Round four of the Mountain Bike World Cup in Mont-Sainte-Anne, Quebec, concluded with the crowd-pleasing Downhill. Both Aaron Gwin and Tracy Moseley, the men's and women's leaders in the World Cup, won their respective events, padding their leads after this fourth round.

Women

Tracy Moseley (Trek World Racing)

Moseley took her third win of the season to extend her lead in the overall women's standings to 140 points. Moseley, who had qualified first by an impressive 11.5 seconds, had more of a battle on her hands in the final, with second-ranked Floriane Pugin finishing 1.850 seconds behind.

Canadian national champion Micayla Gatto was the first to go under 5:40, but she was quickly supplanted by Emmeline Ragot. Sabrina Jonnier  was next to sit in the Hot Seat, taking the time down to 5:21. American national champion Jill Kintner crashed high on the course and could only manage 12th. Jonnier's time would hold until the final three riders came down the course, with each bumping the other out of the lead.

Rachel Atherton  took a second off of Jonnier's time, but even she knew that wouldn't be enough, and Pugin came in nearly five seconds faster. But Moseley was faster still - over two and half seconds up at the first split, and an additional second up by the second split. She lost a bit of time in the lowest part of the course, but still comfortably took the win, to extend her lead over Pugin to 140 points with three events remaining.

"I've definitely got good memories from Mont-Sainte-Anne, when I won [the world title] here last year," commented Moseley. "But the course changed completely yesterday after it had been so wet all week.  It had some big holes and was possibly the roughest Mont Ste Anne I have ever raced.  It's really great to get the win here again, but it's the same top three every race, so I can't count on the title yet."

Moseley now has 910 points to Pugin's 770, with Atherton in third at 580 points.  Manon Carpenter (Madison Saracen) continues to lead the Junior World Cup, with 200 points.

Men

Aaron Gwin extended his points lead with another win.

The men's Downhill was expected to be a battle between current leader, American Aaron Gwin and second-placed Greg Minnaar, who was only 36 points back. Minnaar had qualified first and Gwin second, and the rider who won the final would don the leader's jersey. Unfortunately, Minnaar's crash derailed his attempt to take the jersey, while Gwin padded his lead with his third win of the season.

Czech national champion Matej Charvat set the early standard of 4:47, but riders following him steadily jumped away at it.  Justin Leov was the first to go under 4:40, and his time would be good enough for tenth at the end of the day. Andrew Neethling knocked a few tenths off Leov's time, but Junior World Cup leader Troy Brosnan then took a significant 1.2 seconds off the lead.  Brook MacDonald, one of the revelations of the season, then took a massive five and a half seconds off the leading time two riders later.

MacDonald's time held up through pre-race and local favorite Steve Smith, Sam Blenkinsop, Gee Atherton - who flatted - and Danny Hart and Cameron Cole. It took Josh Bryceland, the third fastest qualifier, to finally remove MacDonald from the top spot, by five-hundredths of a second.

All that were left were Gwin and Minnaar. Gwin had a good, solid run, but less than half a second faster than Bryceland; not the spectacular gaps we have seen earlier in the season. Minnaar started strongly, setting the highest speed through the speed trap - the only rider to crack 37 miles an hour. At the first split he was less than a tenth of a second behind Gwin, but then disaster struck for the South African, when he hit a rock and crashed. While he was back on his bike quickly, the damage was done and Minnaar would finish 18th, seceding an additional 137 points to Gwin in the World Cup race.

Greg Minnaar, under pressure to beat Aaron Gwin's time, pushed past his limit.

"I was on a good one, having a smooth fast top," explained Minnaar, "so I backed off a bit at the bottom to continue the flow through, and somehow I got too close to a tree, got hooked on a rock and went over the bars. I'm pretty banged up right now, but hopefully I'll be back next week to keep the challenge going."

Gwin put the pressure of the world Cup lead out of his mind for the final. "My qualifying run didn't go as well as I hoped it would, so I was focused on not making any mistakes and riding like I knew I could.  I know at this point that if I put a good one together I should be right up there, so I just focused on doing that. Minus one massive mistake at the top, I think I did that, so it was good."

