Mont Saint Anne World Cup 2011 - The Pictures!

Jul 6, 2011

by Ian Hylands

The rain held off for this years Mt Saint Anne DH final, but the story of the first few days practice and qualifying was all about mud. That, and the new bike that Aaron Gwin rode to victory...

Jason Memmelaar cuts down his spikes in between practice sessions. While the bigger teams have mechanics to do work like this, if you're independant or don't have your own mechanic you do all the work yourself...

Audio Loading...

Mt St Anne is a rough place, and the bombholes that grew on the course gobbled up wheels, pedals, and derailleurs with equal ease.

The first few days at Mont Sainte Anne were wet and muddy. Greg Minaar takes advantage of the air hose at the SRAM trailer to clean the mud off of his shoes.

Audio Loading...

At the end of every muddy practice session Travis takes Greg's bike apart and cleans everything. Muddy water from the giant puddles at the top of the course was soaking the rear brake and causing issues, SRAM's master problem solver John Dawson came up with a bunch of ideas to keep the rear brakes cleaner and dryer.

Audio Loading...

With the rain and the mud everything had to be cleaned each day, if not several times a day. Mick Hannah takes a break between practice runs to clean his helmet while his bike is being cleaned.

Audio Loading...

Aaron Gwin putting the new Carbon Trek Session to work during a rainy practice day at Mt St Anne. No specs on the bike. Likely about 35 lbs with that ti spring and other light weight tricks that Monkey has been known to pull keep weight down. Now gossip amongst yourselves with speculation...

Aaron Gwin putting the new Carbon Trek Session to work during a rainy practice day at Mt St Anne. Gwin didn't do a lot of practice runs but every time he left the pits people were trying to get photos of the bike.

The steady buzz of trainers is the prevalent sound at the start of the DH track before the race. Keep those legs warmed up and the blood flowing, there is a lot of pedaling in this race...

Audio Loading...

Going really fast means you need to be able to slow down quickly, brakes are incredibly important. Travis bled Greg's brakes 3 times before he was satisfied with with how they felt on race day. Greg was fastest through the speed trap...

Audio Loading...

A trail of tear offs leads the way to the gate as Tracy Moseley waits for Floriane Pugin to start. Last rider in the start house, less than a minute to go before the start of her winning run.

Audio Loading...

Tracy Moseley won World Champs here last year, by a full 7.5 seconds. Then in qualifying this year she posted a time that was over 11 seconds faster than 2nd. In the final this year she posted another amazing time, but Floriane Pugin didn't let her win by a huge margin this time.

Audio Loading...

Mick Hannah battling his way through the bombholes littering the track. The combination of loose dirt from the rain and World Cup training was a bit rough on the real estate...

Cedric Gracia used to be a major force on the circuit with incredible speed and style, but a few serious injuries and some personal tragedies took him out for a few years. Now he's back and getting faster every race. An unfortunate chain/derailleur mishap at the top of the course took him out of contention here, but he still managed to make up 11 places between the first split and the finish; all without pedaling!

Audio Loading...

19 year old Danny Hart has been having an amazing season, 2nd at Fort William and 4th at MSA, he's currently sitting in 4th position overall.

Gee flatted in the first part of the course but still made it down the mountain and across the finish line. For some unexplainable reason the UCI still gave him a DNF. Check out the dents in his rim...

Gee flatted in the first part of the course but still made it down the mountain and across the finish line. For some unexplainable reason the UCI gave him a DNF. Check out the dents in his rim...

Greg Minnaar looked like he was having a fast run, 2nd at the first split by a tiny bit, and fastest rider through the speed trap, but then he had a bit of crash... Dirty and a bit beat up but still good enough for 18th...

Aaron Gwin made a bunch of minor mistakes in his race run and crossed the finish line thinking he wasn't even going to make the podium. A nice surprise to realize that he had taken the hot seat with one rider to go. Minnaar's crash cemented the win for him.

Audio Loading...

Josh Bryceland has really stepped it up in the past week with a win at the Halo BDS race last weekend, and then a 2nd place finish here. First World Cup podium and he'll be switching his number 12 plate for a number 6 this weekend in Windham.

Audio Loading...

Boxxer Worlds is serious business. Our young padawan Evan Warner finds focus under the watchful eyes of Boxxer Jedi Masters John Dawson and the Wizard Shawn Cruickshanks in an after hours training session in the SRAM pits at Mt St Anne.

Boxxer Worlds is serious business. Young padawan Evan Warner finds focus under the watchful eyes of Boxxer Jedi Masters John Dawson, and "the Wizard", Shawn Cruickshanks in an after hours training session in the SRAM pits at Mt St Anne.

Audio Loading...

