Triple DH World Champion Fabien Barel marked his return to racing after a knee injury in fine style at Maribor, Slovenia, winning the fifth round of the Nissan UCI DH World Cup by over five seconds.

Gee Atherton (Animal Commencal) was the fastest qualifier, with Matti Lehikoinen (MS Evil) the first rider to beat that time in the finals with a 3:08.81, a time that stood until 15th qualifier Fabien Pedemanaud shaved 0.2s off. But two riders later Barel took to the track, racing in a knee brace but clearly not letting it slow him down.

Barel was faster than any previous rider everywhere on the course – three seconds up at the first split, five seconds up at the second, he took the lead by 5.28s. From then on it was a waiting game, as Barel sat in the hot seat to watch his rivals take on the technical Maribor course.

Greg Minnaar (Santa Cruz Syndicate) missed Barel’s time by two seconds, and even Sam Hill – who’s won twice at Maribor – couldn’t match it. World Cup leader Steve Peat was faster on the top part of the course but flatted lower down, putting him out of contention. After Peat just Justin Leov (Trek World Racing) and Gee Atherton had the opportunity to displace Barel. Leov could only manage fourth, while Atherton was on a good run until a crash in the final wooded section dropped him back to 12th.

The final positions had Barel first, Sam Hill second, Minnaar third, Justin Leov fourth and Britain’s Brendan Fairclough taking the final podium spot in fifth. Having been out for several races, Barel’s win doesn’t see him troubling the top of the series leaderboard, but it’s all change at the top. Minnaar has taken the lead from Peat, who’s now 79 points behind. Sam Hill is now third, displacing Gee Atherton to fourth. Mick Hannah (GT) is fifth.

In the women’s race, Sabrina Jonnier (Maxxis-Rocky Mountain) took her fourth consecutive World Cup victory of 2009. Fastest qualifier Emmeline Ragot (Suspension Center) was second, Floriane Pugin (Iron Horse-Kenda-Playbiker) third, Celine Gros fourth and Mio Suemasa the only non-French rider on the podium in fifth. Tracy Moseley (Trek World Racign) crashed on her run and finished 9th.

Jonnier now leads the series by 197 points from Ragot. Moseley is lying third, 322 points back with three rounds to go.

Maribor also hosted the fifth round of the 4X World CUp on a course made treacherous by torrential rain. Caroline Buchanan took her first World Cup win in the women’s race, with Joost Wichman winning the men’s. The positions of series leaders Jill Kintner and Jared Graves remained unthreatened.

Maribor marked the end of the spring gravity World Cups – there’s now a five-week break before the DH and 4X series meet up with the XC racers in Mont Ste Anne, Canada.

Watch it!

Here’s the DH qualifying and finals, courtesy of mtbcut.tv: