August 09, 2013 (Mont-Ste-Anne, QC) — Canadian downhill star Steve Smith from Cassidy, BC, racing for Devinci Global Racing, has one goal on his mind during his final preparations for the finals of the UCI Mountain Bike World Cup in Mont-Sainte-Anne on Sunday – to win his second World Cup downhill race.

Last year in 2012, Smith won his first World Cup race in Hafjell, Norway. This year, Smith has won medals in back-to-back races at the start of the season in Fort William, Scotland (round #1) and in Val di Sole, Italy (round #2).

In the qualifying run on Friday, Smith proved that he has what it takes to accomplish this goal as he posted the fastest qualifying time out of the group of 111 riders, which included the reigning World DH Champion, Greg Minnaar of South African, and the current World Cup DH Leader, Gee Atherton of Great Britain.

Smith was impressed with the track here at Mont-Sainte-Anne: “It’s a completely different track than what we normally see in the world. It’s on its own and completely amazing. It’s so fast and the dirt is amazing. The rain we have received helped out quite a bit. Yesterday morning the track was pretty bad and slow. It allowed us to cut some ruts, but the rain helped out to pact it up. Now, we can hold speed through corners, and it’s as pretty good as it’s going to get right now.”

Smith won the silver medal at the 2010 DH World Championships at Mont-Sainte-Anne, but the track has changed and Sunday will offer new challenges, “There are some sections that are the same, but overall it changed quite a bit. It only evolved and it’s getting better and better.”

Smith recently won the Canadian Mountain Bike Downhill Championships in Panorama, BC, and is now wearing the coveted Maple Leaf on his sleeve. “This my first time being the Canadian Champion. Its nice to race in Canada, even though I am not close to home. It feels really good to wear the sleeve.”

For the finals on Sunday, Smith is confident his equipment has the right components to go fast. “The suspension and geometry are going to stay the same for Sunday because the track is fast and I know what I need. What might change due to the weather will be the tire choice. Right now I have cut spikes, but we’ll see what happens on Sunday.”

In the women’s race, Rachel Atherton (Gbr) GT Factory Racing topped the field with Vaea Verbeeck the fastest of Canadian woman with a time of 5:27.846. Along with Verbeeck, three other Canucks including Jaime Hill, Kristen Courtney and Micayla Gatto will be racing in the final on Sunday.

Gatto of North Vancouver, BC, the current Canadian DH Champ, was the victim of a flat in the top section of the course, and finished last in the group. The flat didn’t deflate her spirit, and she’ll be ready to perform on Sunday.

“I think [the track] is awesome here. The buffed out a lot of stuff so its less rough than most years. Unfortunately it rained so it roughed it up a little bit, but the dirt is perfect,” said the unlucky Gatto, after her run. “I was having so much fun in practice. Today I happened to front flat near the top. I don’t think I even run down a mountain that fast today. Despite the flat, I am really looking forward to race day. It’s a smaller field since few of the girls are broken right now, but all the top girls are here so it should make for some tough competition.”

Gatto was seen at the track wearing her Canadian Champion kit. “It definitely feels good to have the Canadian Champion jersey again. Even though Mont-Sainte-Anne is a five hour plane ride, it still feels like home as I have been coming here for so long.”

In the junior men’s seeding runs, Canadian rider Jack Iles had a good day on the track, qualifying with the sixth fastest time of the day. A total of 12 Canadian junior riders qualified for the finals.

Every cross-country races will be held on Saturday, with the espoirs (U23) and Junior women starting the day at 9am Eastern Time. The elite women will start at 11:30am, followed by the men’s race at 2pm. To end the day, the espoirs (U23) and junior men will take to the course at 4:30pm.

All the action at the UCI Mountain Bike World Cup at Mont-Sainte-Anne, QC can be viewed live through redbull.tv.

