MacDonald Claims Breakthrough Victory in Mountain Bike World Cup

Hawke's Bay mountain biker Brook MacDonald became just the second New Zealand rider to win a UCI World Cup with victory in France today.

The 20 year old MS Mondraker Team professional took out the men’s downhill title at Val d'Isere to break the winning streak of American Aaron Gwin who had won four rounds straight this year.

It follows from the victory of Wanganui’s Sam Blenkinsop in the downhill world cup in Austria four years ago.

"I can't even explain in words at the moment how I feel," said Macdonald on Redbull.tv. "I had a solid run with no mistakes. It was just one of those runs. I'm over the moon.

"I struggled all this season and I was at the point where I was hating riding. I changed a few things on my bike, like the suspension set up, and it paid off. This track was hard with the altitude and being 2.5 minutes. You're pushing the whole way and you can't lose time.

"I think I'm going party for a week."

Gee Atherton (GT Racing) finished second, 0.68 seconds behind Macdonald while Josh Bryceland (Santa Cruz Syndicate) was third. Minnaar (Santa Cruz Syndicate) was fourth and Gwin (Trek World Racing) in fifth.

MacDonald, the 2009 junior world champion, had to cope with a deteriorating track which made his run all the more meritorious. He was sixth after the first split and first at the second split to take the win. 

He said he had a smooth run and while pushing hard, he kept within his limits and this proved a key to his breakthrough victory.

Top qualifier Cameron Cole (Christchurch) settled for eighth place, the third top-10 finish of the season for the Lapierre International rider. His run was thwarted when he hit a serious of rocks had had come loose, affected as the last rider in the field. He dropped back to 24th after the first time split but roared home for eighth.

Blenkinson (Lapierre International) finished 18th, George Brannigan (DeVinci Global) 20th and Justin Leov (Trek World Racing) 46th after a crash in practice that required minor surgery. The brave Dunedin rider, in his first year on the world tour circuit, rode with a number of stitches from the surgery.

The victory has jumped MacDonald up to eighth on the World Cup standings with one round remaining. Cole is 12th, Blenkinsop 13th, Brannigan 15 and Leov 18th to continue the strong showing by New Zealand riders on the downhill circuit.

Results, UCI Mountainbike World Cup, Val d’Isere, elite men: Brook MacDonald (NZL, MS Mondraker) 2:19.48, 1; Gee Atherton (GBR) at 0.50s, 2; Josh Bryceland (GBR) at 0.68s, 3. Also other New Zealanders: Cameron Cole (Lapierre International) at 2.30s, 8; Sam Blenkinsop (Lapierre International) at 4.57s, 18; George Brannigan (DeVinci Global) at 5.15s, 20; Justin Leov (Trek World Racing) at 8.53s, 48.

CAPTION: Brook MacDonald in World Cup downhill action.