The crowd at the Fort William World Cup may be loud and enthusiastic in equal measure, but sometimes even the stoutest home-crown advantage just isn’t enough. So it proved this weekend, with the top steps of the DH podiums bereft of Brits. It wasn’t for want of trying, though…

The Scottish weather managed to play ball, with the track off Aonach Mor being fast and loose. In the women’s race, Tracy Moseley had qualified third fastest. Come finals time, with Celine Gros in the hot seat, Moseley posted the fastest split time on the top part of the course, but crashed lower down and finished seventh.

Next up was Emmeline Ragot, who took four seconds off Gros’s time but had barely warmed the leader’s chair before series leader Sabrina Jonnier stormed down the course. Jonnier was a massive nine seconds faster than Ragot, giving her a convincing third consecutive World Cup win and extending her series lead over Tracy Moseley.

The men’s final always had the potential to be anyone’s race. All eyes were on Steve Peat, chasing his third consecutive win of 2009. But World Champion Gee Atherton was fastest in qualifying, Greg Minnaar second fastest (and with a history of winning on the Fort William course) and you can never discount Sam Hill.

Indeed, it was Hill who set himself up as the rider to beat in the closing stages, dropping the fastest time by six seconds to take the hot seat with five riders to go. Hill’s time proved beyond the reach of Peat, Sam Blenkinsop and Mick Hannah, but Greg Minnaar put in a textbook run, with a blisteringly fast bottom section bringing him over the line 1.45s clear of Hill.

That left the crowd cheering their lungs out for Gee Atherton, even more so when he matched Minnaar’s split time at the top of the course. But alas he couldn’t keep it going all the way to the line, dropping back by three seconds to finish fourth.

Steve Peat is still in the lead overall, but only just – Minnaar has closed to a mere four points behind, with Atherton and Hannah still in contention in third and fourth. The next round is Maribor, Slovenia in two weeks…