Gee Atherton thrilled his home supporters by winning the second leg of the UCI Downhill Mountain Bike World Cup in Fort William, Scotland at the weekend. In a tense finish to a superb weekend of racing, Gee Atherton also strenghtened his position in the overall World Cup standings. His elder brother Dan, had been beaten in Saturday night’s Men's Four-Cross event in the quarter-finals and sister Rachel suffered a narrow defeat in the Ladies Downhill, beaten into 2nd place by French rider, Sabrina Jonnier.
Gee stepped up to the plate by setting a time of of 4min 35.7secs, with five riders left to descend and although all came close at the intermediate times, it was Gee’s lower section that really set him apart from the rest of the field. Cameron Cole of New Zealand, came closest to toppling the Brit in front of a 15,000 strong crowd, but Cole could not gain enough time on the Brit to take over the lead. This left South African Greg Minnaar as the only person capable of silencing the home crowd, but the current World Cup leader and former World Champion did not quite have enough in the tank to topple Gee. As the South African crossed the line to claim third, Gee stood up to salute the crowd and a deafening noise erupted at the Nevis Range resort to the delight of Atherton.
“Winning in Fort William means so much to me," Gee said. "I honestly can say that it is right up there with winning the World Championships in 2008. It comes almost as a relief to me, all the hard work, not just this winter but the last few years - today made it all worth it. The crowd were just unreal and I’d like to thank every one of them for making me push that little harder up there."
Gee is now biting at the heals of Minnaar in the overall World Cup standings, just 15 points behind, while the youngest in the Atherton family, Rachel is mirroring the same situation in the women’s event as she chases down Jonnier. The next stop for the World Cup circuit is Leogang, Austria where the Atherton family will look to continue their fine start to the season.
Information taken from the Red Bull bikesport website
Rachel Atherton was narrowly beaten into 2nd place by Sabrina Jonnier
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