Aaron Gwin Wins Overall World Cup Title, Tracy Moseley Extends Lead

 7.8.2011     

Today in France Aaron Gwin made history, yet again, by becoming the first ever American man ever to win the World Cup Downhill title, a fact that will become even clearer to the 23 year old when he stands on the podium in Italy in 2 weeks' time to receive the prized crystal trophy. His team mate, World Champion Tracy Moseley, won her 4th World Cup race of the season today and has extended her lead to 150 points going into the final round in Italy. Rounding out a perfect weekend, the team once again finished up number 1 for the week.


For the women's event, Tracy had good cause to be anxious going into the finals as a second place to her main rival of season 2011, Floriane Pugin (FRA), would have reduced her points lead to just 70, and with 250 on offer at the finals in Italy, it would have made for a more difficult weekend. Rain had fallen overnight here in La Bresse making for a different track to that qualified on, and a large amount of water early on in the race nearly ended Tracy hopes.
"A huge puddle of water had accumulated on the approach to the top pedaling section and it caught me by surprise. I had to go for my tear-offs and then I struggled a little to get that off, and then I was really worried that I'd messed my run up with that. Floriane is a hard rider to beat on any course, but here in France, I really had my work cut out for me. The win is very sweet, and I'm happy to take the points for sure," said Tracy.
2011 is without doubt Tracy's greatest season of her career, with 4 wins and an appearance on every World Cup podium, as well as plenty of other diverse riding, including the Cape Epic and the Dalby XC World Cup.
In the Men's event junior rider Neko Mulally had a run he wasn't happy with. The rain started to fall in the middle of the men's pack and Neko by his own admission he made too many errors in the slick conditions, and after qualifying 24th, finished 50th today. Justin Leov continued his run of top 10 placings, crossing the line to take the hotseat and eventually finishing with a 9th, scoring enough points to jump him from 10th in the overall rankings to equal 7th for the season.
In the lead up to the top 10 men, the rain had stopped and the course was starting to recover. It wasn't anywhere near as fast as yesterday for qualifying, but it had improved over the previous hour. Greg Minnaar rode a very solid race and set the time to beat, the first man under 2mins 10secs, and Gee Atherton had slotted into 2nd. For Aaron Gwin this race was as important as any other and he wanted to win, but a top 8 placing would be enough the take the overall World Cup Title with one race remaining, something that hasn't been done since 2000. Aaron made an error in the top 3rd of the course and then had some other hook ups further done the course resulting in a growing loss of time, eventually putting him into 3rd place; a run he was personally disappointed about, but the overall title was his, and that is in itself an amazing achievement.
Aaron said: "It's obviously and sincerely a huge honor to win the overall World Cup title, amazing honestly, but any racer out there will know that it always feel better when you take something like that with a run you're proud of. I made some mistakes today that cost me the win, and that's frustrating. Any one of my practice runs would have been better than that, but hats off to Greg, he rode super strong today and deserves to take the win. The overall is a huge honor and I look forward to lifting that trophy high for all the fans in 2 weeks!" Results for World Cup DH #6 are here: http://www.uci.ch/templates/BUILTIN-NOFRAMES/Template1/layout.asp?MenuId=MTYxMjU&LangId=1
Media seeking hi-res images can visit our website for their login.
http://www.trekworldracing.com
The male downhill riders go to Innsbruck next week for the Nordkette Pro Invitational and the next Downhill World Cup will be the finals, Round 7 in Val Di Sole (ITA) on August 14.

Trek World Racing news

26.7.2011     

On Sunday Tracy Moseley won her 8th National Title in Llangollen, Wales, ahead of Jess Stone (Trek Gravity Girls) and Katy Curd. Head Mechanic Sander Gijs was on hand for the event and took the podium picture below.

