In this mini documentary we follow Greg Minnaar, South African downhill legend, in his quest for his fourth rainbow jersey. He knows how to win it, he knows how to put it all together in the final run. It's his speciality. But can he do it again in Vallnord, Andorra, during the 2015 World Championships?
My Minnaar five tens feel like magic slippers. I have been watching him for over a decade destroy the field with class and raw power. Always great rooting for the guy you can never count out.
so true, he's a superb racer and I'd love to see him become UCI president some day, would be awesome for the sport of MTBing. He always seems polite, organized, passionate, correct and rumor has it that a lot of girls find him pretty good looking too, haha.
I cant't find proper words to express my admiration with Minnaar's commitment to results, focus and modesty at the same time. It's obvious that he is tough both physically and mentally, maybe he even implements some eastern practices in his training routine. Would be great to find out more about his training process and tips and also see more racing/big-mountain/bike-park edits with him.
Its funny that GM is never really mentioned as "one of the greats", dudes been at it longer than two decades and has been a top threat during the whole time. Sure he's never really put in some super duper insane run but who cares how much you win by anyway. It really just shows you the rider took high risks and held it together once. GM on the other hand seems to know almost exactly what he needs to put down to win.
GM has always been able to step up to the competition when the bar has been raised, only time I've seen him struggle a little was when he had a shoulder injury. Remember when he said he dislocated it in MSA in the finals but sat down and popped it back in during the run and still finished 3rd or something.
The dictionary should just have a pic of GM replacing consistency and professinalism!
@riccardoleumann that's true and so sad... As I said before, a road cyclist gets a yellow jersey once in the TDF ( a great achievement none the less) and it's a massive headline... GM wins a world championship and you will maaaaaybe hear about it in the news....Make no mistake, SA loves mountain biking, but DH unfortunately takes a back seat... Maybe if it got more TV coverage things would change.
All the WC races are on Supersport satellite TV and red bull live stream, so there really is no excuse. Then again SA is known for its skewed priorities.
Wait, wait, wait...was he drinking a bottle of "Peaty" scotch at 7:32? Well, well played Greg - as per the usual.
Based on this past seasons results and his Worlds silver, he'll certainly be in the mix to win the overall next year and for the next several seasons assuming he's healthy and still willing to commit to all the travel/mental stress/training/etc...But when he decides to hang up the dual crown fork, I'd wager he'd be a damn serious threat to win any number of EWS events if not the overall provided he trains accordingly (which I'd guarantee he would). Heck, I sometimes wonder how well he'd do at WC XC if he dedicated himself to that style of racing. He truly seems like one of those rare and gifted athletes that could excel and basically any discipline of bike racing - unlike myself, who has the rare ability to suck mightily at all disciplines of bike racing.
I'm fairly new to the DH scene, having watched my first race 4 years ago or so. This Minnaar dude, half a world away, is one of my very favorite riders. Go Greg!
Greg Minnaar is such a top class sportsman, gentleman and constant-zen-jedi-style rider. Louis XIV shouldn't have expelled those huguenots back on the XVII century!
I did think that for a moment, but, he doesn't say 90% half the time and 120% the other half... he says 'sometimes' at intensity. So, let's give him the benefit of the doubt and assume he means 90% 1/3 of the time, and 120% 2/3 of the time... which would average 110% :-)
You know the saying, 'Have you ever met a nice Souff Afrikan? nah cos they're a bunch of arrogant ..........s!' Greg Minaar has changed that ....Top bloke, super smooth rider and reet up for a laugh. Oh yeah and he's Peatys mate too!!!!!
saying something derogatory about South Africans on a thread about a South African icon which a lot of us are going to read.........you didn't think that one through did you...
GM has always been able to step up to the competition when the bar has been raised, only time I've seen him struggle a little was when he had a shoulder injury. Remember when he said he dislocated it in MSA in the finals but sat down and popped it back in during the run and still finished 3rd or something.
The dictionary should just have a pic of GM replacing consistency and professinalism!
Dude is a true legend!
Based on this past seasons results and his Worlds silver, he'll certainly be in the mix to win the overall next year and for the next several seasons assuming he's healthy and still willing to commit to all the travel/mental stress/training/etc...But when he decides to hang up the dual crown fork, I'd wager he'd be a damn serious threat to win any number of EWS events if not the overall provided he trains accordingly (which I'd guarantee he would). Heck, I sometimes wonder how well he'd do at WC XC if he dedicated himself to that style of racing. He truly seems like one of those rare and gifted athletes that could excel and basically any discipline of bike racing - unlike myself, who has the rare ability to suck mightily at all disciplines of bike racing.
great soundtrack BTW... who is it? (won't come up on shazam)
Very nice to see how pros prepare for a race !
Greg Minaar has changed that ....Top bloke, super smooth rider and reet up for a laugh. Oh yeah and he's Peatys mate too!!!!!