Today, deep in the Welsh valleys, a hillside flanking Dinas Mawddwy laid host to a mythical show down. A tale of of true conquest - for there could only be one winner. Welcome to Wales - land of the dragon, for the fifth Red Bull Hardline.
Despite the UK sweltering in the hottest summer on record, the Welsh valleys remain verdant. While mid-week trackwalk and practice brought blue skies, things were about to turn sour. Things were about to get interesting. Fridays practice was cancelled due to biblical down poors akin to Lourdes 2017, the sodden ground was left to rest - hoping to preserve line choice for race day.
Shortly after dawn on race day and the multitude of lines were soon being moulded into a deep trench despite the sun trying to break through. To escape the rut riders would have to either place their rubber on precarious slabs of bedrock or send their bikes into space, a common occurrence on this track.
With Fridays practice cancelled riders were eager to get some track time this meant battling the elements with rain seemingly blowing in every time a rider dropped.
Gee sails over the enlarged final fly off and charges for the line
All the athletes made sure to put plenty of time into meeting their fans
After the event we grabbed a quick chat with Gee:
So, you’ve finally won your home event, Hardline. How does it feel?
| Oh mate, amazing. It’s such a tough event and I’ve had so many tries – I’ve had mechanicals, injuries.. So yeah, absolutely buzzing. |
What makes Hardline different to the tracks on the World Cup circuit? What actually makes it more difficult? Some riders would say the jumps, but others suggest it’s the bits in between.
| It’s just the sheer number of obstacles, there’s lots of jumps, there’s so many drops. The bits between them are hard. It’s just a huge amount of information to process as you're riding down, you know, the person that can get it all through their mind and get it dialled is the fastest man down the hill. |
How did you manage to maintain such a calm voice throughout the course preview on such a crazy track?
| Ha ha ha – I was just chilling you know. Enjoying it, like, I quite enjoy it when there’s no pressure, you’re just doing a nice clean run down and compared to the speed you do in a race run – it’s quite chill.—Gee Atherton |
Watch all the action tomorrow
HERE on RedbullTV at 10AM PST
Final Results:
1. Gee Atherton 03:06:73
2. Bernard Kerr 03:12:30
3. Charlie Hatton 03:18:92
4. Joe Smith 03:18:99
5. Alexandre Fayolle 03:22:78
6. Brage Vestavik 03:25:84
7. Florent Payet 03:26:48
8. Gaëtan Vigé 03:40:67
9. Laurie Greenland 03:43:24
10. Kade Edwards 05:47:52
MENTIONS: @redbullbike /
@tris400d /
@trek
it's Live at 6:00 PM WEST...
When GOAT thinks N+1 times to gap that massive "roadgap (?)", it put's everything in prespective!
This is The event and today, I'll watch every run... again!
Massive Features + Look at the time! TOP!
Yeah but pinkbike posted Qualifying and final results in one post. And with expecting the race will be a day later you overread final easily..
I get down voted to FK when ever I suggest it
I could be wrong though and Gee doesn't ride the course until everyone else can.
No one seems to mind the Athertons having an advantage so it's no big deal. I was just curious if anyone else thought about this.
End of the day its awesome to watch!
Pinkbike, Redbull.tv ... First thing I saw early this morning on Instagram was f*cking Maddogboris posting Gee had won ... have some f*cking brains & some common courtesy please. Wasn't even going to watch it, but I did. It was good but come on media people ... geez!