The worldcup of Fort William/Scottland is one of the most exciting races of our schedule. It’s not just that it is one of those big classic races, but it’s also the special atmosphere and the incredible big audience, which makes this race unique.
We were directly coming from the UCI MTB worldcup in Val di Sole and everybody was looking forward to compete here in Fort William. The track is really challenging, as it is beside the track of Mount Saint Anne the longest track of the circuit. Because of its special characteristics like the wide open part right at the start or the particular ground the track is a kind of outstanding from the other track on the circuit- some hate it, some love it.
MS-RACING had already some good experiences on the track as last year the first podium of Brook and so we are always looking forward to come here. But this year it seemed like we will not be lucky winners.
Emmeline left some good impressions in her trainings runs and again she counted among the favorites. Unfortunately she had a flat tire at the very beginning of the track and so she wasn’t able to show her performance at all. She ended up in 33rd position, which usually would not qualify for the finals. Luckily as actual number one of the overall ranking she was protected for the finals. Brook had a solid run and was first time back in the top ten since 2012. Damien crashed in the upper part of the track and finished 36. The unlucky fellow of the day was Markus. He had a flat tire such as Emmeline and even he had a special run flat system he wasn’t able to make it to the finish within a competitive time. This was the first time since the worldcup in Bromont 2008.
Raceday was a complete different story. The weather changed and it was raining, which made the track more challenging, as it was super slippery on the infamous wooden bridges down the course and the so called highway on the very end became super slow. With Emmeline we were in an unfamiliar point of departure as she usually start as one of the last riders. This time Emmeline came down a little earlier and we expected her in lead and so she did with a margin of 28 seconds. At this time it was not clear if it will be enough for the win of the day, but in the end she won by 1,3 seconds ahead of Rachel Atherton.
In the men’s race we kept unlucky. Damien was ready for his attack, but he went down and ended up in 42nd position. Brook started out of a promising point of departure and he was motivated as he was looking back to a 3rd place last year. Unfortunately he wasn’t fortunate and went down hard and finished in 69th position.
Emmeline is still leading with 120 points ahead of Rachel Atherton. In the team ranking we remain in 4th position with 7 points off Trek world racing in 3rd place.
Now we are preparing for the upcoming oversea worldcups in 2 weeks in Mount Saint Anne/ Can and Windham/ USA.
Stay tuned!
Big thanks to:
