Fort William

Fort William as ever provided drama and excitement in the blazing Scottish sunshine. The women's race was set up to shake things up as Manon Carpenter qualified well ahead of Rachel Atherton and looked to take the series lead from her. In the end the race would change the standings even more as the top three British women all punctured, and Atherton was disqualified for receiving outside assistance to free up her drivetrain. Ragot's ride was the standout run and she took the win by a large margin on a new Lapierre bike, leaving the overall wide open and Rachel now sitting in fourth and Manon 60 points ahead in first.

The men's race would be Greg Minnaar's 100th World Cup start and he would be looking for a win to celebrate as would Sam Smith, returning from injury. There were a procession of early British leaders from Greg Williamson and Sam Dale, until Greg Minnaar came down to take the hotseat and start the list of big names to come down the mountain.

With ten to go the rain started with Atherton, Hart and Hill probably the most interesting riders to come and questions over whether the weather would play a part in the race again as rocks at the top became slippery and harder especially for riders waiting at the top of the hill on dry tyres. Luckily the rain eased off and Steve Smith was able to return to the World cup scene with a storming powerful run to take the lead. He's fit and strong and the road bike training he's had to do as he recovered has given him fitness to pick up where he left off.

Smith was followed down by Gee Atherton who came in up by split two and then took the lead straight back from Sam Smith by a second at the finish, putting in a superb ride on a course he's at home on. The parade of big names continued with Aaron Gwin next up, also up at split two, and able to pip Atherton by just over half a second to take the hot seat straight away from him.

Sam Blenkinsop punctured so was out of the running despite a great qualifying time, but Sam Hill came down super fast until the big pedal at the bottom where he hung on to give us another change of lead with two riders to come. Danny Hart or Troy Brosnan would be the first riders to win a debut World Cup at Fort William, and Hart was up at split one, and flying down the mountain, until he hit the flatter end sections and lost time where he needed to pedal hard, finishing in second. Brosnan looked to be off the podium at the top section but came back fast at the bottom and pulled back to take the win, giving him his first ever World Cup win in some style and with a load of commitment.

That gave us a mixed podium of the old and new guard with Brosnan first, Hill second, Hart third, Gwin fourth and Atherton fifth.

Gwin hangs on in first overall, with Brosnan now in second and Atherton in third and an exciting season in prospect.

Next weekend the series goes to Leogang, and I'll be unlikely to be able to follow it for you. Basically it's anyone's to win this year.

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