Posted In:
Racing and Events

Author Info:

IanHylands
Member since Jun 23, 2008
588 articles

Report

Must Read This Week

Kona Bicycles' Parent Company Appoints New CFO, Intends to Sell Brand
64295 views

Pole Bicycles Has Filed for Bankruptcy
64023 views

Downhill Bikes of Sea Otter - Part 1
45808 views

Randoms Round 3: Dario's Treasures
44112 views

Brian's Randoms from Sea Otter 2024
43667 views

Pinkbike's DH Fantasy League: Get Your Team On The Line - Fort William is in 10 DAYS!
39133 views

[UPDATED] Final Elite XC Results & Overall Standings from the Araxá XC World Cup 2024
38017 views

Randoms Round 1 - Sea Otter 2024
37921 views

PB Newsletter Signup

54 Comments

25 0

cikudh (Jul 6, 2011 at 0:26)

CG IS THE SERGEANT!

trickn0l0gy (Jul 6, 2011 at 0:44)

CG is the boss!!!
www.youtube.com/watch?v=NisCkxU544c

goxbigxorxgoxhome (Jul 6, 2011 at 0:56)

even without a chain !!

PoMiT (Jul 6, 2011 at 2:42)

www.youtube.com/watch?v=adEexozo-hY&feature=related

CG is the boss

tabletop84 (Jul 6, 2011 at 6:14)

Probably one of the most-watched mtb-videos on youtube: www.youtube.com/watch?v=cVarDBb199M

cedric-eveleigh (Jul 6, 2011 at 6:25)

I think CG just surpassed master chief in badassness

14 0

airsoftesneeto (Jul 6, 2011 at 1:51)

i feel bad for Gee, all that training for nothing to have ur bike fail like that

bigburd (Jul 6, 2011 at 13:06)

He would not keep having this problem if he ran tubes...

airsoftesneeto (Jul 6, 2011 at 15:41)

isnt the bead stronger tubeless?

chettjames (Jul 6, 2011 at 17:42) (Below Threshold)

I thought it was the riders fault when a flat happens??? the bike won't flat without a rider......just sayin!!??!

andywild (Jul 6, 2011 at 1:02)

Haha ... Josh Bryceland looks like a girl! That picture is really good fun!

TomasK (Jul 6, 2011 at 8:24)

Miami Bryc

bigburd (Jul 6, 2011 at 13:07)

hahah I thought he looked like an ugly chick too xD

t1000 (Jul 6, 2011 at 14:04)

When i'll get beard, i will look just like Rambo

rufus33 (Jul 6, 2011 at 0:21)

Atherton got a DNF because he left the track.

IanHylands (Jul 6, 2011 at 0:23)

He didn't leave the track, walked the entire course between the tape. Their official "reason" was that he took too long to get down, but as far as I know there's no time limit...

10 1

trickn0l0gy (Jul 6, 2011 at 0:43)

He left the track for a mere 5 meters. UCI sometimes really are twats.

roberthavill FL (Jul 6, 2011 at 0:46)

he clearly went out of the tape for several meters just after he hoped off his bike. u cannot go out of the tape unless u reenter wea u came out

tgreid (Jul 6, 2011 at 1:27)

ya, you could see it on the live freecaster feed, he went over the tape and walked for a while before getting back on track. Must be the reason for the dnf

dingus (Jul 6, 2011 at 2:57)

If he had gone out of the tape he would have been DSQ not DNF, like Ragot was at Leogang.

IanHylands (Jul 6, 2011 at 8:30)

I honestly don't know the reason, we had a bit of a discussion about it at the event and nobody there seemed to know the real reason. I was told the UCI said he took too long to get down.

dhpig (Jul 6, 2011 at 10:39)

Common sense would suggest that walking down 3/4 of the track with an inoperable bike would qualify as a DNF.

cyrix (Jul 6, 2011 at 10:55)

Common sense would suggest finishing a race counts as finishing the race, regardless of time.

dfiler (Jul 6, 2011 at 12:03)

Here's what the UCI Statutes and Rules have to say:

4.1.035 If a rider exits the course for any reason, he/she must return to the course at the same point from
which he/she exited. If the president of the commissaires panel deems that the rider gained advantage,
the rider is disqualified (DSQ).

Technically, Gee would have finished a few seconds later if he had remained on the course. I don't know if that qualifies as an "advantage" considering it ended up not mattering. But the above is the exact wording of the rules for anyone that is interested.

Downhill340 (Jul 6, 2011 at 3:23)

Cedric Gracia is off the chain

surfermed (Jul 6, 2011 at 7:28)

Comment of the day must go to Hannah...."Spent some quality alone time to polish my helmet"!!!!!!

