The sixth round of the UCI Mountain Bike Downhill World Cup presented by Shimano in La Bresse, France, saw Tracy Moseley (Trek World Racing) solidify her lead in the women's standings with her fourth win of the year, while her team mate Aaron Gwin locked up the men's title after finishing third behind Greg Minnaar (Santa Cruz Syndicate). After a dry run during qualifying a day earlier, the rain moved in and soaked the course all night and the morning of the final, changing lines and sending riders scrambling for spiked tires. Rachel Atherton (Commencal) set the first fast time for the women, despite slipping on one of the single-track sections low on the course. Atherton retained the lead until Sabrina Jonnier (Maxxis-Rocky Mountain), third in qualifying, posted the first sub-2:40 time. Jonnier was followed by Floriane Pugin (Scott 11), one of the only riders to beat Moseley this year. She was expected to offer the greatest threat to Moseley, but struggled with the pedalling section at the top of the course. By the finish she had improved, but was only a miniscule one-hundredth of a second ahead of Jonnier at the finish; not the run she was looking for. Shaky start in final for Moseley Moseley, on the other hand, stepped up her game for the final, and was fastest through every section of the course, despite hitting a big puddle near the top, which temporarily blinded her. The World Champion finished nearly five seconds ahead of her French rival, to extend her lead in the overall competition to 150 points, with Atherton third, a further 235 points behind. "It didn't feel that good at the start, that's probably the worst start I've ever had at a World Cup," confirmed Moseley. "I took a line that absolutely drenched me. There wasn't a puddle there before today. I was soaked through the helmet ...I could not see a thing. After that awful start I just tried to keep it going, I had lost so much speed that I felt like I was starting from zero again. I knew that I would have to give it everything to beat Floriane in a home race, and she is often a better mud rider than me. I just had to bury myself and go for it. I'm just glad that I managed to stay on, it's pretty amazing." Near flawless run for Minnaar After numerous changes in the Hot Seat during the men's final, the two-time World Champion and French favourite Fabien Barel (Mondraker) managed to recover from a near crash at the top of the course to take the lead, which he held until Minnaar came down the track. Minnaar had qualified a relatively slow fifth, but was on fire for his final run. The South African was near flawless, avoiding the slide-outs that cost others time, while still managing to throw in pedal strokes where others were coasting. He came flying across the line nearly 3.5 seconds faster than Barel, setting the first sub-2:10 time of the day. Neither Gee Atherton (Commencal) nor Canada's Steve Smith (Devinci), both strong contenders, were able to produce the run necessary to take the Hot Seat, leaving World Cup leader Gwin to try to dislodge Minnaar. Gwin secures World Cup win with third place in France From the start, it was clear that Gwin was not showing the dominating form that he has had all season, losing time at each split. But it was good enough for third place, assuring him the World Cup title, with an insurmountable lead of 310 points over Minnaar. Gee Atherton remains third, a further 151 points back. "After I crashed at Mont-Sainte-Anne, I wasn't carrying a lot of confidence through Windham," commented Minnaar. "So I went to Santa Cruz [California] and spent three weeks getting ready for this last trip. I felt bit discouraged being beaten by Aaron by so much in the 'qualies', so after practice this morning I went back to my room and just hung out by myself and just really thought about the run that I needed to put together if I was to have any chance to win this race." "I ran into a lot of mud spray at the top, and I was being somewhat cautious, so I didn't think it was enough to win, but I kept it smooth, and I guess that was enough to win. It's awesome to do that. It was just a great weekend, with a great crowd and a great atmosphere."

• published: 12 Aug 2011
• views: 12010