Here's Tracy in her own words about the event. "It was great to be racing in the UK and getting the chance to wear the Rainbow Jersey in front of the biggest crowd of spectators I've seen at a UK National for many years. The beautiful English summer weather really did us proud this weekend not only enabling us to sit out in the sun but also helped dry the steepest track I have ever ridden in the UK! It was the UK's answer to Champery for the first 1/3 of the track! I felt some pressure this weekend as I was definitely the rider to beat and with such a tough track making any mistake costly. However I managed to put together a safe run at the top and then really attacked the course the further down I got. A big thanks to my mechanic Sander for making the trip over and keeping my Session in perfect working order. It felt great to receive National Champ Jersey No.8 of my career."

Next week sees the Downhill riders all coming back together for World Cup No.6 in La Bresse, France. Both Tracy and Aaron lead the series and both Justin and Neko are climbing the rankings. As always, the finals will be broadcast live on Freecaster on Sunday August 7, from 1.15pm CET here www.mtbworldcup.com

Trek World Racing news

19.7.2011     

The latest instalment of the In Pursuit series from Trek World Racing has been released today. Entitled "Winning In Windham" it follows the downhill riders at the New York state venue of Windham, for Round 5 of the UCI Downhill Mountain Bike World Cup. Watch as Justin Leov gets his season best result, Neko Mulally improves his ranking, Tracy takes a podium and holds her World Cup lead, and Aaron Gwin wins an historic 4th race in season 2011 in front of an ecstatic crowd.


The video can be viewed here:
http://xc.trekworldracing.com/videos/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8MSmUK9NW3c
The next round of the DH World Cup will be in La Bresse, France, August 7.

This coming weekend sees Tracy competing in the British National DH Championships in Llangollen. News as we get it. 

Aaron Gwin Takes Win In Front Of Partisan Home Crowd

 11.7.2011     

All four Trek World Racing downhill riders performed strongly at Round 5 of the UCI Mountain Bike World Cup in Windham, New York in front of a large US crowd on a short and technical track. Neko Mulally (USA) took another solid top 30 result to move up in the rankings, Justin Leov (NZL) had his best result of the year in 6th, just 1/10th of a second off the podium, and Tracy Moseley (GBR) kept her perfect record of being on the podium for every World Cup race in 2011, with a 3rd place.

But it was Aaron Gwin's 4th win of the season that had the fans chanting U-S-A-GWIN at the podium and the city administrators changing the name of host town Windham to ‘Gwindham’ for the remainder of the day, in a flurry of red white and blue flags, that had everyone talking. Aaron's win, after qualifying first on Friday, was the first win on US soil by an American downhiller since both Missy Giove and Shaun Palmer won in Big Bear, California, in 1999. Furthermore, Aaron joins a small group of 3 men who have won 4 Downhill World Cups in one season, the other two being Francois Gachet (FRA) and the legendary Nicolas Vouilloz (FRA).

This was the second time the World Cup has visited Windham and the course certainly had its share of technical content with three major rock garden sections, and running around two and a half minutes in length. The weather was perfect and the crowds built all morning to beat the numbers from 2010. Tracy had qualified 3rd and was hoping to move up to second, but last year's winner Rachel Atherton (GBR) repeated for 2011, and this season's other in-form rider Floriane Pugin (FRA) took 2nd. Tracy maintains the overall lead of the series by 100 points with 2 races to go.

In the men's event, Neko Mulally crossed the line in an incident free run in 6th place with a 2m 32.087secs that ultimately scored him 27th, and now moves him up to 30th overall. Justin Leov qualified in 5th and was feeling great all week on the track. After a flying 1st and 2nd split that had him 4th and 5th, a small error while pushing hard in the lower sector meant he missed the podium by the smallest of margins. Aaron started last and the US crowd held their collective breath until the first split showed on the live giant screen, and when the green light shone with a gap of 2.1secs, the crowd started cheering non-stop until the Californian crossed the line with a 2.3 second win over legend Steve Peat (GBR), who ironically also took 2nd to Shaun Palmer back in 1999.

