Rennie Podiums at the world cup downhill in Willingen, Germany

Downhill and 4X WC # 2 Willingen, Germany June 3-5

The Santa Cruz Syndicate team resumed travel after the US Open. Nathan Rennie, Henry O’Donnell and Mathieu Dupelle arrived in Frankfurt on May 31st, Nathan’s 24th birthday. To say he had an adventure on his birthday is fair, although not what he had in mind. Stuck in a hotel in the middle of the red light district seemed entertaining at first, but after being asked for spare change from a homeless guy crapping on the sidewalk, the night went downhill from there. Let’s just say the guys are lucky to be alive.Arriving in the charming town of Willingen, the guys felt a lot safer. Biergartens abound, dogs walked their owners and enjoyed dining in the finest restaurants. The dogs, yes, welcome, as you like. A friendly, furry fellow gave the big eyes to Henry, rather his rack of ribs, but the dog had as much luck begging for Henry’s ribs as the homeless guy in Frankfurt did begging for change.

The first day of downhill practice took place on Thursday. It was easier to ride than expected from the walking inspection. This short course, about 2 minutes in the dry, turns out to be punishing. The small ski hill had a swath bulldozed through the forest with dirt, rocks and boulders put in place. At least 90% of the track was manmade. Through the forest the imported dirt had been pushed up into massive mounds to drop from. Some described the course as a “freeride downhill”; with jumps everywhere and two fake mounds that rose 30 feet up on the backside.

Rennie describes the course, “There is the main line that everyone is doing, which isn’t the biggest line. There are tons of gaps to jump in the first 40 seconds of the course with 8-9 jumps before the trees. The jumps are all over 20 feet gaps with ground so soft that they are hard to do. Getting the speed for them is the hard part. They are much harder to do in the wet, and if it rains the optional line beside them will become the fast line.” They are calling for a 90 % chance of rain on Sunday.


4X practice was held Thursday. This course was fully man made and the riders like it. There is a massive 50-foot gap jump as an alternate line that only a few were eyeing up and doing run-ups. Finally Sasha Meijenburg was the first to attempt it and did it well. Just landing softly a bit on the flat, everyone was shocked when he rolled out of the next berm and fell off his bike with a broken ankle. No one else tried afterwards, and it wasn’t even going to be much of a time advantage to do it.

Friday was 4X practice and qualifier. The rain starts pissing down for the entire practice and if by a miracle the sun peeks through 10 minutes before the qualifier started. The drenched racers put in their runs and Rennie qualifies in 7th place.

It rained much of the night, and after tire changes were made in the morning everyone was treated to a dry, but cold day. Practice went well as racers navigated the treachery in the rocky sections and coped with the off camber grassy turns. Rennie barrels through it all, churning up chunks of grass in the corners with his drifting control.

Saturday evening brought the 4X finals to the masses as thousands lined up to watch. After one and a half rounds, disaster struck the start gate as it failed and was not able to be fixed. The race was cancelled until Sunday evening after the downhill. Rennie advanced from round one and was in the gate when it broke. Once again we were treated to rain in the evening.

Sunday morning downhill qualifier, spikes stay on the bikes, but the rain has stopped. Rennie qualifies in 8th place with a 2:28.73, and O”Donnell in 63rd @2:42:18. Results are:

Mick Hannah: 2:23:21
Greg Minnaar: 2:25:05
Matti Lehikoinen: 2:26:76
Sam Hill: 2:27:19
George Atherton: 2:27:38

Downhill finals, stays dry all day, the course is greasy and improving. Dan Atherton sets a time of 2:23:04 with 20 guys left on top. Then came the rain, starting one person ahead of Rennie, 2 1/2 minutes before his start. The track was quickly getting slick, and Rennie pins it down with a time of 2:23:19, just .15 behind Atherton. The rain causes some struggling for the final seven, until Minnaar flies down with a time of 2:19:59! He was apparently the only one to do the massive jump up at the start in these conditions and the timesavings were obvious.
Last man down was Mick Hannah, and he lost control in the wet conditions and went face first into the mud. Rennie finishes in third. O’Donnell finishes in 64th place with a flat tire.

Results:

Greg Minnaar: 2:19:59
Dan Atherton: 2:23:04
Nathan Rennie: 2:23:19
Chris Kovarik: 2:24:76
Sam Hill: 2:25:46


After downhill an attempt was made to have the 4X race. The gate was still broken and the scene was a disaster. They attempted to run the women’s race, with huge controversy, and the girls protested the race. I don’t know if it will be a complete cancellation, or if UCI will make the results stand.
The men did not race.


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