This past weekend marked the fourth round of gravity racing in the mountain bike World Cup series.

source: Eric Schutt

Aug. 31, 2008
Canberra, Australia

Santa Cruz Syndicate’s Greg Minnaar and Nathan Rennie top the podium in Canberra, Australia to the cheers of thousands of enthusiastic Aussie fans and Minnaar regains his lead in the UCI World Cup Downhill Series.  It was an action packed day for the Syndicate as Minnaar, Peat and Rennie swept the semi-finals in number 1,2,3 positions, and the final was nearly the same but for a gust of wind blew Peat as he jumped into the finish stretch causing him to loose his speed and he placed 7th on this blustery, stormy day.

Recap:

The Syndicate arrived early to Australia to acclimate and spent two days in Sydney and four days training in the Blue Mountains, fitting in a surf session at Bondi Beach and a round a golf between training rides.   Arriving in Canberra it was quite a different experience and seemed a bit odd, and Mt. Stromlo seemed barren and eerie.

Mt. Stromlo Forest Park is an interesting place.  The bike park here has been very successful.  Carolyn McKinlay explains, “In Canberra we have the Canberra Off Road Cyclists club which is the biggest mountain biking club in Australia with about a thousand people in it.  About five years ago when we had a massive brush fire come through this area and it totally decimated everything as you can see.  It was like a moonscape.  We did have some riding tracks through here at the time so we put a proposal forward to the government that we could be able to turn it into a bike park.  After lots of negotiations we agreed and we came up with a thing where we could have road riding as well as equestrian and cross country running, as well.  So our club and the government have been working very closely, hand in hand, developing the park.  We’ve lots more plans for the park.  It’s been incredibly successful.”

Practice:

Rennie says, “ The weekend is going really well.   Practice has been great.  Obviously I’ve raced here before so I haven’t really had to concentrate too much on different lines and such. I’ve just been feeling good.  The crowds are all cheering and it’s only practice day.  The track is holding up really well.  It’s not really deteriorating that much.  Things are just running really smoothly.”

The track here is dry and dusty at the moment but I’m looking up at the clouds and it may rain.  The track starts off and goes through a top rock garden and just meanders down the hill through a series of drops and jumps and dusty turns and through some more jump sections It basically just hold the same sort of theme, left to right turns all the way down to the bottom where it then flattens out and you pedal to the finish.  The pedaling is going to be about 35 seconds worth. I think. And it’s at the very end of the course so it’s just burn time, absolute burn!  It will be punishment!”

Minnaar says, “ There’s not much of a hill, but they did a good job of building a downhill on what they’ve got.  There are flat bits down at the bottom so there is no way to avoid them, but to hit it straight through will be hard on the legs.   It’s hard in practice.  There’s a lot of pedaling and the air is really dry and dusty so it’s hard on the lungs.  I think tomorrow it’s going to be important to hammer the top and hammer the bottom.  It’s going to be hard and tiring, but it’s going to have the be done by just pedaling as fast as you can at the bottom.”

SEMI FINAL:

After raining all night the riders took to the track for practice and thought the rain had improved the track.  With the sun breaking through the clouds the weather forecast said the rain would end at 10:00 am, but just the opposite happened at 11:20, 10 minutes before the men’s semi-final the rain started drenching the track and the riders.  It made the last pedaling section miserable as the guys slogged to the finish line.  It was a Syndicate sweep of the top three positions with Minnaar taking top honors and max qualifier points for his efforts trying to collect as many points as possible.  Peaty came second with a 2:47.96 just .32 behind Minnaar’s 2:27.64, and rounding out the top three was Rennie with a 2:49.48.

Rennie said, “I had a pretty cruisy run, I didn’t want to blow out too much.  I just wanted to have a good solid run.”  Peaty says, “The qualifying went pretty good.  The heavens opened up before we left the start gate and it was raining on the way down.  I kept to my dry tires even though it had rained quite a bit and I didn’t have any problem.  I put a good time down and with Greg first, me second and Rennie third, you couldn’t ask for much more from the Syndicate.”  Minnaar says his run didn’t start off very well and he found himself off near the tape in some soft mucky sections, but once he got back online he got back up to speed he said it killed his legs a bit.  He carried on to the finish and lost his speed at the bottom jump, then looked at the finish line and tried to get there as quick as he could pedaling in a massive gear which worked out for the fastest semi-final time.