Results

Elite Men

1. Steve Smith (Can) Devinci Global Racing 04:05.183  
2. Danny Hart (Gbr) Giant Factory Off-Road Team 1.097
3. Samuel Blenkinsop (Nzl) Lapierre Gravity Republic 2.645
4. Aaron Gwin (USA) Specialized Racing DH 2.728
5. Greg Minnaar (RSA) Santa Cruz Syndicate 3.157
6. Samuel Hill (Aus) Chain Reaction Cycles.com/Nukeproof 3.89
7. Michael Hannah (Aus) Hutchinson Ur 4.902
8. Loic Bruni (Fra) Lapierre Gravity Republic 5.03
9. Troy Brosnan (Aus) Specialized Racing DH 5.356
10. Neko Mulally (USA) Trek World Racing 5.446
11. Brook Macdonald (Nzl) Trek World Racing 5.852
12. Nick Beer (Sui) Devinci Global Racing 6.075
13. Marcelo  Gutierrez Villegas(Col) Giant Factory Off-Road Team 6.317
14. Matthew Simmonds (Gbr) Chain Reaction Cycles.com/Nukeproof 7.717
15. Josh Bryceland (Gbr) Santa Cruz Syndicate 7.844
16. Patrick Thome (Fra) GSTAAD-Scott 8.588
17. Brendan Fairclough (Gbr) GSTAAD-Scott 9.336
18. Gee Atherton (Gbr) GT Factory Racing 9.967
19. Mitchell Delfs (Aus) Evil Vengeance Tour 10.146
20. Florent Payet (Fra) Evil CK Racing Evian 10.174
21. Bryn Atkinson (Aus) Team Norco International 10.404
22. Markus Pekoll (Aut) MS Mondraker Team 10.567
23. Faustin Figaret (Fra) Topcycle by Trek 10.706
24. Robin Wallner (Swe) Team W-Racing 11.136
25. Bernard Kerr (Gbr) Pivot Factory Team 11.522
26. Lorenzo Suding (Ita) GT/360 Degrees 11.894
27. Mitch Ropelato (USA) Specialized Racing DH 12.419
28. Marc Beaumont (Gbr) GT Factory Racing 12.628
29. George Brannigan (Nzl) Trek World Racing 12.751
30. Greg Williamson (Gbr) Trek World Racing 13.063
31. Rémi Thirion (Fra) Commencal/Riding Addiction 13.07
32. Sam Dale (Gbr) Madison Saracen Downhill Team 13.26
33. Jack Moir (Aus) Yeti Fox Shox Factory Race Team 13.557
34. Bernat Guardia Pascual (Esp) 13.602
35. Antonio Ferreiro Pajuelo (Esp) Evil Vengeance Tour 14.873
36. Francisco Pardal (Por) Evil Vengeance Tour 14.886
37. Connor Fearon (Aus) Kona 15.079
38. Austin Warren (USA) Pivot Factory Team 15.497
39. Ziga Pandur (Slo) Unior Tools Team 15.79
40. Niklas Wallner (Swe) Team W-Racing 15.863
41. Wyn Masters (Nzl) Team Bulls-DH 16.551
42. Joe Connell (Gbr) SC Intense 17.392
43. Isak Leivsson (Nor) 17.453
44. Harry Heath (Gbr) 17.57
45. Remi Gauvin (Can) 17.571       
46. Jack Reading (Gbr) 18.154
47. Kirk McDowall (Can) 18.811       
48. Kyle Sangers (Can) 19.061       
49. Joseph Smith (Gbr) Chain Reaction Cycles.com/Nukeproof 19.577
50. Aurélien Giordanengo (Fra) Topcycle by Trek 19.651
51. Mathew Stuttard (Gbr) 20.047
52. Thibaut Ruffin (Fra) Commencal/Riding Addiction 20.063
53. Scott Mears (Gbr) 20.549
54. Adam Brayton (Gbr) 20.755
55. Dan Stanbridge (Gbr) Dirt Norco Race Team 20.766
56. Christopher McGlinchey (Irl) 20.836
57. Alexander Kangas (Swe) 21.165
58. Fabien Cousinie (Fra) Hutchinson UR 21.475
59. Ben Reid (Irl) Dirt Norco Race Team 21.723
60. Luke Strobel (USA) Evil Vengeance Tour 21.777
61. Jono Jones (Gbr) 22.607
62. Lars Peyer (Sui) SC Intense 22.624
63. Charly Di Paquale (Fra) 23.451
64. Oscar Harnstrom (Swe) GT/360 Degrees 23.545
65. Cyrille Kurtz (Fra) Evil CK Racing Evian 23.591
66. Matthew Walker (Nzl) 23.808
67. David McMillan (Aus) 24.077
68. Sidney Slotegraaf (Can) 24.086     
69. Pierre Charles Georges (Fra) Lac Blanc/Scott 24.102
70. Ruaridh Cunningham (Gbr) Unior Tools Team 24.113
71. Samuel Thibault (Can) 24.346     
72. Fraser McGlone (Gbr) 24.752
73. Dan Sheridan (Irl) 25.016
74. Forrest Riesco (Can) 25.056
75. Quentin Chanudet (Fra) Team Sodicycle Project 25.553
76. Andrew Neethling (RSA) Giant Factory Off-Road Team 25.75
77. Edward Masters (Nzl) 26.632
78. Rob Fraser (Can) 27.361
79. Benjamin Staehle (Fra) 27.787
80. Oliver Morris (Gbr) 28.872
81. Gaetan Ruffin (Fra) Commencal/Riding Addiction 29.113
82. George Belk (Gbr) 29.571
83. Oliwer Kangas (Swe) 30.082
84. Trevor Parson (USA) 31.584
85. Louis Hamilton (Nzl) 32.275
86. Josh Lewis (Gbr) 34.734
87. Jose Villalobos (CRc) 34.904
88. Adriano Digiacinto (Can) 36.725
89. Ray Syron (USA) 36.932
90. Will Soffe (Gbr) 37.938
91. Christoph Felix Schnettler (Ger) 38.059
92. Kiran MacKinnon (USA) 38.104
93. Chris Barlin (Aus) 38.12
94. Richard Rude Jr* (USA) Yeti Fox Shox Factory Race Team 38.702
95. Cody Warren (USA) 39.697
96. Basil Weber (Sui) 39.775
97. Charlie Sponsel (USA) 43.77
98. Ivan Ortiz (Ecu) 44.203
99. Ryan Burney (USA) 44.393
100. Jesse Beare (Aus) 44.684
101. Benoit Rioux (Can) 49.14
102. Angus Maddern (Aus) 50.367
103. James Frost (Can) 07:41.605
DNF Guillaume Cauvin (Fra) Hutchinson Ur
DNF Lachlan McKillop (Aus)
DNF Christopher Gallagher (Gbr)
DNS Quintana Acuna (Chi)
DNS Harry Molloy (Gbr) Madison Saracen Downhill Team
DNS Mario José Jarrin Molina (Ecu)
DNS Julien Laramee (Can)
DNS Hans Lambert (Can)

