Last time team manager Will Longden visited Cairns, it was 1996 for the World Championships, he had a bike, a multi-tool and a backpack. The track was dusty and the sun was out! Fast forward 18yrs and he was back, looking after the Madison Saracen team who arrived on Australian soil carrying a leaders jersey, the yellow number boards of number one team and a small matter of just over 380kg of baggage. It was raining, oh boy was it raining, but that didn’t seem to bother the wildlife or the team – well, we are Brits and I guess that’s why they call it the rainforest.
After a positive start in South Africa, all the riders were keen to carry that momentum to Cairns. Sport is all about state of mind and confidence and the team had to keep that buzz alive and ride on the confidence of the week before. As almost everyone now knows, Cairns World Cup was a wet one, non stop rain for almost a week and a cyclone visiting the coastal city just two weeks before, meant all the challenges were there to get stuck into. The track was designed and built by Aussie legend, Glenn Jacobs (who built the original World Champs track back in 1996) and he had put together another blinder. A real test of rider skill and fitness, this one will truly find the best riders in the World in 2017 when the World Championships come to Cairns.
Time for qualifying then and Kazuki had one crash too many, which just pushed him outside of qualifying time, a real shame for the talented young rider who is now focused on coming to the UK for the first time and showing everyone what he can do at the Fort William World Cup. Manon took second place and a good haul of points to go with it and Matt and Sam both sitting inside the top ten. All set for a good race day then…
Living in South Wales, Manon is no stranger to rain and mud, although having spent the last two months in Spain and South Africa it took a day for her to get reacquainted with the slippery rocks and roots! Once she did, she was loving the challenge and riding well. Her final run was looking great, hitting her lines, staying out of trouble and upright. Just one out of shape moment that was caught on camera as she got thrown off-line and had to plan a quick re-route to escape careering through the tapes and crowd. She pulled herself together and went on to jump the big step-up before the long pedal - the only girl to go for it in the final. An awesome run that gave her 2nd place and put her some fourteen seconds ahead of the 3rd place rider.
Matt was strong in the top split and the lower pedaling section of the track but struggled to find his rhythm through the middle sector after a crash which robbed him of vital speed before tricky off cambers strewn with roots and greasy mud. It’s hard to recover in any conditions at World Cup level and this track punished many of the World’s best on race day. He fought on right to the line and despite his problems still brought his Saracen Myst home in the top 20, a great recovery in the circumstances and decent points towards his season long campaign.
Sam was right on the pace at split one but as he came into view again on the big screen in the finish area his left side was covered in wet mud, he’d been off the bike and lost time, although still looking fast and carrying good speed through some of the trickiest sections of the track. With just the long pedal to the finish left in his sights, he dug deep and charged all the way to the line. Even with the crash, he went into 6th place, with four riders to go, he was guaranteed another top 10 and as the mud settled he ended up in a fine 8th place.
[Quoten] The track was really hard going but so much fun in some sections. It had me grinning at times through the fast jump sections and grimacing down the big pedal… but we need more tracks like this, a true challenge, a real bike rider’s track. I was loving it…
Sam Dale [/Quoten]
So with Manon now equal first on points in the series heading to Fort William World Cup and the team sitting second in the team overall, everything is to play for in front of a home crowd. We are all excited to be heading for home and preparing for that one! Next up for the team though are rounds 2 and 3 of the BDS, so it’s all about Scotland for the next few weeks.