Gwin now has 868 points, followed by Minnaar with 695, and then Gee Atherton at 547. Brosnan leads the Junior World Cup standings with 314 points.

Women     Time     Diff

1 Tracy Moseley (GBr) Trek World Racing     5:12.980

2 Floriane Pugin (Fra) Scott 11     5:14.830     1.850

3 Rachel Atherton (GBr) Commencal     5:20.510     7.530

4 Sabrina Jonnier (Fra) Team Maxxis - Rocky Mountain     5:21.474     8.494

5 Myriam Nicole (Fra) Riding Addiction/ Commencal     5:22.441     9.461

6 Emilie Siegenthaler (Sui) Scott 11     5:28.543     15.563

7 Petra Bernhard (Aut) Alpine Commencal Austria     5:30.959     17.979

8 Emmeline Ragot (Fra) Team GR     5:31.039     18.059

9 Céline Gros (Fra) Team Morzine - Avoriaz / Haute - Savoie     5:34.759     21.779

10 Micayla Gatto (Can) Team BC/ Young Guns     5:37.853     24.873

11 Jacqueline Harmony (USA)     5:41.576     28.596

12 Jill Kintner (USA) Transition/ Red Bull     5:44.445     31.465

13 Jessica Stone (GBr)     5:46.270     33.290

14 Manon Carpenter * (GBr) Madison Saracen     5:48.781     35.801

15 Miranda Miller (Can) Team BC/ Young Guns     5:53.389     40.409

16 Miriam Ruchti (Sui)     5:56.101     43.121

17 Darian Harvey (USA)     5:59.238     46.258

18 Gabriela Williams (Cze)     6:10.944     57.964

19 Anne Laplante (Can) XPREZO - BORSAO     6:37.222     1:24.242

20 Fionn Griffiths (GBr) Team GR     10:11.917     4:58.937

Elite Men     Time     Diff

1 Aaron Gwin (USA) Trek World Racing     4:31.771

2 Josh Bryceland (GBr) Santa Cruz Syndicate     4:32.236     0.465

3 Brook Macdonald (NZl) MS Evil Racing     4:32.286     0.515

4 Danny Hart (GBr) Giant Factory Off-Road Team     4:34.450     2.679

5 Cameron Cole (NZl) Lapierre International     4:35.497     3.726

6 Troy Brosnan * (Aus) Monster Energy / Specialized / Mad Catz     4:37.897     6.126

7 Steve Smith (Can) Devinci Global Racing     4:38.578     6.807

8 Samuel Blenkinsop (NZl) Lapierre International     4:38.927     7.156

9 Andrew Neethling (RSA) Giant Factory Off-Road Team     4:39.098     7.327

10 Justin Leov (NZl) Trek World Racing     4:39.482     7.711

11 Fabien Barel (Fra) Mondraker Factory Team     4:40.395     8.624

12 Marc Beaumont (GBr)     4:40.418     8.647

13 Matti Lehikoinen (Fin) Chain Reaction Cycles / Nukeproof     4:40.607     8.836

14 Damien Spagnolo (Fra) Mondraker Factory Team     4:40.824     9.053

15 Steve Peat (GBr) Santa Cruz Syndicate     4:41.258     9.487

16 Shaun O'connor (Aus) Yeti Fox Shox Factory Race Team     4:42.221     10.45

17 Michael Hannah (Aus)     4:42.343     10.572

18 Greg Minnaar (RSA) Santa Cruz Syndicate     4:42.422     10.651

19 Matthew Scoles (NZl) Team Cingolani Trek     4:42.794     11.023

20 Romain Paulhan (Fra) Giant Planete 2 Roues     4:42.920     11.149

Others:

22 Neko Mulally * (USA) Trek World Racing     4:44.477     12.706

28 Luke Strobel (USA) MS Evil Racing     4:46.370     14.599

37 Duncan Riffle (USA) Giant Factory Off-Road Team     4:48.602     16.831

71 Logan Binggeli (USA)     5:06.151     34.38

Gee Atherton's tire was his undoing.

Story and photos by Rob "Can I sleep in my own bed yet?" Jones