Catch up on the action from one of the most memorable world cups to date
Between Rachel Atherton’s 9th consecutive win in a row, Greg Minnaar’s scorching winning run, Peaty’s final ever Fort William world cup and a tribute to Stevie Smith this weekend had the ingredients to go down in the history books as one of the greatest ever world cups.
Rachel Atherton, despite qualifying behind Manon Carpenter, was as dominant as usual, putting 12 seconds into Tracey Hannah in second place.
All photos from Cairns WC (Credit: Red Bull)
Atherton takes her 9th consecutive win a row and moves ever closer to putting together an unbeaten season. Manon Carpenter came down the hill in third having suffered a crash higher up the track.
The men’s race was set to be a cracker, with Gee Atherton qualifying fastest with an unprecedented result by Eddie Masters who qualified second.
Rachel Atherton took her ninth consecutive win (Credit: RedBull)
Greg Minnaar proved once more that you can never rule him out. He set an untouchable time early in the afternoon which defied the likes of Danny Hart, Gee Atherton and Aaron Gwin.
>>> Watch Gee Atherton race the Cambrian Rally
The weather was uncharacteristically hot and the track was left dry and dusty with little grip. It claimed more than a few big riders with George Brannigan, Gee Atherton, Mike Jones and Eddie Masters having the biggest crashes of the weekend.
Overall it was a great weekend for the Brits, with Danny Hart in 3rd, Adam Brayton in 4th, local lad Greg Williamson in 7th and Laurie Greenland in 8th.
Long Live Chainsaw (Photo: Stevie Smith/Facebook)
This weekend was also the first weekend the mountain biking community had been able to come together since Stevie Smith passed away.
As a protected rider he was remembered by a moving ghost run down the track.
>>> 8 reasons Steve Peat is a legend of downhill mountain biking
Steve Peat finished his last ever world cup in Fort William, having announced his retirement at the beginning of the season. He came equipped with a custom designed Santa Cruz V10 and his own bar called ‘Last Orders’ which was serving drinks to fans.