Spoke Tales: The Big Finale - Video
The whole GT Factory Racing Team descended on Finale Ligure for the last hurrah of the season. There was a little drama but the good times outweighed the bad with a second place finish for Martin and second place for the team. We are proud of the team for smashing out a great event and for having one seriously fun season!
 | It's always great to go to Finale to close off the season. It's good to see a lot of DH riders show up to come and ride this sick event. Pits on the promenade, beach 10m away, best food in the world and not to forget; some of the most beautiful trails a rider can wish for! Martin was leading the race after Stage 2 but at the end of this stage he hit his derailleur pretty hard, bending the hanger. His gears were skipping on the way down stage 3, resulting in 2 minor crashes and losing 14 seconds on Damien Oton. Bummer if you know that Martin got second this weekend, only 14 sec behind Damien! At the age of 20, we do know his time will come. GTFR was the number 2 team of the weekend and it was great to have Sam Dale and Rachel Strait making it over and joining the team on the podium! Thanks, Tom and Greggy for the hard work! |
Martin bringing the heat to the final stage of the day.
| [Finale is] always a nice season ender. I love ending on a good note and the goal was to finish on the podium. Such a hard battle all weekend long and it felt good to be consistent. Good work team! Thanks to everyone who was involved this season! |
| Lovely summer holiday at the beach to close off the season with the usual great trails and food! Despite how physically demanding the racing was, I finished every day with a smile on my face. |
Anneke on the attack.
Rachel with complete focus.
| It was my first time to Finale and it did not disappoint. The trails on day 1 are much different from what I’m used to in the US! Lot’s of tight corners? I was able to make up some time on day 2 and really pushed myself hard with all the physical stages! |
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| After being injured for most of the season I was super excited to be back racing in Finale. A tough weekend with hard and physically demanding stages. But no better way to end the season with trails ending up at the sea and eating gelato. The team killed it with a 2nd place overall! |
| Finale as always was a good season ender, some tough physical trails this year but still some good racing, and Martin's 2nd along with the team getting 2nd for the day capped off a good season! |
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Team manager Mark Maurissen is one proud dad.
Thanks to all the fans out there for a great season. See you all next year for more good times!
View the full 2017 season of Spoke Tales here.
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Finale's really a special place, if you consider going there, just do it
Outside hyperbole, it would be nice if GT was less at big box and more at the IBDs and that may change as Performance did have an exclusive contract agreement to be the only GT dealer around hence they weren't at proximal LBSs, or you'd be hard pressed to get one from a non-online retailer like Backcountry or America's Bike Company.
As for Martin Maes, maybe he'll try to go for that Hans Rey tenure, maybe not. Like the Atherton's, thanks for everything and well wishes.