Windham World Cup 2010: Gravity Wrap

By Singletrack.com

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The 2010 UCI Mountain Bike World Cup is officially in the books as racing wrapped up on Windham Mountain in New York’s Catskills on Sunday with the men’s and women’s downhill contests.

Reigning U.S. national champ Aaron Gwin (Morongo Valley, Calif./Yeti-Fox Shox) earned  a spot on the overall World Cup podium in only his second year racing the international circuit. His fourth-place finish in Sunday’s final earned him fourth place overall in the final World Cup standings.

“It was a big goal I set for myself at the beginning of the year,” Gwin said about his overall ranking before looking on to the World Championships next week in Quebec. “World champs is kind of a unique race. No one really cares about anything but first. That’s what everyone is aiming for so I’ll do the same and see what happens.”

Finishing first on the day and in the final standings was British rider Gee Atherton (Commencal) while Greg Minnaar (Santa Cruz Syndicate, RSA) was second and New Zealand rider Samuel Blenkinsop was third. Atherton also won the World Cup overall title.

Atherton sealed the title by winning the event; only 37 hundredths of a second in front of Minnaar. Atherton took the title with 1229 points to Minnaar’s 1185. Blenkinsop (Lapierre International) finished third in the 2010 series with 864 points.

In the women’s event, British strong woman Rachel Atherton descended the mountain with a time of 2:49 to take the victory ahead of reigning world champ Tracy Moseley (GBR) and bronze medalist Emmeline Ragot (FRA). After recently deciding to switch her focus to downhill racing, 2008 BMX Olympian Jill Kintner (Seattle, Wash./Transition Racing) was the fastest American woman of the day, posting a time of 3:26.10 to grab 16^th place. The only other American in the women’s finals, Lauren Daney (Stafford, Va.), made the 17^th-place effort.

Frenchwoman Sabrina Jonnier claimed the overall World Cup title, her fifth. Jonnier, who finished eighth in the final, took the title with 1130 points, followed by World Champion Emmeline Ragot (Suspension Center) at 1045 and Tracy Moseley (Trek World Racing) with 909.

4-Cross: No surprise for Jared Graves

The 4-cross World Cup series concluded with the crowning of one new champion and one repeat winner. Jared Graves (Yeti Fox Shox), who had already locked up the title, finished the season the way he started it, with a victory in the men’s event. In the women’s race, Austrian rider Anita Molcik overtook defending champion Anneke Beerten (Suspension Centre) to win both the final event and the overall title.

Men’s Downhill

1. Gee Atherton (GBR)

2. Greg Minnaar (RSA)

3. Samuel Blenkinsop (NZL)

4. Aaron Gwin (Morongo Valley, Calif./Yeti-Fox Shox)

Women’s Downhill

1. Rachel Atherton (GBR)

2. Tracy Moseley (GBR)

3. Emmeline Ragot (FRA)

16. Jill Kintner (Seattle, Wash./Transition Racing)

17. Lauren Daney (Stafford, Va.)