Interview: Raymond Dulieu - DH1

This is an interview with Raymond Dulieu, founder of Freecaster and DH1, that never made it into the magazine. I had originally wanted to feature the interview in the October issue of IMB, but Raymond was too busy to answer my questions. In fact for the next two months Raymond was too busy to answer any questions, but eventually he got round to it.

I believed in the principles of DH1 and the idea behind it so was keen to help promote it. After a lot of prompting I received the answers on Tuesday 13th December. The new issue of the magazine was due to go live on the following Monday. After answering my questions I never heard from Raymond again, despite requests for any PR material, DH1 logos etc. to run with the interview.

Supporters of DH1 such as Santa Cruz, Scott and the Kovariks supplied photos for the article and by the Friday the article was ready to be part of the new issue. Late Friday evening French magazine Velo Vert tweeted a link to an interview they had just done with Raymond in which he was quoted as saying:

"If it is confirmed that red bull will now finance and produce a full HD coverage of the UCI world cup I'll have to consider wether we haven't then ultimately achieved our goal of secure excellent coverage for DH MTB and DH1 might then have served its purpose. In any case for red bull to consider MTB is greatly do to Freecaster fantastic work to put it back in the public eye."

At this time there was no confirmation that Red Bull would be streaming the World Cups, but twitter ignited with users claiming that DH1 had indeed been cancelled.

In March this year Red Bull did in fact announce they would be streaming the World Cup series and Wolrd Champs online for free. There was never any announcement from Raymond or DH1. The last post on the Facebook Page Ray was so keen to promote read: "bargain for those who act fast :-)" with a link to four brand new fox forks. I think it's safe to assume these were meant to be given away as prizes across the DH1 series. 

DH1 never ran as a series, but below is the interview with Raymond. Think of it as a "What could have been?"

*****

“What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.” – William Shakespeare

Downhill racing is bigger now than it has ever been, but why? Is it because of the teams; is it because of the riders, is it because of the bikes? Well, maybe just maybe it’s because for the last six seasons every race on the World Cup circuit has been transmitted live and for free across the planet to anyone with a computer and Internet connection.

All of a sudden races went from being viewed only by those who were lucky and in some cases brave enough to be able to make it to the venue, to being viewed by everyone from the comfort of their own homes. Downhill had become accessible. Raymond Dulieu is the man behind Freecaster, and is the man who made this possible.

So what does all this have to do with Shakespeare? During the run up to the World Champs in September there were rumours circulating that this would be the last UCI event that Freecaster would cover and there would be no live coverage for races in 2012. The future of the sport suddenly looked very bleak.

We can now confirm that Freecaster will not be covering any UCI events for 2012. Rather than sitting back and looking at all that Freecaster had accomplished it was soon announced that that they would be setting up their own race series, DH1, with six rounds, dates and locations in-sync with the UCI and most importantly of all, live coverage at every race.

Ray took time out his very busy schedule to talk to us about Freecaster and his new race series.

How did the idea of Freecaster come about?

Freecaster was originally conceived in 2003 as a host site for video content. At the time most web sites didn't have flash video players, YouTube didn't exist and there was an opportunity for a service to deliver high quality rights cleared videos to web sites. We launched early 2004 and immediately grew very quickly. Not only were we the first one on the market but we also had Braun shavers on board as sponsors. Their support allowed us to cover our cost from day one.

How many people are involved in putting the live stream together?

Every live webcast needs an on-site producer, a commentator, and a cameraman. Then in the office we have a satellite operator, a streaming engineer and an IT engineer so a minimum of six people. It’s quite a small team for the size of the task.

Photo // Courtesy of the Santa Cruz Syndicate

When did you first start the live race coverage, and how did the first few go?

We started live streaming in 2006 with snowboard events and immediately followed through with mountain bike coverage. We're always dependent on the television pictures we received and it's been a struggle in mountain bike from day one. There are never enough cameras on the course, except for at the World Championships.

With an audience as big as you're getting you must get as nervous as the riders come race day?

