July 26, 2008 (Mont Ste-Anne, Que.) – Mother nature decided to play nice and the predicted severe thundershowers never came as the world’s best took to the fabled downhill course here at Mont Ste Anne, QC. Sun and wind baked dry a course that earlier in the week was a soggy mess, and speeds increased dramatically by the time finals took place Saturday (July 26) afternoon.

Rachel Atherton (GBR, Animal Commencal) kept up her winning streak, blowing away the field yet again at MSA. “I thought maybe I had a flat tire at the top. But I kept it pinned anyway. The track was rad, it was so long, so hard and really dry in places. I had some sketchy moments but it was pretty close.” She was followed by Sabrina Jonnier (FRA, Maxxis Iron Horse) in second and Tracey Moseley (GBR, Kona Nissan) in third.

Canadian DH women had strong performances across the board with Claire Buchar (Intense) placing a career-best 6th place. “I have been trying to crack the top 10 for ages – I’m so happy. This is typically not my sort of track. I never feel like I am fit enough and I was ready to take a nap at the bottom. Overall I had an awesome time.” In the overall standings Buchar is 8th with 338 pts after four events while Atherton is leading with 853 pts.

Commencal Oakley rider Micayla Gatto from BC rolled in for 10th place, also a career best. “I just really wanted a top 10. My run was ok, but I completely ruined it at the end. I still had lots of fun,” said Gatto.

By the time the men rolled into the start gate, skies were threatening, but the track had dried to the point of once again being flat out in the high-speed sections, and it showed as many riders rolled to the bottom on flat tires. Greg Minnaar (RSA, Syndicate) was the best on the day, taking the win and boosting himself into the lead in the overall world cup standings. Sam Hill (AUS, Monster Iron Horse) took second place less than a second back and recently crowned DH World Champ, Gee Atherton (GBR, Animal Commencal), placed third.

“On a 4-minute 30-second course, you’re gonna get tired. I was out of control at times. With all the rain during the week, the ruts got quite deep and the rocks stuck out everywhere. You try and put in a pedal here and there and I kept clipping a pedal and the back kept skipping out. You have to be on the edge to win nowadays,” commented Minnaar.

Justin Brown (InterSport/DHRacer.com) led the charge for the Canadian men with a 55th place finish. Charles Alexandre Dube (DH Racer) took 59th place. Favourite Steve Smith (Cove Bikes-Redbull) from BC had an exceptional qualifying run, but managed to flat in the final, ending up in 75th place.

Minnar leads the men’s series overall with 792 points while Smith (Can) is the top Canadian in 23rd with 132 pts.

Full results Men pdf here.
Full results Women pdf here.
Overall standings Men pdf here.
Overall standings Women pdf here.

Results

Elite Men

Final

1. Greg Minnaar (Rsa) Santa Cruz Syndicate 4:30:57
2. Sam Hill (Aus) Monster Energy 01:73
3. Gee Atherton (Gbr) Animal Commencal 02:26
4. Steve Peat (Gbr) Santa Cruz Syndicate 02:96
5. Fabien Barel (Fra) Subaru Mountain Bike Pro Team 06:68

55. Justin Brown (Can) InterSport/DHRacer.com 30:53
59. Charles Alexandre Dube (Can) DH Racer 32:05
73. Drew Paulter (Can) 44:85
74. Jamie Biluk (Can) Mojo Orange 46.52
75. Steve Smith (Can) Cove Bikes-Redbull 52:65

Qualifying

1. Greg Minnar (RSA) Santa Cruz Syndicate 4:39:07
2. Sam Hill (Aus) Monster Energy 00:44
3. Gee Atherton (Gbr) Animal Commencal 01:03
4. Chris Kovarik (Aus) Chain Reaction Cycle 01:48
5. Steve Peat (Gbr) Santa Cruz Syndicate 02:62
6. Fabien Barel (Fra) Subaru Mountain Bike Pro Team 06:69
7. Nathan Rennie (Aus) Santa Cruz Syndicate 08:15
8. Julien Camellini (Fra) Chain Reaction Cycle 08:18
9. Justin Leov (Nzl) Yeti Fox Shox Factory 08:47
10. Brendan Fairclough (Gbr) Monster Energy 08:52

11. Steve Smith (Can) Cove Bikes-Redbull 11:19
44. Justin Brown (Can) InterSport/DHRacer.com 24:34
49. Charles Alexandre Dube (Can) DH Racer 25:53
69. Drew Paulter (Can) 30:68
72. Jamie Biluk (Can) Mojo Orange 31:62
83. Dean Tennant (Can) 34:31
101. Louis-Phillipe Leonard (Can) 39:27
102. Dylan Morley (Can) 39:33
105. Geoff Pendrel (Can) 40:12
DNS Andrew Mitchell (Can) Cove Bikes

Elite Women

Final

1. Rachel Atherton (Gbr) Animal Commencal 5:12:36
2. Sabrina Jonnier (Fra) Team Maxxis 1:43
3. Tracy Mosely (Gbr) Kona 9:50
4. Mio Suemasa (Jpn) Ms-Intense Factory-Racing 23:14
5. Fionn Griffiths (GBr) Norco World Team 24:84
6. Claire Buchar (Can) Intense 27:04
7. Helen Gaskell (Gbr) 31:27
8. Anita Molcik (Aut) 4 Elements Yeti/Hotec/Rsp 34:79
9. Scarlett Hagen (Nzl) 35:04
10. Micayla Gatto (Can) Commencal-Oakley 35:38
11. Harriet Harper (Nzl) 44:54
12. Danice Uyesugi (Can) Pinkbike.com 48:44
13. Emmeline Ragot (Fra) Suspension Center 51:74
14. Amy Laird (Nzl)53:45
14. Katrina Strand (Can)
16. Emilie Siegenthaler (Swi) Suspension Center 1:06:84
17. Helene Valerie Fruhwirth (Aut) 1:10:94
18. Floriane Pugin (Fra) Playbiker-Iron Horse 1:27:14
19. Marie-Eve Marcotte (Can) Team Canada 1:27:15
20. Myriam Nicole (Fra) 4:05:54

Qualifying

1. Rachel Atherton (Gbr) Animal Commencal 5:18:21
2. Tracy Moseley (Gbr) Kona 07:87
3. Emmeline Ragot (Fra) Suspension Center 09:19
4. Sabrina Jonnier (Fra) Team Maxxis 10:30
5. Floriane Pugin (Fra) Playbiker – Ironhorse 18:36
6. Mio Suemasa (Jpn) MS – Intense Factory Racing 20:34
7. Anita Molcik (Aut) 4 Elements Yeti / HOTEC / RSP 20:86
8. Claire Buchar (Can) Intense 25:41
9. Fionn Griffiths (Gbr) Norco World Team 31:44
10. Scarlett Hagen (NZl) 36:39

11. Micayla Gatto (Can) Commencal-Oakley 37:45
16. Katrina Strand (Can) 48:94
17. Marie-Eve Marcotte (Can) Team Canada 50:02
18. Danice Uyesugi (Can) Pinkbike.com 50:92
21. Miranda Miller (Can) Marin Bikes/Mad March Racing/Team Squamish 1:00:16