ChainReactionCycles Team Report From Bromont

The penultimate round of the world cup was held in the french speaking ski resort of Bromont, Quebec which turned out to be a great exciting and close race. The resort has chairlifts on both sides of the mountain and is open throughout the summer for mountain biking. In the last 2 years over $200,000 has been spent by the resort in course improvements so it is a good venue for a race. The track was really tough, very rocky and steep in places with some hard pedaling sections, keeping your speed and momentum was really important as the track was pretty short. The riders with the fastest times could not make any mistakes or ease off anywhere. The team had another great weekend. The weather was up and down throughout the 3 days of practice and competition so mud tires were on and off and suspension settings being constantly changed. We received some great new THE mudguards just in time for practice thanks to Gregorio from VSI which really helped us out when the rain came down. Everyone qualified really well so we were positive for some good results in the finals. Claire said she has a tough run in her final making a lot of mistakes but ended up 7th which was really great and puts her in contention for a top 10 overall if she has a good ride in the World Cup finals in Schladming. Ruaridh's bad luck continued and his rear wheel slid on a wet rock on the upper part of the course causing him to high side and go down pretty hard. Matt, after qualifying in 16th was looking for a top 15 result which he was on the top half of the course but lost some time on the bottom half and with the times being so close he slipped down to finish 22nd but still a great result. Chris was riding great again and qualified in 6th place less than 2 seconds down on the fastest time so he was focused and his goal of a podium was definately on. On the top half of the course he was going really well with a great split time but lost a little momentum on the lower parts of the course - Chris went through the speed trap with the fastest time of the day. He said he felt like he would slide out if he had pushed any harder on the flat turns on the lower part of the course. Chris ended up 8th with a time of 2.34.44 just over 1 second from that elusive podium position. We were happy with this as Chris is back up to speed with the top guys and is looking good for the World Championships in his home country, Australia, in a months time. Mens DH results: 1 MINNAAR Greg 2:31.65 2 BAREL Fabien 2:32.11 3 HILL Samuel 2:32.28 4 ATHERTON Gee 2:32.68 5 GWIN Aaron 2:33.06 6 HANNAH Michael 2:33.32 7 PEAT Steve 2:33.48 8 KOVARIK Chris 2:34.44 9 BRYCELAND Josh 2:35.72 10 FAIRCLOUGH Brendan 2:35.74 22 SIMMONDS Matt 2:40.76 60 CUNNINGHAM Ruaridh 2:49.79 Womens DH results: 1 JONNIER Sabrina 2:58.28 2 PUGIN Floriane 3:00.92 3 SUEMASA Mio 3:01.23 4 MOSELEY Tracy 3:02.24 5 GROS C?line 3:04.24 6 GATTO Micayla 3:06.31 7 BUCHAR Claire 3:06.75 8 RAGOT Emmeline 3:06.97 9 SIEGENTHALER Emilie 3:07.55 10 PRUITT Kathleen 3:09.06 4X didn't go too well for Lucas. He was riding great in practice and looking good in his qualifying run when disaster struck, as he landed the big pro section double jump and hit the right hand berm and his back tire exploded going up the face of the triple jump. This locked up the back wheel as his tube came out and he went down really hard onto his head for the second week in a row. So that was Lucas out of the finals. There was a lot of crashes in the heats with a lot of top riders going out in the first few rounds. Joost Wichman took a deserved win getting a great start and leading from the gate. UKs Dan Atherton went down really hard in the first turn with Michael Prokop injuring his shoulder. In the Womens final, UKs Fionn Griffiths won with a great passing move in the first turn. The team ended up 3rd in the team standings for this race in Bromont and kept our 8th place overall in the world team rankings rankings. Nigel Page Team Manager - ChainReactionCycles/Intense www.CRCintense.com Photo - Victor Lucas