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MTB World Cup Cross Country #8 & Downhill & Four Cross #8 2009

Date range:
September 18-20, 2009

September 20, Elite men downhill finals:

Hill secures World Cup with victory

By:
Rob Jones
Published:
September 20, 2009, 16:07,
Updated:
September 21, 2009, 21:15

Minnaar holds onto second overall with bronze in Austria

Sam Hill's ride left no doubts

Sam Hill's ride left no doubts

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While the women's World Cup downhill title had been decided prior to the final race, the men's was completely open. Sam Hill (Monster Energy / Specialized / Mad Catz) was leading, but by the slimmest of margins; the Australian sat only 16 points ahead of Greg Minnaar (Santa Cruz Syndicate), with new world champion Steve Peat (Santa Cruz Syndicate) also still in the race, 69 points behind Hill. Gee Atherton (Animal Commencal) was also in with a shout, holding a tally of 141 points.

Hill's lead was padded when he picked up 50 valuable points by winning qualifying, while Minnaar crashed, but the race between the two basically came down to final: if Minnaar won and Hill didn't finish second, the South African would take the title.

"I was alright until 20 minutes before the start of my race," revealed Hill afterwards. "Greg had done a good run, so I started to get a bit nervous. I was pretty shaky, and all I could think about was the overall, and that I had to get down fast to beat Greg. I think it's been a good strong battle all year. I had some bad luck at some races, and so did others, so it is definitely pretty special to come out on top here."

Josh Bryceland (Santa Cruz Syndicate) set the first time under 4:10, but barely had a chance to climb into the Hot Seat before his teammate Minnaar came down two riders later to obliterate his time with a 4:04.71. This run began to look pretty solid, as names such as Mick Hannah (GT Bicycles), Justin Leov (Yeti Fox Shox), Peat and Gee Atherton all came up short.

"I felt that I had it in me to do well," said Minnaar, "but I had a bad start, made some mistakes and lost my rhythm. I kept making small mistakes through the top until I was able to regroup halfway down. I was surprised that my time held up so long. It's kind of hard to lose the title when I had the most wins for the season."

However, Minnaar's hopes received a blow when Sam Blenkinsop (Yeti Fox Shox) knocked nearly a second and a half off his time.

Blenkinsop took the Hot Seat and held it through the remaining riders until it was Hill's turn. The Australian came through the first split over two seconds up on Blenkinsop, and continued on to finish 2.33 seconds in front, taking his second World Cup win of the season and confirming him as the World Cup winner for 2009. Minnaar stayed in second while Peat remained in third.

