, Norway, for Round Seven.

Women's Val d'Isère DHI results
1. Rachel Atherton, GT FACTORY RACING, 2:38.967
2. Emmeline Ragot, MS MONDRAKER TEAM, +1.487
3. Floriane Pugin, SCOTT11, +3.118
4. Myriam Nicole, COMMENCAL / RIDING ADDICTION, +4.249
5. Manon Carpenter, MADISON SARSUI19860919 SCOTT11, +8.181
7. Petra Bernhard, ALPINE COMMENCAL AUSTRIA, +11.118
8. Sabrina Jonnier, LABYRINTH SHIMANO RACING TEAM, +12.794
9. Mio Suemasa, +13.499
10. Morgane Charre, PASSION VELO.FR, +14.369

Men's Val d’Isere DHI results
1. Brook MacDonald, MS MONDRAKER TEAM, 2:19.478
2. Gee Atherton, GT FACTORY RACING, +0.495
3. Josh Bryceland, SANTA CRUZ SYNDICATE, +0.677
4. Greg Minnaar, SANTA CRUZ SYNDICATE, +0.867
5. Aaron Gwin, TREK WORLD RACING, +1.366
6. Michael Hannah, HUTCHINSON UNITED RIDE, +1.893
7. Marc Beaumont, GT FACTORY RACING, +2.110
8. Cameron Cole, LAPIERRE INTERNATIONAL, +2.296
9. Rémi Thirion, LABYRINTH SHIMANO RACING TEAM, +2.453
10. Andrew Neethling, GIANT FACTORY OFF-ROAD TEAM, +2.63

2012 Val d'Isere UCI World Cup Final Results

2012 Val d'Isere UCI Men's Final Results

2012 Val d'Isere UCI Women's Final Results

Rank	Name	UCI Code	Team	Result
1	MACDONALD Brook	NZL19911125	MS MONDRAKER TEAM	2:19.478
2	ATHERTON Gee	GBR19850226	GT FACTORY RACING	+0.495
3	BRYCELAND Josh	GBR19900323	SANTA CRUZ SYNDICATE	+0.677
4	MINNAAR Greg	RSA19811113	SANTA CRUZ SYNDICATE	+0.867
5	GWIN Aaron	USA19871224	TREK WORLD RACING	+1.366
6	HANNAH Michael	AUS19831121	HUTCHINSON UNITED RIDE	+1.893
7	BEAUMONT Marc	GBR19840925	GT FACTORY RACING	+2.110
8	COLE Cameron	NZL19880203	LAPIERRE INTERNATIONAL	+2.296
9	THIRION Rémi	FRA19900423	LABYRINTH SHIMANO RACING TEAM	+2.453
10	NEETHLING Andrew	RSA19840805	GIANT FACTORY OFF-ROAD TEAM	+2.635

Rank	Name	UCI Code	Team	Result
1	ATHERTON Rachel	GBR19871206	GT FACTORY RACING	2:38.967
2	RAGOT Emmeline	FRA19860527	MS MONDRAKER TEAM	+1.487
3	PUGIN Floriane	FRA19890417	SCOTT11	+3.118
4	NICOLE Myriam	FRA19900208	COMMENCAL / RIDING ADDICTION	+4.249
5	CARPENTER Manon	GBR19930311	MADISON SARACEN DOWNHILL TEAM	+4.903
6	SIEGENTHALER Emilie	SUI19860919	SCOTT11	+8.181
7	BERNHARD Petra	AUT19801118	ALPINE COMMENCAL AUSTRIA	+11.118
8	JONNIER Sabrina	FRA19810819	LABYRINTH SHIMANO RACING TEAM	+12.794
9	SUEMASA Mio	JPN19830401		+13.499
10	CHARRE Morgane	FRA19900609	PASSION VELO.FR	+14.369

2012 Val d'Isere UCI WC Qualifying Results

2012 Val d'Isere World Cup Men's Qualifying Results

2012 Val d'Isere World Cup Women's Qualifying Results

2012 Val d'Isere UCI World Cup Timed Training Results

2012 UCI Val d'Isere Men's Timed Training

2012 UCI Val d'Isere Women's Timed Training

2012 US National Champs With Team BGB/Mountain Khakis

Two big races come round every year that we each wait for with anticipation, one being the UCI World Cup Roundin Windham, New York and two the US Gravity National Championships. Yes, Windham is an important race, butit’s more of a spectacle as it showcases the best in the world. The US Gravity National Championships is whereTeam BGB-Mountain Khakis, or any rider for that matte,r gets a chance to earn there stripes. It’s what we all trainfor, gives a rider the chance to advance categories, gives you bragging rights, and sometimes can even make orbreak a rider’s career.

This year is also a special one for Team BGB-Mountain Khakis as this is the last of a two year deal that BeechMountain Resort signed with USA Cycling for the event to take place in the “High Country” of the NC Mountains.Additional pressure would be on the shoulders of each of the Team BGB-MK riders to represent the SE region infront of the “home” crowd.

Anybody recall Race Day 2011…. aka the Slip and Slide Slop-Fest? Would we have the same race conditions as2011? Leading up to the four day race weekend the weather in the region had many convinced it was in the cardsyet again for 2012. As we moved into day one other than some typically mountain fog (well, we should call themclouds at that altitude), conditions were perfect for day one of practice. Cat 2 riders Jay Guidry and Nich Ifkovitswould only get one day of practice on the Amateur course before they took the stage. Pros Robert DeMao, RyanTaylor, and Max Morgan would have four days of practice before the big show on Sunday.

As the sun set Thursday evening , the precip came down quite heavy. Leading into Friday morning, race day for theAmateurs, the knobbies came off and the spikes went on. Morning fog kept that moisture mixed in with themountain dirt just in time for the first rider out of the gate. Kicking off at 0915 and cycling through each of theriders Jay Guidry managed to secure a 4th place podium position in Cat 2 19-24 and Nich Ifkovits Cat 2 15-18 a 6th.

 

Saturday morning practice before seeding started bright and early at 0800 with more of the same…. the highcountry fog kept that moisture in place for yet another day. The first practice run down the Pro Course RobertDeMao had an incident with a pulled neck/chest muscle that would lead him to call it a weekend. That wouldleave things up to Ryan Taylor and Max Morgan. In a field of 64 riders, Max qualified in impressive fashion in 20th closely followed by Ryan in 25th.

With qualifying in the bag early riders had the remainder of the day to walk thecourse to do some last minute fine tuning on their attack plan or simply call it a night for some fuel and shut-eye.The weather for Sunday surprisingly was projected to be better than the three previous days and that forecast heldup its end of the bargain. 1500 was the time for the BIG SHOW!!! The current fastest man in the world Aaron Gwinof Temecula, CA (Trek World Racing) obviously was the heavy favorite to take it all, but as in 2011 with a crashanything was possible. Of course in the end that would not stick and Mr. Gwin would end up earning the star andstripes sleeve for the 2012/2013 season. Team BGB-MK Pros Max Morgan and Ryan Taylor each had minormistakes in their runs earning them 21st and 30th position respectively. Either way with the stiff competition andfactory sponsored riders in the field, they each deserve a tip of the hat……. AWESOME run guys!