The first weekend of the 2012 Mountain Bike World Championships in Leogang, Austria, concluded on Sunday with the crowd favorite Downhill. Greg Minnaar (South Africa) returned to the top step of the Elite men's podium after a nine year absence. 


Luke Strobel was top American finishing 22nd.

The men's race had a dozen strong contenders, and Minnaar's victory came down to the wire. Australia's Bryn Atkinson set the first sub-3:30 time, with nearly 50 riders to go. Sam Dale (Great Britain) quickly took off three-tenths of a second and held the Hot Seat for 20 riders before he was replaced by Florent Payet (France), with a drop of two seconds in the lead time.


Australian Mick Hannah took the leading time below 3:24 with ten riders to go, but was immediately replaced by Canada's Steve Smith (almost tossing it in the last corner) who was bumped by Gee Atherton (Great Britain) with two riders left to finish. Minnaar came in next, half a second ahead of Atherton, but everyone knew that the final rider, American Aaron Gwin, could quite easily upset the standings. Gwin has won an incredible nine World Cups in 13 races over the past two seasons, so everyone was waiting to see what he could do.


However, it became apparent early in his run that Gwin was suffering mechanical problems, eventually finishing a distant 83rd, after his brakes, in the words of the team manager, "exploded." Minnaar jumped to his feet from the Hot Seat as he was mobbed by well wishers, ecstatic to win his second world title.


"It’s been nine years and this run it was tough," commented Minnaar.  "I had a lot of pressure today, I was super nervous. To be honest, I tried to nail the top section, just after the bridge I lost a lot of speed, I had to pedal hard. But I held it together, in a way same as in the Pietermaritzburg World Cup earlier this season. I couldn't believe I crossed the line in first."

"I am a bit bummed for Gwinny, he seems to have had a mechanical, I am not sure what happened.  It is not exactly the best way for me to win, or how I'd like to win, but we are all out there trying our best.  We all have mechanicals from time to time, that's part of racing."