DOWNHILL FINAL:

Here’s what the guys had to say about their final runs:

Peaty says, “I felt really good, had a good qualifier and felt strong for the finals.  I had a really good run all the way down and was felling pretty strong and pedaling hard at the last jump to jump it like normal but a big gust of wind just came and blew me off and I landed with a foot off, landed and slide sideways on the landing and just lost all my speed and came in a bag of s—t.”

Crowd favorite, Rennie says, “Yeah, it just feels great to do well.  The home crowd and everyone was cheering for so long.  I had a pretty good run, really, and that’s all I could’ve done coming down over the finish, then pedaling through the mud and the flat pedals was just torture.  I barely got over the last jump with maximum effort, so second is good, is great!  I’m pretty happy, of course I’m happy and I’m just glad.  It’s my best result this year.”

Minnaar was Magic today on this track winning both the semi-final and finals and taking over the series lead which was the goal coming into this event.  Minnaar says of his win, “I knew I made a lot of mistakes in the semi so I knew I could improve my time.  What I tried to do is just save my legs for the bottom and I had a clear line to the bottom and I just got hard on the legs and went as hard as I could for the win, clean and simple!”

The Syndicate is looking forward to the finals in Schladming, Austria and is thrilled to go into the final with the series lead.  Josh Bryceland broke his collarbone and will sit out the rest of the season but will be in Schladming to see his teammates finish at the series finale Sept. 13th.

Semi Final Results:

1)    GREG MINNAAR (SANTA CRUZ SYNDICATE)  2:47.64
2)    STEVE PEAT (SANTA CRUZ SYNDICATE)  2:47.96
3)    NATHAN RENNIE (SANTA CRUZ SYNDICATE)  2:49.48
4)    Fabien Barel  2:49.85
5)    Filip Polc  2:50.28
6)    Gee Atherton  2:50.83
7)    Sam Blenkinsop  2:51.17
8)    Sam Hill  2:52.18
9)    Dan Atherton  2:53.15
10)    Bryn Atkinson  2:53.69

Downhill Final Results:

1)    GREG MINNAAR (SANTA CRUZ SYNDICATE)  2:41.34
2)    NATHAN RENNIE (SANTA CRUZ SYNDICATE)  2:46.02
3)    Gee Atherton  2:47.00
4)    Fabien Barel  2:47.64
5)    Chris Kovarik  2:48.38
6)    Andrew Neethling 2:48.67
7)    STEVE PEAT (SANTA CRUZ SYNDICATE)  2:48..78
8)    Jared Rando  2:49.19
9)    Bryn Atkinson  2:49.39
10)    Sam Blenkinsop  2:50.01

Thanks to the Syndicate sponsors.
Santa Cruz Bicycles
SRAM
RockShox
Truvativ
Avid
Maxxis
DT Swiss
WTB
Crankbrothers
Lizard  Skins
Clif Bar
Troy Lee Designs
Chris King
Five Ten

source: Kathy Sessler, Santa Cruz Syndicate Manager

SYNDICATE SMACKDOWN, MINNAAR WINS IT, PEAT 3RD, RENNIE
4TH AT FT. WILLIAM

Ft. William, Scotland
June 8, 2008

Wow, what a day for the Santa Cruz Syndicate with Greg Minnaar taking the win at the 100th UCI World Cup Downhill in Ft. William, Scotland, and Steve Peat and Nathan Rennie joining him on the podium! It was especially sweet for Minnaar today as he conquered the track after last year’s let down of crashing at World Championships, breaking his scapula and dislocating his shoulder and placing fourth. “Revenge is sweet!” exclaimed Minnaar. Equally exciting was the return of Rennie back where he belongs on the podium.

It was a shocker for Ft. William to be bone dry and dusty after five weeks with no rain. Walking down the course in the spongy, squeaky peat bog scattered with bits of lamb’s wool tucked into the scrubby brush, racers ride past with the energy transmitting through the ground to your feet. Even with a few course changes from years past, you couldn’t even compare times to last years track as the conditions made it completely different. The demanding track did claim a few victims during practice with young Steve Smith hyper-extending his knee that took him out of the race. Matti Lehikonen suffered a get-off and gouged his knee on a metal grate as his kneepad shifted.

