|
Wednesday, 01 September 2010 05:04 |
Windham, New York
Aug. 30, 2010
Santa Cruz Syndicate’s Greg Minnaar (SRAM/RockShox) places 2nd overall in the UCI World Cup Series with a 2nd place race finish today as he and Gee Atherton took their tightly fought season to the finale with Gee emerging victorious on the day in a nail biter all the way down to the finish line. Steve Peat was on a smoking run, but took a nasty spill near the finish, which caused him to place 55th, and 7th overall in the series. Josh Bryceland’s 12th place finish completed his season with a 23rd place series overall.
This was the first UCI World Cup held in the US in five years and the small, quaint Americana town of Windham, New York rolled out the red carpet for us. The town looked like a canvas was ripped off the frame of a Norman Rockwell painting and placed right here. The hospitality the town showed was unlike any I have ever seen before! All the townspeople were volunteers donating their time to make the event the huge success that it was. Even the liquor store was giving discounts to everyone associated with the race! And I was in heaven at Todaro’s Italian market with the wonderful fresh foods and the nicest people to help. I did find the colorful Santa’s everywhere a bit odd, then found out they were Rip Van Winkle statues, 55 of them around, which was still very odd and you could get a map to find them all. Must be the Catskills version of the Hollywood Stars tour map….
The weather was rainy for the first few days upon our arrival, giving the perfect atmosphere for us to stay inside and have the annual Syndicate Christmas dinner complete with turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, the lot, and silly white elephant gifts.
Since the mountain hadn’t had rain for some time the red, clay soil held the moisture long after the rain stopped. Maxxis High Rollers were the tire choice for the week and performed well in the wet to drying conditions. And Muc-Off cleaners whisked the red mud right off, keeping the carbon V-10’s looking brilliant.
The first day of practice was going well until the afternoon. Greg was following Steve down the track and got offline and hit a tree and his forearm near his elbow took the brutal impact and dislocated his elbow. Greg looked at his arm and his arm and hand was sticking out the wrong direction. Steve heard the impact and went to help him. As they went to the medics, Greg’s arm slowly worked its way back into place. I took Greg to the hospital in Albany, an hour’s drive, to have it checked out. After a long wait and some amazingly fresh sushi from the hospital cafeteria, Greg was examined and the x-ray showed no fractures. He felt the joint was stable and his strength was good and he was sure he would race the qualifier the next day, which was crucial to pick up valuable points towards the overall.
Going into this race Greg found himself out of the leaders jersey for the first time all year since winning in Maribor. Gee Atherton had 7 points on Greg and the monkey of the leaders jersey on his back to defend. On Friday morning Greg tested the arm and it was stable enough. After a few practice runs the guys went up for the qualifier. It went very well for the Santa Cruz riders with Steve winning it, Greg in 4th to Gee Atherton’s 5th, Josh was in 8th and Cedric Gracia in 10th. The points gained between Greg and Gee was only 3, so 4 points separated them, making it a dead heat going into Sunday’s race.
Race day practice went well and the boys left the pits to go to the top for the final World Cup of the season. Greg was focused and his elbow wasn’t on his mind, only the thought to take the hotseat from Gee…. As the SRAM crew watched the event live on Freecaster from the pits, Steve strolled over to the ice chest, cracked a cold Bud and shared it with John Dawson then off he went.
The race was unfolding and Brendan Fairclough was in the hotseat. Josh came down with a 12th place run which he was disappointed with after qualifying well, he just didn’t adapt well enough to the dry, changing track conditions. Then Swiss rider, Nick Beer had a very fast run and bumped Brendan out of the hotseat.
As expected, Gee Atherton came down and eclipsed the time of Beer by nearly 3 seconds to take the hotseat. As he climbed up Greg was on course giving his all with the mental strength of the giant that he is. He was down .68 at the split and was sure to gain a bit more time, but it just wasn’t enough and he crossed the line in 2nd, just .37 seconds back of Gee. This placed him 2nd overall for the year in a tightly fought contest.
Fastest qualifier, Steve was on track exhibiting his regained form. When the split time flashed green, 1.4 seconds ahead of Gee the crowd went insane!! Just about to pop into sight, the crowd cheering him in, disaster struck and he went down hard, reminiscent of World Championships in Les Gets, France where he make a similar mistake. The crowd was aghast as Steve picked up his bike and jumped back on. Shaken but not broken, he crossed the line in 2:41.26 in 55th place.
Steve says, “It was great to be racing in American again. Windham was an awesome venue. Practice went will all week and I liked the track, my Carbon Santa Cruz V-10 was perfect all week with Ricky Bobby looking after it. The track reminded me of old school Mt. Snow, Vermont from back in the day. It was fast and flowing and hard to carry speed, but that was the key to a good run. I was stoked to qualify fastest! It’s been awhile since I did that. I felt at home with the fast guys. I was really confident for the finals, maybe a little too confident because I overcooked the step down coming into the finish and carcassed hard while leading at the split. At least I know I have some of my speed back and I’m looking forward to World Championships!”