Elite Men    Time    Gap
1 Greg Minnaar (South Africa)    03:21.8    
2 Gee Atherton (Great Britain)    03:22.4    0.581
3 Steve Smith (Canada)    03:23.0    1.214
4 Michael Hannah (Australia)    03:23.9    2.14
5 Samuel Hill (Australia)    03:25.2    3.406
6 Damien Spagnolo (France)    03:25.6    3.859
7 Florent Payet (France)    03:26.0    4.227
8 Brook Macdonald (New Zealand)    03:26.7    4.861
9 Markus Pekoll (Austria)    03:27.6    5.774
10 Marcelo Gutierrez Villegas (Colombia)    03:27.9    6.064
11 Samuel Blenkinsop (New Zealand)    03:28.2    6.375
12 Sam Dale (Great Britain)    03:28.3    6.504
13 Bryn Atkinson (Australia)    03:28.6    6.794
14 Marc Beaumont (Great Britain)    03:28.9    7.101
15 Rémi Thirion (France)    03:29.0    7.167
16 Cameron Cole (New Zealand)    03:29.1    7.283
17 Johannes Fischbach (Germany)    03:29.2    7.43
18 Andrew Neethling (South Africa)    03:29.8    7.98
18 Mitchell Delfs (Australia)    03:29.8    7.98
20 Joshua Button (Australia)    03:30.0    8.198
21 Justin Leov (New Zealand)    03:30.3    8.534
22 Luke Strobel (United States of America)    03:30.4    8.582
23 Boris Tetzlaff (Austria)    03:30.7    8.886
24 Matthew Simmonds (Great Britain)    03:30.7    8.904
25 Lorenzo Suding (Italy)    03:30.7    8.915
26 George Brannigan (New Zealand)    03:30.9    9.065
27 Neko Mulally (United States of America)    03:31.5    9.713
28 Lutz Weber (Switzerland)    03:31.6    9.85
29 Aurélien Giordanengo (France)    03:31.9    10.062
30 Robin Wallner (Sweden)    03:32.0    10.24
31 Mitch Ropelato (United States of America)    03:32.1    10.336
32 Jared Graves (Australia)    03:32.4    10.623
33 Logan Binggeli (United States of America)    03:32.9    11.084
34 Joseph Smith (Great Britain)    03:32.9    11.099
35 Mickael Pascal (France)    03:33.7    11.925
36 Steve Peat (Great Britain)    03:33.8    11.971
37 Lars Peyer (Switzerland)    03:33.8    12.022
38 Pierre Charles Georges (France)    03:34.0    12.243
39 Isak Leivsson (Norway)    03:34.4    12.567
40 Benny Strasser (Germany)    03:34.4    12.646
41 Slawomir Lukasik (Poland)    03:34.5    12.692
42 Johann Potgieter (South Africa)    03:34.6    12.761
43 Matthew Beer (Canada)    03:34.6    12.823
44 Filip Polc (Slovakia)    03:34.9    13.139
45 Francisco Pardal (Portugal)    03:35.2    13.458
46 Ben Reid (Ireland)    03:36.1    14.315
47 Andreas Sieber (Germany)    03:37.3    15.528
48 Kyle Sangers (Canada)    03:37.5    15.724
49 Niklas Wallner (Sweden)    03:37.7    15.931
50 Bernat Guardia Pascual (Spain)    03:38.5    16.68
51 Nick Beer (Switzerland)    03:38.8    17.008
52 Oscar Harnstrom (Sweden)    03:38.9    17.095
53 Fabian Fader (Germany)    03:39.0    17.248
54 Felix Wunderlich (Germany)    03:39.9    18.117
55 Ewan Doherty (Ireland)    03:40.4    18.646
56 Ziga Pandur (Slovenia)    03:40.8    19.028
57 Nejc Rutar (Slovenia)    03:40.9    19.075
58 Lukas Splichal (Czech Republic)    03:40.9    19.093
59 Attila Liszi (Hungary)    03:41.8    20.056
60 Carlo Gambirasio (Italy)    03:42.7    20.944
61 Eliot Jackson (United States of America)    03:43.8    21.962
62 Matti Lehikoinen (Finland)    03:44.4    22.593
63 Ivan Oulego Moreno (Spain)    03:44.8    23.041
64 Arkadiusz Perin (Poland)    03:45.1    23.275
65 Duncan Riffle (United States of America)    03:45.2    23.436
66 Rostislav Stencel (Czech Republic)    03:45.4    23.609
67 Andréa Gamenara (Italy)    03:45.5    23.69
68 Mathias Haas (Austria)    03:45.9    24.098
69 Greg Callaghan (Ireland)    03:46.2    24.448
70 Kazuki Shimizu (Japan)    03:46.7    24.902
71 Emanuel Pombo (Portugal)    03:47.0    25.193
72 Pietro Caire (Italy)    03:47.9    26.066
73 Jan Javornik (Slovakia)    03:48.0    26.198
74 Alvaro Hidalgo Vasquez (Costa Rica)    03:48.1    26.278
75 Josh Bryceland (Great Britain)    03:48.6    26.763
76 Lukas Ucen (Slovakia)    03:48.8    27.034
77 Tomas Liska (Slovakia)    03:49.0    27.209
78 Matej Laktis (Slovakia)    03:49.3    27.485
79 Remi Gauvin (Canada)    03:49.5    27.688
80 Pavel Cep (Czech Republic)    03:49.7    27.945
81 Edgar Carballo Gonzalez (Spain)    03:50.0    28.228
82 Marco Milivinti (Italy)    03:50.8    29.01
83 Aaron Gwin (United States of America)    03:52.3    30.538
84 Lars Vatnebryn Sandviken (Norway)    03:52.8    31.047
85 Manuel Gruber (Austria)    03:53.2    31.381
86 Martin Messavilla (Italy)    03:54.0    32.208
87 Markus Planitzer (Austria)    03:54.6    32.763
88 Claudio Caluori (Switzerland)    03:55.0    33.233
89 Petr Tresnak (Czech Republic)    03:55.7    33.937
90 Petrik Jurs (Estonia)    03:56.2    34.378
91 Valentyn Popov (Ukraine)    03:57.0    35.22
92 Orlando Sarioglou (Greece)    03:57.6    35.771
93 Felipe Andres Saenz Anabalon (Chile)    03:58.5    36.661
94 Mario Reinbacher (Austria)    03:59.3    37.491
95 Miran Vauh (Slovenia)    04:01.3    39.513
96 Vladimir Pulaevskiy (Russian Federation)    04:02.2    40.442
97 Oleksiy Priymachek (Ukraine)    04:03.7    41.959
98 Bernardo Neves (Brazil)    04:06.0    44.211
99 Miklos Kantor (Hungary)    04:07.8    46.015
100 Adam Vagner (Czech Republic)    04:09.8    48.037
101 Berislav Topol (Croatia)    04:10.1    48.354
102 Marko Sisovic (Croatia)    04:10.9    49.155
103 Marios Papasimakopoulos (Greece)    04:12.1    50.294
104 Viktor Usachev (Russian Federation)    04:18.2    56.426
105 Peter Keresztes (Hungary)    04:21.8    +1:00.009
106 Thibaut Ruffin (France)    04:23.7    +1:01.938
107 Erik-lennart Purres (Estonia)    04:33.3    +1:11.513
108 Mahdi Mirzahosseini (Islamic Republic of Iran)    04:52.6    +1:30.835
109 Felipe Zanette (Brazil)    05:01.0    +1:39.182
110 Mart Laosma (Estonia)    05:03.9    +1:42.145
111 Alexandr Zubenko (Kazakhstan)    06:14.0    +2:52.207
112 Ludovic May (Switzerland)    09:47.3    +6:25.529


Highlight of the weekend for America was the Silver medal by Richard Rude Jr. in Junior Downhill class.


The future of American downhill racing, Richard Rude Jr.