Dirt

Gee Atherton is the middle of three professional mountain biking siblings – older brother Dan is a former British 4X National Champion, while sister Rachel is a three-time winner of the World Cup Downhill series. After a number of years on the Animal Commençal racing team, all three Athertons now ride for the GT Factory Racing team.

Gee won his first Downhill World Cup race in 2004 aged just nineteen on the technically challenging track in Schladming, Austria. He has finished in the top five of the World Cup Downhill Series every year since, and was crowned champion in 2010. He also won the Downhill European Championships in 2006 and the Downhill World Championships in 2008.

He secured a third place finish overall in the World Cup series of 2012, and, in the same competition in 2013, he wore the leader’s jersey all year until the final round in Leogang, but just lost out on the overall title to Canadian Steve Smith. 2013 wasn’t all disappointment though – he won the Crankworx Polygon Air DH in Les 2 Alpes, and the British downhill national championships.

Born on 26 February 1985, Gee began cycling on a Raleigh Chopper, but was picking up podium finishes in downhill events by the age of 15 and has been a sensation in the sport ever since. He has also demonstrated his versatility by performing well at events away from the World Cup – he finished second at the inaugural Red Bull Rampage in 2004, a feat he repeated in 2010.