Elite Women

1. Rachel Atherton (Gbr) GT Factory Racing 04:42.418
2. Emmeline Ragot (Fra) Lapierre Gravity Republic 0.892
3. Floriane Pugin (Fra) GSTAAD-Scott 1.645
4. Manon Carpenter (Gbr) Madison Saracen Downhill Team 6.399
5. Emilie Siegenthaler (Sui) GSTAAD-Scott 11.685
6. Morgane Charre (Fra) MS Mondraker Team 11.754
7. Myriam Nicole (Fra) Commencal / Riding Addiction 12.241
8. Tahnee Seagrave* (Gbr) FMD Racing / Intense Cycles 15.240
9. Fionn Griffiths (Gbr) 27.153
10. Anita Ager-Wick (Nor) 31.172
11. Vaea Verbeeck (Can) 45.128
12. Jessica Stone (Gbr) Unior Tools Team 47.353
13. Miriam Ruchti (Sui) SC Intense 49.633
14. Jaime Hill (Can) 57.190
15. Rachael Walker (Gbr) 1:17.790
16. Alison Zimmer (USA) 1:30.723
17. Taylor Allison* (USA) 1:53.957
18. Rebecca Gardner (USA) 1:59.849
19. Kristen Courtney (Can) 2:28.042
20. Micayla Gatto (Can) 5:44.118

Junior Men
1. Innes Graham (Gbr) MS Mondraker Team  04:20.9
2. Luca Shaw (USA) Specialized Racing DH  1.685
3. Noel Niederberger (Sui) GSTAAD-Scott  7.049
4. Loris Vergier (Fra) Lapierre Gravity Republic  7.116
5. Morgan Gulland (Gbr) Great Britain  7.573
6. Jack Iles (Can) Team Canada  8.53  
7. Dean Lucas (Aus) Australia  9.213
8. Logan Mulally (USA) United States of America  10.775
9. Gianluca Vernassa (Ita) Devinci Global Racing  11.306
10. McKay Vezina (Can) Team Canada  12.344  
11. Marcus Hansson (Swe) Team W-Racing  12.571
12. Francesco Colombo (Ita) Team Airoh Axo Santacruz  14.88
13. Jason Schroeder (USA) United States of America  15.764
14. Luca Cometti (USA) United States of America  16.007
15. Jackson Davis (Aus) Australia  18.117
16. Luciano Jose de Neufville Pascal (Ecu) Ecuador  24.613
17. Alexander Geddes (Can) Team Canada  25.173  
18. Chase Nelson (USA) United States of America  26.894
19. Shane Leslie (USA) United States of America  26.979
20. Galen Carter (USA) United States of America  27.346
21. Lachlan Blair (Gbr) Great Britain  27.737
22. Walker Shaw (USA) Specialized Racing Dh  28.097
23. Hugo Langevin (Can) Team Canada  29.498  
24. Mitchell O’Keefe (Can) Team Canada-B  32.89  
25. Ross Wilcox (Gbr) Great Britain  33.799
26. Chris Bennett (Can) Team Canada-B  34.844  
27. Lee Jackson (Can) Team Canada  35.223  
28. Francisco Matias (Chi) Chile  41.104
29. Luke Ellison (Aus) Australia  43.222
30. Matt Hardwick (Can) Team Canada  46.22  
31. Kelln Wyatt (Can) Team Canada-B  50.883  
32. Michael Jones (Gbr) FMD Racing / Intense Cycles  01:16.1
33. Ruaridh Mcritchie (Gbr) Great Britain  01:25.7
34. Myles Weber (Sui) Switzerland  02:56.1
35. Benjamin Despres-Morin (Can) Team Canada-B 05:14.5
DNF Mark Wallace (Can) Devinci Global Racing    
DNF Bowen Irvine (Can) Team Canada-B     
DNS George Gannicott (Gbr) Dirt Norco Race Team
DNS Jay Fesperman (USA) Yeti Fox Shox Factory Race Team

*Junior