Riders Retreat Report from the World Cup Downhill and 4 Cross, Champery, Switzerland

The 2nd round of the Nissan sponsored World Cup arrived in a new resort this weekend-Champery. They were greeted by beautiful scenery being surrounded by the Alps climbing steeply all around the pits. The main talk though was of the track- newly built for this race it was one of the most technical tracks to be seen in a long time- This was a very tough assault for the riders and many of the riders could not get down it without numerous crashes in practice. To see the likes of Steve Peat, Gee Atherton and Nicolas Vouilloz opting for flat pedals instead of their usual SPDs was testament to the style and difficulty of the track.The return of the 10 times world champion, Nicolas Vouilloz, was also causing quite a buzz amongst the local French fans (Champery borders the French Alps). He was very understated setting up his truck as far away from the main area as possible and almost riding un-noticed in practice as many didn’t recognize him in his kit.



Weather would play a big role in this weekend’s racing. The track was fresh and even in the dry, riders were choosing mud tires to dig through the soft soil. It was clear that in the wet some sections would be down right dangerous and un-rideable!


4 Cross:

The 4 cross track was built very close to the finish area and looked like some of it was directly onto a car park. Also, it was made from gravel/ tarmac material which seems wrong for a mountain bike event. This was disappointing, but the length of the track (close to 1 minute long) and the design of the corners, made for some great racing.

In the mens event, Brian Lopes qualified first and looked his usual best- meticulous, hunched over and pedals spinning almost constantly! Scott Beaumont looked to be back at his best qualifying in 4th place on his Rocky Mountain.



The Womens event looked as close to a 1 horse race as you could imagine. Jill Kintner destroyed them in qualifying, posting a time 5 seconds faster than any other female and easily fast enough to qualify for the mens event- 24th fastest in the mens qualification is incredible.

The racing was held on Saturday evening and although practice was in the dry, the racing had just begun when the heavens opened. Not just rain- but a full on water assault! Suddenly water was streaming off the course and the spectators were running for cover. The rain was so hard that the racing had to be postponed for 15 minutes or so for it to ease off.

When the racing resumed the main contenders all made it through the heats easily; Beaumont, Lopes, Gracia, Prokop, The Athertons, Philip Polc...



In the Quarter finals the racing started to become more aggressive- Dan Atherton was trailing in 3rd and desperate to close in to the 2nd transfer spot- he went for an aggressive block pass into the final corner and looked to have made it stick- but slipped a pedal and lost out in the sprint. Absolutely fuming at himself he made a hasty exit through a rapidly parting crowd!

The final came down to Brian Lopes, Gee Atherton, Mickel Prokop and Philip Polc. As the gate dropped Lopes and Prokop immediately pushed ahead with Polc and Atherton further back. Prokop had the early lead but Lopes muscled through and then held put his head down and pedaling. Prokop tried to close the gap but couldn’t get close enough for a block pass. Polc ended 3rd and Gee trailed in 4th- not really getting into the race alas.


The Womens event had Kinter line up against Fionn Griffiths, Mio Suemasa and local rider Rachel Sydoux. As the gate dropped Kintner seemed to freeze and the other 3 had an immediate head start before Kintner woke up! Seydoux had the holeshot and was off and running trying to keep her lead. However Kintner had so much more raw speed she caught and passed her by half way and stretched this lead by the finish. Syedoux held on for 2nd and Fionn Griffiths 3rd.



Downhill:

Racing on Sunday was all about the downhill event. Overnight rain had left the track very slick in the woods and claimed many a victim in early practice. British rider, Dirt magazines Rob Breakwell had a huge crash and was lucky to walk away from that with just a limp and a broken brake lever.


The semi final was held in beautiful sun and a rapidly drying track- it was becoming easier to ride and the times was plummeting. With the fastest seed off first, we’d soon see the bench mark times. However there seemed to be 2 benchmarks! One for Sam Hill and one for the rest- he took 15 seconds out of 2nd place! He stopped the clock at 4mins 1 second with France's Mickel Pascal in 2nd on 4mins 16secs. Nico Vouilloz in 5th and Honda mounted Brendan Faiclough a very creditable 6th place (he is recovering from a broken hand). Steve Peat crashed and trailed into 50th place or so.



The Womens times were a huge spread with Sabrina Jonnier qualifying fastest in 5mins 17seconds, Mio Suemasa 2nd, and Emmeline Ragot from France 3rd.



The Women's final saw mid pack qualifier and local rider Mareille Saner set a very fast time, just breaking the 5 minute barrier. As the other riders came down they were not able to beat this – although Ragot got close with a 5mins 1 sec. With only Jonnier to come all eyes were on the screen. As the camera followed her we saw her spin out and slide to a stop. It was all over and although she got close with a 5mins 2 sec time the victory went to Saner. This was a very emotional victory for her- local girl, sponsored by the resort and venue itself and many of the organisers were close to tears to see their friend and local rider victorious.


The men's final followed and immediately the attention was grabbed by the first man down. Adam Brayton, the young English rider new to the scene, was last qualifier and thus off first. He stormed over in 4mins 22 seconds which was right up amongst the top qualifying times. No one was getting close and Adam was a little overwhelmed to be sat in the hot seat for so long. Steve Peat was going to take the lead, and duly did with a 4mins 11 sec, but to remain in the hotseat until Steve Peat came down was very impressive. Remember the name Adam Brayton! Matti Lehikoinen then pipped Peaty by just over a second to take the hotseat (having a slow qualifier left Lehikoinen 41st rider off). Barel and Mick Hannah came close but couldn’t top Matti.


Then Mother nature did her worst.

The heavens opened once again and the rain was bouncing off the ground. Suddenly the track was ruined and the riders didn’t stand a chance! The once dusty open sections were now covered with slick mud and the camera showed world class rider after world class rider fall like a novice skater on the ice. Minnaar got tangled in the catch netting, riders were throwing goggles off, gloves off and poor David Vasquez (qualifying just out side the top 20) set off in the worst of it and barely made it down alive!



It was clear that Matti Lehikoinen had the win and the podium would remain untouched- Peat was 2nd, Barel 3rd, Hannah 4th and Adam Brayton 5th. The riders coming down in the rain were posting times over well over 5 minutes and were nearly a minute and a half off the 4minute 10 seconds of Lehikoinen.

Then the chattering stopped…

The commentators shreak caught everyone off guard- Sam Hill was only 1 second down at the split!! As he came into view it looked as though he had fallen off too with mud down his side. As the camera followed him through the woods the riders huddled under the shelter of the hot seat tent stared, slack jawed as he rode the track like it was dry.

He stormed into view and it was going to to be close-ridiculous! He crossed the line in 4minutes 11 seconds, 3 hundredths behind Steve Peat to finish 3rd.


Suddenly he was swamped by media and all of the riders who wanted to congratulate him- everyone was clear who should have won and who, in reality had taken over a minute out of Nico Vouilloz, Gee Atherton and others who had been in the same conditions.

5th Mick Hannah
4th Fabien Barel
3rd Sam Hill
2nd Steve Peat
1st Matti Lehikoinen.

So the Honda rider had been victorious, Peaty had got a strong 2nd, but Sam Hill had dominated and shown that he is clearly head and shoulder the best rider when things get technical and corner follows corner.

I am still shaking my head at what I witnessed.

For the full results please see:
www.nissan-ucimtbworldcup.com/en/Results/


Alan
www.riders-retreat.co.uk