Good news for the Syndicate, Josh Bryceland returned to competition at Ft. Bill after suffering a massive crash and leg injury in Maribor. Bryceland started practice cautiously and his knee was playing on his mind a bit. Steve Peat had him follow him down to check it out, but the second day of practice Bryceland just forgot about it and rode well.

Nathan Rennie was focused and determined to have some revenge in the race to redeem himself since crashing on this track last year at World Championships. Greg Minnaar thought the difficult week he had in Andorra was behind him, but it wasn’t, and again his mechanical problems plagued him all week. Practice went fine for Peat and he was glad to be in the rare Scottish sunshine amidst the large, enthusiastic crowds that flock to Ft. Bill to see the race.

(click to enlarge)

QUALIFER:

With the slightest drizzle before practice the track improved slightly then the day stayed dry. Greg Minnaar set the pace in the qualifier with a solid run winning it. Peat finished 4th and Rennie puts himself back in the game with an 8th place finish. Bryceland rode without expectations and after doing a one-foot table, he took it easy and just carried on riding steady in his run for 29th.

Minnaar said, “Everyone is going for points and I’m happy to get top points by winning the qualifier. Hopefully I can max out points in the final, as well. My run was sweet, but I drank a bit of energy drink on an empty stomach and it had me buzzing. I won’t do that again.” Peat was fast on most of the track, but messed up on a few parts where he needed to carry speed. “I’m glad to finish up with the big boys,” said Peat. Rennie was pleased with his efforts saying, “I just relaxed in my run and just went nice and steady. It feels good to be back in the top ten. I needed that to get out of the rut I’ve been in. I’m back where I’m suppose to be and I have plenty of fuel in the tank for the final.”

(click to enlarge)

DOWNHILL FINAL:

The excitement was building as thousands of spectators watched the big screen and lined the course with the tunes blaring, announcers pumping up the crowd and Josh Bryceland back in action taking the hot seat with a 4:57.13. His stint in the hot seat barely started when Marc Beaumont bumped him out. Twenty riders later Rennie was on track and the leader board showed he was 3 seconds faster on the split time than the
leader and he moved into the hot seat with a 4:48.19. The crowd went mental when Peat came on the big screen. Peat bumped Rennie from the hot seat and they made the exchange joyfully. Minnaar was the last man down the hill and his split time showed he was on target for the win. He did not disappoint as he blasted across the finish line winning by 3.17 seconds amidst thousands of cheers, especially mine!!!!

The podium presentation was jubilant for the Syndicate. Peaty came in from stage right sliding on his knees, then Minnaar was presented with a sword engraved for the 100th World Cup Downhill and he whacked off the top of the champagne bottle, literally with cork and glass flying.

“I’m back mother f_____r!” said Rennie. “Everything clicked nicely. I could’ve had a better run, which is good for me because I know I’ve got more in me. I’m happy for Greg for his win today, and the rest of the team for getting the overall team classification. I’m glad everything is falling into place, especially before World Championship’s.” Peaty says, “Stoked!! Syndicate rules!! It’s gonna be a hell of a night!”

(click to enlarge)

DOWNHILL FINAL RESULTS:

1 GREG MINNAAR (SANTA CRUZ SYNDICATE) 4:43.52
2 GEE ATHERTON 4:46.69
3 STEVE PEAT (SANTA CRUZ SYNDICATE) 4:47.42
4 NATHAN RENNIE (SANTA CRUZ SYNDICATE) 4:48.19
5 SAM HILL 4:48.70
6 DAN ATHERTON 4:49.76
7 JUSTIN LEOV 4:52.38
8 BEN CATHRO 4:52.40
9 SAM BLENKINSOP 4:52.97
10 MICKAEL PASCAL 4:53.87
16TH: JOSH BRYCELAND (SANTA CRUZ SYNDICATE) 4:57.13

(click to enlarge)

QUALIFIER RESULTS:

