Gwin continues winning streak in Windham

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The fifth round of the UCI Mountain Bike Downhill World Cup, in Windham, New York had a clear favourite before the race started: almost every one of the thousands of fans on the hill was rooting for Aaron Gwin (Trek World Racing) to repeat as the men's winner in front of his family and friends, on home soil. He did so in a stunning fashion, winning his fourth World Cup in five starts this season, and extending his two-year record to nine wins in 12 starts.

World champion Danny Hart (Giant Factory) set the first sub-2:30 time, which would hold up for fourth, but three of the top-10 riders would better it. Gee Atherton (GT Factory), riding ninth from last, knocked over a second off, and then the last two on the course both lowered it again. Steve Smith (Devinci Global Racing), chasing his first World Cup victory, was eight-tenths of a second faster than Atherton, but Gwin was even faster, finishing nearly a second ahead.

"This was tight, real tight," said Gwin. "This track is one of those tracks. All week you just knew you were going to have to be perfect on all your runs to make it happen. Any mistake was going to really cost you. The run was going awesome and then I ran over some poles just before the split. I just barely kept it in line."

"I thought for a second I was going down. I had to bunny hop over it. Then down near the bottom my chain came off, but luckily it went back on. I am so stoked. Man, this is as good as it gets for me. I've got my family and friends, and all these people here. It makes it so fun."

Gwin now holds a 295-point lead over Greg Minnaar (Santa Cruz Syndicate) with two rounds remaining, making it almost impossible for him to be beaten in his quest for a second World Cup title. Gee Atherton remains in third, 354 points in arrears.

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