Results

# Rider Name (Country) Team Result
1 Samuel Hill (Aus) Monster Energy / Specialized / Mad Catz 0:04:01.10  
2 Samuel Blenkinsop (NZl) Yeti Fox Shox Factory Race Team 0:00:02.33  
3 Greg Minnaar (RSA) Santa Cruz Syndicate 0:00:03.61  
4 Aaron Gwin (USA) Yeti Fox Shox Factory Race Team 0:00:06.97  
5 Brendan Fairclough (GBr) Monster Energy / Specialized / Mad Catz 0:00:07.83  
6 Justin Leov (NZl) Trek World Racing 0:00:08.18  
7 Steve Peat (GBr) Santa Cruz Syndicate 0:00:08.25  
8 Josh Bryceland (GBr) Santa Cruz Syndicate 0:00:08.27  
9 Luke Strobel (USA) Team Maxxis-Rocky Mountain Bicycles 0:00:08.49  
10 Mickael Pascal (Fra) MSC Bikes 0:00:08.79  
11 Nick Beer (Swi) Scott 11 0:00:08.85  
12 Markus Pekoll (Aut) Solid Aclass Factory Team 0:00:09.00  
13 Gee Atherton (GBr) Animal Commencal 0:00:09.35  
14 Marc Beaumont (GBr) GT Bicycles 0:00:10.90  
15 Mitchell Delfs (Aus) Kenda Morewood 0:00:12.20  
16 Fabien Barel (Fra) Subaru Mountain Bike Pro Team 0:00:12.83  
17 Joseph Smith (GBr) Kona 0:00:12.90  
18 Robin Wallner (Swe) 0:00:13.04  
19 Thibaut Ruffin (Fra) 0:00:13.06  
20 Fabien Pedemanaud (Fra) Scott 11 0:00:13.39  
21 Bernard Kerr° (GBr) 0:00:14.09  
22 Wyn Masters (NZl) Ancillotti Doganaccia Racing Team 0:00:14.10  
23 Boris Tetzlaff (Aut) Solid Aclass Factory Team 0:00:14.26  
24 Damien Spagnolo (Fra) Subaru Mountain Bike Pro Team 0:00:14.34  
25 Bernat Guardia Pascual (Spa) Massi 0:00:14.57  
26 Thomas Braithwaite (GBr) 0:00:14.71  
27 Michael Hannah (Aus) GT Bicycles 0:00:15.13  
28 Toni Berg (Fin) 0:00:15.14  
29 Cesar Rojo Vidal (Spa) 0:00:15.75  
30 Danny Hart° (GBr) Lapierre Powered By Saab Salomon 0:00:16.36  
31 Adam Vagner (Cze) 0:00:16.44  
32 Marcel Beer (Swi) 0:00:16.55  
33 Marcus Klausmann (Ger) Ghost A.T.G. Pro Team 0:00:16.61  
34 Joris Bigoni (Fra) 0:00:17.09  
35 Ivan Oulego Moreno (Spa) Massi 0:00:17.19  
36 Chris Kovarik (Aus) Chain Reaction Cycles/Intense 0:00:17.73  
37 Matej Charvat (Cze) 0:00:17.77  
38 Oscar Harnstrom (Swe) 0:00:17.81  
39 Ben Reid (Irl) Just Reid Race Team 0:00:18.04  
40 Cyrille Kurtz (Fra) Team Sunn 0:00:18.21  
41 Ruaridh Cunningham (GBr) Chain Reaction Cycles/Intense 0:00:18.45  
42 Herman Olund (Swe) 0:00:18.89  
43 Duncan Riffle (USA) Duncan Riffle Racing 0:00:19.01  
44 Nico Vink (Bel) 0:00:19.09  
45 Steve Smith (Can) MS Evil Racing 0:00:19.20  
46 Gareth Brewin° (GBr) 0:00:19.38  
47 Curtis Keene (USA) 0:00:19.49  
48 Shaun O'connor° (Aus) Iron Horse-Kenda-Playbiker 0:00:19.55  
49 Joe Barnes (GBr) 0:00:19.69  
50 Remi Thirion (Fra) Team Sunn 0:00:20.19  
51 Georg Sieder (Aut) Solid Aclass Factory Team 0:00:20.42  
52 David Eme (Fra) 0:00:20.57  
53 Antonio Ferreiro Pajuelo (Spa) XMS-Devinci World Cup Team 0:00:20.96  
54 Maxime Remy (Fra) Suspension Center 0:00:20.99  
55 Nejc Rutar (Slo) MBK Orbea 0:00:21.11  
56 Marco Bugnone (Ita) Argentina Bike Gravity Team 0:00:21.43  
57 Will Rischbieth (Aus) 0:00:21.72  
58 Andrew Neethling (RSA) Trek World Racing 0:00:22.12  
59 Alexander Kangas (Swe) 0:00:22.33  
60 Romain Paulhan (Fra) 0:00:22.85  
61 Sam Dale (GBr) 0:00:23.38  
62 Scott Mears (GBr) 0:00:23.50  
