Gwin wins Mont-Sainte-Anne downhill

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Aaron Gwin (Trek World Racing) won the elite men's downhill World Cup in Mont-Sainte-Anne, Quebec, Canada. He won by 1.3 seconds ahead of Greg Minnaar (Santa Cruz Syndicate) and Danny Hart (Giant).

Although he was considered the favorite for the event by all his rivals and he won here last year, Gwin wasn't taking anything for granted. "We train to win so it's always the hope, but you never know until you cross the finish line. You just have to give it a shot."

"I felt good out there today. It was a hard run. It's one of those tracks. It's long but you just got to leave it out there. It's fun. I always like this track."

Thibaut Ruffin (Commencal / Riding Addiction) set the first fast time that would stick for awhile with a 4:23.829, which was good enough for an eventual 14th place. He contentedly settled into the hot seat and said, "My run went good. I gave everything and no big mistakes. It was fun."

Twenty seven riders later, Sam Blenkinsop (Lapierre International) set a new best time in 4:19.161. It would net him a season's best ninth place finish.

Coming into the top 10 riders, occupants would shuffle in and out of the hot seat. Next up was Andrew Neethling (Giant) in 4:18.987. "I think I improved in a few spots that I wanted to after qualis," he said. "I felt like I was attacking the bottom. Obviously, I was a bit worn out and arms were fading. I don't feel like I lost much time. I managed to push through where I needed to. I'm happy to put in a solid one - that's where I want to be most weekends. I want to peak on the podium at a few. I need a lot of points now. I don't want to be the guy who just gets one good one every year. It's good to be up here."

Sam Hill (Monster Energy/Specialized) immediately bumped Neethling out of the hot seat with a 4:17.631, good enough for an eventual fifth place.

"It's always good to get on the podium," said Hill. "I'd like to try to move up a few spots. The track felt boggy and soft this morning in practice. Then it dried off. I didn't ride practice yesterday and yes, the track was a bit different than qualifiers when it was dry. But you can adapt to it pretty easily.

"I think the track here flies pretty well. Even though some parts aren't as flat out as the open parts, you're just on it the whole time. It's about how fast you can go from top to bottom. There's nowhere you can get out of your rhythm."

Canadian Steve Smith (Devinci Global Racing) came down the mountain with a time that would net him seventh overall in front of a home crowd, but it wasn't enough for the hot seat.

Gee Atherton (GT Factory Racing) was next to set the fastest time in 4:17.082. "It was not a bad run. I'm happy enough. I pushed hard at the top and rode the bottom bit as quick as I could. I was starting to get tired at the bottom. It felt like it flowed pretty well. It's all about keeping the momentum and speed going. I felt fast. I had a bobble here and there, but it's a technical track, and it's hard to put a smooth run together."

Neither Justin Leov (Trek World Racing) nor Brook MacDonald (MS Mondraker) could go faster, so it was up to world champion Danny Hart to up the ante, which he did with a 4:16.162.

"It was hard work, but the crowds were good and I had a good run. It's such close racing now," said Hart. "Two seconds between the five of us is nothing on a track like this. Hats off to Gwin, but we'll catch him." Hart has been very consistent this season with a second at Fort William and a sixth at Val di Sole and a third here today.

"I'm up there, I just need to get two more places," said Hart, who is hungry for his first World Cup win.

Santa Cruz Syndicate's Greg Minnaar was next to top the leaderboard with a 4:15.329. "I was nervous up at the top," said Minnaar. "I've had good results here before and a lot of crashes trying to get good results, so this morning I felt like I had a good practice and I felt good on track."

"I pushed hard. I was quite loose at the top - more loose than I normally ride and coming down to the bottom, I tried to back off and be a bit smoother and I made a couple of mistakes where I was just off line. I was just disappointed. I gave it my all and pushed hard thinking that might be good enough for a win, but it's just not good enough these days. It's hard trying to figure out what it is. Second is pretty good, but we all come here to win. Aaron is killing it at the moment and it takes a lot to beat him."

Minnaar said the bottom half of his run was good after taking a lot of risks up top and blowing a corner. "I knew I had to clean up my act on the bottom half and I managed to do it. I pulled a bit of time back but it wasn't enough to take it."

What was enough to take it was Gwin's ride. "The organizers had opened up the top section. There was a bit of a headwind," said Gwin. "The top section of the track went well. I just had a mistake at the bottom. It kinda of messed me up, but I ended up pulling it together."

He led at each split down the mountain. "This place is fun. From the first practice run on Thursday, I came down with a big smile on my face. The rain made the track pretty much perfect for finals. It's a hard course to race, but a fun course to ride."

Gwin continues as World Cup leader with 900 points. "It's never easy to protect the lead. These longer tracks are tough," he said. "I'm looking forward to a shorter track next week. It's always fun racing in Windham. I have some family and a bunch of friends there."

Minnaar is in second in the World Cup with 765 points while Atherton has 640. Hart is fourth with 525 and Hill rounds out the top five with 461 points.

Race note

Neko Mulally (Trek World Racing) crashed hard on the course and did not finish the race.  He was treated onsite by medical staff and suffered no broken bones but sustained a concussion.  He does not remember the crash, and his team said they will watch him closely for the next 48 hours.

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