Peat on target for Worlds after Bringewood victory

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Steve Peat (Santa Cruz - Syndicate) and Tracey Moseley (T-Mo Racing) took their first British Downhill Series wins of the year when in Bringewood at the weekend. ‘Peaty’ and Mosely will now turn their attention to the upcoming UCI Mountain Bike World Championships in Austria on 2 September.

Peat took out the Elite men’s field ahead of Joseph Smith and Matthew Simmonds after qualifying in third sport the day before. The multiple World Cup and World Championship-winner rode a time of 2:27 and finished a full 3 seconds faster than second-place Smith to capture the win.

"The course has been pretty tough all weekend," Peat told British Cycling. "We had a lot of bad weather yesterday afternoon and the course rutted up pretty bad in the top woods but it did seem to clear out this morning," he said.

The Santa Cruz - Syndicate rider is looking to capture his second World Championship title - in just a couple of days - after his emotional win in Canberra back in 2009. The win in Bringewood delivered a much-needed confidence boost for the 38-year-old.

"I'm happy to take a win to go to the World Championships next week. This is my first National win for quite a while, I've had a few 2nds and 3rds, I was injured at the beginning of the year so it feels like I've had to build up from there and it's coming good at the right time," he said.

Moseley has been absent for most of the year after turning her attention to endurance racing but after a dominant performance in the women’s field, looks to end her downhill career on a high in Austria.

"This is my first national series race this year, I did Fort William World cup and Val D'Isere but crashed out in qualifying so this is the first time on a downhill bike for a while [and I’m] ready for the Worlds next week," she told British Cycling.

"I've pretty much semi-retired from downhill now and I’m concentrating on racing endurance events. I’m currently leading the British Enduro Series and I've been out in France competing in their races. Today will probably be my last ever National downhill race and the Worlds will be my last ever downhill race. This sport does take it out of you physically and I've won everything I set out to win and there’s really nowhere else to go in the sport other then maintaining where I am.

"I'm enjoying the fitness elements in the events I ride now instead of hanging around waiting for a couple of downhill runs so now is an ideal opportunity to walk away from the sport at the top achieving what I had set out to achieve," she said.