Cairns was one of the best races for some time and so we thought we would dedicate some more screen time to it, have a look at these pictures and reminisce on a great event, enjoy:
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Photos: Jason Stevens Photography and stock images. Facebook:A�www.facebook.com/jasonstevensphotographyA�or follow @jasonstevensphotography on Instagram
We are Australian so we might be a little biased but the Cairns world cup was one of the best we have witnessed in some time! There were some truly amazing highs (as well as a few lows – after all that is racing), the day kicked off with a short practice session in the morning before the crowd started filing through the gates and lining the course.
The juniors kicked off proceedings and there was high expectations with a large number of riders all keen to impress at their home race. In the end impress they did with 4 out of the top 5 spots going to Australians. In 5th was Josh Clark, 4th was Jackson Frew, 3rd was Harry Bush and 2nd was Remy Morton. The win went to Matt Walker from Great Britain.
Next up were the senior females and it was evident who the crowd was cheering for, the home town Hannah! In this case Tracey, she put down a stomping run and finished second, it was Rachel Atherton that took the win but boy was the crowd lapping Tracey up!
At 2pm it was time for the men to start their race runs, 80 riders, one winner! Here are some observations from the afternoon;A�Stevie Smith got a flat front tyre, Greg Minnaar commented he didn’t have any issues with his run but still had a result that wasn’t up to his standards, much the same for Gee Atherton and Sam Hill was battling an illness in the week leading up to the race finishing 28th.
Without doubt one of the highlights of the weekend for us was the result of one man – Josh Button – after having stepped away from racing World Cups since 2012 Josh has been keeping things low key, until Cairns that was! He put in a stomping run to claim the hot seat from Graeme Mudd and he was sitting there for a very long time…At first we were hoping he wouldn’t get knocked out of the top 20, then the top 15 before finally the top 10… then we began to dream, a podium?! We all knew JB had the skills, then sure enough there were 4 riders left and Josh was in range. In the end he did claim one – 5th place, JB you’ve done it again!
There were still 4 riders to go, Loic Bruni was on the hot seat with AAron Gwin unable to better his time, there were just 2 riders left, both Australian. Sik Mik Hannah knows Cairns like the back of his hand having grown up here, with sister Tracey coming close in the women’s everyone was hoping mic could finish one step higher. He put in a cracking run but ended up in second place. This left Troy Brosnan as the last rider on course, the whole way down the times were so close, it looked like he might have done it just before he crossed the line where the timing board showed he was just 0.493 seconds down! In the process this handed Loic his first ever world cup win.
We have a smorgasbord of images to show you guys from the week so check back for those soon.
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With the sun shining and the birds chirping (they were mimicking the course marshal’s whistles’) today was qualifying day and what A�a day it was. The track had some noticeable lines starting to appear down the course for riders to take but the rock garden near the top was still catching people out, much like the whoops mid way down.
We have listed the top results in class below as well as some shots from the day, enjoy:
Junior Men:
1. Matt Walker
2. Harry Bush
3. Remy Morton
Senior Women:
1. Rachel Atherton
2. Manon Carpenter
3. A�Tracey Hannah
Senior Men:
1. Troy Brosnan
2. Mik Hannah
3. Aaron Gwin
Tomorrow is the big day, check back for our finals report soon.
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Photos: Jason Stevens Photography and stock images. Facebook:A�www.facebook.com/jasonstevensphotographyA�or follow @jasonstevensphotography on Instagram
Here we are, Cairns in far North Queensland, for the second round of the UCI World Cup series. Everyone remembers 2014 and the mud bath that was… After a dry track walk everyone was positive. Unfortunately there was some rain that fell during the day that made the rocks super slippery. The track itself hasn’t changed much from last time we were here but the forecast is looking positive for a drier race.
There were a few crashes over the day that meant practiced was put on hold and time on the bike was shorter than expected but let’s look at the action.
Check back for qualifying tomorrow!
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Home town race and therefore a home town Inside Info from Connor Feraon, the whole time in cairns even we noticed just how much support he had! So with out further a-do take it away Mr Worldwide;
As soon as I heard about the world cup in Cairns I was quietly confident. Even before I knew anything about the track I just had this feeling it was going to be a good race for me. My first world cup at my home country would really mean a lot to me. In my head the whole 2014 season was going to be good for me, I proved I had improved my fitness by a fair margin in South Africa with a 25th but I wanted better. I dona��t often voice my goals but I wanted to get a top 5 podium at the Cairns world cup, it was pretty much my goal from the end of last year when I proved to myself I could mix it with the best. Matty and I got to Cairns about a week early and did a lot of the obligatory tourist activities. Ia��ve never been to Cairns but highly recommend it as a holiday destination!
We stayed riding distance from the track but I actually never bothered to look at it until the official track walk day on Wednesday. The track itself is really good, it has everything; open turns, fast wide jump sections, whoops, technical rock gardens and root sections! I liked the look of it. The weather was really good in Cairns right up until the first practice runs on Thursday. The skies opened up and it rained hard. The track was really slippery due to the clay surface that covered most of the hills around the area. I felt good on the first run, this reflected in timed training when I was 2nd to Gee Atherton by less than a second. Qualifying rolled around on Friday, it was still raining hard the track was getting slower and harder. Nobody realised how physical this track was until they had to put a full run down to qualify. My whole body was screaming I could hardly turn the pedals at the end. Unfortunately I had a little crash at the start of my run. Despite the hiccup I still qualified 9th and the fastest Aussie. This meant a lot to me and boosted my confidence even more. It felt like all the hard work I put in during the off season would pay off. I had a lot of friends and family at the race and generally everyone at the event was stoked for me to qualify so well. Everyone was telling me they wanted me to do well at the race.
