World Cup Finals Wrap-Up

Schaladming World Cup Winner!

Sam Blenkinsop 4:10.16
Sam Hill +1.64
Gee Atherton +2.20
Steve Peat +3.04
Greg Minnaar + 7.40
Justin Leov +8.17

Minnaar secured the overall win and Rachel put a hurtin on the women's field with a 13.67 second win! She as well secured the overall win for the series. Some very impressive notes, Sam Hill hit a tree in the first woods section with his right shoulder almost knocking him off the bike. In a turn on the lower half of the course he got sideways and nearly high sided the bike. Still pulled a 2nd place finish. Kovarik bit it hard in the top wood section, the crash was hard enough to cause him to throw the race, he had his helmet off and was sidelined for a while before re-mounting and riding down. Ruaridh Cunningham's inside line was only taken by a few people but it caused him an awkward crash. The only other person to take that line, that I saw, was Brendan Fairclough, his run was maybe the most exciting for me. At the split he was ahead of the entire field by almost 2 seconds and as the 2nd to last man down he stood a good chance of taking the win. In the last exit of woods he washed out the front wheel and slid to the bottom of the 16 foot muddy transition, without his bike. It was a big upset. In USA news, Aaron Gwin was able to grab another top 10 finish, the first being Mt Saint Anne, extremely impressive for his first year of mountain bike racing.

An exciting race for the final of the season. Freecaster will be bringing you the next 3 seasons of UCI World Cup racing. For the rest of the year they have a few more events planned as well as the newly reinvigorated Red Bull Rampage. Stay tuned.