SRAM Athletes Start the Season with Success
11 May 2006 | By billy1979SRAM athletes pile onto the podium at the World Cup downhill number one! All five athletes ran SRAM drivetrain, and four of the riders were fully equipped with SRAM, RockShox, Avid and Truvativ products.
Mick Hannah was on top of his game riding his new Cannondale finishing in first place. Nathan Rennie (Santa Cruz Syndicate) and Steve Peat (Santa Cruz Syndicate) came in second and third, while Mark Baumont (MB UK) and Gee Atherton (Giant Animal) rounded out the podium.
As if the drama on the race course wasn't enough, Steve Peat had a bit of pre race excitement. Peat had this to say, "At the end of the morning practice session they had timed training. I'd been waiting for 15 minutes for my timed run. They didn't have enough time for everybody to have timed training so they let some slow guy pull out in front of me, and allowed a group of riders to get onto the track. I got so far down the track and shouted at the guy from way back and he just stayed in my line and didn't pull over. I ended up getting off line, couldn't see around the guy, so I hit a big rock, crashed, stubbed my middle finger into something on the open stump section and d islocated the end of my finger. I jumped up, screaming at the guy that was in front of me, but I noticed my finger was out so I quickly pulled my finger, snapped it back into place. It bent so far it actually ripped the skin open. I got to the bottom as quick as possible. Kathy took me to the hospital right away. The organizers of the race really helped out and got me seen to really quick in a private hospital. I got it stitched up; three stitches in there on my finger. I just made it back in time for the race. I'm stoked to be back racing and getting on the podium riding for my new team and even more stoked that me and Rennie were both up there on the podium together as new teammates. It's going to be a good year on the Santa Cruz Syndicate team. Cheers."
