Spectator-friendly

Sorry, Brits – no top-of-the-podium places for UK riders at the Fort William World Cup. If performances were in proportion to the volume of the crowd they’d have cleaned up, but alas it wasn’t to be.

The Fort William DH course is 1.65 miles of bike-punishing rocks, ruts and jumps, with various slabs, drops, gravely bits and loose corners to add interest. A whole lot of work has gone into the course and it was well worth it – everyone seemed to like it and it didn’t seem to be suffering too badly from the onslaught of wheels.

No-one was expecting Steve Peat to win, least of all Steve himself. The defending World Cup champ was nursing injuries to his wrist and ankle and didn’t actually show up for his initial semi-final time slot. Mickael Pascal (Maxxis-MXC) got the quickest time to be last man down in the final. Steve did appear in the end, though – nipping down the hill after everyone else to qualify 12th.

Celine Gros heads for the podium

Come the final and the slopes of Aonach Mor filled up with thousands of spectators armed with flags, horns, whistles and the obligatory cowbells ready and waiting to encourage their favourites. Britain’s Petra Wiltshire was first down for the women, but it was Celine Gros (Morzine Avoriaz) who made the most of the day. She averaged 21.06mph over the course for a 4:42.57, nearly three seconds ahead of her nearest rival Sabrina Jonnier. And by way of a French theme on the podium, Emmeline Ragot (Maxxis-MXC) was third and Nolvenn Le Caer fifth. Who was fourth? Disrupting the French dominance was none other than Tracy Moseley (Kona Clarks). She couldn’t repeat her winning performance of last year but you can’t argue with a podium placing…

With all the women down the hill, the scene was set for the mens’ showdown. Would the French fill most of the top places there too? Could Steve pull something out of the hat? Rather than the French, it looked as if the Australians would be filling the podium. Briefly Nathan Rennie, Sam Hill and Chris Kovarik filled the top three places. But with a host of French riders having late start times it was entirely possible that they’d drop down the placings. Also starting late was Britain’s Will Longden (MBUK Scott), benefiting from a very fast qualifying run putting him fourth fastest. He could only make 19th in the main event, though, a place ahead of Steve Peat…

Mens’ winner Cedric Gracia

Greg Minnaar was first to break the Oz stranglehold coming in just behind Rennie. But it was third-fastest qualifier Cedric Gracia (Siemens Mobile Cannondale) who took the Australian off the top spot, coming in just over a second ahead. That just left Fabien Barel (Kona Clarks) and Mickael Pascal (Maxxis-MXC) able to snatch victory. Barel had a bad run and ended up well down the standings, while Pascal managed to push Rennie down another place to grab second.

It’s worth mentioning Gee Atherton’s performance. After a great showing in the 4-Cross, he was fired up to do well and got himself a 12th place – pretty impressive stuff…