May 11, 2008 (Maribor, Slovenia) – Sam Hill (Aus) Monster-Iron Horse continued his domination of the UCI MTB World DH Cup by winning the first race of the 2008 downhill season by a margin of more than four seconds. Frenchman Julien Camellini of the Chain Reaction-Intense team brought home second place. Fan favorite Steve Peat (Gbr) Santa Cruz Syndicate finished third, making up for the flat tire and back-of-the-pack finish here last season. The course itself was rough, fast and hard packed – the fastest riders have ever seen at this venue, and it left little room for error.

Hill discussed his run after the podium when asked how he goes so fast. “I don’t feel that fast. I’d love to go faster, I had a good run today just wasn’t really happy with qualifying didn’t ride that good just rode a lot better then, it was a fun run.”

For the women, it was the current queen of downhill, Sabrina Jonnier (Fra) Maxxis-Iron Horse who took home the gold. Jonnier edged out Rachel Atherton (Gbr) Animal-Commencal and youngster Emmeline Ragot (Fra) Suspension Center who finished in third.

Canada’s Steve Smith (Team Cove Bikes) and Claire Buchar (Intense) took home 44th and 11th, respectively. Smith qualified 15th, but managed had some bad luck during his final run. “I hit a tree going really fast and then I pinned it in the bit after. I got a little relaxed and got off my line in a section I shouldn’t have,” said Smith. Buchar spoke about her day while packing up. “I only ended up making up 1 second off my qualifier [in the finals] and I feel like i could have gone faster, which is a good thing I guess in the end. I wasn’t totally nailing everything perfect. I am pretty happy.”

Results

Elite Women

1. Sabrina Jonnier (Fra) Team Maxxis 03:14.3
2. Rachel Atherton (Gbr) Animal Commencal 03:14.5
3. Emmeline Ragot (Fra) Suspension Center 03:21.8
4. Fionn Griffiths (Gbr) Norco World Team 03:23.6
5. Floriane Pugin (Fra) Playbiker-Iron Horse 03:24.0
6. Celine Gros (Fra) Solid Aclass Factory Team 03:26.0
7. Tracy Moseley (Gbr) Kona 03:26.9
8. Mio Suemasa (Jpn) MS-Intense Factory-Racing 03:29.5
9. Petra Bernhard (Aut) Ms-Intense 03:33.5
10. Myriam Nicole (Fra) 03:34.8
11. Claire Buchar (Can) Intense 03:35.8
12. Miriam Ruchti (Sui) Sport Promotion 03:37.8
13. Katy Curd (Gbr) 03:38.3
14. Anais Pajot (Fra) Team Sunn 03:39.3
15. Anita Molcik (Aut) 4 Elements Yeti 03:40.3
16. Kathleen Pruitt (USA) 03:40.5
17. Joanna Petterson (RSA) 03:43.9
18. Dalma Kiss (Hun) 03:47.6
19. Birgit Braumann (Aut) 03:49.3
20. Pascaline Reusser (Sui) 03:52.1

