Val d’Isere has provided us with what has to beA�the race of the season so far! With the start order being so different from the rest of the races this year, the last 30 riders down the hill just kept swapping positions, as a different rider would come down and take over the hot seat.
As day broke conditions looked favourable, the cloud cleared off the mountain and the sun came out. A huge crowd started forming on the mountain, with many spectators travelling from across Europe (not to mention the world) just to see the finals action.
As racing started all the big names, bar Danny Hart who was out with a busted shoulder, were ready to hit the track. Aaron Gwin was still nursing the stitches in his hand but was ready to go and remaining positive.
With racing underway many of the Aussies had solid runs but nothing to write home about, Bryn Atkinson finished 78th after having a solid run before he went off the track in the last woods section. Mitch Delfs finished 45th, Mitch was laying down some nice style over the jumps on the course all week.
Jared Graves finished 28th, one place ahead of Sam Hill. Sam was looking good this weekend but a small crash wiped out any chance of a win.
One of the rides of the day in our eyes went toA�Connor Fearon, second fastest Aussie, the fastest junior and 22nd overall! An amazing result, as the year progresses so does Connors speed, you can see he is getting more and more comfortable on the World Cup circuit in turn this experience is paying off in his racing.
Recapping racing though and Aaron Gwin came down earlier than usual due to his crash in qualifying, heA�immediately took the hot seat, his time was fast but it wasn’t seconds ahead of the field as we are use to seeing this year though. This was confirmed when Greg Minnaar, who was fighting to keep the overall title chase alive, came down the hill and went half a second faster than Gwin. Nick Beer came blasting down the hill and almost did a front flip over the jump through the middle of the course, unintentionally of course, fortunately he was able to keep on riding. Gee Atherton came down with one of his best runs this season and took the hot seat, Gee hasn’t won a World Cup since 2010 and with only three riders to go his odds to break this drought were looking good. This didn’t last long for Gee though, the next rider down, Brook MacDonald, put down a flyer. This year Brook has looked good but often would push too hard and crash, not this time he threaded the fine line between crashing and racing on the edge. In the hot seat with two riders to go Brook was guaranteed a podium. Josh Bryceland came down and couldn’t best his friends time, he ended up finishing just behind Gee. With the last rider Cam Cole on track it was a guarantee thatA�one rider would be breaking their World Cup drought, at the first split it became clear this would be Brook! Sure enough Cam couldn’t regain the time he lost at the top of the track and finished eighth. This left Brook to celebrate his first World Cup win, a truly amazing race, so much energy as the last riders came down. Brook is the first rider to win a World Cup race on flat pedals for years. Aaron Gwin has clinched the overall 2012 World Cup title but with World Champs and the final round of the World Cup still to come things are just getting interesting!
1. Brook MacDonald 2.19.48
2. Gee Atherton 2.19.97 + 0.50
3. Josh Bryceland 2.20.16 + 0.68
4. Greg Minnaar 2.20.35 + 0.87
5. Aaron Gwin 2.20.84 + 1.37
…
6. Mic Hannah 2.21.37 + 1.89
22. Connor Fearon 2.24.96 + 5.48
27. Sam Hill 2.25.96 + 6.49
28. Jared Graves 2.26.15 + 6.68
45. Mitch Delfs 2.27.89 + 8.41
75. Bryn Atkinson 2.47.94 + 28.46
Our favourite World Cup of the year so far!
I Bet J.Button has a different opinion about that, … But yes very fun to watch ..
Great pics and cover.