GT Bicycles UCI World Cup Report –
Mont St Anne, Canada   July 25th 2009


Once again the GT Bicycles MTB team assembled to stake its claim amongst the cycling elite. The UCI World Cup MTB series kicked back into gear after a four week break and headed over to the legendary venue of Mont St Anne, Canada. The Mont St Anne course is a favorite of most of the racers with its long high speed drops and technical tree and rock sections. The track is also one of the longest of the season with times averaging close to five minutes so fitness plays a big role in the results. Plus getting time on the course gives the athletes a preview to what they can expect for the 2010 UCI World Championships as the will be Mont St Anne.

The weather changed daily if not hourly so had all of the gravity racers swapping tire set ups in hopes to get the right combination to stick their lines on the fast gnarly course. The GT team of Mick Hannah (AUS), Marc Beaumont (GBR), Kevin Aiello (USA) and Roger Rinderknecht (SWI) were all feeling strong for their races and with the help of two of the best mechanics in the business in Mark Maurissen (BEL) and Terry Chanethomvong (FRA) they dialed in.

The DH and 4X events got bumped up in the scheduling so it meant that qualifying would run on Friday and Finals on Saturday. The team got in a lot of quality time in training to figure out their lines but the weather would always keep them thinking. The weather held out for qualifying with only a little mist dusting the course on top. Mick made a solid run by qualifying 9th. After his run Mick stated “I felt like I was in a training run and could have went harder”. With that said Mick knew he had more in the tank for his Finals run. Marc would cruise in to the number 15 spot locking his spot to the Finals. Kevin wouldn’t be so lucky as he had a few mistakes that pushed back his time to keep him out of the top-80 qualifiers. Roger is a favorite amongst the 4X crowd and is always a challenger for the top of the podium. He secured himself a slot in the finals with a 7th place qualifier.

The DH final started under gloomy skies but the rain never came. The UCI does a great job at the World Cup venues to make the races more spectator friendly. They bring in a large jumbotron screen and have cameras positioned along the course so everyone at the bottom can see nearly the entire run of each rider. As Marc was making his run the announcers got excited when the first split time was posted and Marc had a significant lead. Marc would cross the line with nearly a 2 second advantage and would take over the Nissan Hot Seat. Marc would hold the seat for several riders but would eventually be bumped out. Mick came down soon after making his charge at a top slot on his 2009 GT Fury. He would just miss out and would end up in 7th place overall for the day and Marc would get a 15th.

The 4X Finals were able to sneak in before the rain also. The course is probably one of the best in a while with a good mix of true MTB flare with rocks and off camber turns along with big jumps. A pretty deep field of competitors would have their work cut out for them. Roger raced in his typical fashion by putting in solid laps in all of his qualifiers winning all of his races going into the final. The final would be a tough one with current < Jared Graves, 2008 World Champion Rafael Alvarez de Lara Lucas and Thomas Slavik. Roger got a great start on his GT Zaskar battling with Graves for the lead into the first turn. As Roger settled into 2nd into turn two Alvarez came underneath putting Roger on the ground. Roger shook it off and cruised in for a 4th keeping his podium consistency and in the running for a top spot in the overall standings.

The team now heads over to Bromont, Canada for the next UCI World Cup round then over to the Kokanee Crankworx Festival..    
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