1 GREG MINNAAR (SANTA CRUZ SYNDICATE) 4:47.15
2 GEE ATHERTON 4:47.44
3 SAM HILL 4:49.02
4 STEVE PEAT (SANTA CRUZ SYNDICATE) 4:49.97
5 FABIEN BAREL 4:52.82
6 BEN CATHRO 4:52.86
7 DAN ATHERTON 4:53.07
8 NATHAN RENNIE 4:53.92 (SANTA CRUZ SYNDICATE)
9 JULIEN CAMELLINI 4:54.44
10 SAM BLENKINSOP 4:54.68
29 JOSH BRYCELAND (SANTA CRUZ SYNDICATE)

Thanks to the SYNDICATE Sponsors:

Santa Cruz Bicycles
SRAM
RockShox
Truvativ
Avid
Maxxis
DT Swiss
WTB
Crankbrothers
Lizard Skins
Clif Bar
Troy Lee Designs
Chris King
Five Ten

source: Kathy Sessler, Santa Cruz Syndicate Manager

source: Lesley Eldridge

If you haven’t already heard a historical event of massive proportions took place this weekend. The Atherton Family of Gee, Dan and Rachel climbed aboard their Commencal steeds and went straight for the top of the podium.

Saturday saw Dan Atherton take down Flyin Brian Lopes in the 4X final by making a huge 35ft quad jump! Brian got out to a 2 bike lead in the first straight but Dan power was relentless and by corner two it was all dust behind him. This was Dan’s first ever World Cup 4X win after several podium visits in the past.

Not to be out done on Sunday little sister Rachel went out and threw down and unbelievable run, beating the current World Champion by 8.5 seconds!! Rachels time would have put her around mid pack in the mens final!!

Now all eyes and tremendous pressure was on Gee’s shoulders, his qualifying run had him in first but could he put it all on the line for the Final run. Sam Hill and Greg Minaar both ripped down with incredible runs putting them in 1st and 2nd place in the hotseats, could Gee unseat Mr. Perfect Sam Hill……………… Yes he does it! A feat many thought impossible was done and history made. Two brothers and a sister all taking 1st place medals in their categories, what a weekend for gravity racing!!!

Results

Women

1. Rachel Atherton (Gbr) Animal Commencal 2:55.30
2. Sabrina Jonnier (Fra) Maxxis/Iron Horse 3:03.77
3. Floriane Pugin (Fra) Playbiker Iron Horse 3:07.11
4. Tracy Moseley (Gbr) Kona 3:10.41
5. Emmeline Ragot (Fra) Suspension Center 3:11.11

11. Claire Buchar (Can) Intense 3:30.10
12. Micayla Gatto (Can) Commencal/Marzocchi 3:31.16

Men

Final

1. Gee Atherton (Gbr) Animal Commencal 2:35.35
2. Sam Hill (Aus) Monster Energy-Iron Horse 2:35.66
3. Greg Minnaar (RSA) Santa Cruz Syndicate 2:36.73
4. Steve Peat (Gbr) Santa Cruz Syndicate 2:37.49
5. Sam Blenkinsop (NZL) Yeti 2:38.71

source: Peter Appleton

Well Round 2 of the World Cup Downhill is over. The heavy rain held off for the finals and all the riders had a fair race which was cool.

The track was really demanding on the riders with fast open drifting turns at the top, then into a build up rocky bermed section over a step down jump, across the piste and into the tricky rutted wood section all the way to the bottom. With the overnight rain then drying out, the woods became very sticky and phisically challenging for the riders.

Julien had a tough weekend coming off his 2nd place at the first round in Maribour. A crash in qualifying put his off early for the final. Julien was having a great run hitting all his lines pushing 100% and pedalling hard at the top then in the wood section he just caught a root on a risky but faster off camber section which flung his back wheel out and caused him to crash hard. Julien was uninjured thankfully but ended up back in 62nd position only giving him 8 points and moving him down to 6th from 2nd in the overall rankings. Julien has trained hard for round 3 next week in Fort William so he is looking forward to getting back up to the top there.

Matt had a solid run in the final finishing up in 39th position and holding on to a top 30th overall ranking.

Ruaridh was feeling good on the track here and had a good time in timed training, but couldn’t quite match that time in the final after hitting a tree on his run and loosing some time but still managed a great time of 2.46.50 placing him in 27th place only 2.5 seconds off the top 15. This puts him in 29th in the overall rankings just 1 place in front of Matt. So the battle for them 2 will continue next week in Fort William.

