June 08, 2014 (Fort William, Scotland) – The UCI DH World Cup #3 here in Fort William, Scotland, was a case of the student becoming the teacher, as Troy Brosnan (Aus) Specialized took home his first world cup win.

Riders faced a challenging week of racing in Scotland, as weather threats threw the normal schedule out the window. With their regular race weekend routines broken, racers had to struggle with 5:30am wake-up calls for practice and long waits in the cold and howling wind at the top of Aonach Moar for the qualifying rounds.

Yet race day dawned with sunshine and blue skies, and a few sprinkles of rain throughout the day couldn’t dampen spirits of the 18,000 fans in attendance. With the freshly re-worked track running extremely fast and loose, Brosnan managed to shatter the long-running myth that this track is for bigger riders.

“I finally put it together. I got the win and couldn’t be more happy. It’s amazing, the crowd here was mental and to do it at Fort William is great. It shows that little guys can get it done on any track. Hopefully I can take this momentum to Leogang (Aus) and get a second win!

“I knew I could do it again [after qualifying first]. The pressure was definitely there, I just kept it inside. I was pretty calm at the top actually! I just won my first World Cup I guess! I can’t believe it, it’s been a long time coming and I’ve been trying my hardest to get it done.”

Brosnan was joined on the podium by series veteran Sam Hill (Aus) Chain Reaction Cycles.com/Nukeproof in second and Danny Hart (Gbr) Giant Factory Team in third.

For Canadian fans, Steve Smith (Devinci Global) made his return to racing after 4 months off the bike due to an ankle injury sustained while filming in the off season. The Chainsaw Massacre finished the day in 6th, just off the podium.

“The race went good. There’s nothing to complain about race wise. I should be ok with finishing 6th after not riding my bike for 4 months when other people were already racing but at the same time I’d way rather do better.

“I wanted to come back and do really well. Not being on the podium was sort of a piss off. The injury isn’t nagging at all but I didn’t ride for four months and it’s [missing] the race experience. I didn’t do any smaller races at home like I normally do.

“The third round of the world cup being my first race of the year is a little bit tough. Times were tight and I feel like I can definitely work from here. There’s a race next week and I know what I have to do. Maybe I’m a clown for complaining about 6th but I’m not happy!”

For the women it was Emmeline Ragot (Fra) Lapierre taking the win after qualifying third. She was joined on the podium by Nicole Myriam (Fra) Commencal in second and Tracey Hannah (Aus) Hutchinson UR in third.

Former Canadian DH champ Micayla Gatto (Can) Pivot Racing was a strong 8th followed by Casey Brown (Can) Bergamont Hayes World Team in 9th. Fellow Canuck Jaime Hill did not make the final.

In Junior Men’s action Canada’s Jack Iles claimed 9th with another top-10 result as Martin Maes (Bel) GT Factory Racing took the win over Loris Vergier (Fra) Lapierre in second followed by Alex Marin Trillo (Esp) Giant in third.

Riders and mechanics now pack up their bikes, tools and gear and head to Leogang, Austria for the next round of the World Cup next weekend.

Full results here.