Tracy Moseley wins with Rachel Atherton in second

Tracy Moseley celebrated her fifth victory in seven years at Fort William at the weekend, taking her second win in the UCI World Cup series to give her a comfortable 170 point lead at the top of the overall standings.

It was a clean sweep for the top of the podium as Rachel Atherton made it a Brit 1-2. France filled the rest of the top-5 spots.

“It’s pretty amazing. To come here as World Champion is pretty special, but to come here as World Champion and manage to win, it’s just awesome,” commented Moseley.

“The crowd is amazing, which makes it such a pleasure to ride and to push harder and harder. It means a lot to win here, to win five times here … I’m happy. I really pushed, I knew Rach [Atherton] was going to be tough; every time you race her, you know she’s going to be hard to beat. It’s good to have another British girl to push me. Guaranteed, it meant the crowd was going to get a British win one way or another.”

Greg Minnaar wins but Danny Hart stormed into second place

Greg Minnaar takes the win, his forth at Fort William and Danny Hart finished right behind with an incredible run that saw the young rider throwing caution to the wind and getting ragged on the top section, but still keeping it all together to record a fast time. The win put the South African into the leader’s jersey for the overall standings.

How it happened

As rider after rider came down, none could surpass his time. It wasn’t until Minnaar came down that Brook MacDonald was finally dislodged from the lead, after the New Zealand rider put into a storming run.

Minnaar, a prodigy himself when he won his world title in 2003, was eighth fastest at the top split, and continued to improve as the course went on, to knock nearly two seconds off MacDonald’s incredible run.

Hart, starting just after Minnaar and only a month older than MacDonald, pushed the Kiwi down to third by 0.65 seconds. The final two starters – Gee Atherton and World Cup leader Gwin – slotted in to fourth and fifth respectively after their runs.

“It was tough today,” admitted Minnaar. “I was really nervous. I didn’t think I had it today. In yesterday’s qualifying, I was behind, and I wasn’t sure I could find the time. [Brook] MacDonald had a great ride, but I’m stoked to be on top … it’s just an awesome day. I’m speechless.”

More on the race soon…