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.
www.trekworldracing.com
Results for World Cup DH #4 are
here.
The team leaves Tuesday for Windham, USA for Round 5 of both disciplines. Live as always on Freecaster:
www.mtbworldcup.com