We’ve learned a lot over the years and it seems like we’ve got our infrastructure dialled this year. The issue is more for the web site server than the live video feed as that goes through 40,000 Akamai servers to ensure that the live stream is always delivered no matter how big the audience gets.

You must have been to your fair share of races over the years?

Unfortunately I haven’t been to as many races as I’d liked to, as I had to look after our business. Covering races is just a part of what we do at Freecaster. We can produce live streams for fashion shows, music concerts and large conferences. That is what allows us ultimately to finance our activities in DH. It’d be unfair for me to pick a favourite track but for 2011, I'd have to say Champéry provided the most thrilling race of the year.

How early on did Rob Warner become involved and start commentating?

Rob came on board in 2008 if I remember correctly. He and I met at the Red Bull X-Fighters in Madrid where he was working for Channel4 (a British television channel). I had no idea who Rob was at the time so it was a lucky strike for Freecaster!

Do you think his enthusiasm has been key to Freecaster's success?

Absolutely, Rob's personality gave the shows an identity and I'm really grateful for that. I hope we can do even more together over the 2012 season with DH1.

Obviously live coverage is just one part of the Freecaster 'package' if you will. What else do you produce at races?

The live coverage is a key product but we also put together a course walk to explain what riders are facing. This year we swapped it for a course ride with Rob riding the course on a Santa Cruz V10 Carbon. We also put together bespoke interviews pre and post race; we publish side-by-side clips that show how riders compare, and of course we produced a lot of material for the end of season DVD.

Freecaster 2011 DVD trailer from WFO Media on Vimeo.

Let’s talk about your new race series, DH1. When did you first start to think about this project?

I decided to launch DH1 after this years World Champs when it was clear that we had no opportunity to find agreeable terms with the UCI for 2012 and beyond. DH1 will offer Pro Riders more events to race on and HD multi-cam LIVE coverage. We will race World Cup level tracks and I hope that in the aftermath of the 2012 season, media and riders will agree that yet again we've had a positive impact on the sport of downhill mountain bikes.

You’ve worked out a new race format as well haven’t you; can you tell us a bit about how this will work?

Amateurs will be able to register on a first come first serve basis for a limited number of race places. Most events will welcome 200+ riders. They will compete on the Saturday and the top 30 will then compete on the Sunday morning. The top 10 finalist of the amateur race will then compete on the Sunday afternoon against 20 seeded pro riders.

Maribor in Slovenia has already been confirmed as the host for the first round of the series, are you looking forward to returning there?

Maribor has always been one of the rider’s favourite downhill tracks. Also it is conveniently scheduled just before the iXS race in Leogang and the World Cup race at Val di Sole.

Two more races have also been confirmed in Oz-en Oisans and Les 2 Alpes, France, how close to revealing the final three destinations are you?

I wish we could reveal the final courses sooner but as we launched DH1 in September, it was pretty late for some towns who had already committed their budgets. Bromont was foreseen for June but they still haven't confirmed whether they can finance the race and currently the organisers would like more time to make a decision. The same applies for the two other venues but I'm confident that early 2012 all dates will be confirmed.

Now, the two French tracks have never been raced as part of a world series before, do you think they’re up to it?

Yes their tracks will be of the highest level or else they wouldn't be part of DH1. The course in Oz en Oisans was used on the Nissan European Downhill Cup in 2011 much to the satisfaction of the riders and was designed by the same crew who made La Bresse, one of the best tracks of this past season. The course in Les 2 Alpes has been designed by Marc Beaumont and Mick Hannah and will allow us to cover the entire run with a helicopter. Expect to see the same sort of coverage that you normally get at an event as big as the Tour de France.

Photo // Red Bull Content Pool / Sven Martin

Are we likely to see the UK host a round in 2013?

I'd love to have a UK round in 2013. The issue is to find a date that is not conflicting with the iXS European cup and that makes sense for the teams as to not increase their travel costs. The UK is on par with Germany as the largest downhill market whenever I look at the Freecaster stats, so really we have to seriously consider holding a DH1 round in the UK.

What other venues would you like to see hosting a round?

