Madison Saracen 2013 - UCI World Cup THREE: Vallnord

La Massana, Andorra, home of mountain bike legend Cedric Gracia and the Vallnord bike park. A sheer sided mountain course that starts in the clouds and ends in the main street of the town. With so many infamous tracks on the World Cup circuit, it’s always good when a brand new one comes along and this one was a belter!


The sun continued to shine on the team, arriving on Tuesday evening to Spanish tapas and a friendly welcome to the town of La Massana. Anticipation of checking out the course started to build. Straight out the start hut, the track was deceptively mellow; tree roots, a little double jump and then a short pedal to get the lungs burning before things tipped a little more vertical and cut an off camber line through the trees, occasionally heading straight down the slope of the hill through narrow shoots with drops, turns and rocks to keep the eyes and the smiles wide. And on it went, steeper and rougher until the riders were spat out into the field above the high street where they jumped a big step down and drifted round a gravel turn into the finish arena.


Qualification soon came around and after a season of some frustration, Manon’s persistence and dedication was repaid. She quickly found her groove on the steep technical hillside and laid down a marker that saw her sitting first, 3.6 seconds ahead of Rachel Atherton. It was clear there was more to come from series leader Atherton, but for now this little victory was a sign of exciting things to follow on Sunday.


Harry put a tidy run together, good enough for the top forty and Sam recovered a mid-run disaster to bring it home just in time for a place in the final. A slight drift out on a dusty turn and into TV cables that tangled in his pedals and wheel, followed by what seemed like an eternity unravelling the unwanted passengers before continuing on to the finish. Time for a team track walk, clear any doubts, find a few more seconds and focus the minds ready for some evening revision of the GoPro footage from the day.


Clouds? The weather forecast said sun with rain a possibility in the evening but the clouds rolled in for breakfast, bringing with them a long burst of rain, which promised to put a spoiler on the day. Across the pits, there was a frantic change of outfits and tyres. By the time everyone had themselves prep’d for the worst, the sun had fought back and blue skies prevailed. The track was barely effected, dust still flying, smiles returned and summer time resumed!


First up then, the women’s final and with Manon last to go, the tension began to build at the bottom of the hill. French girls stacked out the top three places in an ominous 90’s style before Rachel Atherton came down and brought us zooming back to the 21st century with a time some 11 seconds faster than Myriam Nicole’s. So with Manon charging down the hill, we held our breath… She hit the first split just two seconds down on Rachel and held that margin as she continued her charge through split two, some three and a half minutes into the run with the steepest and most technical challenges still to come. Launching the step down into the finish arena and sprinting for the line, it was close, a master class by the British pair that saw Rachel take the win but Manon pull the deficit back to just over one second with a fantastic show of riding on the lower slopes, with the rest of the field over 11 seconds back!


Manon - "It’s definitely my favourite track so far, I had a few wild moments today, I guess it was to be expected on a technical track, trying so hard. I’m happy to have pushed closer to Rachel, especially on a near five minute long track. It’s great to be back on the podium again and improving my standing in the overall. I’m really looking forward to the next one now!"


The men’s final promised to be no less exciting and delivered on all counts. Sam stamped his authority on the early runners, sitting in the hot seat, with a five second margin that held until some of the top twenty riders started to cut into his lead. Times this year have been closer than ever and Sam’s final position of 21st was a great one but did not tell the full story. His time was just 5 seconds off the podium. So a building block towards the top ten finish he’s pushing closer to at every World Cup. Harry had a great start to his run, just fading slightly towards the bottom section, no major mistakes but not quite the blazing run he was after. Nevertheless, a solid ride to 41st position is no mean feat in this hyper-competitive World Cup season that next heads on to Canada and Mt. Saint Anne.

More from the team in two weeks when battle resumes...

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Racing and Events Saracen