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Two podium spots for Syndicate, Minnaar and Peat 3rd and 4th at Andorra

June 1, 2008

Published by brule


Source: Kathy Sessler

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.


Birthday Boy on course

“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.”


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 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.

DOWNHILL RESULTS:

Mens-

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 Canada 2:42.00

Ladies-

1. Rachel Atherton 2:55.30
2. Sabrina Jonnier 3:03.77
3. Floriane Pugin 3:07.11
4. Tracy Moseley 3:10.41
5. Emmeline Ragot 3:11.11
6. Fionn Griffiths 3:19.
7. Celine Gros 3:20.72
8. Emilie Siegenthaler 3:25.1
9. Melissa Buhl 3:28.61
10. Diana Marggraff 3:28.91
11. Claire Buchar Canada 3:30.10
12. Micayla Gatto Canada 3:31.16

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
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flag KevH9990 (June 1, 2008 at 20:26) (Below Threshold) show comment
woot
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flag g3neric (June 1, 2008 at 20:28) (Below Threshold) show comment
damn
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flag jaque-17 (June 1, 2008 at 20:42) (Below Threshold) show comment
deam pretty close times for the top guys!
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flag adamdigby (June 1, 2008 at 20:57) (Below Threshold) show comment
Why didn't say anything about Gee or Sam? Good job on the 10th for Smith.
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flag biketape (June 2, 2008 at 1:10) (Below Threshold) show comment
Because it's a Santa Cruz press release
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flag 1969 (June 2, 2008 at 1:25) (Below Threshold) show comment
exactly, Kathy Sessler is the team manager or something right? she could have at least pretended not to write such a biased 'report'
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flag extremedhracer (June 2, 2008 at 12:54) (Below Threshold) show comment
an it did say gee won
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flag penguinmaster (June 1, 2008 at 22:09) (Below Threshold) show comment
yeah go sam and gee! haha and i hope next race peat gets up in the top 2 haha and that is one MUDDY bike! :p
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flag bikesrlame (June 1, 2008 at 22:52) (Below Threshold) show comment
look out world steve smith is coming fast! canada finally has a pro since andrew back in the 90's
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flag jonnydh (June 1, 2008 at 23:08) (Below Threshold) show comment
Ya Steve! And Claire! And Chris! Nice to see some North Americans kicking ass on the world scene!
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flag team-187 (June 1, 2008 at 23:57) (Below Threshold) show comment
yeh sammy
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flag olidh (June 4, 2008 at 4:39) (Below Threshold) show comment
wot do u mean "yeh sammy"? he got beat
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flag timbercombe (June 2, 2008 at 0:51) (Below Threshold) show comment
Gee is definitely on the up, a big one to watch this season! Will he manage to beat Sam Hill again? Nice one Peaty- The old man's still as good as the rest if not better!
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flag dirtydawgnz (June 2, 2008 at 1:19) (Below Threshold) show comment
not to mention Sam 'blinky' blenkinsop - Kiwi Flyer!! Faster than an ex world champ and Kovarik...........go you little ANZAC!!
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flag ridelikeustoleit (June 2, 2008 at 2:17) (Below Threshold) show comment
Amazing job by the Athertons, Dan's final run in the 4X to beat Lopes was incredible, while Gee and Rachel each had massively quick, smooth runs on the the downhill. What a family!
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flag ryan-irvine (June 2, 2008 at 4:10) (Below Threshold) show comment
how come minnar seems to be ripping more now he's off a honda.. they may of looked fast and elusive.. but were they?
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flag bolinho (June 2, 2008 at 4:54) (Below Threshold) show comment
*****
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flag gutkrencher (June 2, 2008 at 5:15) (Below Threshold) show comment
athertons dominated in andorra, it was inevitable that theyd do somthing like this sometime
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flag georgepotter (June 2, 2008 at 5:31) (Below Threshold) show comment
good to see the brits on top, wow Rachel with a 7 seconds win. would had been even better if steve peat had got a better place, as i want to see him as over all winner this year.
A good job by all though. bring on fort bill.
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flag philshep (June 2, 2008 at 9:19) (Below Threshold) show comment
I don't think it's biased for a SC press release... plus she did put this tidbit in... "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! "

I'd go ahead and say that's pretty unbiased... ;-)
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flag ralf888 (June 2, 2008 at 13:28) (Below Threshold) show comment
I said it once before and I say it again these guys(the athertons)they gonna get many pdoiums yeah...
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flag mshugana (June 2, 2008 at 14:31) (Below Threshold) show comment
finally gee got the win he deserves this year...and holy crap where did the kiwi and kovarik get their speed up from?! good on them
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flag madisonracing1 (June 2, 2008 at 16:09) (Below Threshold) show comment
Who is Nick Beer?
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flag gavind (June 2, 2008 at 16:54) (Below Threshold) show comment
He has been kicking around the iXS rounds for a bit now with his brother, Marcel. It think from memory Nick is the younger of the two (20-21?). They are a couple of characters who race with bugger all support and still pull results. Go on him for doing it at a World Cup!
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flag lescart (June 3, 2008 at 1:19) (Below Threshold) show comment
Stoked to see Blenkinsop and Smith up there, they have gotta be future world contenders!
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flag lescart (June 3, 2008 at 1:22) (Below Threshold) show comment
RACHAEL WON BY OVER 8 SECONDS!!!
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flag lescart (June 3, 2008 at 1:24) (Below Threshold) show comment
Nice to see fionn in 6th place for the girls. Well done girl.
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flag lescart (June 3, 2008 at 1:25) (Below Threshold) show comment
One last thing, and best thing too is Matty at 9th place! What a difference a year makes. Awesome to see him back.
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flag lescart (June 3, 2008 at 1:26) (Below Threshold) show comment
sorry 10th.
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flag lescart (June 3, 2008 at 1:27) (Below Threshold) show comment
ignore me, i get excited!
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flag matt6793 (June 3, 2008 at 7:46) (Below Threshold) show comment
sam hil final got beaten!!!
by a brit!!!!
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flag olidh (June 4, 2008 at 4:37) (Below Threshold) show comment
notice how a brit won?
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flag tomo12377 (June 4, 2008 at 9:40) (Below Threshold) show comment
Not taking anything away from the athertons, awesome stuff, but commencal is based in andorra and they have done so much testing out there a lot covered by dirt mag. Maybe home turf advantage? be interesting to see what happens in the next round!
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flag bansh (June 4, 2008 at 9:47) (Below Threshold) show comment
All the same , its nice to see a sport where we don't constantly get our arses handed to us by Mr jolly foreigner.
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flag tomo12377 (June 5, 2008 at 4:00) (Below Threshold) show comment
Yeah your do have a point, however my roots are Australian, so hill killing it doesn't bother me! I m just here for the money and bitches haha
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