WC1 - South Africa - Practice -

Greg Minnaar 'won' practice, nothing surprising considering he has won 3 out of the past 4 UCI events here, not to mention some of the local South African races. Make no mistake he is the man to beat here. — Greg Minnaar ‘won’ practice, nothing surprising considering he has won 3 out of the past 4 UCI events here, not to mention some of the local South African races. Make no mistake he is the man to beat here.

Practice is done for the day here in South Africa, an interesting day, there were still a few trail style bikes kicking around under riders but there were a lot more ‘light’ downhill bikes. Specialized, Devinci, Chain Reaction just to name a few were all getting around on beefed up trail style bikes, so less travel than full on downhill bikes but more beefy than regular trail bikes. Riders were sporting triple clamp forks to deal with the new rock additions.

With defending champ Rachel Atherton battling sickness but expecting to start the qualifying run, Emmeline Ragot grabbed the fastest timed run for the ladies. — With defending champ Rachel Atherton battling sickness (but expecting to start the qualifying run tomorrow) Emmeline Ragot grabbed the fastest timed run for the ladies.

In fact Emmeline's team mate Loris Vergier took out the junior mens practice so Lapierre is looking like the team to beat. Add into this Loic Bruni and Sam Blenkinsop contending the men's race and they may walk away with the teams point lead this weekend. — In fact Emmeline’s team mate Loris Vergier took out the junior men’s practice so Lapierre is looking like the team to beat. Add into this Loic Bruni and Sam Blenkinsop contending the men’s race and they may walk away with the teams point lead this weekend.

Disappointing times for the Kona team with junior rider Andrew Crimmins out after crashing in the ‘Money Maker’ A�section of the track, the crash leaving his knee cap in two pieces… Now on his way back to Australia the world champs in Norway will become his focus. A real shame as he has the potential to mix it up in the juniors with anyone. He wasn’t the only rider to succumb to the track here in Pietermaritzburg, Innes Graham went down and broke his ankle or foot. We also saw Bryn Atkinson eat dirt but not sure how he pulled up afterwards, hopefully fine!

Never a nice sight, Andrew Crimmins being stretchered out. He will be back and charging soon.

Mic Hannah looked good, with a string of podiums here we all know he can get the job done. Will his new 27.5" ride be enough to tip the balance in his favour? We will find out Sunday. — Mic Hannah looked good, with a string of podiums here we all know he can get the job done. Will his new 27.5″ ride be enough to tip the balance in his favour? We will find out Sunday.

Oh yeah, that is a classic Sam Hill shot right there, feet up laying down the style and dust going every where! 6th in timed practice shows he has his lines sorted. In typical Sam Hill fashion he was taking some pretty unique lines in the rock sections.

Tomorrow sees qualifying and a true indication of who has been training hard in the off season, catch you soon!

Images: Phunkt

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