Minnaar needs to find his legs in first test of World Cup
DURBAN: Top-level mountain biking returns to Pietermaritzburg this weekend at the opening leg of the 2014 UCI World Cup, but there are question marks hanging over both riders who claimed world championships titles at the same course last year.
Tomorrow’s downhill will see world champion Greg Minnaar giving his legs their first real test against international competition after surgery, and he faces a tough test to give his legion of home-town fans the victory they will be hoping for.
And then on Sunday, the world’s best cross country riders will be in action, with Nino Schurter aiming to continue his run of domination at the Cascades course, as he recovers from a punishing 700km marathon event.
Minnaar may be the favourite with the locals, but surgery to his anterior cruciate ligament at the end of 2013 means there is a question mark about his ability to repeat last year’s thrilling World Championship win on the same course. And he could even find himself as the second-best South African behind the world’s 12th-ranked Andrew Neethling, who has been threatening to make his mark for a couple of years.
If Minnaar finds his legs not up to standard, the first blow in the fight for the 2014 World Cup title will prob- ably be landed by one of Canadian defending World Cup champion Steve Smith, Briton Gee Atherton or popular Aussie Mick Hannah. Others in contention are Frenchman Loic Bruni and New Zealander Sam Blenkinsop.
The women’s downhill does not feature a South African rider, with Rachel Atherton, brother of Gee, the overwhelming favourite, after her total domination of the event last year, when she won by a massive eight seconds in an event normally decided by tenths of a second.
Fellow medallists at the world champs, Frenchwoman Emmeline Ragot and Aussie Tracey Hannah, are most likely to have closed the gap on Atherton and be able to challenge her domination.
The biggest question mark regarding Sunday’s cross country is likely to be whether Schurter has recovered enough to continue his complete domination of the international cross country scene.
Two weeks ago he was racing the gruelling Absa Cape Epic, and those tough four and five-hour days will surely have at the very least robbed him of some top-end speed. The explosive power he will call on to pedal up the steep climbs on the Cascades circuit will be compromised, and it could give some of his rivals the chance to sneak an early season advantage.