Greg was pleased with his race run and effort and talked about the week, “The first day of practice I crashed out and injured my elbow, dislocating it. I spent most the night at the hospital trying to get it x-rayed. I had some treatment from US Cycling’s physical therapist, Bernard Condaveaux, before Friday’s practice. It wasn’t too bad physically to ride, but just mentally to get over it. The qualifier that day went well and being ahead of Gee was important. I knew I’d have to step things up more for the final. My final went as good as it could and all I was aiming for was the hotseat as I knew Gee would be in it when I came down. Unfortunately I was .37 seconds slower than Gee which means I had to settle for 2nd best for the season. It’s been a good season racing with Gee. We battled all season and he beat me fair and square in the end.”
We are on a plane now to Quebec for the World Championships where Steve and Greg will be battling for the win. It will be a busy, exciting week and both are recovering from their crashes and should be just fine for Sunday’s grand event.
MEN’S DOWNHILL TOP TEN:
1ST: Gee Atherton 2:28.28
2nd: GREG MINNAAR (SANTA CRUZ SYNDICATE) 2:28.65
3rd: Sam Blenkinsop 2:30.19
4th: Aaron Gwin 2:30.88
5th: Nick Beer 2:31.66
6th: Marc Beaumont 2:31.71
7th: Steve Smith 2:31.76
8th: Brook McDonald 2:33.29
9th Brendan Fairclough 2:33.49
10th: Justin Leov 2:33.57
12th: JOSH BRYCELAND (SANTA CRUZ SYNDICATE) 2:34.02
55TH: STEVE PEAT (SANTA CRUZ SYNDICATE) 2:41.26
MEN’S DOWNHILL OVERALL TOP TEN:
1st: Gee Atherton 1229
2nd: GREG MINNAAR (SANTA CRUZ SYNDICATE) 1185
3RD: Sam Blenkinsop 864
4th: Aaron Gwin 757
5th: Marc Beaumont 633
6th: Brendan Fairclough 606
7th: STEVE PEAT (SANTA CRUZ SYNDICATE) 491
8th: Danny Hart 482
9th: Fabien Pedemanaud 480
10th: Steve Smith 478
23rd: JOSH BRYCELAND (SANTA CRUZ SYNDICATE)
|
|
Tuesday, 03 August 2010 06:50 |
|
MINNAAR TAKES 2ND IN VAL DI SOLE |
|
TO READ THE ENTIRE NEWS ARTICLE CLICK HERE...
|
|
Sunday, 25 July 2010 17:35 |
|
MINNAAR STILL LEADS SERIES, GEE TAKES WIN IN CHAMPERY |
|
TO READ THE ENTIRE NEWS ARTICLE CLICK HERE...
|
|
Tuesday, 29 June 2010 06:31 |
|
MINNAAR SMOKE’S ‘EM AT NORTHSTAR PRO GRT |
|
TO READ THE ENTIRE NEWS ARTICLE CLICK HERE...
|
|
Tuesday, 22 June 2010 07:36 |
|
SYNDICATE’S “MR. MINN” WINS LEOGANG UCI WORLD CUP |
|
TO READ THE ENTIRE NEWS ARTICLE CLICK HERE...
|
|
Thursday, 17 June 2010 08:58 |
|
SYNDICATE’S MINNAAR SECOND TO GWIN AT WHEELS OF SPEED |
|
TO READ THE ENTIRE NEWS ARTICLE CLICK HERE...
|
|
Wednesday, 09 June 2010 16:00 |
|
SYNDICATE’S MINNAAR RETAINS WORLD CUP LEAD |
|
TO READ THE ENTIRE NEWS ARTICLE CLICK HERE...
|
|
Friday, 04 June 2010 11:26 |
|
Sometimes we are taught to expect the unexpected--
|
|
TO READ THE ENTIRE NEWS ARTICLE CLICK HERE...
|
|
Tuesday, 18 May 2010 06:31 |
|
 SANTA CRUZ SYNDICATE’S MINNAAR TAKES FIRST 2010 WORLD CUP WIN, All ABOARD CARBON!
|
|
TO READ THE ENTIRE NEWS ARTICLE CLICK HERE...
|
|
Thursday, 11 February 2010 09:55 |
|
Getting ready for the seasoner....The Otter |
|
TO READ THE ENTIRE NEWS ARTICLE CLICK HERE...
|
|
Tuesday, 10 November 2009 22:09 |
|
South Africa's Greg Minnaar (Santa Cruz Syndicate) is recovering in hospital after a crash at the weekend saw him break his collarbone. |
|
TO READ THE ENTIRE NEWS ARTICLE CLICK HERE...
|
|
Friday, 25 September 2009 07:59 |
|
Minnaar's 3rd in Schladming gives him 2nd for the season in the World Cups..... |
|
TO READ THE ENTIRE NEWS ARTICLE CLICK HERE...
|
|
Saturday, 05 September 2009 09:16 |
|
What does Mr Min have to say before his 2009 World Championship run..... |
|
TO READ THE ENTIRE NEWS ARTICLE CLICK HERE...
|
|
Monday, 03 August 2009 14:48 |
|
Santa Cruz Syndicate’s Greg Minnaar reels it in for his third win of the season in Bromont |
|
TO READ THE ENTIRE NEWS ARTICLE CLICK HERE...