Kovarik had another solid run just making a mistake in the bottom woods but still placing 6th just one position off the podium. The tight twisty wooded track was not really the type of track Chris shines on so this is another great result for CK this year. This puts Chris in 7th overall still in the title chase with all the big fast trackes to come that Chris’ riding style suits. The next 2 rounds Fort William and Monte St. Anne are both tracks Chris has won World Cups on in the past.

Also big congrats to Dan Critchlow from Burgtec for making it through to the finals which is no mean feat these days and finishing in 65th position.

Big congratulations to the Atherton family as Gee took the mens Downhill win beating Sam Hill into 2nd place and Greg Minnaar 3rd. This was an amazing weekend for the Atherton family after Dan winning the 4X last night, Gee winning the mens race and sister Rachael taking the win in the womans DH by 8 seconds. They must be the most successful family in any type of racing.

Team Chain Reaction Cycles / Intense slip down to joint 4th in the team rankings which is still amazing in our first year and we head off to home turf at Fort William next week to hopefully move back up to the top 3 in the rankings.

Thanks to all our sponsors as our bikes perfomed great all weekend and a big thanks to Dave and Cord for keeping all the guys rolling with no problems.

VALLNORD Nissan UCI World Cup round 2 results:

1 GEE ATHERTON 2:35.35
2 SAM HILL 2:35.66
3 GREG MINNAAR (SANTA CRUZ SYNDICATE) 3:36.73
4 STEVE PEAT (SANTA CRUZ SYNDICATE) 2:37.49
5 SAM BLENKINSOP 2:38.71
6 CHRIS KOVARIK 2:39.18
7 FABIEN BAREL 2:39.21
8 FABIEN PEDEMANAUD 2:41.42
9 MATTI LEHIKOINEN 2:41.65
10 STEVE SMITH 2:42.00
27 RUARIDH CUNNINGHAM 2.46.50
39 MATT SIMMONDS 2.48.50
62 JULIEN CAMELLINI 2.54.91

source: Nigel Page

source: Trisha Petrella

Maribor, Slovenia was host to the first World Cup event of 2008, where e.thirteen athletes shined once again on Eastern Europe soil. Maribor was the location of the last World Cup event in 2007, and riders were looking to better their times from the previous event so they could start their seasons off on the right foot. e.thirteen athletes won both the men’s and women’s elite downhill, and captured an amazing eight out of ten of the top positions in the elite men’s downhill.

The 4X race was an extremely difficult course, with a flat and loose first corner, followed by a tight second corner. In most cases, the winners of each heat would be decided in the first two turns of the extremely technical 4X track. The Maribor track also featured roots and grass, convincing riders like Cedric Gracia and the eventual winner of the women’s 4X, Anneke Beerten, to switch over to their full suspension bikes.

e.thirteen athlete Dan Atherton qualified first in the 4X, followed by many other top racers. The course became even more technical and difficult when four riders were fighting for lines (as opposed to the single-rider qualification runs), and many top names didn’t make the final due to crashes, or riders crashing into them. This left a lot of space open in the final for some unknown riders to shine.

Cedric Gracia was a rider who suffered from a wild crash during one of the last heats leading up to the finals. He came back in full force during the small final, though, winning fifth place.

The downhill race in Slovenia was packed with riders – over 300 men were signed up for the race on Sunday, making practice quite hectic and also wearing the course down over the weekend’s practice sessions. Spectators of the event were able to spot every color of e.thirteen product, as the White, Seafoam and RPM Orange Limited Colorways chain retention devices were in heavy use during the event. Sam Hill was also running a custom Monster green–colored direct mount bashguard on his bike.

The women’s downhill race was really between two women at the end of the day. Rachel Atherton qualified five seconds ahead of the entire field in Slovenia, and defending world champion Sabrina Jonnier knew that she would have to throw down in order to compete with Rachel. The two girls pushed each other super hard, but in the end, Sabrina was able to put an edge of .18 seconds on Rachel for the win at the first World Cup event of 2008.

Chain Reaction/Intense rider Julien Camellini qualified first on the Slovenian World Cup downhill track, making his presence known in Maribor. Camellini landed in third place at last year’s event, and he was on pace to stand on the podium again. Peat followed Camellini, then Sam Hill qualified third. By comparing the qualifying times to last year’s final times, everyone in attendance knew that all of the top riders had plenty of room to cut time on their race runs and waited in anticipation for two p.m. to roll around, when the racing action would begin.

