The first leg of the RockyRoads UCI Mountain Bike World Cup presented by Shimano came to a finish on Sunday 18 March 2012 with the Downhill Elite, clearly a crowd favourite in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa.

I have to admit I was quite impressed at the turn out, spectators littered the banks on the lower half of the downhill course. The sound of Vuvuzelas echoing out around the course as the commentator kept the crowd alive throughout the day. Something one can only truly experience in South Africa.

A huge amount of support was shown by the crowds for the local riders. When Andrew Neethling came hurtling down the course and into first place, the crowd went wild. Being the apparent favourite this was especially so for Greg Minnaar, who rides for Santa Cruz Syndicate. In an impressive show he managed to come from a distant 2 seconds behind at the first split to win the men’s title, beating his rivals, Aaron Gwin and Michael Hannah by 6 tenths of a second and 1 second respectively. Neethling finished up in a highly respectable 7th position.

We knew it was going to come down to the wire, and we definitely weren’t left with a boring finish.

The local crowd lit up as Minnaar came over the Money Maker jump, the Vuvuzelas trumpeted, so much so, that I couldn’t hear the commentator over the elation, all I saw as Greg crossed the line, was the inadvertent ’Mexican wave’ that filtered its way up the track. It was clear that he had managed to attain his goal.

The ladies division lost two top contenders before racing had even started, with Floriane Pugin crashing the previous day, injuring her shoulder, and Sabrina Jonnier crashing on race day morning, suffering a leg injury.
Tracey Hannah, riding for Hutchinson United Ride, made a mark with her solid return to international competition with an impressive win, having had a 4 year break from competitive Downhill racing, beating Manon Carpenter by just under 1 second.

Pictures to follow… check back soon

SUMMARY OF RESULTS
2012 ROCKYROADS UCI MTB WORLD CUP PIETERMARITZBURG

ELITE MEN DOWNHILL
1.Greg Minnaar 3:57.980
2.Aaron Gwin +0.632
3.Michael Hannah +0.994
4.Gee Atherton +1.303
5.Steve Smith +4.384
6.Jared Graves +4.436
7.Andrew Neethling +4.800
8.Troy Brosnan +5.017
9.Julien Camellini +5.604
10.Cédric Gracia +5.674

ELITE WOMEN DOWNHILL
1.Tracey Hannah 4:33.806
2.Manon Carpenter +0.949
3.Emmeline Ragot +2.810
4.Jill Kintner +8.492
5.Miriam Ruchti +10.896
6.Emilie Siegenthaler +11.402
7.Anita Molcik +12.123
8.Luana Maria de Sousa Oliviera +14.385
9.Petra Bernhard +15.112
10.Myriam Nicole +17.275