Aaron said: "The crowd here is amazing. It really means so much to me to win in front of a home crowd. The reaction was nuts. I can't put it into words. Having my parents here was also really special, as they have been such a big part of my entire 2 wheel career. As for my run, it felt very solid. I had two training runs in the morning that felt like great race runs, so I went up to the top feeling that all was set for a good day. It's perfect to have a win when the race run feels great."

Justin said: "This is the best I've been riding in my whole career, and I really felt like I had a podium run going. I got a little ragged in the bottom and that's where I guess I lost that tenth of a second, but it gives me so much confidence coming into the final part of the season. I've got to just keep working at it".

Results for World Cup DH #5 are here:

http://www.uci.ch/templates/BUILTIN-NOFRAMES/Template1/layout.asp?MenuId=MTYxMjU&LangId=1

Media seeking hi-res images can visit our website for their login.

http://www.trekworldracing.com

The next Downhill World Cup will be Round 6 in La Bresse (FRA) on August 7.

New In Pursuit Video Released 8th, July, 2011

8.7.2011     

The latest instalment of the In Pursuit series from Trek World Racing has been released today. Entitled "Magic In Mont-Sainte-Anne" it follows the downhill riders campaign at the classic Mont-Sainte-Anne venue in Canada, where Aaron has his 3rd career win, and Tracy has her 15th career win! Team-mates Justin and Neko also have great rides with the former in 10th and the latter in a career best 22nd.

The video can be viewed here:

http://xc.trekworldracing.com/videos/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UYGqQCTGJRg

Sunday sees the DH riders racing in Windham, USA, after a great qualifying yesterday that saw Aaron 1st, Tracy 3rd, Justin 5th and Neko 24th. Racing is on Sunday for Downhill, the finals starting at 1.15pm (US Eastern time). Watch it all live on Freecaster, where you can check viewing times in advance:

http://freecaster.tv/mountainbike

Aaron Gwin and Tracy Moseley Take Double Win in Canada

4.7.2011     

Despite threats of rain for Sunday's racing in Mont-Sainte-Anne, the wet weather stayed away and allowed for some spectacular racing on the famed mountain in Quebec. Hosting World Cups and World Championships since 1991, it’s a track that all riders want to win on, a true classic. For Tracy Moseley the venue has many special memories from her World Title win last year, and for Aaron Gwin, it was the venue that launched him onto the World Cup scene back in 2008. After qualifying fastest by an amazing 11 seconds, Tracy set off last down the mountain on a course that was a lot dryer and faster, and had seen some very impressive times set by her main rivals, Rachel Atherton (GBR) and Floriane Pugin (FRA). After establishing a lead at the first split time, Tracy kept building until she crossed the line with a margin of 1.8secs. This was Tracy's 3rd win of the year, and her 15th career World Cup win.

Tracy said: "They were 2 big goals for me this year, to win at Mont-Sainte-Anne, and to reach 15 career wins, so to have both happen here, on a track that gave me this rainbow jersey, is really special. I made a couple of little mistakes in the lower section but overall I'm happy with my run. A big thanks to my mechanic Sander, the bike was flawless all week".

In the men's race Neko Mulally was the first of the Trek World Racing riders to come down, putting in a really solid 4m 44secs and going directly into the hotseat. His run was smooth and without incident, and ultimately gave the junior rider his career best result of 22nd.

Next up was Justin Leov who had crashed in qualifying but as a protected rider was bumped up to ride 21 from the end. The skies were threatening rain at this stage, but the track was bone dry. Justin crossed the line being the first to go under 4m 40secs, with a 4m 39.48secs with what he called a smooth and steady run. It was straight into the hotseat for the kiwi where he sat for some time before some of the eventual podium riders came down.

Prior to Aaron's start, the giant screen showed a devastated Gee Atherton (GBR) on the side of the track having blown his rear tire. No-one likes to see a champion like that go out of the race in this way. Later the fastest qualifier Greg Minnaar (RSA) would crash in his final run, finishing 18th, and was in hospital later having his hand and thigh checked. Fortunately he's OK, but again, not a way we like to see the champions of this sport go out.