Andrew Neethling came through the finish line at 2:56, setting the pace for the top 20 men, but was unseated shortly thereafter by Justin Leov (2:52), who was then unseated by Gee Atherton. Gee sat in the hot seat for quite a while, until Fabien Barel came down with a lightning fast time on his new Mondraker/Subaru ride.

Barel sat calmly on the hot seat while all eyes turned to the television monitor for Sam Hill’s race run. A brief silence rushed over the crowd while Sam pinned it out of the start gate. Sam set a blistering pace through the top half of the course, smashing Barel’s split by over two seconds! By the time he arrived at the bottom of the course, Sam had cut nearly another two seconds off of Barel’s time, leaving Sam at 2:47, handily taking over the top spot for Maribor.

The first place qualifier and last rider to run was the prodigy of e.thirteen athlete Nico Voillouz, Julien Camellini. Camellini has a good history of results on the Maribor course, and felt confident all weekend during his practice runs. He put together a great run, but no one was able to catch Sam Hill and his Monster/Iron Horse Sunday. Camellini came down just ahead of Peaty, bettering his third place podium spot from 2007 to a silver medal in 2008.

The Freecaster crew interviewed Sam after yet another amazing victory. Freecaster asked Hill how he was able to go so fast on the Maribor course, and a relaxed Sam Hill replied, “Actually I didn’t feel that fast. I was hoping to go faster.”

The e.thirteen sponsored Animal/Commencal team of The Athertons snapped up the lead for overall team points in Maribor.

e.thirteen is proud to support the world’s best racers through the World Cup series, putting our products to the test on the most grueling downhill and 4X tracks that the world has to offer. Congratulations to all three of our riders who stood on top of the podium, and also a hearty congratulations to all of our other athletes that slayed it in Slovenia this weekend!

e.thirteen components is a small, rider-owned and operated company that strongly supports dozens of grassroots races, series, contests and other riding events all over the world every year. Founded in 2001, e.thirteen’s innovative, functional, simple and lightweight chain retention systems have made them a world leader in this category, and the choice of top pro and amateur riders and mechanics alike. They support a worldwide distribution network and take great pride in offering devoted customer service.

source: Aaron Lutze

JULIEN CAMELLINI places 2nd at World Cup round 1 in Maribour

Julien Camellini put in an amazing run for 2nd place in the World Cup final today in Maribor. After qualifying first in the morning Julien kept his nerve and focus to put in an amazing final run to place 2nd behind World Champion Sam Hill. This is Juliens best World Cup result to date riding his new Intense M6. This is a fantastic result for Julien and Chain Reaction Cycles / Intense. We are all super stoked with this result to start off the World Cup season.

Chris Kovarik also put in a fantastic run to place 7th only 0.67 seconds behind 3rd place. This is a great start to the World Cups for Chris after a dissapointing season last year. Chris is right in with the top guys again where he should be and this will give him the confidence to start winning World Cups again like we all know he can. All of us at Chain Reaction Cycles / Intense are stoked to have Chris on the team.

Matt and Ruaridh both put in great runs in a stacked field with all the top guys in the World riding at their limit. Matt managed 23rd position only 10.62 second down on the winning time and Ruaridh has overcome his knee injury to place 33rd only 11.97 seconds down. We are stoked to have these 2 brilliant young riders onboard the team. They are now both two of the favourites to be selected for the GB team for the World Championships in Italy.

We all worked hard as a team for this weekend and we couldn’t be happier for this great start to the World Cup season.

We look forward to the next round in Vallnord on the 1st June. We now head off to Morzine tomorrow and Chris and Ruaridh are racing at the Lisbon Downtown next weekend.

