The cross country racing was strong, with the men’s race coming down, once again, to a battle between Absalon and Schurter who are dominating the sport. It was Schurter who took the win again, extending his lead in the series. In the women’s race it was Tanja Zakelj who took the win, in a series that isn’t quite so predictable..
The best way to sum up the Eliminator race seems to be via a handy RedBull round-up video. (mixing up the media, see)
It was then all set up for the weekend’s downhill finale, with Rachel and Gee Atherton qualifying first and hoping for a repeat of last week’s result in Fort William.
The final was lined up for a family double again as Rachel Atherton smashed the women’s field for a win by well over five seconds and we moved on to the top men.
As we hit the top ten qualifiers the action hotted up with Minnaar on the hotseat with a run that looked to have him back on form and riding strong and fast. The steep technical track took its toll on a bunch of hopefuls as Brook MacDonald, Sam Hill and Danny Hart all crashed, all looking like they were pushing just too hard to try and make it. In Hart’s case it’s another week with a strong qualifying run let down by a race run where he looks to try and do too much. MacDonald finished the race with no saddle and then the other recent new face on the podiums, Steve Smith, put together a good run to go into first, with only Gwin and Atherton to go.
Aaron Gwin, having swapped bike sizes in qualifying, once again failed to show the quality we’d seen in the last two seasons and never really troubled the top spots, leaving it open to Gee to see what he could do.
What he could do was a perfect run, demonstrating just how nailed the Athertons are, and taking the victory from a clearly irritated Smith by a tiny sliver over one second. So, another family win for the Athertons in both events, another thrilling race and more to look forward to in round three.
Elsewhere Hannah Barnes had a controversial decision that had robbed her of the win in the London Nocturne overturned, putting her back on the top step.
For those of you who like their riding a bit more casual and sedate, how about a look at a world-wide picture of urban bike share schemes to get you excited about what you can do with data, and how well used the bikes are?
Or if you prefer little wheels, Drew Bezanson is tearing it up in this video. When you watch enough of these films it’s easy to stop realising just what the riders are achieving. Take a minute and look at just how big and accurate those lines are.
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