|
|
|
TWO PODIUMS SPOTS
FOR SYNDICATE, MINNAAR AND PEAT 3RD AND 4TH AT ANDORRA
June 1, 2008
|
Valnord,
Andorra
The first
triple round of the Nissan UCI World Cup
Series was
held in the mountain town of Valnord,
Andorra
where the Santa Cruz Syndicate took two of the
five podium
spots with Greg Minnaar scooping up third
and Steve
“Old School” Peat just 3/4 of a second
behind him
in fourth. The big news from this
event is
the
Atherton family each winning an event with Dan
winning the
4X, Rachel winning the women’s downhill
and Gee
winning the men’s downhill, truly a history
making
weekend!
Racers were
treated to a continuous view of the
spectacular
snow capped mountains in this affluent
hometown of
Cedric Gracia. The venue was a
gondola
lift up the
mountain where the event was staged,
scenic, but
not convenient with the downhill finish
line quite
a distance from the pits, which made things
challenging.
The track
here is short, starting on a shale
mountainside
dropping in and out of tree sections with
fun berms,
jumps and some soggy ground. Just a
few
weeks ago
the top of the course was covered in 2
meters of
snow requiring it’s removal for fear of
having to
cancel the race. With just light
sprinkles
on Saturday
the weather was mostly fine. “The
course
is unreal,
it feels great to ride, full Wet Screams!
The rain
helped the track. It’s mostly one
line, but
you can do
some sneaky ones and I’m looking forward to
racing
tomorrow. And it’s my birthday
today, so I can
do what I
want!” says a jolly Nathan
Rennie.
“Andorra is
good so far, but the pit set up is
strange. We managed with the mechanics at the
bottom
so didn’t
have to go back to the pits for service.
I
personally
like the track a lot. It’s quite a
bit
like a UK
track. It’s a thinker’s course, you
have to
be setting
up and carry your speed well.
Luckily we
have the
best bikes for this track, but let’s wait and
see what
the weather brings tomorrow.” Said
Peaty.
DOWNHILL
QUALIFIER:
After a
heavy nights rain racers took to the sticky
track this
morning for the qualification race.
Peat
was the
fastest Syndicate racer coming in fourth.
After a
previous days practice wrought with
mechanicals
Minnaar got things rolling and came
eighth. Rennie had three perfect practice runs
and
felt good
going into the qualifier, but things didn’t
go as well
as practice had and he placed 21st.
“I
just
couldn’t get it going. I was
confident going
into it but
I tried to throw down and it was a
mistake. Not much of a birthday present. I’ve got
nothing to
loose now.” Peat said,” It was
muddy. It
didn’t go
good for me. I didn’t carry speed
well, but
I’m happy
that I got fourth with that effort.
The
track was
stickier than in practice and I think
everyone
felt they didn’t do good.” Minnaar
had an
average run
saying “I just made crucial mistakes and I
thought it
would be okay. I didn’t want to go
too
hard to
conserve some energy for the final.”
DOWNHILL
FINALS:
Minnaar
went into the hot seat when he came across the
line, but
the worried expression on his face indicated
he didn’t
think his time would hold for a win.
He
says, “I
got to the bottom and I knew I didn’t have
enough to
win. At the speeds we were going in
the
final I
came up on sections faster and hesitated a
bit, and I
made a couple of mistakes. I am
excited
that my
riding is coming back. It’s moving
up in the
right
direction.”
“If only I
hadn’t slipped a pedal I would’ve smoked
Greg,”
laughs Peat, “But I am happy to finish on the
podium. It’s been a mixed bag this week with
the
weather. I rode decent, made a couple of mistakes
in
the woods
and couldn’t clip in for three corners where
I really
needed to be pedaling out of. I’m
happy to
get points
for the Syndicate.”
Rennie had
a dismal day finishing in 46th. “I
was off
the track,
through the poles, through the tape,
average
run, not happy with myself. Things
need to
turn around
soon,” said Rennie.
QUALIFIER
RESULTS:
1 GEE
ATHERTON 2:41.63
2 SAM HILL
2:43.31
3 FABIEN
BAREL 2:43.44
4 STEVE
PEAT (SANTA CRUZ SYNDICATE)
2:43.98
5 STEVE
SMITH 2:44.98
6 NICK BEER
2:45.08
7 SAM
BLENKINSOP 2:45.25
8 GREG
MINNAAR (SANTA CRUZ SYNDICATE)
2:45.26
9 FABIEN
PEDEMANAUD 2:45.28
10 MATTI
LEHIKOINEN 2:45.39
DOWNHILL
RESULTS:
1 GEE ATHERTON 2:35.35 2 SAM
HILL 2:35.66
3 GREG
MINNAAR (SANTA CRUZ SYNDICATE)
3:36.73
4 STEVE
PEAT (SANTA CRUZ SYNDICATE)
2:37.49
5 SAM
BLENKINSOP 2:38.71
6 CHRIS
KOVARIK 2:39.18
7 FABIEN
BAREL 2:39.21
8 FABIEN
PEDEMANAUD 2:41.42
9 MATTI
LEHIKOINEN 2:41.65
10 STEVE
SMITH 2:42.00
A big thank
you goes out to Peter, Melanie and the UCI
for
reinstating the five-person podium!!
THANKS TO
THE SYNDICATE SPONSORS:
Santa Cruz
Bicycles
SRAM
RockShox
Truvativ
Avid
Maxxis
DT
Swiss
WTB
Crankbrothers
Lizard Skins
Clif
Bar
Troy Lee
Designs
Chris
King
Five Ten 
|
|