The main issue is that the teams need to have a sufficient budget to travel to places but ideally I'd like DH1 to race in New Zealand, Costa Rica, Chile, Indonesia and of course the USA. Also sponsors still look at whether a race is organised in their market rather than looking at which location can provide the best races and the best pictures.

What kind of support have you received from race teams and riders?

The feedback is great and without the support from the riders or the teams I would never have embarked on this adventure.

And how has the response from the fans been?

Equally the support from the fans has been great. We’re up to 16,000 fans worldwide on our Facebook page. The more ‘likes’ we can get the better as it’s a really useful marketing tool and gives us almost instantaneous communication with our fans. I’m hoping that we can reach the same kind of numbers on our Facebook page that we used to get on Freecaster on race days.

Thank you so much for your time, and good luck for the future!

Phil Atwill - Madison/Saracen

For the next issue of IMBikemag I've interviewed Madison Saracen rider Phil Atwill. Phil lives pretty close by in Berkhamsted and Aston Hill is his local track, so we met there for a chat and to grab some photos.

Phil's a funny guy so there were plenty of laughs during the interview, but I was pretty nervous about getting some photos to run with the feature. The last thing I wanted was to annoy him by asking him for 'one more try', but it turned out he loves hitting the same jump or corner over and over again. Result!

Michael O'Brien - Firecrest MTB

For the Trail Maintenance article in the new issue of IMB I needed a few photos of someone riding downhill up at Aston Hill. Ian at Firecrest MTB had a coaching session booked with young rider Michael O'Brien and said I was more than welcome to come along and get some snaps, so I did!

It's cool to watch a Firecrest coaching session, and see the improvements that can be made in just an hour or two! As well as a freelap timing system to get accurate times for marked sections, Ian uses an app on his iPad that allows him to instantly record, play-back and pause all the action to give improved feedback to the rider, which you can see in the photos.

 You can view more photos from the morning here.

Steve Smith Wins Hafjell World Cup!

Steve Smith has won his first World Cup round in Hafjell, Norway! The Devinci Global Racing rider, decked out in his home nation of Canada’s colours stormed ahead of his team mate George Brannigan who also had his best result to date!

 
Markus Pekoll was sitting comfortably in the hot seat, his time seeing off challenges from both team mates Damien Spagnola and Brook MacDonald. It wasn’t until Cam Cole flew past the line that Pekoll had to move over, his time proving enough to finish just inside the top ten.

With the overall title in Gwin’s bruised and battered hands, the fight for second place between Gee and Greg was on. Gee hadn’t had the qualifying run he’d been hoping for and so was up first and went into the lead almost two seconds up on Cam’s time. Gee was the only rider to never be outside the top four all year, no doubt helping GT Factory Racing win the team standings.

Sam Hill was up next, going for some style points manualing into the final of the start jumps and throwing some tweaks in the rock gardens. He was super tucked through the speed trap, closing in on Gee’s time, but crossing the line in third place. Nick Beer was looking fast, taking a different line through the rock garden to the rest of the field, but just missing on on beating Gee’s time.

This was Minnaar’s first race since winning the World Champs in Leogang, and there’s no doubt he was looking for another win. Minnaar was sixth at the first split but cam through the speed trap so tucked he made Sam Hill look sloppy, hitting over 70kph and clawing the time deficit back to just half a second. He sprinted over the line just 0.155 seconds ahead of Gee’s time, securing second place in the overall standings.

Josh Bryceland was the fastest qualifier out of the Santa Cruz guys, and in some races this year, their youngest rider has had the best results out of the team, but today wasn’t Josh’s day and he had to settle for eight place. Still, sixth overall is a great result for Ratboy!

Third in qualifying was George Brannigan’s best result so far as he set off from the start hut. The young kiwi rider on the Devici Global Racing team was eleventh at the first split but had jumped up to just .6 seconds behind Greg by the second split and stormed past the finish line 1.7 seconds up on Minnaar! This was Brannigan’s first top ten finish all year and he was doing it in style, with a guaranteed place on the podium.