63 Vlastimil Hyncica (Cze) 0:00:23.60  
64 Kyle Strait (USA) Specialized Team America 0:00:23.67  
65 David Vazquez Lopez (Spa) Lapierre Powered By Saab Salomon 0:00:23.81  
66 Simon Cardon (Fra) 0:00:24.68  
67 Benny Strasser (Ger) 0:00:25.10  
68 Dan Atherton (GBr) Animal Commencal 0:00:26.44  
69 Maciej Jodko (Pol) 0:00:26.48  
70 Cameron Cole (NZl) Team Maxxis-Rocky Mountain Bicycles 0:00:26.60  
71 Ralph Jones (GBr) 0:00:27.24  
72 Felix Groizard° (Fra) Team Sport Bike 0:00:27.69  
73 Kim Petersson° (Swe) 0:00:29.24  
74 Richard Thomas (GBr) 0:00:29.73  
75 Pierre Charles Georges (Fra) Solid Aclass Factory Team 0:00:32.25  
76 Dominik Gspan (Swi) 0:00:33.64  
77 Bertrand Gilles° (Bel) 0:00:34.73  
78 Joshua Button (Aus) 0:00:37.13  
79 Mitch Ropelato° (USA) 0:00:38.28  
80 Dan Stanbridge (GBr) 0:00:51.30  
Teams
# Rider Name (Country) Team Result
1 Yeti Fox Shox Factory Race Team 85  pts
2 Santa Cruz Syndicate 79  
3 Monster Energy / Specialized / Mad Catz 68  
4 Trek World Racing 66  
5 Team Maxxis-Rocky Mountain Bicycles 52  
6 Iron Horse-Kenda-Playbiker 35  
7 Ancillotti Doganaccia Racing Team 35  
8 Morzine-Avoriaz 74 32  
9 Scott 11 31  
10 Solid Aclass Factory Team 27  
11 Suspension Center 24  
12 Chain Reaction Cycles/Intense 23  
13 Team Vario Racing 22  
14 Subaru Mountain Bike Pro Team 22  
15 MSC Bikes 21  
16 GT Bicycles 21  
17 Team Sunn 19  
18 Animal Commencal 18  
19 Kenda Morewood 16  
20 2Stagefactory 16  
21 Kona 14  
22 Massi 6  
23 Lapierre Powered By Saab Salomon 1  
Elite men final World Cup standings
# Rider Name (Country) Team Result
1 Samuel Hill (Aus) Monster Energy / Specialized / Mad Catz 1469  pts
2 Greg Minnaar (RSA) Santa Cruz Syndicate 1349  
3 Steve Peat (GBr) Santa Cruz Syndicate 1258  
4 Gee Atherton (GBr) Animal Commencal 1166  
5 Michael Hannah (Aus) GT Bicycles 990  
6 Justin Leov (NZl) Trek World Racing 838  
7 Samuel Blenkinsop (NZl) Yeti Fox Shox Factory Race Team 828  
8 Brendan Fairclough (GBr) Monster Energy / Specialized / Mad Catz 810  
9 Aaron Gwin (USA) Yeti Fox Shox Factory Race Team 770  
10 Fabien Barel (Fra) Subaru Mountain Bike Pro Team 725  
11 Steve Smith (Can) MS Evil Racing 620  
12 Nick Beer (Swi) Scott 11 615  
13 Josh Bryceland (GBr) Santa Cruz Syndicate 614  
14 Marc Beaumont (GBr) GT Bicycles 557  
15 Andrew Neethling (RSA) Trek World Racing 520  
16 Mickael Pascal (Fra) MSC Bikes 506  
17 Bernat Guardia Pascual (Spa) Massi 495  
18 Chris Kovarik (Aus) Chain Reaction Cycles/Intense 476  
19 Mitchell Delfs (Aus) Kenda Morewood 455  
20 Duncan Riffle (USA) Duncan Riffle Racing 452  
21 Luke Strobel (USA) Team Maxxis-Rocky Mountain Bicycles 437  
22 Fabien Pedemanaud (Fra) Scott 11 435  
23 David Vazquez Lopez (Spa) Lapierre Powered By Saab Salomon 398  
24 Matti Lehikoinen (Fin) MS Evil Racing 388  
25 Filip Polc (Svk) MS Evil Racing 377  
26 Joseph Smith (GBr) Kona 372  
27 Damien Spagnolo (Fra) Subaru Mountain Bike Pro Team 360  
28 Robin Wallner (Swe) 349  
29 Danny Hart° (GBr) Lapierre Powered By Saab Salomon 343  
30 Ivan Oulego Moreno (Spa) Massi 323  
31 Aurélien Giordanengo (Fra) 312  
