Athertons dominate at the first round in Gouveia, with both Gee and Rachel taking wins.

With all the talk of Vigo earlier in the week the Maxxis Cup at Gouveia last weekend slipped under the radar but good old Pedro Gonçalves sent us over this report, cheers Pedro.

Maxxis Cup #1 – Gouveia

It was in Gouveia, Portugal, that the first round of the Maxxis Cup took place last weekend.
It rained a lot but fortunately on sunday the sun shined.
320 athletes were signed from 7 different nations, where only 150 would pass to the final.
The Brits were the ones who best adapted to the track, taking home the win in every category except for the Masters 30.

Gee Atherton (Animal/Commençal), as expected, won in Elites, but the big surprise was second place Portuguese Emanuel Pombo (Liberty Seguros/Specialized), leaving World Cup regular Robin Wallner (Sparvagen CF) in 3rd place.

In Womens, Rachel Atherton (Animal/Commençal) took the victory with a wide margin to second place Aimee Dix (Mojo/Orange) and third place Harriet Latchem (Propain Bikes).

Results:

Elite Man:
1 – Gee Atherton 3:06.359
2 – Emanuel Pombo 3:12.563 +6.204
3 – Robin Wallner 3:13.973 +7.614
4 – Niklas Wallner 3:19.696 +13.337
5 – Ben Reid 3:20.268 +13.909

Elite Woman:
1 – Rachel Atherton 3:44.118
2 – Aimee Dix 4:13.832 +29.714
3 – Harriet Latchem 4:28.327 +44.209

Full results are here. (Think you have to “save link” to get the pdf)

Maxxis Cup International Gouveia 2010 from Fernando Leite on Vimeo.

The Dirt Norco team had their first outing on the new bikes with Ben Reid taking 5th and Stanny 9th.

Hopefully we’ll bring you more news/photos about the team later today, so keep ’em peeled.
Before that, check out two spy shots from PinkBike courtesy of MTBfoto

Dan Stanbridge: Photo: MTBfoto

Ben Reid: Photo MTBfoto