In Aaron's run, he also had some moments making for a less than perfect run that had him a bit frustrated when he crossed the line, not thinking it was enough for a win.

Aaron said: "Sometimes it's hard to judge these things. I mean it was loose, I ran wide on the right hander up top, two-wheel drifting to a dead stop, then I had some awkward bobbles down the track and I really thought I'd be lucky to podium. It sounds strange I know, but it's really hard to judge. It didn't feel like a race winning run. I'm bummed for Greg and Gee, I know how hard they must work for this."

In a strong showing by the Session 88, every Trek World Racing rider that crossed the line went straight to the hotseat or won. Both Tracy and Aaron extend their leads in the series, with 3 races yet to run.

Media seeking hi-res images can visit our website for their login. http://www.trekworldracing.com

Results for World Cup DH #4 are here: http://www.uci.ch/templates/BUILTIN-NOFRAMES/Template1/layout.asp?MenuId=MTYxMjU&LangId=1

The team leaves Tuesday for Windham, USA for Round 5 of both disciplines. Live as always on Freecaster: http://mtbworldcup.com

Mathias Flueckiger Takes 4th In Mont-Sainte-Anne

3.7.2011     

After a difficult start to the season, both Mathias and elder brother Lukas are back to where they belong, fighting it out in the top 10 of World Cup racing. Both riders looked extremely comfortable in Saturday's 4th round of the series, until an unfortunate crash robbed Luk of a strong top 10 finish. However, younger brother Mathias moved up steadily to take 4th, his first elite podium since Val di Sole's 5th place last year.

Race winner Jaroslav Kulhavy took the lead from the start and was never challenged over the 6 laps of the 4.6km course. The real interest was in the placings 2 to 10 as this was constantly evolving. Nino Schurter (SUI) went out to attack the lead of Kulhavy, but soon found himself stuck between the leader and the chase group which at one point had 7 riders. Luk and Math were riding together early on in the top 20, but Luk clipped his foot on one of the many trees and had a small crash losing a little time on Math who started his move up through the field.
Soon Math was riding the 2nd half of the race in a group of 4 riders that made up positions 3rd to 6th. In this group was World Champion Jose Hermida, Florian Vogel (SUI) and former Under 23 World Champion Manuel Fumic (GER). Fumic was controlling the pace for a lot of the time until he crashed in the notorious 'La Beatrice' descent and never looked comfortable after that, and ultimately succumbed to a rear puncture. On the last lap Hermida made a break, and Mathias was unable to get around Vogel at this time to follow Hermida. By the time he could pass Vogel, Hermida was well away but Math rode on strongly to leave Vogel behind and take a great 4th place.
Meanwhile, riding in 9th place Luk had a big fall on 'La Beatrice'. A slight overbalance sent him plummeting down the steep rocky slope, tumbling a couple of times and hitting his ribs hard. He did recover, but was back in 20th place by the time he got his rhythm back, fighting on strongly to finish 17th.
Math said: "Today I felt really good on the Top Fuel. I just went out to ride and enjoy the race as much as I could. I was with Luk for a while and then he had a small crash so I started to move up through the field and had a good battle with those three guys for 3rd. Vogel was in my way when Hermida went off….I really wish I could have challenged him for 3rd, but at least I know my legs feel super and I'm excited about next week".
Luk said: "Today I see I have the legs and speed back again. The crashes were not great, but my overall top 10 performance is there and I know I could have gone with Math. One of the riders I dropped in the race, Geoff Kabush, he ended up 7th in the end, so I feel I was ahead of that until I crashed. That was a tough crash, and so many guys crashed with me there. It's hard to get up from that and keep fighting on, but I'm glad I did. It's all good for next week."
Results for World Cup XC #4 are here:
http://www.uci.ch/templates/BUILTIN-NOFRAMES/Template1/layout.asp?MenuId=MTYxMjU&LangId=1
Next week sees World Cup XC #5 in Windham, USA.
Media seeking hi-res images can visit our website for their login.
Team website: http://www.trekworldracing.com