Giant Factory Team sweeps All-Mountain titles

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Mark Weir (WTB-Santa Cruz) pranced to the podium of after winning Sunday's downhill race, by a slim nine seconds, wearing a boxer's robe embroidered with the words: "Can't be beat; CHAMP; won't be beat." Giant racers Kelli Emmett and Carl Decker, however, were the big victors taking their respective all-mountain world titles after commanding cross country performances.

The victory came after two years of absence from the race by Weir - in which he and wife Suzie had their first child - who is ultimately responsible for putting the event on the map.

Luna's Katerina Nash won the women's downhill over second placed Emmett by just over two minutes.

Decker came into Sunday's downhill with a five-plus minute advantage over teammate Adam Craig, who was the 2009 all-mountain champ after sweeping the previous year's events.

Emmett held a three-minute advantage over Nash after the cross country and gave up just over two to her rival in the downhill.

The two racetracks in Downieville are now storied. WTB-Santa Cruz teammates Mark Weir and Jason Moeschler have historically dominated the events, splitting the all-mountain titles for the better part of a decade. Weir is most vocal about the rugged nature of the all-mountain event, and his prowess racing it, which pairs a 29-mile cross country race with 4,413 feet of climbing and 5,692 feet of descending to a 17 mile super D style downhill with 5,333 feet of descending and 1,010 of climbing to crown its victor.

Last year's winner, Craig, took second place overall after placing second in the cross country and third in the downhill, while Moeschler took third overall after crashing hard in the cross county and toughing out the downhill.

Downhill times were incredibly close; less than 25 seconds separated the top four riders in an event that lasted more than 44 minutes.

Trek-SRAM-Oakley rider Ross Schnell salvaged his weekend with a second place in the downhill race after a lack luster 12th place in the cross country that saw him finish more than 15minutes in arrears of Decker.

Giant's Decker won the all-mountain event on a prototype of Giant's 2011 Anthem X 29er bike. The 26-pound rig was decidedly more cross country oriented than most racers' bikes.

"It suits my riding style," said Decker of the new 29er. "Small balls, big lungs. I can go downhill alright, but I'm not a big air dude and I like to mitigate my risks as much as possible."

Downhill winner Weir rode a much bigger bike than Decker: a Santa Cruz Nomad Carbon with a coil sprung Fox DHX RC4 rear shock and Float 36 fork for well over 6 inches of travel front and rear, which weighted in at 29.33-pounds. He was philosophical about the way this year's race was won.

"It should probably be based on a point schedule," he said of the all-mountain overall. "He [Decker] won the all-mountain on the climb. It was a great ride and he's a great rider, but the margin was huge. You shouldn't just have to ride the downhill, it takes the race out of the race."

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