With days of rain in the run up to the Finals exhausting riders and support teams alike Cairns was never an easy weekend. True to forecast the rain held off for most of race day allowing the heavy clay to dry out and become stickier and stickier. The mud made the whole track a challenge, as evidenced by the number of crashes but it was on the flatter bottom section where the race was won in a show of the strength and determination that characterize this family. When it comes down to pure guts nobody can get near them.

In the Junior race Loris Vergier repeated his winning qualifying run to take the top spot but 2nd place qualifier, Luca Shaw, slipped down the ranks to 9th. Australian Aiden Varley took 2nd place, Neil Stewart of Great Britain took the third and Taylor took the 4th after losing a chunk of time with two crashes.

Team Director Dan Brown said “We’re stoked for Taylor’s first top 5, once again he stuck to the plan and didn’t do anything crazy, it was a hard race and he’s clearly disappointed with the mistakes that cost him those valuable seconds but he won’t be hearing any complaints from the team.”

In the Women’s race Manon Carpenter threw down an incredible run to go 14 seconds clear of 3rd place Myriam Nicole and 17 seconds clear of Emmeline Ragot but last down the hill Rachel put in an incredible performance to go 11 seconds clear.
Rachel said “That was the hardest race ever, the conditions made the racetrack horrifically muddy, slippery and slow to roll, it was so hard! The crowd was amazing though because every time I felt like I was crashing they were cheering so loudly that I had to keep it upright! I was absolutely blown away by Gee’s performance, he never fails to surprise and impress me. Proud of my bro!”

The Men’s race was one of the most exciting for a long time for the thousands of Gee Atherton fans that had woken early or stayed up late to follow the live feed. Marc kicked things off for the team with a strong ride and his best result since Mt St Anne last year as he slotted into 8th spot across the line which in the end seated him in 16th.

Britain’s Josh Bryceland was in the hot seat having taken nearly 3 seconds off Sam Hill when Gee dropped in on flat pedals. It was clearly the right choice as he laid down an absolutely incredible run to go ahead of Bryceland by 4.2 seconds. There were 5 riders left to go. Greg Minnaar crashed, Loic Bruni had the fastest time at split 1 but he also crashed, Gwin was 6 seconds down at split 1… and suddenly only top qualifier Sam Blenkinsop was left at the top.  But Blenki came in 8.5 seconds off the pace to end up in 6th and Gee was back on the top step!”

Gee said “That was amazing, totally wild, I’m so stoked with the double win, Rach rode it like a boss. I’d felt like my bike set up was slightly off in South Africa, so we’ve been testing and tweaking, and testing some more. I felt back to my old self again today, riding back on the edge.”
 

Team Director Dan Brown summed up: “We needed this today, it was a hard week for sure, all credit goes to our three musketeers, Pete, Mark and Joe for their endless hours of work this week, in fact they haven’t stopped since Gee finished his run in Africa. Taking the team award and the overall lead with Rachel just topped the weekend”.
 
Source: athertonracing.co.uk
Photos: Sven Martin / Atherton Racing