Elite Men

1. Sam Hill (Aus) Monster-Iron Horse 02:47.5
2. Julien Camellini (Fra) Chain Reaction Cycle 02:50.6
3. Steve Peat (Gbr) Santa Cruz Syndicate 02:51.9
4. Fabien Barel (Fra) Subaru Mountain Bike Pro 02:52.1
5. Greg Minnaar (RSA) Santa Cruz Syndicate 02:52.2
6. Gee Atherton (Gbr) Animal Commencal 02:52.3
7. Chris Kovarik (Aus) Chain Reaction Cycle 02:52.5
8. Justin Leov (Nzl) Yeti Fox Shox Factory Rac 02:52.6
9. Brendan Fairclough (Gbr) Monster Energy 02:54.2
10. Andrew Neethling (RSA) GT Mongoose 02:55.5
11. Dan Atherton (Gbr) Animal Commencal 02:56.0
12. Adam Vagner (Cze) 02:56.4
13. Pasqual Canals Flix (Esp) Massi 02:56.9
14. Rémi Thirion (Fra) Team Sunn 02:57.0
15. Florent Payet (Fra) Subaru Mountain Bike Pro 02:57.4
16. Nico Vink (Bel) Dolphin-Trek Mountainbike 02:57.5
17. Ben Cathro (Gbr) Mojo Orange 02:57.5
18. Mickael Pascal (Fra) MSC Bikes 02:57.5
19. Damien Spagnolo (Fra) Subaru Mountain Bike Pro 02:57.7
20. Thibaut Ruffin (Fra) 02:57.7
21. Nathan Rennie (Aus) Santa Cruz Syndicate 02:57.8
22. Marcus Klausmann (Ger) Team Ghost International 02:58.0
23. Matthew Simmonds (Gbr) Chain Reaction Cycle 02:58.2
24. Kyle Strait (USA) Specialized Factory Racing 02:58.6
25. Jared Rando (Aus) Giant Mountain Bike Team 02:58.6
25. Maxime Remy (Fra) Team Sunn 02:58.6
27. John Swanguen (USA) MS-Intense Factory-Racing 02:58.7
27. Anton Ferreiro Pajuelo (Esp) 02:58.7
29. Cedric Gracia (Fra) Commencal-Furious-Oak 02:59.0
30. Filip Polc (Svk) Kenda Tomac 02:59.0
31. Samuel Blenkinsop (Nzl) Yeti Fox Shox Factory Racing 02:59.3
32. Bernat Guardia Pascual (Esp) MSC Bikes 02:59.5
33. Ruaridh Cunningham (Gbr) Chain Reaction Cycle 02:59.5
34. Markus Pekoll (Aut) Solid Aclass Factory Team 02:59.5
35. Nathan Rankin (Nzl) Playbiker-Iron Horse 02:59.6
36. Adam Brayton (Gbr) Playbiker-Iron Horse 02:59.6
37. Cameron Cole (Nzl) Team Maxxis 02:59.7
38. Valentin Juillard (Fra) Team Sunn 02:59.9
39. Alan Beggin (Ita) 02:59.9
40. Frank Schneider (Ger) 03:00.0
41. Robin Wallner (Swe) 03:00.1
42. Dan Stanbridge (Gbr) Mojo Orange 03:00.3
43. Dominik Gspan (Sui) 03:00.6
44. Steve Smith (Can) Team Cove Bikes 03:00.7
45. Pierre Charles Georges (Fra) 03:01.2
46. David Vazquez Lopez (Esp) Lapierre DH p/b Sa 03:01.2
47. Marco Milivinti (Ita) 03:01.2
48. Mathias Haas (Aut) 03:01.3
49. Amiel Cavalier (Aus) Giant Mountain Bike Team 03:01.4
50. Sam Dale (Gbr) Cannondale Factory Racing 03:01.5
51. Boris Tetzlaff (Aut) Solid A Class Factory Team 03:01.5
52. Samuel Zbinden (Sui) Argentina Bike Gravity Team 03:01.5
53. Fabien Pedemanaud (Fra) Team Pyrenees Morewood 03:01.7
54. Matti Lehikoinen (Fin) Ms-Intense Factory-Racing 03:01.8
55. Mathieu Troquier (Fra) Solid Aclass Factory Team 03:01.9
56. Cole Bangert (USA) 03:02.1
57. Duncan Riffle (USA) Cannondale Factory Racing 03:02.1
58. Jorge Aguin Castro (Esp) 03:02.3
59. Marco Bugnone (Ita) 03:02.4
60. Andreas Sieber (Ger) Solid Aclass Factory Team 03:02.5
61. Aki Farm (Fin) 03:02.5
62. Danny Hart (Gbr) Lapierre Dh Powered By Sa 03:03.0
63. Georg Sieder (Aut) Solid Aclass Factory Team 03:03.4
64. Bradley Benedict (USA) 03:04.0
65. Jack Geoghegan (Gbr) 03:04.5
66. Ben Reid (Irl) 03:04.6
67. Toni Berg (Fin) 03:04.6
68. Dave Wardell (Gbr) 03:04.6
69. Mitchell Delfs (Aus) Kenda Tomac 03:04.6
70. Esteban Deronzier (Fra) Sport Promotion 03:04.8
71. Nejc Rutar (Slo) Team Scott Lactat 03:05.6
72. Neil Donoghue (Gbr) Team Bike Radar 03:05.6
73. Oscar Saiz Castane (Esp) Giant Mountain Bike Team 03:06.3
74. Mike Skinner (Nzl) Playbiker-Iron Horse 03:09.1
75. Joris Bigoni (Fra) BAS 03:10.5
76. Aurelien Giordanengo (Fra) 03:11.2
77. Renato Ventura (Por) 03:14.1
78. Herman Olund (Swe) 03:15.3
79. Marc Beaumont (Gbr) Team Bike Radar 05:52.3
DNF Josh Bryceland (Gbr) Santa Cruz Syndicate.
DNF Kevin Danh Pha (Fra) Team Pyrenees Morewood