Nissan UCI Mountain Bike World Cup: Historic downhill win for Steve Peat

17.05.2009

It was a record-breaking weekend in Vallnord, Andorra, for round three of the Nissan UCI Mountain Bike World Cup presented by Shimano.

In the downhill competitoin, Steve Peat (Santa Cruz Syndicate) took his second consecutive win and the 17th of his illustrious career. In doing so, he broke Nicolas Vouilloz’s record for the most World Cup wins, and extended his lead in the overall standings. In the women’s downhill, Sabrina Jonnier (Maxxis-Rocky Mountain) also took her second consecutive win, overtakingTracy Moseley (Trek World Racing) for the lead in the women’s series.

Women's final

Saturday’s good weather carried over to Sunday for the downhill final. Jonnier and Australian Sam Hill (Monster Energy-Specialized) qualified first woman and man respectively, but that didn’t mean much when it came to final. The drying track was becoming loose and dusty at the top, and three days of hard riding was creating ruts and braking  bumps in the lower wooded portion.

Canada’s Micayla Gatto was the first woman off, and proved that her qualifying time was an anomaly by posting a sub-three minute 2:57.77 time that would hold up for nearly half the field, before American Melissa Buhl finally bumped her from the hot seat with a blazing 2:51.20.  

Lead quickly changes hands

Buhl didn’t get much chance to enjoy the hot seat, because five riders later Japan’s Mio Suemasa took the top time below 2:50 at 2:48.60. Suemasa was immediately surpassed by Myriam Nicole, of France, by two-tenths of a second, who in turn was supplanted by veteran Celine Gros (Morzine-Avoriaz 74).

But the final three were still to come. Emmeline Ragot (Suspension Center), the former Juniors World Champion, was third fastest in qualifying, and knocked two seconds off Gros’ time. Next up was World Cup leader Tracy Moseley (Trek World Racing), who was well down on Ragot on the upper half of the course, but came back strongly in the technical bottom section to pull to within two-hundredths of the second by the bottom.

Jonnier on fire

However, Jonnier was still to come, and she was on fire, fastest at both intermediate splits and a staggering four seconds fastest by the finish line. Jonnier rode nine seconds faster than in the qualifying round. The Maxxis-Rocky Mountain rider took the overall lead from Moseley with her second consecutive win. However, she is in the lead by a slim two points, mmeaning the battle is far from over.

“I’m super happy,” exclaimed Jonnier. “I felt good all week here, and in the final I was even stronger than last week.”

Men's final

The men’s final saw six lead changes in the first 60 riders, with American Ryan Condrashoff the first to take the time below 2:30. Condrashoff was eventually bumped by Australian Josh Button, who knocked 2.5s off the lead time, but was still slower than Hill’s qualifying time.

American Warren Cody was faster than Hill by a few hundredths, but it was Australian Bryn Atkinson who was the first to go under 2:26 and set the first really strong time. Atkinson’s time would prove to be hard to beat, as rider after rider came close but could not budge him from the hot seat.

Atkisnson knocked out of lead

t took Michael ‘Mick’ Hannah, 20 riders later, to finally knock Atkinson out of the lead. Hannah, who had been sick during the week, crashed during qualifying and started 17th from last. His run on the upper part of the course was strong, but it was in the rough and technical lower half where he really shone, making up 1.5s in the final 400 metres to take the lead with a time of 2:23.71 .

Brendan Fairclough (Monster Energy-Specialized), four riders later, came within 35-hundredths of Hannah, and that proved to be the pattern for the next dozen riders – close to or ahead of Hannah at the top, but losing ground in the lower section. It wasn’t until round one winner Greg Minnaar (Santa Cruz Syndicate) took to the start that Hannah was displaced, by a quarter of a second.

Peat takes over

The field was down to three riders, with Peat the next up. The World Cup leader was even with Hannah through the upper sections, but really came into his own in the woods, knocking 1.41 seconds off the leading time. World Champion Gee Atherton (Animal-Commencal), the defending champion in Andorra, was next, and came within an infinitesimal two-hundredths of Peat. But it just wasn’t enough.

Hill's hopes dashed by crash

However, Sam Hill was still to come. He was certainly the favourite, after showing he was clearly in tune with this track both in training and the qualifying rounds. His position as favourite looked to be justified, when the Australian went through the upper portion 1.6s faster than Peat, and entered the final section two seconds ahead. But then a crash in the woods meant Hill’s chance for his first win of the year disappeared. And that Peat's dream of a World Cup record was realized.

“It was really close,” agreed Peat. “I didn’t think I had the best time, I thought for sure that Sam would beat it, but you can see that he crashed, and that’s it ... history being made.”  

Peat will try to defend his leader jersey on home soil at the next round of the Nissan UCI Mountain Bike World Cup in Fort William, Scotland.