Just two riders remained, Rob Wallner and Steve Smith. Swedish rider Wallner became the 2010 European Champion here two years ago and had been looking great in practice and qualifying. The Scandinavian crowd was going wild for him, but something wasn’t going right for him and as he cooled off in the finish pit it became clear that he’d been having trouble with his brakes. Don’t worry Rob, it happens to the best riders. Just ask Gwin…

So just Steve Smith remaining, would Devinci be able to go one-two on the podium? Easily! Smith was looking pinned from the word go, up at the first plit and holding his time all the way down. Steve took the same right hand line through the first rock garden as his team mate Nick Beer, and then seemed to just skip through the second rock garden before sprinting to the finish line like a mad man to finish nearly half a second up on George Brannigan, meaning all three team riders were on the podium!

As soon as he’d caught his breathe Steve said: “I’m so happy right now! I’ve never won a World Cup before and this has been a dream of mine for so long! It was so hard with the wind, but it was the same for everyone. I can’t believe I finished first, I’m so stoked! This is insane all three of us are on the podium today and it’s George’s first ever podium and Nick’s first podium this year so the whole Devinci team is so stoked right now!”

Men’s Top Five
 

1 Steve Smith 3:31.76

2 George brannigan 3:32.16

3 Greg Minnaar 3:33.89

4 Gee Atherton 3:34.05

5 Nick Beer 3:34.89

Full results can be found here.

Aaron Gwin was unable to race on Saturday after injuring his hand during practice. This was the same hand an injury Gwin suffered in Val d’Isere, but this time was far more serious. However, with such a lead coming in to the final round Gwin already had the series wrapped up.

Men’s Final Overall Standings

1 Aaron Gwin – 1260

2 Greg Minnaar – 1162

3 Gee Atherton – 1123

4 Steve Smith – 930

5 Sam Hill – 735

6 Josh Bryceland – 699

7 Brook MacDonald – 650

8 Danny Hart – 699 (missed two races due to shoulder injury)

9 Mick Hannah -632

10 George Brannigan – 604

Aaron Gwin On His World Champs Race Run

The official word from Trek World Racing regarding Aaron Gwin’s race run:

“Race favourite Aaron Gwin saw his hopes of taking a ‘bonus’ title this year come to an end around 1min 20secs into his final race run, when inexplicably both his front and rear brakes failed, resulting in a crash. Shortly after the crash Aaron pumped the brakes to try and get some pressure going but it was insufficient to complete the course safely at speed, and he cruised to the line disappointed he was unable to throw down a run on the three and half minute course.

At the World Championships there is no qualifying round or seeding run, but a timed practice session where riders can check their general race speed against official timing. Aaron was happy with his fourth in timed practice and as race day drew nearer, and the sun came out drying the track dramatically, all was set for a classic Aaron Gwin run. Unfortunately the brake failure, something he has never experienced before and in fact is his first mechanical in a race run since joining the team, really took him by surprise.

Aaron said at the finish line: “I really don’t understand what happened. I warmed up as usual, tested the brakes as usual at the top, walked down the course to have a look at how the track was running, went into my run, brakes working fine for the first minute or so, and then bang, nothing. I crashed and got up as soon as I could, pumped to see what was there, but it wasn’t enough, and knew my day was run”.

The brakes have been taken back to Japan for further analysis as there was nothing immediately evident from the post-race inspection, and nothing new was done to these brakes that Aaron and the team has run for most of the season.”

I think what it’s important to note here how calm and humble Gwin remained about the situation. Having crashed and lost the use of his brakes he could have easily thrown a trackside tantrum and refused to ride the rest of the course, but instead he put on a show for the thousands of fans that had come out to watch the race.

Unlike some sports there was no trash talking other riders or claims of “what if” had his brakes been working. Equally Greg Minnaar showed incredible sportsmanship in his victory, commenting on Gwin’s troubles that this was “not the best way to win”. In fact both riders had nothing but kind words to say to each other on twitter.

And that ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls is how you recover from a nightmare situation.

Greg Minnaar Wins The 2012 Downhill World Champs!

Greg Minnaar has won the 2012 UCI Downhill World Championships in Leogang, his second World Championship victory!

