Madison Saracen Factory Team: Shimano BDS Round One

For anyone who loves to race bikes, the first race of the season is like Christmas Day for a 5yr old. The long winter months of training and preparation, the work by the teams to get everything ready, this is what it's all about and it finally it's time to jump back in the van and head to the hills. Some big changes for the team over the winter had us all excited about the fresh start. Time to go racing!

Antur Stiniog DH track is carved out of a big Welsh slate hillside, open to the elements and a deceptively difficult track for the riders to get to grips with, especially in the wet, which in the UK at any time of year is a possibility. Overnight weather going into Saturday morning proved to be wet and windy, creating a greasy slate sliding ride down the hill for most of practice until it finally started to dry out at the end of the day. The team soon got the hang of it though, with a little help from our friends, Conti Kaiser Projekt tyres!

The track starts out along the ridge of the hill, flowing turns and a couple of little jumps to warm the rides up before what turned into a spectator hot spot, a tricky turn into a rock drop which although not massive in size, was a little awkward and with greasy slate slabs on a camber as a landing, followed immediately by another turn… and you are starting to get the picture, this one claimed a few over the weekend. After this the track steepens and runs into a succession of turns, each one needing it's own technique and approach and each one refusing to let the riders easily find their rhythm. A fun challenge though and with the fantastic up-lift service at Antur, one that the riders got plenty of runs in to try and perfect over the weekend.

So with practice done and the bike prepped and ready, soon enough it was race day. Race organizer Si Paton must have been up all night praying too, as then sun was out and the wind had dropped, a nice surprise to wake up to given that everyone told him Antur would be under snow at the end of March. So this was it, the first time the clock was switched on for the 2014 season and although it was just seeding runs, everyone clearly wanted to show their intentions for the season. All the team did exactly that with Matt taking the fastest time, Sam in 4th and Manon taking 2nd place in the women's race, which it's great to see has a much healthier number of riders in it this year. Manon and Rachel must be inspiring the other girls to pick up a bike and race! With the track drying minute by minute though it was clear these times would be smashed in the afternoon and all was to play for going into the finals.

Girls up first and Manon was focused and ready, putting together a great run and going into the hot seat for that familiar wait and stare at the last turn to see what the rest had got. Her time was good enough for a fantastic 2nd place, close to the winning time of Rachel Atherton. A solid start to the year and she's hungrier than ever to fight for the win.

Finally it was time then for the highly anticipated Elite men's race. So much talent and only five steps on the podium, with the track now drier than ever it was no surprise that, as the top ten riders started to cross the line, the times tumbled and everybody got cosy, sharing the same second.

Sam looked strong as he pedaled for the line and posted a time which matched his rivals. All now looked back to the hill, with just a few more riders to go. Matt seeding fastest was the lone man at the top of the Antur Stiniog hill and last to go, no time to enjoy the view today though, it was time for business. Putting together another decent run he said he struggled to carry speed in the tricky turns but this was a familiar thing for all the guys especially when pushing so hard in the final. He shared the same second as Josh Bryceland and went into 3rd place, clocking up the first Elite Men's podium of the season for himself and the Saracen Myst.

With three World Champions and a number of top 10 World Cup riders competing regularly in the Elite Men's class in the UK, this country truly is a breading ground for success. It also makes for a very exciting race day at the Shimano British Downhill Series, which always delivers the goods! A fantastic job by all the organisers and the team at Antur Stiniog, the Madison Saracen Team, highly recommends you get yourself along to an up-lift there for an amazing day out… and a Welsh lesson from the guys driving the vans. That's all for now, time to pack the bags and head to South Africa for round 1 of the UCI World Cup!

Photography by Laurence Crossman-Emms