Athertons make history at World Cup

All of the Atherton’s together

All of the Atherton’s together (Image credit: Luke Webber)

Gravity racing at the World Cup in Andorra last weekend was a family affair with three members of the British Atherton family taking three of four possible victories in the gravity events.

Dan Atherton kicked off the family's winning ways with a victory in the 4X in which he beat reigning World Champion Brian Lopes. Sister Rachel Atherton was next. She convincingly defeated Sabrina Jonnier (Team Maxxis) in the downhill by eight seconds.

The pressure was then on brother Gee in the men's downhill final. He won by just three tenths of a second over Samuel Hill (Monster Energy). Greg Minnaar (Santa Cruz Syndicate) was third. Gee Atherton put in a solid descent with no mistakes - a performance that let him step to the top of the World Cup podium.

"I'm pretty stoked this has happened," said Gee. "We have been working on it for a while it's something we're always aiming at and for it to come off now it is just surreal. I am really looking forward to the rest of the season now, I can get into the travelling and the racing and get stronger as I go along. There is always more to come, I can always improve and I'm confident of doing that. That's what I love about the sport."

Sister Rachel summed up the family's mood. "I am so proud of us all, Dan yesterday and Gee under pressure pulled it off, it was perfect really."

See Cyclingnews' full coverage of the World Cup in Andorra.

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