Todays results:

UCI World Cup Round 1 Maribour

1: Sam Hill 2:47.54
2: Julien Camellini 2:50.62
3: Steve Peat 2:51.85
4: Fabien Barel 2:52.11
5: Greg Minnaar 2:52.19
6: Gee Atherton 2:52.34
7: Chris Kovarik 2:52.52
8: Justin Leov 2:52.56
9: Brendan Fairclough 2:54.23
10: Andrew Neethling 2:55.49
23: Mathew Simmonds 2:58.16
33: Ruaridh CUNNINGHAM2:59.51

–
source: Nigel Page Team Manager - ChainReactionCycles/Intense
Sponsors:
Chain Reaction Cycles • Intense Cycles • Black Market Bikes
Mantou • Hayes • Maxxis • Sun-Ringlé • CaneCreek
Royal Racing • SixSixOne • THE • RaceFace • SDG • e13
Winter&Summer • Pedros • Burgtec • High Five •Goodridge

#####

PEATY 3RD, MINNAAR 5TH IN WORLD CUP OPENER IN MARIBOR, BRYCELAND INJURED

The first NISSAN UCI World Cup was met with much anticipation and excitement. Websites were buzzing all week with news from the event and journalists and television crews were all over the beautiful Pohorje Mountain situated on the outskirts of the city of Maribor in Slovenia. The outing for the Syndicate was successful and dismal all in the same day with Steve Peat and Greg Minnaar headlining the highlights as they finished 3rd and 5th respectively while Josh Bryceland suffered a massive get-off at the end of the rock garden while having a screamer of a run.

Here’s how the week went:

The Maribor downhill course is a popular one. Starting on the ski slope, it quickly enters the dark, root filled woods, and is known for it’s long rock garden section, even though some of it is man-made and cemented into place. The course is flowing but fast and pretty rough in places. Race morning Josh Bryceland says, “My practice has gone really good so far. I’m feeling really confident after last weeks race in Italy. I’ve been doing things on the track here and I am really excited about the race today.” Peat says, “Practice has been going good. We’ve made a couple of changes to my bike and it feels way better, I feel solid on the course. My mechanic ‘Rick Bobby’ has been making my bike feel like a new bike each day.”

The Santa Cruz V-10’s were dialed in each run by the ace Syndicate mechanics, Doug Hatfield, Rick Clarkson, Nigel Reeve and Iain Bryceland. Hatfield says, “Each run here we’ve made changes to the bikes. It’s all a progression going forward. Every change to the bikes just leads us up to the start of the race. We’ve adjusted the suspension settings and made brake changes sizing rotors up, and then down, and changing pad compounds. The track has been wicked hard on the brakes at this event.” Clarkson says, “The training speeds have been getting faster and faster each day, so we’ve made all the adjustments accordingly. The bikes are dialed.”

(click on thumbs to enlarge)

DOWNHILL QUALIFIER:

The qualifier went pretty well for the Syndicate boys with all of them placing in the top ten. Steve “Old School” Peat delivered the goods with a second place finish to Julien Camellini just .16 behind him. Minnaar posted the fastest split time of the morning, then came fourth to Sam Hill’s third place finish, just .15 behind Sam. The competition is fierce with less than a second separating the top four. Peat says, “You’ve got to push in the qualifier, it’s a world cup and you get points for it. My run went pretty good and I pedaled hard, and I made some mistakes. I know where I can take some time off.”
Minnaar said, “My run was steady and smooth on top, but I made two big mistakes at the bottom, but I would rather do it now than later.” Rennie made some mistakes and came 10th. Bryceland was not pleased with his effort but still cracked the top ten ahead of Rennie with a 9th place finish.

DOWNHILL FINAL:

As the downhill unfolded Rennie was the first of the squad to attempt to improve on his qualifier, but couldn’t get past the arm-pump and finished 21st. Bryceland was on the hill at the same time Rennie was finishing and all eyes were on the big screen. With Freecaster broadcasting the race live, much of the world could see Josh pinning it into the rock garden and witnessed his crash which spit him into the air, superman style, pummeling him into the stumps at the bottom. Cedric Gracia describes it saying, “He was 4 meters high, and flew so far, he was going so fast. He slammed into the ground, I can’t believe he didn’t die.” After a few minutes we could see on the big screen Josh walking away from the crash…but his injuries weren’t apparent right away.

Next up was Minnaar looking like he was having a good run, and his efforts gave him a 5th place finish. Normally that would be a podium finish, but UCI has decided to make the podium a 3-person presentation rather than the traditional five, so it was quite a disappointment that he wasn’t on the podium. The decision is not a popular one, and riders and teams are against it. We all want UCI to change back to a five-person podium and will lobby for reinstatement of this.