32 Joris Bigoni (Fra) 306  
33 Dan Stanbridge (GBr) 303  
34 Ben Reid (Irl) Just Reid Race Team 302  
35 Thomas Braithwaite (GBr) 292  
36 Thibaut Ruffin (Fra) 281  
37 Matthew Simmonds (GBr) Chain Reaction Cycles/Intense 280  
38 Pierre Charles Georges (Fra) Solid Aclass Factory Team 279  
39 Rémi Thirion (Fra) Team Sunn 276  
40 Cameron Cole (NZl) Team Maxxis-Rocky Mountain Bicycles 266  
41 Jared Rando (Aus) Giant Mountain Bike Team 262  
42 Markus Pekoll (Aut) Solid Aclass Factory Team 261  
43 Joshua Button (Aus) 259  
44 Kyle Strait (USA) Specialized Team America 253  
45 Lorenzo Suding (Ita) Dytech DH 249  
46 Nathan Rankin (NZl) Iron Horse-Kenda-Playbiker 237  
47 Ruaridh Cunningham (GBr) Chain Reaction Cycles/Intense 227  
48 Wyn Masters (NZl) Ancillotti Doganaccia Racing Team 215  
49 Bryn Atkinson (Aus) 209  
50 Dan Atherton (GBr) Animal Commencal 201  
51 Antonio Ferreiro Pajuelo (Spa) XMS-Devinci World Cup Team 196  
52 Antoine Badouard (Fra) 185  
53 Bernard Kerr° (GBr) 184  
54 Jared Graves (Aus) Yeti Fox Shox Factory Race Team 181  
55 Fabien Cousinie (Fra) Kenda Morewood 180  
56 Cyrille Kurtz (Fra) Team Sunn 177  
57 Julien Camellini (Fra) Chain Reaction Cycles/Intense 171  
58 Maxime Remy (Fra) Suspension Center 169  
59 Sam Dale (GBr) 169  
60 Will Rischbieth (Aus) 165  
61 Cesar Rojo Vidal (Spa) 157  
62 Boris Tetzlaff (Aut) Solid Aclass Factory Team 156  
63 Herman Olund (Swe) 154  
64 Nico Vink (Bel) 151  
65 Marcus Klausmann (Ger) Ghost A.T.G. Pro Team 147  
66 Joe Barnes (GBr) 144  
67 Pasqual Canals Flix (Spa) XMS-Devinci World Cup Team 144  
68 Nathan Rennie (Aus) Kenda Morewood 143  
69 Ben Cathro (GBr) 136  
70 Aari Barrett° (NZl) Scott 11 134  
71 Rhys Willemse° (Aus) 133  
72 Cody Warren (USA) Specialized Team America 131  
73 Benny Strasser (Ger) 129  
74 Marcel Beer (Swi) 128  
75 Harry Heath° (GBr) 122  
76 Adam Vagner (Cze) 111  
77 Tom Deacon (GBr) 2Stagefactory 110  
78 Toni Berg (Fin) 103  
79 Esteban Deronzier (Fra) Morzine-Avoriaz 74 93  
80 Curtis Keene (USA) 92  
81 Bradley Benedict (USA) Duncan Riffle Racing 91  
82 Brook Macdonald° (NZl) Ancillotti Doganaccia Racing Team 90  
83 Marco Bugnone (Ita) Argentina Bike Gravity Team 90  
84 Romain Paulhan (Fra) 88  
85 Matthew Scoles (NZl) 81  
86 Matej Charvat (Cze) 80  
87 Marco Milivinti (Ita) Dytech DH 77  
88 Dominik Gspan (Swi) 77  
89 Vlastimil Hyncica (Cze) 75  
90 Georg Sieder (Aut) Solid Aclass Factory Team 70  
91 David Eme (Fra) 70  
92 Florent Payet (Fra) Subaru Mountain Bike Pro Team 66  
93 Gareth Brewin° (GBr) 64  
94 Cédric Gracia (Fra) 62  
95 Dean Tennant (Can) 62  
96 Scott Mears (GBr) 58  
97 Marcelo Gutierrez Villegas (Col) 57  
98 Kevin Aiello° (USA) GT Bicycles 57  
99 Nicolas Ortiz (Fra) 57  
100 Shaun O'connor° (Aus) Iron Horse-Kenda-Playbiker 56  
101 Harry Molloy° (GBr) 55  
102 George Brannigan° (NZl) 54  
103 Ryan Condrashoff (USA) X-Fusion-Intense 54  
104 Neil Donoghue (GBr) 52  
105 Jonty Neethling (RSA) 51  
106 Kieran Bennett (NZl) X-Fusion-Intense 48  
107 Rémy Charrier (Fra) Team Sunn 45  
108 Oscar Harnstrom (Swe) 43  
