The World Championship DH happened over the weekend with the best riders pushing themselves to the very limit to claim that fancy rainbow jersey (and to be titled World Champion, of course).
The Andorran track had been shredded hard by both the competitors in practice and the unusually wet weather, which caused chaos on race day.
In the Men’s downhill, Britains’ very own Josh “Ratboy” Bryceland claimed bronze with a sharp, well executed run but unfortunately it wasn’t as fast as Santa Cruz team mate Greg Minaar’s effort, after he knocked Mike Jones off the top spot with only five more riders to go.
But, sadly for the South African, one of those five riders was Loic Bruni- who put in a storming effort as he tore through the track and into first place.
There was still two more competitors to go. Bruni could only watch on in hope.
Troy Brosnan stepped up and put in a strong charge which was ended by a muddy crash, which left American star Aaron Gwin as the last man between Bruni and the jersey.
But it was not to be for Gwin after he became another crash victim to the unforgiving course and with that, Loic Bruni was crowned champion.
In the Women’s event, familiar names were present towards the top end of the table.
Tracey Hannah managed third with a convincing 12 second gap over Morgane Charre, but it wasn’t enough to catch last year’s champion Manon Carpenter who sat in second, behind a woman who has dominated the field all-year-round. You’ve guessed it – it was Rachel Atherton who picked up this year’s title.
Anyway, if you’re bored of words and have a spare few hours, check out the full stream of the men’s downhill final, courtesy of Redbull:
http://www.redbull.tv/videos/event-stream-584/downhill-final-men
Stay tuned for the XC roundup!
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It was a truly amazing race to watch live.
Of all the ‘time trial’ type events – rallying, skiiing, bobsled, etc this has to be one of the most exciting to watch (not that I’m neutral of course). Get it in the Olympics!