Fort William 2015... a portrait. These dark sodden woods were where this race was won and lost.
It was a weekend most certainly not for the faint-hearted. Only the toughest in the game will make sense of a 6am practice in the Scottish wind and rain.
Welcome to...
... the Highlands.
Emmeline was a big threat once again here at the 'Bill. Sadly the unpredictable conditions were her undoing this time around.
More than a mouthful for poor Emmeline, going down in one of the huge holes that had blown open on the muddy woods and giving up the leaders jersey to Rachel.
Manon Carpenter took 4th today after terrifying everyone with an almighty crash on the archway jump.
The dirt on the back of the jersey tells the tale of the day for Manon.
Tahnee Seagrave did a couple great things this weekend... She finished second today, and raised ten thousand pounds for breast cancer research auctioning off her pink #coppafeel Devinici Wilson.
Tahnee ecstatic after her best ever World Cup finish on home soil.
Katy Curd stunned a lot of people to make her first ever podium appearance.
The current 4X World Champion, turned downhiller, barely cared as you can tell...
What else can we say about Rachel Atherton. Against more than a few odds she raised her game today and gave the crowd exactly what they came to see.
No one gets louder cheers in Fort William than Rachel Atherton.
It might not have been raining so hard today but temps were certainly verging on the freezing first thing.
Troy Brosnan skipped out on some practice this morning to check the ever-changing lines in the woods during the juniors.
Junior points leader, Andrew Crimmins was on a good time until getting off line here in the bottom woods.
Loris Revelli of team AB Devinci Italy looked great on track all morning and managed to blast his way to 4th in the junior contest.
Alex Marin Trillo had a great weekend in the juniors alongside senior team mate Marcello. With a strong result at Round 1 to match he's well in contention for the junior title chase.
Laurie Greenland took second place today at Fort William and took the points Jersey while he was at it.
Martin Maes was unstoppable in the Junior race and pulled back huge time on the lower part of the track to win Fort William for the second straight year.
The "Muscles from Brussels" raises his glass to Martin Maes, and his win here at Fort William.
These two were stumbling down the track yelling "to the pub!" The more beer you drink at Fort William, the easier it is to navigate down the hill - which was slicker than snot on a door knob today.
Dave Trumpore slogs through the bog thanks to a cheap pair of Wellies. The best investment of the week, for sure.
Definitely the only guy who seemed to be happy about the deluges in the last couple of days.
Yes that is what it looks like. After 4 straight days of rain, the sun finally made an appearance just in time for finals.
Last years winner, Troy Brosnan, was just slightly off pace today and ended up in the loneliest placing of them all. 6th place and just one spot back from the podium.
Fire in the hole... Stevie Smith back in the gate. Qualifying 7th and looking good on track today, we think it won't be long before he's back to his old self.
Marcelo Gutierrez was looking fast in practice Friday. He kept up the pace on Sunday to finish third and become the first Colombian on a World Cup DH podium.
There were plenty of Frenchman fighting for top 20 spots this weekend... Of the challengers was youngster, Benoit Coulanges, of Roc VTT Oz-en-Oisans who charged into an incredible 15th place, just behind far more experienced countryman, Florent Payet.
After stealing the spotlight in Lourdes, finishing 10th, Rudy Cabirou continues to impress. while he could only hold 24th he took the 5th fastest top split. Look out for this guy and his little sister, winner of today's junior women's race.
One of those days... And it was one of those days for a lot of people.
After a rough start to the season Sam Blenkinsop finally landed himself a spot of the podium, and with it a much lower number plate for Leogang next weekend.
Sam Dale pushed hard to back up his 5th place from round one, but would leave Fort William way down the finish order and covered in dirt.
Mondraker's Innes Graham couldn't race at Lourdes because he didn't have any points... So he got a GB jersey for Fort William and nailed 17th.
Josh Bryceland is hard as. With big crashes leaving him in quite a bit of pain it was a mission just for him to get down the track without stopping today.
The Ratboy dug deep and sent his race run with style, despite his argument with a Scottish oak in Friday's practice.
Mike Jones was pinned all weekend and started the day off by qualifying in second spot. Sadly the track caught him out later in the day and he was not able to back it up when all was on the line.
Luca Shaw is transitioning to the senior ranks very well this season. With a top 15 in round one and a top 10 today it might not be too long until we see him on the podium.
Brendan sending it into the most magnificent finishing arena of our sport.
Brosnan, tightest tucker in the game...
After winning qualifying, a random rock hidden in a rut ended Loic Bruni's hopes at taking his first World Cup win today. He took it in stride, but we know he is burning to win one of these things and will be out for revenge in Leogang next weekend.
Loic destroying the boulders of the upper section.
One of these days Loic's going put wrongs to right. Somehow he was still able to come in 7th and only drop to 2nd in the overall despite his spill in the woods. Look out Leogang...
Aaron Gwin came through with a smashing time. Nearly seven seconds up on George Brannigan, who was in the hot seat when Gwin came across the line.
Despite his many big knocks of late, Gee Atherton, powered into fourth.
After Rachel's win earlier in the day the crowd went mental as Gee came across the line just seconds away from the win.
Minnaar denies flying under the radar this weekend, but he surely did fewer laps than most. After 22nd with a thumb fresh from surgery in Lourdes, a clean bill of health was all he needed to take his 5th Fort William victory.
The man, the myth, speeding to glory and seventeen World Cup wins.
Greg Minnaar standing out in the crowd.
No matter what, you can never count the champ out.
Minnaar takes his first win of the season, tying Peaty for total world cup wins.
Greg makes his way through the media blitz in the finish corral.
Welcome to the podium Marcelo.
The first ever downhill World Cup podium for Colombia and the first ever for a Norco rider.
Four British women out of five on the Fort William podium for 2015.
Stoke is high. See you all in Austria.
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- Carpenter's absolutely ballsy attempt on that final jump (shit-in-my-pants worthy crash following)
- Gutierrez on the podium
- Minaar in the hot seat and then winning
- Bruni's show of "respect, You the boss" to Minaar
Another absolutely fantastic stage of WC. Thank You Pinkbike, RedBull and Scotland.
Isn't this a norm to run rear on the right? Of course it is about personal preference, but EVERYONE I know and every bike I have ever seen in a bike-park: either someones personal bike or rental - throughout Scandinavia, Germany and Austria - have their rear on the right. So maybe it is that English-speaking world prefers the rear on the left for some reason, but I would imagine that is not something that can be described as "norm". I have never given it a longer thought. Am I wrong?
Also, I’m absolutely ecstatic for so many people: Minnaar, Gutierrez, Blenki, Wyn Masters, Florent Payet, the list goes on and on…shame about Smith, Ragot and Carpenter (but it’s all relative - all three came back from big crashes in their own way).
Most of all, though, it was great to see not only CG and Peaty but also Loïc Bruni congratulating Minnaar as soon as he’d finished his own (presumably disappointing for him) run.
You’d struggle to find sportsmanship like that in any 'mainstream' sport.
But then to bump into him straight after that pedalling his pit bike (skinny turbo trainer tire and all) back up the fire road beyond the wallride, I assume to keep his legs spinning or to scope out the course...what a pro. His time will come!
If I were Ratboy, I'd want that black & white one framed above my mantlepiece....badass!
Congrats to Minnar on the win. I was really impressed with Luca Shaw. First year elite and he was on fire all weekend. Had a nice clean run and it looks like hes got the speed to hang with the big boys.
Leogang will be a different animal. And will Schwable ever get procore sorted out?
i didn't caught it
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