109 Camille Blanchard° (Fra) Team Sport Bike 39  
110 Johann Potgieter (RSA) 38  
111 Adam Brayton (GBr) Just Reid Race Team 38  
112 Lars Peyer (Swi) Suspension Center 37  
113 Ludovic May (Swi) 36  
114 Jamie Biluk (Can) 35  
115 Félix Groizard° (Fra) Team Sport Bike 35  
116 Patrick Thome° (Fra) Team Sport Bike 35  
117 Nejc Rutar (Slo) MBK Orbea 34  
118 Dennis Dertell (Swe) 33  
119 John Swanguen (USA) 32  
120 Ivan Oziol° (Fra) 31  
121 Mathieu Troquier (Fra) Solid Aclass Factory Team 31  
122 Carlo Gambirasio (Ita) Surfing Shop 31  
123 Alex Bond (GBr) 30  
124 Rowan Sorrell (GBr) 28  
125 Ralph Jones (GBr) 28  
126 Arnau Sugranes Mateu (Spa) 27  
127 Claudio Cozzi (Ita) Dytech DH 25  
128 Emanuel Pombo (Por) 24  
129 Mathieu Gallean (Fra) Team Sunn 23  
130 Alexander Kangas (Swe) 22  
131 Maximilian Bender (Ger) 21  
132 Robert Smith (GBr) 21  
133 Kim Petersson° (Swe) 21  
134 Jurgen Beneke (Ger) 19  
135 Harry Armstrong (Aus) 19  
136 Scott Laughland (Irl) 19  
137 Arran Gannicott° (GBr) 19  
138 Martin Mikulenka (Cze) 18  
139 Yann Gauvin (Can) 17  
140 Laurie Dinham° (Aus) Suspension Center 16  
141 Simon Cardon (Fra) 15  
142 Pierre Van Der Merwe° (RSA) 15  
143 Roman Roschi (Swi) 14  
144 Timothy Bentley° (RSA) 14  
145 Daniel Wolfe (Irl) 13  
146 Maciej Jodko (Pol) 12  
147 Iago Garay Tamayo° (Spa) 12  
148 Louis-Bresler Knipe (RSA) 12  
149 Jorge Aguin Castro (Spa) 11  
150 Elias Somvi (Ita) 11  
151 Gerard Wolfe (Irl) 10  
152 Gary Barnard (RSA) 10  
153 Markus Olkkonen (Fin) 10  
154 Andréa Gamenara° (Ita) Argentina Bike Gravity Team 10  
155 Mario Sieder (Aut) Solid Aclass Factory Team 9  
156 Darryn Stow (RSA) 9  
157 Geoffrey Ulmer° (USA) 8  
158 Hayden Brown (RSA) 8  
159 Richard Thomas (GBr) 7  
160 Espen Johnsen (Nor) 7  
161 Kyle Marshall° (Can)    
162 James Hughes (GBr)    
163 Rick Balbierer (Ger)    
164 Shaun Palmer (USA)    
165 Emyr Davies (GBr)    
166 Bertrand Gilles° (Bel)    
167 Martin Frei (Swi)    
168 Hans Lambert (Can)    
169 Simon Dinkelman° (RSA)    
170 Daniel Critchlow (GBr) Chain Reaction Cycles/Intense    
171 Mitch Ropelato° (USA)    
172 Ziga Pandur° (Slo)    
Team final WorldCup standings
# Rider Name (Country) Team Result
1 Santa Cruz Syndicate 589  pts
2 Trek World Racing 530  
3 Yeti Fox Shox Factory Race Team 440  
4 Monster Energy / Specialized / Mad Catz 410  
5 Team Maxxis-Rocky Mountain Bicycles 407  
6 Scott 11 337  
7 GT Bicycles 307  
8 Chain Reaction Cycles/Intense 299  
9 Iron Horse-Kenda-Playbiker 261  
10 Suspension Center 253  
11 Animal Commencal 236  
12 MS Evil Racing 215  
13 Morzine-Avoriaz 74 208  
14 Subaru Mountain Bike Pro Team 175  
15 Norco World Team 157  
16 Ancillotti Doganaccia Racing Team 128  
17 Massi 107  
18 MSC Bikes 99  
19 Kenda Morewood 98  
20 2Stagefactory 93  
21 Team Vario Racing 78  
22 Team Sunn 75  
23 Lapierre Powered By Saab Salomon 63  
24 Solid Aclass Factory Team 56  
25 Specialized Team America 49  
26 Duncan Riffle Racing 42  
27 Kona 22  
28 Dytech DH 12  
29 Giant Mountain Bike Team 10  
30 Ghost A.T.G. Pro Team 9  
31 XMS-Devinci World Cup Team 6  
32 Just Reid Race Team 4