The 2013 World Cup Season seems to have clicked up a notch every round. With an ever-growing intensity of crowds, weather, hype and action, Mont Saint Anne was no exception. Wild weather seemed to hang eerily over the Canadian resort throughout the four day event, only adding to the drama come race day. Here Stevie Smith has the finish in sight, powering in for the win.
For many Australian fans this was one early Monday morning to look forward to; a 5am start with the Top 10 Women’s DHI streamed on Red Bull TV. While Rachel Atherton has dominated the series so far, and qualified first, an error at the top of the course and a crash in the lower wooded section cost her vital time, and landed her in 12th place. Emmiline Ragot came away with the win by 4 seconds with a fast, clean run ahead of Manon Carpenter and Floriane Pugin.
Emmiline Ragot took the win with style, and with Junior Men’s teammate Loris Vergier taking 1st too, it was a great day for the Lapierre Gravity Republic team on the mountain.
As the Men’s race runs got underway, mechanicals and punctures littered the field, and even an unlucky broken wheel for ‘not Peaty’ Josh Bryceland. South African Andrew Neethling still held the hot seat with a time of 4:02:984, which held well into the Top 30, until Gee Atherton stormed through for the final dry run of the day with a 3:59:389. Then the sky opened up to make things interesting. It wasn’t long before the open areas were getting slick, slowing riders down in the top section and seemingly securing the win for Gee.
After proving his worth in previous years as a Junior, Troy Brosnan has his foot firmly in the door, placing pressure on the world’s fastest and doing Australia proud. After qualifying 7th, Troy laid down a solid performance in his race run, but the change in conditions slowed the whole group down.After a solid weekend of practice, and confidence coming into the event, Dean Lucas took a close second in Junior Mens, three hundredths of a second behind Loris Vergier. It’s easy to believe the future of Australian World Cup downhill is in safe hands watching these young guns ride!There’s no doubt that there were hearts in mouths when Sam Hill stepped up to the start. After his mythical performance at Champery in 2007, and his building performance throughout his first season back from injury, it was very plausible that he could steal the win from under Gee’s nose. Once again the wet weather stood its ground, but Sam put up a good fight to claim 3rd. And the words on Australia’s lips are “one of these days…”As Stevie Smith hit the track the home crowd roared; they roared as if they’d been silent all day. As he made his way down the mountain, with obvious speed and endless style, commentator Rob Warner took us back to Champery 2011, and got the Downhill world’s hearts pumping as Stevie came in with a time of 3:58:485 and the win.The grin of a well deserved winner, Steve Smith hasn’t got long to celebrate before heading to Whistler for Crankworx. It’s on with the job and onto the next race, but this win won’t be forgotten quickly.
The whole field is hungry for the top of the podium, and as the season progresses each rider gets even more determined. What will happen in Norway?
What a shambles! High speed winds ripped through overnight and caused some damage.
Everyone in Mont Sainte Anne woke up for the finalA�full day of practice to be greeted by a bit of destruction! Strong winds that came through overnight really made a mess of the pit area! For the riders the winds did cause a few issues in practice, one of the fastest courses on the circuit, MSA has some open areas and jumps where the wind can play havoc, keeping it low was the name of the game.
For the riders keeping low over jumps was critical, with a good qualifying result Sam Blenkinsop keeps it low to make sure he makes it through to Sunday’s race.Keeping low doesn’t mean you can’t look stylish though as Sam Hill demonstrates!The Santa Cruz Syndicate didn’t escape the carnage…Good thing none of the team bikes were there/damaged otherwise we couldn’t have got this banger of Greg Minnaar!Danny Hart will be wanting to get the ‘no World Cup win’ monkey off his back, second in qualifying shows this could be his race.There were plenty of different styles being thrown down over the jumps lining the course…
Will Gee Atherton’s big crash in qualifying be too much for him to overcome on race day? Connor Fearon is on a mission for a top 10 result and we all know he can do it! Will Sam Hill take his first win in a long time? Will Danny Hart claim his maiden victory? Troy Brosnan knows this track and won his first Junior World Champs here, with his parents support track side, will he take his maiden victory? So many questions – race day will answer all, check back soon!
A promising 2013 season and 6th in Qualifying suggests this will be a big weekend for Hill. He’s got the speed, can he pull it off?
Qualifying went well for Aussie riders with 6th for Sam and 9th for Troy Brosnan. Mitch Delfs and Bryn Atkinson rode 19th and 21st respectively, meaning plenty of Australian talent at the top end of the competition. Fastest on the day for the DHI class were Stevie Smith and Rachel Atherton. While the trail dries out and the weekend gets ever closer, the anticipation is building. Another event in an epic season of World Cup racing!
Qualifying one second ahead of Danny Hart, Stevie is showing his speed but still has to fight for the win on home soil.Rachel Atherton is looking unstoppable this season with 3 wins from 3 races, first in qualifying means she is again the rider to beat!That hip! Mic Hannah qualified 7th, showing he will be in the mix come Sunday.Just behind Mic was Troy Brosnan in 9th on one of the schmickest looking bikes on the circuit, can anyone say baller?! Troy won his first World Champs here and has the support of his parents at the race this weekend, could this be his first victory?Mitch Delfs snuck in to the top 20 with a 19th place, primed for a big result no doubt.A big Aussie contingent is on the ground this weekend, including junior Jackson Davis, who pulled out a super strong 15th in qualifying.
Rain has again fallen here in MSA after initially looking dry, so with that comes another set of challenges. Check back soon.
28th for Connor Fearon, backing up his awesome qualifying run and getting the top 30 he was hoping for. Photo: Jacob Gibbins
Another World Cup wrapped up, Mont Sainte Anne lived up to its legendary status and provided an excellent race. Fortunately, depending on who you talked to of course, the rain held off.
Tracey Hannah negotiating one of the wooded sections, now made more difficult by the large amount of rain that has fallen in Canada. Photo: Jacob Gibbins
Today was a day of practice with finals tomorrow, the biggest news is the large amount of rain that has fallen. The previously dusty track has now become one long muddy track.