LeVraiQuebecois (Jul 6, 2011 at 5:46)

Very nice photos! I got the Greg Minnaar crash on video. check it out

www.pinkbike.com/video/205050

goxbigxorxgoxhome (Jul 6, 2011 at 0:16)

Picture 14 with gee is pretty much a Deja vu from Fort william

gambisk (Jul 6, 2011 at 3:19)

He has to be concidering a new wheel/tyre set up after all this, it has really messed up his season. Tho its strange how dan made it down in both fort bill and here without any issues on a near identical setup

stingmered (Jul 6, 2011 at 3:44)

Dan atherton flatted in his Fort Bill race run. But agreed, they must be hacked off with the tyre / rim set up this year.

goxbigxorxgoxhome (Jul 6, 2011 at 3:57)

yeah, but gee also has messed up his rear wheel last year at fort william ... it was SDA round 2 @ fort william

www.pinkbike.com/photo/6599636

thats why i said "deja vu"

because it looks very alike ... except the rim

chrispaulmtb (Jul 6, 2011 at 5:08)

that was this year he had an identical problem at the fort william sda. then he smashed up a load of spokes in the world cup 2 weekd later on the same track.

goxbigxorxgoxhome (Jul 6, 2011 at 5:22)

well... they should think about MAVIC as a sponsor and get some Deemax Ultimate Wheels

JRoe (Jul 6, 2011 at 11:00)

I agree to be honest. But they have to just use the rims coz there sponsored by saint. The rims are actually dt Swiss with saint stickers on.

goxbigxorxgoxhome (Jul 8, 2011 at 5:49)

and if they switch to Maxxis tires they dont even have to paint the logos black while using them

should be a big step forward though

FireBallDHR (Jul 6, 2011 at 0:33)

gee left the tape and then went back in it was on freecaster cant miss it

IanHylands (Jul 6, 2011 at 0:39)

Yeah I was there, he supposedly went back in at the same place he went out, that's allowed...

webbrider12 (Jul 6, 2011 at 1:12)

But he would still get the lowest amount of points in the race, even if he did finish and not DNF. He's still okay for overalls

tgreid (Jul 6, 2011 at 1:32)

freecaster.tv/mountainbike/1014892/replay-mens-race-uci-world-cup-2011-dhi-4-mont-sainte-anne-can

98:30 to 98:45 you can see him go off, walk about 10meters before coming back on course. too bad though, good to see he walked all the way down, shows a lot of class.

haighd2 (Jul 6, 2011 at 3:53)

does anyone know what the implications are of being disqualified vs getting a DNF vs walking down the track and coming in last??

@ianhylands, its exactly because you were there that you wouldnt have seen what everyone else saw on freecaster which was gee leave the track and re enter somewhere else what i dont understand is why he did this. its like he went to walk back to the bottom then realised/remembered there might be some advantage to walking down the track.

IanHylands (Jul 6, 2011 at 8:34)

There is definitely no advantage to walking down the track, probably the hardest route down the mountain if you're walking. You're absolutely right about me not seeing it, there were giant screens but I couldn't see one from where I was. We did have a pretty good discussion about it after and nobody that was there seemed to know why he was actually DNF. Going through the tape and not going back in at the same point would have been a dsq as others have mentioned. We were told the UCI's official reason was that he took to long, although I don't think that's a valid reason either. We'll probably never know for sure, doesn't really matter that much really.

chazdog (Jul 6, 2011 at 16:07)

Having to walk most of the track, logically, is not finishing a dh race. I've run the last ten metres of a finishing stright when i've flatted, lost chain just before it an all, but thats a bit different to a huge section of track . I'f someone had walked from the start gate would we have given them a time??

His time wouldve given him no points anyways, and yeah its a matter pride to a lot of people to always finish, but he still has that to a point (how much pride is there in walking down a mountain with a broken bike..). He can hold his head up and you can bitch about the uci some more. it really doesnt matter does it??

cyrix (Jul 6, 2011 at 17:04)

tgreid, him leaving the track wasn't the reason for his DNF. If anything he would get a DSQ, according to the UCI rules. They never explain why he got the DNF.

panzer103 (Jul 6, 2011 at 4:26)

Awesome photos! One of these days I would love to try to ride that track. Would a DNF be in my future? Yeah,

fullbug (Jul 6, 2011 at 8:45)

brosnan was impressive. hart and his rodeo style. the youngsters are scary fast but yeah, CG owns.

BLIPDH (Jul 6, 2011 at 9:38)

UCI are biiitttcccchheeesss

Hendy94 (Jul 6, 2011 at 0:17)

Looked Awsome! Sucked about Gee again

Romichelamiche (Jul 7, 2011 at 2:48)

French guys are proud of CG, really.

airsoftesneeto (Jul 6, 2011 at 1:52)

do you guys know why they dont run tubeless all the time?

gambisk (Jul 6, 2011 at 3:14)

Was Gee's problem not because he was running tubless? There is a fine line between low enough pressure for max grip but high enough so it doesnt come flying off the rim like gee. To answer your question I would guess for extra protection on all the drop offs to avoid burping air

Gotta feel for the poor guy thats not the first time hes lost a race due to a tyre/wheel related mechanical this season.

bigburd (Jul 6, 2011 at 13:11)

If he ran a tube just for the rear he would have far less probs

BLIPDH (Jul 6, 2011 at 13:49)

"listen to greg cleaning" hahahaha

caiocrz (Jul 6, 2011 at 3:39)

Travis looks pissed haha

Arin (Jul 6, 2011 at 13:03)

Nice...oh Aaron..u good