Minnaar proved once more that he is one of the greatest downhill riders the sport has seen, looking his usual composed self as he tore down the Austrian mountain side. This was Minnaar’s second World Championship victory, having first claimed the rainbow stripes back in 2003.

Speaking after the race Minnaar said: “It was tough. I was super nervous! I tried to nail the top section, made a few little mistakes but I managed to come back”. When asked about Gwin’s run Minnaar showed nothing but respect for the American racer saying this was “not the best way for me to win” adding “I can hardly believe I’ve won this!”

As it came down to the top 15 elite men Great Britain’s Sam Dale was sitting comfortably in the hot seat with a time of 3:28. Steve Peat, in his 20th World Championship race was up on Dale’s time and looking fast. Too fast in fact as he came into a corner with too much speed and crashed out. But Peaty is such a huge legend of the sport he could roll down on a kids tricycle and still get the loudest cheer from the crowd. Today was no exception and the Austrian fans went wild for him.

Back in May Troy Brosnan had a huge crash at the iXS race held in Leogang. The internal injuries he suffered put him out for the season and this was his first return to the world stage. Unfortunately it seems Leogang just isn’t Troy’s track, and last year’s Junior World Champ took another big slam and was unable to finish.

Andrew Neethling looked to be having a great run, the first rider to go seriously big on the tabletops. Like massive big. The momentum from these gave him an extra boost of speed but Needles just couldn’t control it on the bike park corner. How the wallride survived is anyone’s guess.

Mick Hannah was the fastest rider in Saturday’s timed practice with a 3:26. As I’ve said before, Mick is an incredibly powerful rider and the track at Leogang is perfect for his riding style. Mick crossed the line nearly two seconds faster than current leader Florent Payet and went into the lead.

Steve Smith was the next rider down, hot off three massive wins at Crankworx Whistler, including the Canadian Open DH. Smith was a second and a half back at the top section, but clawed the time back in the technical section on-board his Carbon Devinci Wilson to go into the hot seat and eventually take the bronze medal.

Josh Bryceland didn’t have much luck at the World Champs last year, going over the bars coming out a corner and having to watch his V-10 spiral down the Swiss mountainside. Bryceland suffered more heartache yet again, his front wheel clipping a tree and sending him over the front.

Sam Hill didn’t have the best start, getting a bit too loose in one of the opening corners and dabbing a foot. Hill was 8.66 seconds back at the first split, yet somehow managed to get that down to just two seconds as he crossed the line, doing enough to finish fifth. Brook MacDonald also didn’t have the run he would have hoped for finishing in eighth place.

Gee Atherton won the World Champs in Val di Sole back in 2008 so knows exactly how it feels to earn those rainbow stripes, and what it takes to win them. Gee wasn’t the cleanest rider through the tabletops but was pedalling more than anyone else and went into the hot seat just over half a second up on Steve Smith’s time. With just two riders left Gee was guaranteed a medal round his neck for the return journey.

But this wasn’t to be Gee’s day and Minnaar put in an impeccable run finishing half a second faster than Gee. As Gwin approached the tabletops it was clear something was wrong and the first split confirmed it. The 2012 World Championship tilt e belonged to Greg Minnaar, and he couldn’t have been happier!

1 – Greg Minnaar 3:21.790
2 – Gee Atherton +0.581
3 – Steve Smith +1.214

Full results can be found here.

Photos by Ale di Lullo

IMB Issue 19 Goes LIve

The latest issue of IMB has just gone live! It was a pretty tough issue and it took a lot of hard work to get it finished, but it's full of some great features. Last month I was lucky enough to interview Brook MacDonald just days before his first World Cup victory in Val d'Isere. While I wasn't able to get into the venue itself, I was able to go to Hadleigh Farm to watch the Men's Cross Country Olympic race! The atmosphere in the town was incredible! They certainly got into the Olympic Spirit!

There's also the Red Bull Joyride slopestyle contest as well as a photography profile with Swedish snapper Simon Sjoren. And of course the trail guide made a return this issue! We headed to Coed Llandegla. I don't think I've been on a better trail ride in the UK. So many tabletops! Can't wait to head back for another ride without Rou and his hay fever...

