Junior

Elite Women

Elite men

After an eventful qualifying on Saturday which saw many riders out with punctures, crashes and other assorted mechanicals, the final eighty men and twenty women line up in the start gate for the final today. Just over twenty seconds separated the top eighty riders, and thanks to a fully stacked field of exceptionally talented riders, it was no surprise that many names you would have expected to do well instead failed to make the grade. Nick Beer was perhaps the biggest loser, a wheel explosion and no protection leaves him on the sidelines today in his first World Cup for Devinci.Wyn Masters, Markus Pekoll and Jack Reading looked sharp in practice, and in the timed runs on Friday too, but were beset by problems in their Saturday qualifying runs. Syndicate rider Josh Bryceland also had a ‘mare with a crash up top but a top twenty position in the UCI rankings means protection during qualification and that allows the Brit to race today. A crash in the woods meant that Gracia was by no means guaranteed qualification and it would only have taken a couple of riders to push him outside that top eighty. But luck held, and while 79th may not be ideal for the Frenchman, it is still a great result after his horrific injury in 2012.Now that Juniors are a separate category their numbers have swelled with over forty here this weekend. It’s great for the future of the sport and really allows the younger riders to make a name for themselves, as well as gaining vital experience, without the pressure of qualifying for the main event; with a qualifying cut-off time of 5:03 only the top six Juniors would have qualified under last year’s rules.So we’ll pick up with Josh Bryceland having recovered from his qualifying crash to take the hot seat. A victim of a poor qualifying run, Minnaar came down to oust his Syndicate team mate from his comfortable position in the hotseat. Rider after rider then failed to pip the South African until Sam Hill put in a dominating run to put another second and a half on Minnaar’s time and take to the hotseat. Having qualified top ten, Loic Bruni had looked on for a solid result all weekend but a crash up top left him out of the running, and in doing so guaranteed local boy Greg Williamson his first ever top ten World Cup result. But then came Brook, proving that flat pedals are still a force to be reckoned with on the world stage, and in doing so pushed Sam down a place to take to the hotseat. Could Stevie Smith do it? He was close but had to settle one spot behind the charged up Brook. Mick Hannah was next; down at both splits it looked unlikely that he could do it. So it proved, but by such a slim margin that when he crossed the line the top four riders at the time were all covered by less than a second. Next up, Blenki. And again Brook was safe. But as Gee took to the track, the second last rider, the rain started to fall at the top of the hill. Not much, but at this level everything counts. Would it be enough to hamper his attempts to take the top spot? No. Crossing the bottom split he was over a second up onboard his new Fury, holding that sizeable margin right to the line. Last man on the hill: Danny. Twice second, and fastest in qualifying, would it be his turn to take a World Cup win to go along with his World Championship trophy? He was fast, but then so had Gee. The slimmest of margins seemed to separate them, but by the bottom split he was just over a second down. Could he pull it back on the motorway? Alas, seventh.