NINE CANADIANS ADVANCE TO FINALS AT DOWNHILL WORLD CUP IN FORT WILLIAM, GBR
Steve Smith posts best results of Canadian riders with fifth fastest time of Elite Men race
(Fort William, GBR – June 08, 2013) The 2013 UCI Downhill Mountain Bike World Cup tour is underway, with the first set of qualifying runs held Saturday in Fort William, Great Britain, and nine of the eleven riders from Canada qualified for Sunday’s final.
Steve Smith, ranked fourth on the UCI ranking list, was the top Canadian rider in the qualifying rounds, posting the fifth fastest time among the large crew of 157 starters.
Smith, who is representing his professional team DeVinci Global Racing, has been a consistent force to reckon with on the international circuit, with two World Championships medals under his belt.
Matthew Beer, proudly showcasing the Maple Leaf jersey as Canadian Champion, also qualified for the finals with the 49th fastest time, along with Kyle Sangers, 67th, and Remi Gauvin, 71st. Kirk McDowall, and Forrest Riesco did not qualified among the Top 80 group.
All Four Canadians women safely made it through in the Top 20 of the qualifying rounds. Micayla Gatto was the fastest Canadian of the day, posting the tenth fastest time, followed by Canadian Champion Casey Brown of Dirt Norco Race Team, in fifteenth place. Vaea Verbeeck had the sixteenth fastest time just before reigning junior World Champion Holly Feniak (Hutchinson UR) in seventeenth place.
In the junior men qualifying run, Mark Wallace, also of DeVinci Global Racing, qualified with the seventh fastest time of the day, just over nine seconds behind the fastest time after more than five minutes of racing.
All of the action will be available to race fans worldwide, live at www.redbull.com/bike. The Final will be shown on Sunday, June 9th, between 13:35 and 15:45 (all times GMT).
QUALIFYING RESULTS, UCI WORLD CUP – FORT WILLIAM, GBR
MEN ELITE
1. HART, Danny (GBR) (GIANT FACTORY OFF-ROAD TEAM) 4:41.094
2. ATHERTON, Gee (GBR) (GT FACTORY RACING) 4:41.270 +0.176
3. BLENKINSOP, Samuel (NZL) (LAPIERRE GRAVITY REPUBLIC) 4:42.275 +1.181
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5. SMITH, Steve (CAN) (DEVINCI GLOBAL RACING 4:45.193 +4.099
49. BEER, Matthew (CAN) 4:57.555 +16.461
67. SANGERS, Kyle (CAN) 5:01.544 +20.450
71. GAUVIN, Remi (CAN) 5:02.105 +21.011
100. McDOWALL, Kirk (CAN) 5:08.202 +27.108 (Did not qualify)
102. RIESCO, Forrest (CAN) 5:08.926 +27.832 (Did not qualify)
WOMEN ELITE
1. ATHERTON, Rachel (GBR) (GT FACTORY RACING) 5:13.738
2. RAGOT, Emmeline (FRA) (LAPIERRE GRAVITY REPUBLIC) 5:19.867 +6.129
3. CARPENTER, Manon (GBR) (MADISON SARACEN DOWNHILL TEAM) 5:23.174 +9.436
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10. GATTO, Micayla (CAN) 5:44.716 +30.978
15. BROWN, Casey (CAN) (DIRT NORCO RACE TEAM) 5:52.131 +38.393
16. VERBEECK, Vaea (CAN) 5:52.316 +38.578
17. FENIAK, Holly (CAN) (HUTCHINSON UR) 6:00.227 +46.489
MEN JUNIOR
1. VERNON, Taylor (GBR) (GT FACTORY RACING) 4:54.689
2. NIEDERBERGER, Noel (SUI) (GSTAAD-SCOTT) 4:57.116 +2.427
3. VERGIER, Loris (FRA) (LAPIERRE GRAVITY REPUBLIC) 4:57.980 +3.291
==========
7. WALLACE, Mark (CAN) (DEVINCI GLOBAL RACING) 5:04.292 +9.603
