Peaty wins Red Bull Lisbon Downtown, FIFTH year in a row

Steve Peat reigns as king of the Red Bull Lisbon Downtown race held in Lisbon, Portugal on Saturday May 13th,.. Peat, and re-Peat (Santa Cruz Syndicate, SRAM, RockShox), wins again, as it is the fifth year in a row for total dominance by this man. Hands down, no one can argue that Peaty reigns supreme, as second place finisher Cedric Gracia finishes .76 seconds back of the “King”, who finished in 1:41.65. Sam Hill rounds out the podium with a third place finish at 1.58 back.Peaty smoked the qualifier, as well, setting a mark of 1.276 ahead of second place qualifier Gee Atherton. Nathan Rennie, (Santa Cruz Syndicate, SRAM, RockShox), hits the wall, finishing 27th in the qualifier, just missing the final, as 25 riders advance.


This invitational race is held in the legendary city of Lisbon, which is filled with over 20 centuries of rich history. The Alfama is one of the oldest quarters in Lisbon on the southwestern coast of Portugal overlooking the Atlantic Ocean. This is where you will find the top mountain bike racers converge each year to assault the city in the Red Bull Lisbon Downtown. Since it largely survived the earthquake of 1755, the area still retains much of its original layout. The racetrack is tucked away amidst the ancient buildings. The race starts atop the hill at St. George's Castle, and racers try to find traction on the slick cobblestones as they descend through narrow alleys, staircases, and a car jump is thrown in to spice things up.


Throngs of locals packed each nook and cranny of the course to witness the mountain bike madness of the final. The race started with the slower qualifiers first; leading up to the fast guys, with defending champion Peat to ride last. Broadcast live on Portuguese television, organizer Fernando Figueiredo ran a great race keeping everything moving to schedule. As Gracia anxiously sat in the hotseat, every inch of Peat’s run could be watched on the jumbo screen at the bottom of the course. As Peat jumped into the finish arena, it took just a moment to see the leader board and when the results where known, the crowd erupted with cheers of approval.

A word from Peat:

“I won for the fifth time in a row. It was more of a relief to win than being excited about it. It’s hard when you’ve won four times and you have to come back and try to beat all these guys. My run went pretty good. The crowd was crazy! The track was a little bit harder this year than it has been for a while cause it was really tight near the bottom. I rode my Santa Cruz V-10. It rode really good, it just sucked up all the steps and I was drifting on the marble which felt good. I’m stoked to win five times in a row!”


Final Results:

Steve Peat 1:41.65 (Santa Cruz Syndicate)
Cedric Gracia: 1:42.41 (Commencal)
Sam Hill: 1:43.24 (Iron Horse, Madcatz)
Gee Atherton: 1:43.72 (Animal Giant)
Greg Minnaar: 1:44.31 (G-Cross Honda)

Qualifier results:

Steve Peat: 1:43.17
Gee Atherton: 1:44.49
Sam Hill: 1:44.92
Greg Minnaar: 1:45.30
Cedric Gracia: 1:45.73


Thanks to our sponsors:

SANTA CRUZ BICYCLES
SRAM
RockShox
Truvativ
Avid
DT Swiss
Kenda
PUSH
Crank Brothers
Chris King
WTB
Clif Bar
Troy Lee Designs
5Ten

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