31.7.2012 – From Trek World Racing By taking 5th place at Round 6 of the UCI World Cup, Aaron not only won his 2nd World Cup Overall title in as many years, but he also maintained his 100% record of World Cup podium results, 13 from 13 starts with Trek World Racing, and a record 14 in a row when the final round of 2010 is taken into account. Furthermore, the Trek Session race bike has scored an impressive 35 World Cup podiums since the start of 2009, more than any other bike model.
Having won 4 of the 6 races on offer so far this season, it seems logical that Aaron Gwin would have wrapped up the season early, and become the first to score back-to-back titles since Nico Vouilloz (FRA) in the late 90’s, but mathematically it wasn’t that straight forward. Both Greg Minnaar (RSA) and Gee Atherton (GBR) have been equally consistent so it was a matter of trying to limit the damage after a qualifying run crash nearly brought Aaron’s weekend to an early close. The penultimate round of the 2012 UCI World Cup in DH was at a brand new venue, Val d’Isere (FRA) on a course which presented a number of challenges. It was short, at around 2mins 20secs, and this means errors of any kind were not forgiven. The limestone strewn down the length of the course was sharp and sliced many a tire and rider. Aaron and Justin both suffered injuries requiring stitches. Justin’s injury on his left arm actually required the handy work of a plastic surgeon to stitch torn muscle inside the injured arm, as well as stitches to close the wound. Aaron’s right hand was cut deeply and required 5 stitches, an injury he played down before the final but in reality, was a tough one to cope with on this course.
Aaron said: “I have no excuses for my 5th today. I had a pretty good run. For how I felt with the hand injury, I’m happy. To win the overall again, it’s so amazing, especially after this weekend. I came in feeling good and kinda had a bonehead moment in qualifying—hurt myself a little bit with that. It was better than I thought it was going to be in the finals but I just got a little tired at the bottom. So I had to back it down to make sure I stayed on and I kinda backed it down too much, but it still worked out. Everyone loses some and wins some. I have lost many more in my career so I’m just stoked to be up here in the black leader jersey for 2012.” Aaron takes a 260 point lead into the finals in Norway in mid-September, with a maximum 250 points available. Between now and then, there are the World Championships. The Men’s Downhill World Title hasn’t been in the hands of an American since his team mate and Trek World Racing staff member Myles Rockwell in 2000, so it’s understandable that the goals for the season have now shifted to Leogang, Austria, in about 4 weeks from now. Full results: http://www.uci.ch/templates/BUILTIN-NOFRAMES/Template1/layout.asp?MenuId=MTYzODg&LangId=1 Team website: http://dh.trekworldracing.com/ |
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News/Blog
Aaron Gwin Wraps Up the World Cup Title with One Race Remaining
August 1st, 2012
King of Enduro: REMY ABSALON
July 26th, 2012
Commencal / SDG team rider Remy Absalon takes 1st place in the Alpe d’Huez Megavalance.
SDG Team Riders Swarm MSA WC Podium
June 27th, 2012
It was another great day for SDG athletes in Quebec this past weekend at the latest round of the UCI MTB World Cup. Aaron Gwin (USA) took home another win on board his custom I-Fly, while Sam Hill (AUS) took 5th place. Brook Macdonald (NZL) sat just off the podium in 6th. SDG is proud to take 6 of the top 15 spots!
For the women, SDG was all over the podium with Myriam Nicole (FRA) in Second, Emmeline Ragot (FRA) in third and Micayla Gatto (CAN) in 5th with her first ever World Cup podium.
The track in Mont Ste Anne had been slightly modified this year to reduce the length of the track for TV purposes, this meant that speeds in the already high speed upper sections were hitting the redline at over 62km/h. It was definitely a track where being able to get off the brakes and attack would make the difference between 5th and 10th.
Gwin was happy with his performance and was grinning ear to ear when talking about the track. “Every win is special. We’ve been working at this since I was 4 years old, my family and I going to the BMX track. Watching Ricky Carmichael and others guys win all sorts of races and wondering, what do I have to do to get there? We’ve put everything we had into it. Each win is hard, they don’t come easy, it’s a tough sport and some rough tracks the last few weeks. Lately it’s been working out, and whether it does or it doesn’t, we’re all still having fun just riding bikes. It’s a challenge to race on this track, but this is probably the funnest track I’ve ever ridden.”
SDG athletes are now in Windham, New York for the only American stop on the World Cup Tour taking place this upcoming weekend.
Aaron Gwin Crushes World Cup Round 2: Val Di Sole
June 4th, 2012
From Trek World Racing: 6.3.2012
After setting the fastest qualifying time yesterday by more than 7 seconds, Trek World Racing’s Aaron Gwin displayed incredible poise and composure to once again win by a similar margin today in the finals here at Val di Sole, Italy. While the rest of the field were separated by tenths of a second, the sizes of Aaron’s winning margins really were the talk of the paddock throughout the weekend. The win today puts Aaron in the leader’s jersey, but tied on points with main rival Greg Minnaar (RSA).
The course here in Val di Sole, site of the 2008 World Championships, is notoriously steep and rooted and is considered one of the toughest on both rider and machine. Training accidents claimed many riders but fortunately the sunny weather ensured the racing was largely a safe affair, but the images were dramatic nevertheless. It’s hard to appreciate the incline of this course unless you’ve walked it or stood trackside.
Unfortunately Neko Mulally was unable to race as his ankle wasn’t 100% ready for the demanding track. A single practice run on Friday made that abundantly clear, but he took a radio to the course and relayed a lot of valuable information back to the team’s start crew. Starting last and not knowing what time Greg Minnaar had recorded, Aaron took to the track with a chance to win his 6th World Cup. While Minnaar sat in the hotseat it was clear that barring an accident, the win was Aaron’s for the taking. No rider had beaten his qualifying time of 3mins 16.693secs so he still had the fastest time on the hill for the weekend no matter what, but Aaron went on to beat his qualifying time by 6 seconds.
Aaron said: “I’ve been looking for a run like that for some time now, I couldn’t be happier. I was pretty sure my quali time would hold, and even though the course here is super rough and dusty, I managed an almost clean run. Greg rode amazingly well on this track and is going to be tough competition for the remainder of the season.”
Teammate Justin Leov moved up in the overall rankings from 16 to 13 after his run today, but despite the improvement was disappointed with how his final run went.
Justin said: “I overrode the first sector of the course and made an error that cost me a second. I tried to make it up in the second sector but just starting making more mistakes and had to rein it in to get down. Fort William’s up next week and I’m keen to get back there.”
Next week sees Round 3 at the classic Fort William course. Greg Minnaar has won there a number of times including last year, but Aaron has a score to settle with the track after having a lead of more than 5 seconds in 2011 and crashing with 2 corners to go. With the two of them tied on points it will be an exciting showdown at the Fort.
Team website: http://dh.trekworldracing.com/
Four World Champs for SDG Components!
September 9th, 2010
It’s always impressive to have a World Championship at the end of the year! But we’re so proud of our guys and gals pulling it all together to end the season at the top!
Congratulations to Sam Hill even though he spent much of the season rehabilitating from an injury he managed to come through second year in a row! Troy Brosnan on his first year with the Factory Team impressed us all…wait till he gets a bit bigger!! This was Tracey Moseley’s year with so many consistent finishes throughout the year! Well deserved for sure! And Caroline Buchanan! Last year’s champ from Australia came out and killed it again!!!! So awesome!!!! Thanks everyone for riding the best saddles in the industry!!!