Looking Back at the 2011 Fort William World Cup

With Mont-Saint-Anne fast approaching here's a look back at the two most recent world cups, starting with Fort William in the UK.

My journey to Fort William started late Thursday afternoon, finishing my last exam of the year at 6:30pm and departing for Fort William a little after 7. Driving to Fort William takes the better part of 8 hours; winding out through Snake's Pass, enduring many motorway miles, surviving Glasgow and then enjoying the vista that is Glen Coe.

Upon arrival you could immediately sense the excitement of the riders. The Pietermaritzburg course left something to be desired for some of the riders, but at Fort William there were no complaints. The riders were having fun!

When Saturday arrived, people started speculating about who would qualify first in the Men's DH. The main names floating around were Atherton, Gwin and Minnaar. Gee had a solid year last year, took the overall title, and he certainly hasn't been slacking over winter. Aaron Gwin astounded viewers when he went 6 seconds up in his first split at PMB with only Greg Minnaar posing a serious threat. Minnaar himself is always a favorite for Fort Bill because the track suits him to the ground - it requires high levels of technical ability as well as the capability to pedal HARD.

1 - GWIN Aaron - TREK WORLD RACING - 4:49.730

2 - ATHERTON Gee - COMMENCAL +01.873

3 - HART Danny - GIANT FACTORY OFF-ROAD TEAM +01.874

4 - MINNAAR Greg - SANTA CRUZ SYNDICATE +02.765

5 - BLENKINSOP Samuel - LAPIERRE INTERNATIONAL +04.288

6 - LEOV Justin - TREK WORLD RACING +04.601

7 - SMITH Steve - DEVINCI GLOBAL RACING +04.636

8 - BROSNAN Troy - MONSTER ENERGY / SPECIALIZED / MAD CATZ +07.139

9 - CUNNINGHAM Ruaridh - TEAM MAXXIS - ROCKY MOUNTAIN +07.365

10 - STROBEL Luke - MS EVIL RACING +07.482

As expected, Atherton, Gwin, and Minnaar did very well but Danny Hart, only 0.001 of a second off Gee, gained the media's attention. Such a result psyched the British supporters and Danny would have to face high expectations on race day.

With the Women, the main question floating around was how well can Rachel Atherton do? When she has her day, she seems untouchable. Having skipped Round One (due to wanting to be fully recovered from injury), expectations were high. 

1 - ATHERTON Rachel - COMMENCAL - 5:35.805

2 - MOSELEY Tracy - TREK WORLD RACING +00.198

3 - PUGIN Floriane - SCOTT 11 +02.912

4 - NICOLE Myriam - RIDING ADDICTION COMMENCAL +06.545

5 - CARPENTER Manon - MADISON SARACEN +07.715

6 - KINTNER Jill - TRANSITION +09.401

7 - JONNIER Sabrina - TEAM MAXXIS - ROCKY MOUNTAIN +12.761

8 - SIEGENTHALER Emilie - SCOTT 11 +16.811

9 - GATTO Micayla +18.856

10 - SUEMASA Mio +20.202

Race day at Fort William feels like no other. There is always a huge crowd turnout and if the midges (aka mosquitoes) and rain stay away, it's possibly the best round of the circuit. Fortunately, that was exactly what happened - no insect repellant, midge nets, or umbrellas were required. Instead, sun lotion and sun glasses were the name of the game.

With the race runs commencing, people began to cram in around the track.

With the women down the hill first, it was Tracy Moseley who won comfortably for the home crowd, knocking a whole 15 seconds off her qualifying time. Rachel Atherton put in an incredible performance considering this was her first World Cup since time off with an injury.

1 - MOSELEY Tracy - TREK WORLD RACING - 5:21.898

2 - ATHERTON Rachel - COMMENCAL +01.721

3 - PUGIN Floriane - SCOTT 11 +07.530

4 - NICOLE Myriam - RIDING ADDICTION COMMENCAL +08.251

5 - JONNIER Sabrina - TEAM MAXXIS - ROCKY MOUNTAIN +10.072

6 - KINTNER Jill - TRANSITION +15.010

7 - RAGOT Emmeline - TEAM GR +16.698

8 - CARPENTER Manon - MADISON SARACEN +18.989

9 - GRIFFITHS Fionn - TEAM GR +21.690

10 - SIEGENTHALER Emilie - SCOTT 11 +22.282

In the Men's downhill, Brook McDonald surprised the crowd to beat fellow kiwi Cameron Cole by just under two seconds.

This performance was enough to fend off many previous world cup winners until 25 riders later when Greg Minnaar removed him from the hot seat.

With only a few riders left to come down the hill, the next racer was Danny Hart. The atmosphere was incredible as people watched him on the big screen, unfortunately his race run tipped over the wild point and he made a few costly mistakes. It was exhilarating to watch, though!

Gee Atherton was next down the hill. Everyone knows he can win on his day, yet he was out of luck at Fort Bill. Up at the splits by a small margin he reached the bottom in 4th place.

When Aaron Gwin smashed Greg's split time, the crowd erupted to a level of noise that could be heard way up the course.

A crash in the bottom section of the track dropped him into 5th place, depriving him of what could have been a monumental win.

After all was said and done, the Top Five riders took to the podium. Danny and Brook were so pleased to get on that box, and I expect they'll be back up there again this year.

Expect a photo recap of Leogang soon!