When I was warming up for my race run I was actually pretty calm, I was confident with my speed and fitness I just had to ride like a had been in practice. I rode pretty aggressively in my race run and nailed all the technical sections at the top. There is a long right hander thata��s quite fast before a jump. I came in faster than I have and didna��t let off the gas. At the end of the corner my front wheel washed out and quicker than I could react I hit the deck. I bounced off the ground and it felt like forever before I hit again. I remember sliding along the ground and almost being oblivious to the fact I was crashing. I couldna��t believe what happened. I didna��t jump back up too fast because I was pretty hurt and I knew I wouldna��t be in contention for the result I hoped for. The crowd the whole way down the track and especially at the bottom was huge. Ita��s definitely the most spectators Ia��ve seen at a world cup. They were extremely loud and supportive as well. Ia��m sure they pushed the Aussies to ride faster! I finished my run and rode back to the pits pretty swiftly as I was a little salty about crashing! It really set in when I was sitting in the medical tent getting a few stitches in my leg and I could hear the commentator announcing the winnersa�� So unfortunately this race wasna��t as good as I had planned. I dona��t think I made any mistakes by crashing I was pushing the limit and in this sport thata��s what you have to do. One good thing is due to the points I got in qualifying I moved up in the overall to 22nd. By the end of the season I want to be well in the top 20 so Ia��ll take what Ia��ve learnt from this race to the next world cups to achieve that goal. Ia��d like to thank my sponsors Kona, Fox Head, Maxxis, Sram, Rockshox, Stans no tubes, Truvativ, Yakima racks and of course downhill 247! Hopefully ill have something more positive to report next time round.
There is now a slight break before the world cup circuit hits up Europe for round 3.
Images: Jason Stevens Photography, JB Photomedia & in house images.
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A successful return to Cairns for the world mountain bike circuit and what a return it was. No denying it was hard, riders were saying it was definitely one of the most challenging races they have done. As per usual there was practice session to allow the riders who had qualified one last chance to sort their lines. It was mainly a chance to see how the track had developed after the inclement weather we had been experiencing all week.
Racing, if you’re not first your last as some would say! On that note it was the junior men who got things underway, due to the UCI rules that allow the host nation to enter a larger than usual quota of riders there were plenty of Aussies to watch.
As many of the juniors we spoke to said, it was hard, next level in fact. Many struggled to make the transition from Australian national races to the world stage but experience is invaluable at this level which for many of the guys is what this event is about. The two stand outs for the juniors were Ben Hill and Aiden Varley, both races with overseas experience. Ben took 7th and Aiden Varley was in the hot seat until the last rider unfortunately getting knocked out by French rider Loris Vergier but grabbing 2nd at his home race was an amazing achievement!
Moving onto women and there was only one rider in the eyes of the crowd that should win, local Tracey Hannah! Before we got to see Tracey the junior girls were on course, Australia’s Tegan Molloy won the class. After her Danielle Beecroft came down in the Senior class finishing 14th. Eventually Tracey was on course, she came down and took the hot seat so it looked like it may be a fairy tale win. There were still some big names to come though…
With a quality field it wasn’t too long before Tracey got displaced off the hot seat, the question was where would she finish in the overall scheme of things. Emmeline Ragot was looking good but a crash undid her chance of a win, round 1 winner Manon Carpenter gave everything to take the win but finished second. It was the most dominant female rider of these times, Rachel Atherton, who claimed the win, Tracey ended up with a podium in 5th!
Moving onto the senior men and by now the crowd was ready and raring to go! Unfortunately one member of the crowd was a little too keen and used an injured competitors bike to attempt to navigate the whoops on the course. Next thing he was bucked wild, crashed and in a bad way, this caused a course hold for some time. It favoured Steve Peat who was red flagged in his run who got a re run after admittedly being on a less than impressive first run, in the end he finished 7th so was quite happy! Steve thought there had been a punch on in the crowd when he saw the gentleman laid out cold on the track as he came past.
Just like the juniors and women prior it was the Aussies the crowd were rooting for, it was Dean Lucas who was the first local to hold the hot seat for a considerable period of time. He was there only to be displaced by Graeme Mudd! The crowd loved it as Graeme Mudd was flanked by Dean Lucas and David ‘Mayhem’ McMillan!
Rider after rider came down, some had ‘what could have been runs’ with crashes others beat the conditions and took the results they wanted. Jack Moir was the next local to hold onto the hot seat for a long time, during the course hold he got to keep it warm too. In the end he finished 11th a sterling result. A�The big threats to take the won for the locals early on in the piece were Sam Hill and Mic Hannah who had average qualifying runs. Sam came through and took the hot seat much to everyone’s delight.
Next was Mic Hannah, the man with the most pressure of anyone in the field, cruelly he crashed, it just wasn’t his day. At this stage Sam still had the hot seat. One of the most impressive rides we have seen for some time was Neko Mulally who with a crash claimed third, by this stage Josh Bryceland had pushed Hill out of the hot seat and was looking good for his maiden win. Gee Atherton came through on flat pedals, a rarity for him and pushed Josh out of the top spot.
The last Aussies on course were Troy Brosnan and Connor Fearon, two of the youngest riders. Unfortunately neither had the runs they had hoped and finished off the podium.
Aaron Gwin couldn’t do it leaving Gee in the hot seat, by this stage it was a question of who would win. It wasn’t to be an Aussie, at best we could expect a top 5 for Sam Hill.
In the end it was the last rider on the hill, Sam Blenkinsop who could knock Gee off from the top spot but he didn’t leaving the day as an Atherton double.
We still have some images to show you all from what was an incredible race!
Images: Jason Stevens Photography, JB Photomedia & in house images.
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