Qualifying was the same in Practice, a wet affair

The weather in Cairns has maintained its recent form and Qualifying was as much of a swim as it was a ride. InstaTwitterGram is a wash with photos of muddy feet and bikes, Cam Cole summed it up…

Post quali debreif coffee on the beach front @Point1_Athletic, conclusion….. Ride the rut.

Rachel Atherton also gave us an insight into just how wet it was after her first place run.

OMG!! Hardest slowest slippiest race track ever. Qualifying was TOUGH! Dribbled down into 1st place,that’ll do!

So to the results; Timed Practice might not say too much but with conditions as they are qualifying was just as hit and miss with big names all over the place. Mick Hannah is back in 34th and fellow Aussie Sam Hill in 50th, the wet could well have made things rubber side up. Here are the full results…

In the Mens Sam Blenkinsop stormed down and took the top spot with Aaron Gwin in 2nd, Minnaar is back in the mix with 3rd but it’s 4th that’s the story. Ed Masters came in ahead of some huge names to take 4th, not sure if he was riding in his usual flip flops but either way it’s a solid result. The Brits made the top five too and Sam Dale was representing in the single digits with 5th.

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The Women’s Rachel Atherton secured top spot with Manon Carpenter is 2nd, all that training in Wales has got to be helping! The gaps were huge though and indicative of the conditions, over 18 seconds separated Manon from Rach. Emmeline Ragot took third spot as the times tightened a bit, Morgan Charre and Myriam Nicole rounded out the top 5.

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The small Junior field the top two riders didn’t change from Timed Training with Lapierre’s Loris Vergier taking top spot with Luca Shaw 9.34s back. Taylor Vernon came in 3rd again benefitting from some wet Welsh training with Connor Hamilton and Aiden Varley finishing off the Junior Men.

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