THE BIG THREE Contenders in MEN’S DOWNHILL
ATHERTON | MINNAAR | HILL

In current World Cup racing there are no slow riders in the top 10, in fact there are really no ‘slow’ riders in the whole of the top 80. But it is at the sharp end, the podium, where the tenths and hundreds of a seconds matter most. There are so many good riders that are capable of a podium position, but very few manage the race–on–race consistency that is needed to finish in the top five, or even the top three, week in, week out. Lets not forget that these are exceptionally skilled and fast riders. The likes of Aaron Gwin, Cam Cole, Sam Blenkinsop, Marc Beaumont, Steve Peat, Brendan Fairclough and Danny Hart have all proved that they have it in them, but can they get the mix right? Can they reliably perform? No crashes, no mechanicals, no off–days.

Two riders that do have the combination needed are 2010 World Cup winner Gee Atherton and second place finisher Greg Minnaar. These two riders proved that they were racing at a high level and could perform come race day. Last year’s overall title race came down to a closely fought battle between these two. But what of the third rider in ‘The Big Three’…Sam Hill? The 2009 World Cup winner came into the 2010 season as the hot favourite, but a crash at the first round in Maribor knocked him off his stride. Then three weeks later at round two in Fort William the Australian crashed in practice, dislocating his shoulder and ending his season…or so you may think. He missed all of the following rounds except for the finals in the US. Nothing much happened there, but at the World Championships in Canada he dealt the killer blow, claiming another rainbow jersey.

Photographer/journalist Sven Martin got on the old email and fired out the questions to ‘The Big Three’ to hear their opinions on the coming season.

Mike Rose.

Gee: After each season it is important to review what worked and didn’t work, and to see where improvements can be made. Every year I have weak areas that need to be worked on and last year was no different.

Sam: I’m preparing slightly different, I know what it’s going to take to do my best on certain courses and I’m trying to be able to perform at 100% my best at those, so that’s what I’m working towards.

Greg: I haven’t really changed much since last year. I’m still working with Stephane Girard, I’ve been working with him since 2003. I like the way he mixes up my training, it’s never monotonous.

Gee: It will no doubt be another battle for the overall title, but as to who it will be between is anyone’s guess, injury always plays a big part in the outcome.

Sam: Nope.

Greg: Definitely, Sam and Gee are always going to be strong, but I also think guys like Cam Cole and Gwin are being forgotten about. Cam stepped it up last year and now with Gwin on a new team with Jonny T (Tomac) training I think he will be the next to rise.

Gee: Every year there is someone who is a surprise contender for the win, and then there are always people who you thought would step it up, who don’t. So it’s always a bit of a surprise, hopefully there will be more Brits up there, we have a lot of people who could be capable.

Sam: I don’t know, there are a few guys that are all fast but I guess we will have to wait and see who can be fast all year and not make any mistakes.

Greg: Cam Cole, Gwin, Fairclough and Blenky have got the ability to be contenders, and I’m pretty sure they will be.

Gee: Hopefully having Athy (Gee’s brother Dan) just riding DH will mean he will start pushing towards podiums again, he definitely has the speed and experience…later in the year…and Danny Hart maybe, if he mans up to it he could get a podium or two.

Sam: (Ed note: we forgot to ask Sam this question).

Greg: Marc Beaumont showing he can win in Vale di Sole. Andrew Neethling and Justin Leov are smooth, fast and were up there a couple times in 2010. And then Ratty (Josh Bryceland), he has it all and when he puts it together he is gonna be unstoppable.

Gee: Fort William.

Sam: Champery, Val di Sole and South Africa.

Greg: Mont St. Anne and Fort William are always favourites of mine. I like high–speed courses, fast, technical and natural jumps and gaps.

Gee: Hard to say, I think I can compete on them all.

Sam: Probably South Africa, I like the gradient of that course! Ha ha, nah, I think the more technical tracks like Champery.

Greg: Hopefully all of ‘em…wahaha. The longer physical track always seems to suit me, probably due to my physique.

Gee: South Africa, because it’s in his back garden.

Sam: More fast, basic style tracks.

Gee: Leogang, because it’s filthy wet!

Greg: Champery is a track that’s geared up for Sam, steep, tech and he had that killer ride there back in 2007. World Champs is a different race altogether, anything can happen, especially in the Swiss Alps.

Sam: I think he does better on more technical tracks.

Greg: Gee showed last year that he’s a well–rounded rider. A couple of years ago you could almost guess who was going to win. Nowadays it’s down to the race and whoever can out–perform the other rider on the day.

Gee: I’m stoked he (Dan) is back because I have more fun riding and travelling with him, it’s easier to be on the road for weeks on end when you have you whole crew with you. I’m looking forward to it a lot.

