July 10/11 15:57 pm - World Cup Windham: Men's DH final report and results

Posted by Editoress on 07/10/11
 

Aaron Gwin (Trek World Racing) became the first American to win a Mountain Bike World Cup on home soil when he capped a strong weekend of racing in Windham, New York, with his win in the Men's Downhill.  Gwin finished over two seconds ahead of Steve Peat (Santa Cruz Syndicate), with Andrew Neethling (Giant) taking third.  Gwin's fourth win of the season gives him an almost insurmountable lead in the overall standings.

Josh Bryceland (Santa Cruz Syndicate) set the first sub-2:30 time, despite having to do a re-run when Romain Paulhan (Giant Planete 2 Roues) crashed hard ahead of him, requiring a race delay while he was removed from the mountain.  Fabien Barel (Mondraker) immediately bumped Bryceland out of the Hot Seat, but the time gaps were marginal, as riders chipped away at the lead. Greg Minnaar (Santa Cruz Syndicate) continued to struggle with this course, and eventually finished 12th.  Neethling, at ten riders to go, recorded the next big drop in the leading time, only to be immediately topped by Peat, who recorded 2:26.376 .

This is where it stood, as the final rider, Gwin, was about to start.  Expectations among the spectators were high, after Gwin qualified first, and the partisan nature of the crowd was clear, with American flags everywhere.  The Trek rider was fastest through every part of the course, finishing 2.339 seconds ahead of Peat.

He was mobbed by adoring fans and patiently signed autographs and posed for photos. "It was awesome today, all week actually. It was so great to race in front of the home town crowd. They were all so cool to me. It's been a fun weekend. I'm very happy."

"I was trying to ride smooth and not over ride the course. On this course you can get up to speed pretty fast and that leads to mistakes."

Peat was also having a great time with the whole scene. This was an astounding 52nd World Cup podium appearance for the legendary Brit. "I was very confident and I felt good in practice. I had some problems in qualifying but it came together well today. I've had a bit of problem being consistent recently and I'm stoked to be able to have it come all together to claim second place.  "I've been struggling to put runs together. I've stalled and made little mistakes and not put it together properly. I came in here with confidence because I knew how well I rode it last year. I felt good in practice. The lines were similar to last year so I felt good."

Behind Neethling, in fourth place, was Steve Smith (Devinci Global Racing) at 3.476. "I'm really pumped to be on the podium. I had a massive, massive mistake at the top of the course that cost me some time. I thought it put me out of the race but I was able to make some time on the bottom of the course. I'm happy to have the fourth."

With his fourth win of the five races so far in the World Cup, Gwin has a total of 1110 points. Greg Minnaar sits in second with 776 points. Gee Atherton (Commencaly) sits in third with 657 points after finishing 11th today.  troy Brosnan (Monster Energy/Specialized/Mad Catz) continues to lead the Junior standings after finishing eighth in Windham.

Race Note

- Once again, Junior-aged Kyle Sanger (Team Canada) was the second Canadian finisher, making it into the top-40 this weekend.  "I had a pretty good run. I made a mistake at the bottom. I grabbed a little too much brake and lost a second or two. Besides that it was a good run. The course held up pretty well this weekend. The ruts got a little deeper but it overall it got faster. Lots of fun."

*=Junior