Video: Steve Jones
Edit: Kat Georgudis

Rob Warner, he’s been there since pretty much the start and he’s still one of the most important people in World Cup downhill to this day.

Warner may not be as successful as previous riders in this series but then not many are compared to Vouilloz and Atherton. That’s not to say Warner was shit though, he claimed Britain’s first World Cup win in 1996, finished sixth in the world in ’97, was still scoring top tens in the new millennium and would keep racing World Cups until 2006 – not bad for a man who self-admittedly didn’t care that much.

Instead, Warner gave us a totally fresh perspective on the scene, one that’s almost totally missing today – the apres. Sit Warner down and the stories come tumbling out. Palmer, Peaty, Gracia, Rennie and pretty much every Kiwi that’s been within ten miles of a World Cup, these are the wild men of the sport and Warner was there keeping up with them all.

In this interview he tells us about a typical Palmer party that ended with a police blockade and guns being drawn, getting high on cough medicine and hallucinating into a fish tank and racing with no skin. Best of all, there are so many stories we’re going to do a part two later in the year.