You know what, looking at the contents page, the first five stories are all mine. True story.

Brook MacDonald

 London 2012

Simon Sjoren Photography Profile

Red Bull Joyride

Coed Llandegla Trail Guide

Brook MacDonald Wins Val d'Isere World Cup!

Brook MacDonald has won his first World Cup race in Val d'Isere, while Aaron Gwin's fifth place finish was enough for the Trek World Racing rider to take the overall series title! Brook qualified second on Friday and upped his pace today to take his first victory as an elite rider.

Not only was this Brook's first win, it was the first win by a New Zealand rider, and the first time a rider other than Greg Minaar or Aaron Gwin has stepped on the top of the podium since 2010. Ahead of the race Brook had said that he loved this rough and natural track, and it certainly showed in his race run! Brook's aggressive riding style saw him up at the second split, and he crossed the line half a second up on Gee Atherton's time of 2:19.973.

After the race Brook said: “I can't even explain it in words! I had a solid run and I'm over the moon about this win. I've had a big struggle throughout this season, but I've changed a few things and it's paid off this week. This was a hard track with the high altitude and it's only two and a half minutes long so you can't afford to lose any time. I put it together, it was a good run and I'm so happy with it!"

This was Gee's first World Cup race with the Union Jack on his sleeve, having won the National Champs last weekend. Gee has been on every podium at every race this season, and kept things low and fast over the opening jumps. This tactic worked with Gee up on the first split and moving into the hot seat 0.372 seconds up on Minnaar.

While the weather was nice and sunny for the race, it was a different story for qualifications on Friday with heavy storms rolling in. The bad weather and tough conditions caught out a number of top riders with punctures and big crashes, Aaron Gwin of course taking a big slam and needing five stiches in his hand, so Gwin joined a few other big names being slotted in to the top 20 start times for today.

Gwin didn't let his injury hold him back and almost crashed into the hot seat as he crossed the line. When asked whether the cut on his hand had held him back Gwin said: “Yeah it ended up being ok. Yesterday it was pretty sore! It didn't hurt too bad, just felt a bit weak at the bottom.”

Team Lapierre Internaional's Loic Bruni has had an amazing season so far; leading the Junior series and claiming his first spot on the podium at the last race in Windham, every spectator trackside was cheering him on, wanting to see a repeat here today on home soil. Loic was under half a second back on Gwin's time at the second split and giving it his all but his front wheel just caught the edge of the track and sent him over the bars as he entered the final section.

Disaster also struck his compatriot, MS Mondraker's Damien Spagnola who had a big over the bars crash high up on the track. Nick Beer, who had qualified fifth, also had a huge crash on one of the top jumps, his bike almost sending him into a front flip as he took off.

As he left the gate Greg Minnaar knew that he had to win here today and put as much space as he could between himself and Aaron Gwin to stand a chance of taking the overall. A small dab high up cost him some time but Minnaar clawed it back to go half a second ahead of Gwin.

Minnaar may have beaten Gwin, but with Brook, Gee and his teammate Josh Bryceland finishing ahead of him, the points difference between the two wasn't enough, and the series overall title went to Aaron Gwin for the second year running!

Val d'Isere Elite Men's Top Five

1  Brook MacDonald 2:19.478
2  Gee Atherton 2:19.973
3  Josh Bryceland 2:20.155
4  Greg Minnaar 2:20.345
5  Aaron Gwin 2:20.844

Full results can be found here.

Aaron Gwin Wins Windham World Cup

There can’t be a better feeling than winning a World Cup Race on home soil with your friends and family waiting for you at the finish line. And Aaron Gwin should know, he’s done it two years in a row now! Gwin qualified fastest here without a chain on Friday. With no mechanicals in his race run there was nothing to stop him from dominating once again.

A crash on Friday left Danny Hart with 20 stitches in his arm, and saw him qualifying much lower down in the field than usual. A little bit of needlework did nothing to slow Hart down, and he sprinted across the line knocking Kona rider Mitch Delfs off the hot seat. Delfs’ time of 2:30.679 was enough to see him finishing just outside of the top ten in eleventh place, his best World Cup result to date.
Greg Minnaar hasn’t really had much luck in Windham. Missing out on the top spot here in 2010 gave the series overall title to Gee Atherton. Last year he finished twelfth and this year Greg had to settle for joint tenth with fellow compatriot Andrew Neethling.