|
|
Tuesday, 28 July 2009 11:23 |
|
GREG MINNAAR'S RACE RUN WAS MARRED WITH A HIGH SPEED CRASH, YET HE MANAGED TO SALVAGE A 22ND PLACE FINISH |
|
TO READ THE ENTIRE NEWS ARTICLE CLICK HERE...
|
|
Friday, 26 June 2009 09:38 |
|
Syndicate Overview of Maribor, Slovenia on video
|
|
TO READ THE ENTIRE NEWS ARTICLE CLICK HERE...
|
|
Friday, 26 June 2009 08:16 |
|
MINNAAR TAKES LEADER JERSEY BACK WITH A 3RD AT MARIBOR DOWNHILL
Santa Cruz Syndicate’s Greg Minnaar (SRAM/RockShox) overcame an ankle injury to place 3rd at the fifth round of the Nissan UCI World Cup Downhill in Maribor, Slovenia and takes the leader’s jersey from teammate Steve Peat. This marks Greg’s 40th world cup downhill podium out of 70 world cup starts. Steve Peat was on a great race run and was .06 faster at the first split than race winner Fabien Barel. He then suffered a rear flat and finished in a distant 38th place. Josh Bryceland struggled to find his form and placed 25th. |
|
TO READ THE ENTIRE NEWS ARTICLE CLICK HERE...
|
|
Sunday, 07 June 2009 10:25 |
|
MINNAAR TAKES THE FORT BY STORM
Dry weather prevailed and the sun came out today to shine on Santa Cruz Syndicate’s Greg Minnaar (SRAM/RockShox), as he grabs his second Nissan UCI Downhill win of the season with the stamp of conviction to his run. He topped the leader board 1.45 seconds ahead of 2nd place Sam Hill. |
|
TO READ THE ENTIRE NEWS ARTICLE CLICK HERE...
|
|
Tuesday, 26 May 2009 13:00 |
|
PEATY ON A ROLL, WINS LISBON DOWNTOWN FOR 8TH CONSECUTIVE YEAR & MINNAAR FINISHES 3rd!!
Santa Cruz Syndicate’s Steve Peat has just won the Lisbon Downtown race, yet again, for the 8th consecutive year, raising speculation that he somehow has some cheat lines, which of course is not the case.
|
|
TO READ THE ENTIRE NEWS ARTICLE CLICK HERE...
|
|
Friday, 22 May 2009 10:25 |
|
SANTA CRUZ SYNDICATE’S STEVE PEAT WINS ANDORRA WORLD CUP DOWNHILL FOR 17TH CAREER WIN, MINNAAR 3RD
Santa Cruz Syndicate’s Steve Peat (SRAM/RockShox) wins the Nissan UCI World Cup downhill today in Andorra with Greg Minnaar 3rd and Josh Bryceland having a solid run for a 9th place finish putting the Syndicate in the team overall lead. It was a storybook ending to the week with Peat’s back to back wins earning him the prestige of winning the most UCI Downhill’s in history at 17 wins. |
|
TO READ THE ENTIRE NEWS ARTICLE CLICK HERE...
|
|
Thursday, 07 May 2009 10:46 |
|
Coffeeberry Cafe, Greg Minnaar’s favourite coffee shop joined in celebrating Greg’s first amazing victory on home soil by running a competition during the month of April.
|
|
TO READ THE ENTIRE NEWS ARTICLE CLICK HERE...
|
|
Monday, 20 April 2009 04:26 |
|
SANTA CRUZ SYNDICATE’S GREG MINNAAR 2ND IN SEA OTTER DOWNHILL
Sunny skies and a warm weekend greeted racers for the annual Sea Otter Classic held this weekend. Having just flown in from the first world cup in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa, many of the downhillers waited for bikes to arrive and adjusted to jet lag to prepare for the physical pedaling downhill course, and the fun dual slalom.
|
|
TO READ THE ENTIRE NEWS ARTICLE CLICK HERE...
|
|
Sunday, 12 April 2009 17:26 |
|
HOME TOWN HERO ( by Kathy Sessler )
Hometown boy delivers the goods to adoring fans and familiy on this Easter Sunday in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa at the opening round of the UCI World Cup by winning the downhill today. His convincing form and preparation prevailed on this pedalling fitness course showing that he has done his homework over the winter.
|
|
TO READ THE ENTIRE NEWS ARTICLE CLICK HERE...
|
|
Friday, 10 April 2009 13:26 |
|
DAY ONE GOES OFF WITH OUT A HITCH
Day one of the Nissan UCI World Cup held in pietermaritzburg, got started on a lightly over cast sleepy friday afternoon. With Impending weather hiding on the horizon, managed to hold itself back to let the qualifying rounds go off without a hitch.
|
|
TO READ THE ENTIRE NEWS ARTICLE CLICK HERE...
|
|
Monday, 06 April 2009 10:15 |
|
Friday 03 April 2009
GM - World Downhill MTB Champion - 4 min hi-lites
Real questions for World Champion - Live, in-Studio.
4 min podcast.
|
|
|
