THIS WEEK IN PRO CYCLING
Moseley, Minnaar dash to DH crowns in Scotland
The sun continued to smile on Fort William on Sunday for the final day of World Cup competition —the crowd favorite, downhill.
A pair of riders long absent from the winner’s circle responded to the roars, whistles and horns of the fans lining the course from top to bottom. Tracy Moseley (Kona) took her first win since 2006, while Greg Minnaar (Santa Cruz Syndicate) his first since 2005.
The day started misty and damp for qualifying, but strong winds blew the mist and clouds away, and as the day progressed the conditions just got better and better.
In qualifying, Moseley and Minnaar both were fastest, although Moseley had to do a second run after World Cup leader Rachel Atherton (Animal Commencal) crashed ahead of her. Moseley was a full five seconds ahead of world champion Sabrina Jonnier (Maxxis), with Emmeline Ragot (Suspension center) third. Atherton was seeded mid-field after her crash. Top North American was Kathy Pruitt (Jamis) in eighth, followed immediately by Claire Buchar.
in the final, Mio Suemasa (MS-Intense), the slowest qualifier, set a very fast time of 5:35.64, which would hold up until Atherton came down and knocked nine seconds off. Atherton's time would hold until first Jonnier and then Moseley beat it. Jonnier's second place (combined with her second in the semifinal) was enough to bump her back into the World Cup lead.
"I just tried to improve upon the things I did in the semifinal," said Moseley. "There was nothing big, just little bits here and there that made the difference."
However, one difference Moseley did make was to don a skinsuit for the final - something that is causing a lot of controversy in the downhill community. The Mojo Orange team has been testing the suits and claim they can shave six to eight seconds off a run. Moseley's winning margin was four seconds.
Atherton, for one, was outspoken in her dislike of skinsuits. "It was no battle here against a skinsuit on this course," she said. "With the top so open and windy, you can make four or five seconds easy. There's lots of issues with using them, I think; if Tracy wants to use one, that's her game, but I don't agree with them at all."
Buhl rounded out the podium in fifth place, with Pruitt 10th, Buchar 11th and Canadian national champion Micayla Gatto (Commencal) 15th.
The men's semifinal saw the following finishing order: Minnaar, Gee Atherton (Animal Commencal), Samuel Hill (Monster Energy), Steve Peat (Santa Cruz Syndicate) and Fabien Barel (Subaru). Four of these five made the podium, with Nathan Rennie (Santa Cruz Syndicate) replacing Barel after the French rider flatted. All five, plus Dan Atherton (Animal Commencal) were the only riders to go under 4:50, with Rennie the first to set the fast time. He would hang on for fourth, exclaiming, "I'm back!"
Peat knocked over half a second off his teammate’s time, while Hill slid in just behind Rennie. Atherton then knocked another half a second off the top time, but didn't even get into the hot seat, as Minnaar's intermediate time was three seconds up. Minnaar kept the gap for the lower half of his run to win by 3.17 seconds, an indication of his complete comeback from shoulder surgery last fall.
"It definitely shows I'm back. and it is very good because this is where my season ended last year. So to do it here feels great; revenge is sweet,” he said.
“The dry conditions made it so hard today, it was actually slippery out there in the dust, and the ruts were changing all the time. I felt like I was on a good run, but it was only 10 meters from the line that I knew I had it. Now, with a fifth, a third and a first I feel like I am on track for the worlds."
Top North American was Kyle Strait (Specialized) in 31st place, followed by Lars Sternberg in 50th and Canadian Andrew Mitchell in 57th.