Loic Bruni missed out on racing in Mont Sainte Anne last week, having to finish off his final school exams back in France. Loic’s had a great season so far and his good form continued here in Windham where he finished fifth, earning his first of what is bound to be many podium appearances.

Gee Atherton was the next man down the hill and had clearly put all the misfortunes from the previous week behind him, the first rider to be up on Hart’s time at the second split. Gee carried his speed through the final section of this short track, knocking Hart off the hot seat and going into the lead.
Whilst the track at Windham is relatively short, there’s a few nasty sections waiting to catch riders out; none more so than the rock garden in the woods. A few riders got a bit sketchy, but Brook McDonald took crashing to crazy new levels with one of the biggest slams ever seen. How Brook escaped unharmed is mad enough, but crazier still was seeing Brook jump back up, turn his bike around and continue riding at his usual, full throttle pace. Even with such a hard crash Brook finished thirty-fourth , just 12 seconds off Gwin’s time.

Brook’s team mate Damien Spagnola qualified third on Friday, his highest starting position this year and was having a great race run and no doubt would have podiumed. Even with a rear puncture Spagnola flew through the second split time in second place, but a hundred metres or so later admitted defeat and was forced to push his bike down the rest of the track.

With Gee still on the hot seat it loked like he could get his first World Cup victory since 2010. Only two riders were left at the top of the hill: Steve Smith and Aaron Gwin. Smith was down at the first split, but was super fast through the rock garden and went into the lead.

Just Gwin left then, and everyone knows where this is going. With crowd behind him and going wild Gwin laid down the perfect run, somehow finding nearly a second on Smith’s time, and claiming his signature spot at the top of the podium.

Gwin said: “Whether I won or lost today I knew the fans would have my back and be supportive of my racing, but there’s no doubt that the win here feels very special. You can hear the fans all the way down and it pushes you on. I actually took the chairlift quite late today and it allowed me to see what times the top guys were posting and I knew I’d have to be on it to win.

"I made a mistake early on where I hit 3 course marking poles and I know I lost time in the first sector but I was trying to stay cool and keep the pace right to the line. Walking out onto the podium here with the US flag here means a great deal to me.”

Men’s Top Five
1 Aaron Gwin 2:26.416
2 Steve Smith 2:27.374
3 Gee Atherton 2:28.127
4 Danny Hart 2:29.499
5 Loic Bruni 2:29.773

Full results can be found here.

2012 Cube Fritzz Pro

The Cube Fritzz was the first bike that opened my mind to the potential of air shocks and proved that they’re not just for the reserve of cross country bikes. I wanted a bike with playful nature, but that I’d also be able to cover some distance on for trail riding. That’s exactly what I got from the Fritzz!

Whilst my Fritzz Pro, might be the lower equipped model, the spec list throws up some rather impressive kit; Deore XT rear shifter, Race Face Respond cranks, Formula brakes, Easton Wheels and a Fox RP23 rear shock. It’s the Rock Shox Lyric RC2P fork that’s really impressed me though. This was my first time using a Rock Shox for other than the Boxxer’s. They’ve been fantastic straight out of the box, and I’m yet to find a single fault with them. 780mm wide bars from Syntace might look a lot written down, but feel great on the trail.

Even in this pitiful weather we’ve been having the Fritzz has been such a joy to ride. The Scwahlbe Fat Alberts just bulldoze through all the mud and sludge on the trail, although once summer finally shows up I’ll be looking for a narrower and faster rolling tyre. That said, as it is the Fritzz still picks up speed pretty quickly, and with a low centre of gravity is great at cornering.

At 14.6 kilos the Fritzz is hardly the lightest bike out there, but with a few little tweaks that weight can easily be shed.

For now though, I’m having too much fun riding the bike to worry about things like that!

This bike is screaming out to be ridden up high in the mountains, so I’m going to focus on that instead…