Sam: It helps quite a bit to be able to test out lines with one another. It also helps if you’re having a bad day to try make yourself get up to speed.

Greg: I think it’s really important. Peaty and I have practiced together way before I joined the Syndicate. I have had good results practicing with him and good results practicing without. To me having a fast teammate is more beneficial off the bike then on, talking about lines, bike set up and generally preparing for race day. That’s where I find it a big help.

Gee: I think it’s awesome, the racing is pretty tight and the season always changes up. People love to see a battle and get drawn into following the World Cups when the racing is like that. I think the tracks could improve but it would be better to work on getting the events more publicity, draw more crowds in.

Sam: I think the racing is pretty good at the moment, I definitely think we could have more challenging tracks and some better locations. The sport needs to be lifted to a higher level with its tracks.

Greg: Racing has been tight and exciting, I feel they doing well on trying to mix it up with different style courses. More rounds are a must. Stretching the season out longer so we’re not cramming the World Cup season in to a couple months would help. If we want the state of downhill to improve we have to focus on TV. The tracks will then have to be built for TV, which is not always what is fun to ride. We have a great and exciting sport, but it is super hard to film. I watched a repeat of Champery and it was disappointing, you couldn’t see the gradient of what we were riding, you could only see the speed. And yeah, it was damn fast on that steep muddy rut…but comparing it to MSA we were creeping along. Speed and big jumps are a must if you are wanting good TV.

Gee: Yeah these events are a lot of fun, because you can relax and approach the races differently, it’s not a case of having a safe run at a World Cup, you just put a lot more effort in. I never go as fast at these other events and the results always show that, the battles are always different people.

Sam: Not really, I treat them the same, but there is just a little less pressure not being a World Cup so it’s usually a little more relaxed.

Greg: No, I go for it regardless. The problem I have is that it’s not a World Cup and there is no pressure…So I can’t lift my game. It’s a tough one to describe; I need to get serious to be able to push myself in a race.

Gee: Ahh, if you want to win now you have to go hard, but you have to decide whether you want to win, and whether you are prepared to make the sacrifices a win requires.

Sam: Ha ha, I’m not too sure, I always ride 100% and I don’t want to change that.

Greg: That’s true. You can’t race at 90% anymore; you have to go balls to the wall. You’re going to make a mistake somewhere in the season, you just have to try make less of a mistake than anyone else. Seconds and thirds aren’t good enough nowadays.

Gee: It changes every race. Does the track suit me? Am I carrying an injury? Are the points close? It changes each race and the whole team is part of the decision.

Sam: Usually I’m there to win, that’s always my goal.

Greg: If I feel that track doesn’t suit me, I’ll back off slightly to make sure I will still be on the podium. Otherwise you have to go for the win, you don’t start a race wanting to come second.

Gee: The results would show it was between the 3 of us, last year at least.

Sam: No comment.

Greg: You can call yourself the best in the world if you want, I’m not going to do that until that day comes where I win every single event I enter. One race is not an indicator of the fastest rider in the world.

Gee: Strengths: Being able to adapt to any track. Weaknesses: Entering the season to slowly.

Sam: No comment.

Greg: My strengths are: The Santa Cruz Syndicate backing me the entire way. Racing, being ready for that final run. Dealing with pressure. Physically ready. My weaknesses: I battle to say no to a beer. I battle for a result in qualifying. I’ve spent a lot of time in the off–season working on my two business ventures, True-Collection.com and Global Racing Imports.

Gee: I wish I knew, people play their cards pretty close to their chests these days.

Sam: No comment.

Greg: Their strengths are that they both know how to win races. Weaknesses are we have pushed each other so far that we are all having to ride ‘over our head’ which increases the chance of error.

Gee: I would not chose one over the other, hard to say.

Sam: World Champs.

Greg: To me it’s all about the World Cup, although I would love to win another World Championship. I have always felt that the World Cup winner shows who the best rider of that year is and not the best on that one day. So I’ll stick to the World Cup.

Gee: I’m not disappointed with my World Champs results because I know the reasons that led me to those results. If I could not say why I had not preformed at those races then I would be pissed, but I know what went wrong and what could have changed. That’s all part of racing.

Greg: You can only laugh about them now, as long as I know I put 100% in there is not much I could have done at the time. If you think about these misses too much they just going to bring you down. At the end of the day I just didn’t ride fast enough. What am I going to do differently…try and ride faster than the others! Downhill is a lot simpler then people are making out, if you are faster than all your competitors, you win the race.

Gee: I doubt anyone loves the track there, it’s wet and cold and you have to eat cheese and ham the whole time you’re there. Savage!