Mont Saint Anne Day 2 - UCI World Cup 2012
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 Lots of changes for Sam Hill of late: Fatherhood, and a new sidekick (for two weeks) with Mitch Ropelato on board vs an injured Troy Brosnan. It seems he wears it well: he's getting stronger after two injury plagued seasons and has more than a bit of gas left in the tank after today's quali run. Sam's won here before. Finishing 8th in quali just serves to remind the rest of the field that he's still a threat. |
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| Gee may have binned it horrifically yesterday, but you'd never know. He's a tough one, and even though he's a protected rider, he opted to race the quali vs. rolling the start and resting to heal up for the final. And it paid off with a sixth place in quali. |
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| Patrick Thome of Lapierre Racing stepped it up today: 12th on the day. The new kid on the team marched past Cam Cole (16th) and Blenki (18th) to put his own stamp on Mt St Anne, and proved Lapierre to be as shrewd in his acquisition as they have been with other riders they've picked up (Danny Hart--the one that got away; and Loic Bruni). |
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| Tracy Hannah launching the booter that sent down a couple riders yesterday. It's been a long time since she's raced full tilt all season long. South Africa proved she's got the the horse power to make it happen. But expect her to keep getting faster. Fourth on the day for Hannah. |
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| Sabrina Jonnier had a rough South Africa injury: a broken hip. Val di Sole went down a week after getting out of bed. Now she's looking for the confidence that drove her to numerous wins. By her own admission, she's nervous, and her riding shows it. +29 on the day; but it's a rebuilding year for her and I'm confident she'll get her legs back under her before the season's over. |
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| One of the best rides of the season for Pom Pom, cutting almost to the head of the class, but 4.17 seconds behind Rachel. |
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| Rachel Atherton is back, and after missing the win by a tiny margin in Scotland she's back with a vengeance. First in qualifying today by 4 seconds. |
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| Not to be. He's won here before, but Chris Kovarik had a mechanical, and finished 41 places out of the money. Look for Kovarik to be pushing hard in Windham. |
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| Minnaar's owned this mountain for years. Only 2 seconds and change down to Gwin's qualifying time... The man should not be ignored on Sunday. Gwin is not unbeatable, and if anyone can do it, it's this man. |
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| Finally - no mechanical's for Bulldog and he has the time to prove it, qualifying in fourth place and only six seconds back. |
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| What would Myles do? Rockwell doles out the advice to Gwin on the final practice run before qualifying. |
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| Locked in. Steve basically cruised this qualifying; the kid's got loads left in the tank and with the rain falling outside, and Steve's love for NW mud, Sunday is shaping up to be an interesting race. |
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| Ben Reid checking the roost opportunities in the woods on his final practice run. |
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| Any mechanic will tell you; the devil is in the details. Eli Woody of Trek World Racing |
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| DH tracks wreck bikes, pure and simple;but very few track ruin wheels so readily as Mt St Anne. |
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| Sabo pulling onto the track for one last run before qualifying. |
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Complete Qualifying results can be found here
Words and Photos by Colin Meagher and Fraser Britton
Author Info:
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/nerd alert
Ehhh, Hustler, did you read what was under the picture? My comment was posted well before that update, and nonetheless the track was dry as hell except for some muddy spots in the woods.
what race has gwin won in the wet? other than fortbill because that wasn't really that wet. i mean like the proper worldcup slop.
"until he crashed" he himself said somwhere that he isn't into the mud, and he crashed, end of story really.