26min Highlight Show @ UCI MTB WORLD CUP 2011 - Fort William 4X/ DHI - Round 4

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• published: 24 Jun 2011
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The world's top mountain biking stars wowed huge crowds gathered at the Fort William Mountain Bike World Cup today as they plummeted down the slopes of Aonach Mor in the thrilling downhill finals. South African rider Greg Minnaar took top podium place in the Men's Downhill following a tremendous show of power and skill down the course, beating runner up Danny Hart who firmly made his mark on familiar British soil. Minnaar also stole the prize from top British riders, Ruaridh Cunningham (17th place), Ben Cathro (19th place) and last year's winner, Gee Atherton who came in fourth. Fans favourite Tracy Moseley took the top prize in the Women's Downhill after fending off fierce competition from fellow Brit Rachel Atherton in an exhilarating challenge. Tracy held her World Cup lead while scooping a record breaking fifth win at Fort William: "It's pretty awesome as Fort William is a tough race. It's such an amazing feeling to win in front of my home crowd - the atmosphere was electric. I've had a brilliant start to the year!" Unable to compete for the whole season due to injury, Rachel Atherton said: "I'm really happy with second place. There's definitely no battle with Tracy, she's a great rider and I'm just delighted to be back." Starting high on the upper slopes of the mountain, riders dropped 555m down the 2.8km boulder-strewn course, cheered on by thousands of spectators, to finish at the bottom gondola station at the Nevis Range. Celebrating his win, Greg Minnaar said: "It's so great to win here in Fort William, it's been a good weekend! I've been a strong contestant for the last two years and lost out to Gee Atherton last year so it's great to take it home for South Africa this year." Commenting on his second place position, an ecstatic Danny Hart said: "It's been an awesome weekend and I nearly closed in on the competition. I've kept my sensible head on all the way through so it's been relatively easy to stay focused. In some of the best 4-Cross racing Fort William has witnessed, thousands of spectators and fellow riders watched on as Roger Rinderknecht battled to the finish line to secure his World Cup title in this evening's men's final putting Jared Graves run of good luck at the Nevis Range to an end. Roger Rinderknecht said: "It's amazing to have won, especially after what felt like a bad qualifier. It feels really good and it's been a brilliant evening here at Fort William." Hot on the heels of Rinderknecht came David Graf (SUI) and Tomas Slavik (CZE) securing silver and bronze respectively, as they conquered the twists and turns of the famous Nevis Range course. The top female riders battled it out against one another in a closely contended race, with Anneke Beerten (NED) stealing the victory from Great Britain's Joey Gough who put in a sterling performance at her first Fort William event. Anneke Beerton said: "I've been competing for nine years but it's the first time I've triumphed here at Fort William so it feels really special." Lucia Oetjen (SUI) took the final podium place finishing in third place after braving the bends and jumps of one of the world's toughest 4-Cross courses.