Minnaar's 3rd in Schladming gives him 2nd for the season in the World Cups.....

It was a great showdown and an amazing end to the 2009 UCI World Cup Downhill Series in Schladming, Austria, as it came down to four racers in contention for the overall title.  In the end Sam Hill won the race, and the overall, with Santa Cruz Syndicate’s Greg Minnaar and Steve Peat (SRAM/RockShox) giving chase and placing 2^nd and 3^rd overall, respectively.  Josh Bryceland pulled out a great run to finish the race in 8^th place, just  .02 seconds behind teammate Steve Peat who struggled to find his rhythm and placed 7th on the day.  Minnaar focused on his performance and came back solid, if a little conservative, from his major stack in his qualifier, and placed 3^rd.   Their efforts boosted the team overall points to the top and the Syndicate won the best downhill team title.

What an incredible season the Syndicate has had finishing the world cup series in a solid 2^nd, 3^rd and 13^th place overall, winning the team overall and Steve wearing the rainbow stripes.  Going into the finals Steve donned his world championship rainbow jersey for the first time in competition.  It took some getting use to, but after a few days he felt right at home in his well deserved jersey, although the first few days of practice he managed to keep it muddy as the demanding track had riders falling all over the place.

Going into this race Sam Hill was the favored rider and the Syndicate did their best to close the points margin.  The long, physical track had the boys tired each practice day, and when qualifier day came they struggled, with a big crash from Minnaar, and a spill for Bryceland.  Peat was the only one of the boys to stay upright, but his effort just got him 7^th place.  Course walks, and another few days of practice had the guys focused ahead for the race.

Bryceland came down and held the hotseat for a few riders until Minnaar unseated him.  He held the hotseat for a half hour until Sam Blenkinsop came down and bested his time.   Anxiously waiting for the arrival of Sam Hill, Minnaar and Peat had their eyes on the big screen.  Sam didn’t falter and took the win, and the points shook down to Minnaar in 2^nd, and Peat 3^rd.  Bryceland felt he could have done a bit better in his race run, but was pleased to end the season with a top ten result.

Steve says, “It’s been a hell of a year hanging out with the Syndicate!  My V-10 has worked the best ever and it shows in our results.  I wasn’t happy with my 7^th place finish in Schladming.  I was happy with 3^rd overall in the series, and even happier with the rainbows!  I just want to say thanks to all our team sponsors for supplying the best kit to go and take on the rest of the world with.”

2^nd  Sam Blenkinsop 4:03.43

3^rd  GREG MINNAAR (SANTA CRUZ SYNDICATE)  4:04.71

4^th  Aaron Gwin  4:08.07

5^th  Brendan Fairclough  4:08.07

6^th  Justin Leov  4:09.28

7^th  STEVE PEAT (SANTA CRUZ SYNDICATE)  4:09.35

8^th  JOSH BRYCELAND  (SANTA CRUZ SYNDICATE)  4:09.37

9^th  Luke Strobel  4:09.59

10^th  Mickael Pascal  4:09.89

2^nd  Greg Minnaar  1349

3^rd  Steve Peat  1258

4^th  Gee Atherton  1166

5^th  Mick Hannah  990

6^th  Justin Leov  838

7^th  Sam Blenkinsop  828

8^th  Aaron Gwin  770

9^th  Fabien Barel  725

10^th  Steve Smith 620

Thanks to the SYNDICATE Sponsors:

Santa Cruz Bicycles

SRAM

RockShox

Truvativ

Avid

DT Swiss

WTB

Crankbrothers

Lizard  Skins

Clif Bar

Troy Lee Designs

Chris King

Five Ten

Portable Shade

Galbraith Chiropractic