Peaty’s race run was solid and proves that “Old School” has what it takes to stay on the blocks in this sport. As Bryceland was in the ambulance he asked the driver to wait a moment so that he could watch his mentor race by, and Peat raced to the bottom placing 3rd to Julien Camellini, and race winner, Sam Hill. Peat says, “I’m happy to finish on the podium. I feel really confident on my revamped V-10. I’m not happy to get beat by Julien or Sam. The track got a lot drier and I made some mistakes on the top, then settled into my run and picked up my pace, but it wasn’t enough.”

Minnaar says, “I knew I had a lot more in me after the qualifier, at least a few seconds. I think I tried too hard at the top of the woods and overshot a few corners and didn’t have much flow up top. Exiting the woods I didn’t carry as much speed as I wanted through the middle and at the bottom I tried to make up time. The middle worked well, but the bottom I tried too hard and lost time. I’m happy with my result, but not with my race run.”

In the meantime, Bryceland was met at first aid by his mom, Luisa. On radio contact she reported that it appeared that he was badly bruised, had a chipped tooth and was okay. Yet as they were leaving the tent he became nauseous, and his smashed up helmet was clear evidence of a concussion. He was then taken to the hospital for observation and it was revealed that he suffered a leg injury, which at this time appears to be a quad muscle torn from the bone. He will be flying home to the UK to have surgery to repair the damage.

4X Notes:

The 4X was a funny one, looked more like a bowling alley with racers littering the lanes in nearly every heat. 20th place qualifier, Nathan Rennie, aka: the “Beast”, raced the 4X here and survived the crashes that he got tangled in, and was eliminated in his second heat. Brian Lopes got caught up in the gate in his first round, then his skewer came loose and he was eliminated in the first round. First place qualifier, Dan Atherton had his hopes dashed in his second heat as he was eliminated and American; Ross Milan 4th place qualifier was out in the second round with Nathan. “These guys don’t even know how to corner a bike. It was just carnage everywhere. Two guys crashed in front of me and I had no choice but to hit them. One guy was hurt for sure and the other guy’s bike was mangled,” said Rennie.

Next up for the Syndicate, we are off to Lisbon for the annual Lisbon Downtown Race.

DOWNHILL FINAL RESULTS:

1) SAM HILL (Monster /Iron Horse) 2:47.54
2) JULIEN CAMELLINI (Chain Reaction Cycles/Intense) 2:50.62
3) STEVE PEAT (SANTA CRUZ SYNDICATE) 2:51.85
4) FABIEN BAREL (Subaru) 2:52.11
5) GREG MINNAAR (SANTA CRUZ SYNDICATE) 2:52.19
6) GEE ATHERTON (Animal Commencal) 2:52.34
7) CHRIS KOVARIK (Chain Reaction Cycles/Intense) 2:52.52
8 ) JUSTIN LEOV (Yeti) 2:52.56
9) BRENDAN FAIRCLOUGH (Monster/Iron Horse) 2:54.23
10) ANDREW NEETHLING (GT/Mongoose) 2:55.49

21) NATHAN RENNIE (SANTA CRUZ SYNDICATE) 2:57.76
DNF: JOSH BRYCELAND (SANTA CRUZ SYNDICATE)

DOWNHILL QUALIFIER RESULTS:

1) JULIEN CAMELLINI (Chain Reaction Cycles/Intense) 2:52.66
2) STEVE PEAT (SANTA CRUZ SYNDICATE) 2:52.82
3) SAM HILL (Monster Iron Horse) 2:53.21
4) GREG MINNAAR (SANTA CRUZ SYNDICATE) 2:53.36
5) FABIEN BAREL (Subaru)
6) FLORENT PAYET (Subaru)
7) MARC BEAUMONT (MBUK/SANTA CRUZ)
8 ) CHRIS KOVARIK (Chain Reaction Cycles/Intense) 2:55.
9) JOSH BRYCELAND (SANTA CRUZ SYNDICATE) 2:56.76
NATHAN RENNIE (SANTA CRUZ SYNDICATE) 2:57.08

Thanks to the SYNDICATE Sponsors:

Santa Cruz Bicycles
SRAM
RockShox
Truvativ
Avid
Maxxis
DT Swiss
WTB
Crankbrothers
Lizard Skins
Clif Bar
Troy Lee Designs
Chris King
Five Ten

source: Kathy Sessler