CRC/Intense Fort William World Cup Race Report
Well on the whole we had a fantastic weekend at Fort William. The race, weather and whole event was amazing. As you can see we took top honours for the weekend winning the best team award. It was great having the while team up on the podium in front of the cheering race fans. The great UK crowd was there in full effect which made for a sensational atmosphere. Lesley, Mike and the crew put on another fantastic World Cup event and the course builders had done an amazing job on the DH track making a great race. We had some great results over the weekend with everyone making it through to the Sunday finals and Matti Lehikoinen placing 5th in the semi final was great. Claire Buchar had another great run equaling her 7th place from Maribor at round 1 and is 7th overall in the Womens standings. Julien Camellini got back up to speed placing 7th in the mens category which was really a good result for him and the team so early on in the season after 1 year out with injury. Matti Lehikoinen also had a brilliant run and placed 10th for the day which should boost his confidence for the rest of the season. Matt Simmonds had another great ride finishing 20th so 2 top 20s for Matt in the first 2 world cups is great. Ruaridh Cunningham had a good run in the final but not quite able to equal his semi final placing of 19th. He ended the day in 37th but only 3 seconds off his goal of a top 20. On a 4.30 minute plus track this shows Ruaridh is riding really good and hopefully his results will come with a little more time. The only real disappointment we had for the weekend was Chris Kovarik. He was riding great all weekend placing 9th in the semi final even after a jammed chain from landing on a big rock halfway down the course we were sure he was on for a podium spot at least. But it didn't go Chris way after clocking the 4th fastest 1st split time only 0.3 of a second behind eventual winner Gee Atherton Chris got a front puncture ending his and the teams high hopes. It was a real shame as Chris put in so much effort this weekend wowing the crowd with his exceptional riding skills doing probably the most runs of anyone all weekend. But 3 riders in the top 10 and 4 in the top 20 was fantastic for the team and this will give us a good confidence boost heading into the 3rd round of the World Cup in 2 weeks time. Congratulations to the race winners Gee Atherton winning in front of the home crowd and Sabrina Jonnier from France winning the womens race. Also well done to New Zealand's Cam Cole in 2nd place in the mens race and the whole team would like to pass on their best wishes to last years World Cup winner Sam Hill who sustained a bad shoulder injury in Fridays practice - we hope to see him back on the bike soon and racing asap. Downhill Mens Results 1 Gee ATHERTON 4:35.70 2 Cameron COLE 4:36.18 3 Greg MINNAAR 4:36.91 4 Aaron GWIN 4:37.71 5 Mick HANNAH 4:37.75 6 Sam BLENKINSOP 4:37.81 7 Julien CAMELLINI 4:40.93 8 Shaun O'CONNOR 4:41.54 9 Nick BEER 4:41.97 10 Matti LEHIKOINEN 4:42.08 20 Matt SIMMONDS 4:45.07 37 Ruaridh CUNNINGHAM 4:48.50 69 Chris KOVARIK 4:59.70 Downhill Womens Results 1 Sabrina JONNIER 5:11.57 2 Rachel ATHERTON 5:12.68 3 Floriane PUGIN 5:16.44 4 Tracey MOSELEY 5:16.46 5 Emmiline RAGOT 5:20.65 6 Mio SUEMASA 5:24.32 7 Claire BUCHAR 5:26.50 8 Manon CARPENTER 5:30.81 9 Céline GROS 5:31.27 10 Myriam NICOLE 5:33.79 Nigel Page Team Manager - ChainReactionCycles/Intense Please keep up to date on the team at www.crcintense.comLatest news
THE MERIDA EX 2026 - pre-registration is now open2026 Scottish Downhill Association Series Dates and Venues Announced
New Spot: Abergele Pump Track
New Spot: Cadishead Pump Track
Watch: Down For Life - 30 Years of Bicycles & Dirt
Popular news
Review: Shimano Saint PD-MX80 PedalsRockshox Announce 2014 Sid, Revelation, XLoc and updates to the Monarch
Review: Maxxis Ikon 26x2.35 Tyres