Congratulations to Australia’s Sam Hill and the Britain’s Tracy Moseley on winning the UCI DH World Championships over the weekend out in Mont St Anne, Canada.

Australia’s Sam Hill took gold at the downhill world championships in Mont-Sainte-Anne, Quebec, yesterday – surprising himself, as well as those who had tipped World Cup frontrunners Greg Minnaar (South Africa) and Gee Atherton (Great Britain) for the rainbow stripes.

It marks an astonishing return to form for Hill, who won the 2006 and 2007 world champs but had a disappointing World Cup season this year due to injury.

Canada’s Steve Smith made home fans proud by earning a silver medal, and Minnaar finished third. Atherton came in fifth behind American Aaron Gwin.

“I don’t know what it is, but this is where I do well,” said Hill of Mont-Sainte-Anne, where he won World Cup rounds in 2007 and 2009. “It’s where I first raced the World Cup in 2001, and I’m always excited to come back.”

Hill said that during the week’s training, he had doubts about how well he would do. He was coming off two serious injuries that hurt him this season. “I’ve been sitting on the couch, and I didn’t have the confidence,” he said. “This morning’s practice kind of bummed me out. I was really sloppy.”

Hill had reconstructive knee surgery in February, but made it back to competition in time for the World Cup despite feeling weak in training. In the second World Cup, he snapped three ligaments in his shoulder.

“I wanted to do well last weekend in Windham and ended up in 13th, which wasn’t a great confidence builder,” he said. “To come back from all that and be able to win today is really great. I still get a bit of pain when I ride. I’ll take some time off now and get fully healthy.”

In the Elite Women’s DH event, Great Britain’s Tracy Moseley finally won the rainbow stripes she has been chasing for the past 13 years at the women’s downhill world championships in Mont-Sainte-Anne, Quebec, Canada, yesterday.

“I’ve had a long career and I’ve been trying to win this for many years,” said a delighted Moseley, “and I’ve finally got this white jersey on my shoulders.”

She finished ahead of two Frenchwomen – 2010 World Cup winner Sabrina Jonnier and last year’s world champion Emmeline Ragot.

“I’ve been the sole Brit among the French riders for most of the year with Rach (Atherton) out for injury,” said Moseley. “I’ve been the one to have to fight the French. I knew Sabrina is really good on this track, we’ve been racing together since 1997. It’s no surprise for me to find myself amongst these two.

“Mont-Sainte-Anne is one of my favourite courses, but you never know until you actually get to the race. This morning I tried to put all thoughts away. This season I’ve not been racing as well as I’ve been practising. My biggest goal today was to put together my perfect race run – to be able to walk away and not feel like I could have done any better.”

Special mention goes to Lewis Buchanan (coached by Chris Ball) who finished just over nine seconds behind Troy Brosnan in the Junior Men’s DH. “I started off pretty confident and knew what I had to do,” he said. “I clipped a rock with my pedal up in the top section. It was hard to concentrate, but I tried to put that in the back of my mind and pedal, although I was quite off the pace.”

Still, Buchanan managed to work himself up from fifth at an early split to third by the end. “I focused on getting smooth lines and building speed,” he said. “This is probably one of the fastest courses we had all year and one of the roughest.”

All three medallists are first-year juniors and will return next year to race each other again.

Gee Atherton is the new UCI World Cup DH Champion for 2010. In an absolutely thrilling finale to the season, Atherton came in just 0.37 seconds ahead of Greg Minnaar to win the event, and with it the season’s title. It was a great weekend for the Atherton’s with Rachel winning the Women’s DH.

After Friday’s qualifying run, Atherton led Minnaar by just 4 points and there was lots of talk about someone other than these two winning the event. Steve Peat almost did, having been fastest in qualifying he was 1.5 secs up at the split, but crashed just before the finishing area. Peaty’s had a rough season, but looks to be in good form to defend his World Championship crown in Mont St Anne next weekend. Anyway, massive congratulations to Gee Atherton … highlights courtesy of DirtTV at Mpora.

MPORA Action Sports >>

Final round of the UCI World Cup is on this weekend from Windham in upstate New York. All eyes will be focused on Gee Atherton and Greg Minnaar in one of the tightest finishes to the season in years. From the clip below, courtesy of MTBCuts, Gee is looking pretty relaxed.

More Mountain Biking Videos >>

The UCI Men’s World Cup Downhill moves to Windham, New York this weekend and with just 7 points in the standings separating Gee Atherton and Greg Minnaar we’re looking forward to an exhilarating finish to the season. UCI Technical Delegate (and author) Chris Ball will be out there early checking on the course, but in the meantime here’s a vid from the guys in Windham showing off both the 4X and the DH courses:

Well, the riders got the weather they were looking for out at Val di Sole over the weekend and that resulted in a fast, dry track. Marc Beaumont won the main race event with Greg Minnaar coming second and Gee Atherton third. The fact that Atherton qualified in first place combined with his third place finish in the race means that he scrapes past Minnaar in the overall rankings and now leads by the slim margin of just 7 points. Which all makes for a sensationally exciting finish to the season later this month in Windham, NY.

In the meantime, here’s a wrap up of the action:

Val Di Sole: Race Day >>

The UCI downhillers are in Val di Sole, Italy this weekend for Round 5 of the World Cup. Sounds like everyone is fed up with washing wet, muddy clothes and are really all hoping for a dry weekend. Anyway, should be a cracker with just 13 points separating current rankings leader Greg Minnaar from 2nd placed Gee Atherton.

Here’s the latest from DirtTV, with a walk down the track …

DirtTV:Val di Sole WC#5 Track Walk >>

In Champery this weekend, Gee Atherton won for the second time this season to close to within just 13 points of Greg Minnaar, who finished second.

The 1,500m course was deluged with rain during qualifying but slowly started drying during the race. However, this only seemed to make things worse with the mud thickening and clinging to the bikes.

“It was really tough,” said Atherton. “You know, some races you really enjoy, and others it’s a battle the whole time. This I was just fighting the whole way, the run was hard work; it was like a battle from top to bottom. It was a matter of just finding that line, hanging it out and having it pinned, and not pushing too hard and crashing. I guess I was right on that line and right on the limit the whole time. I was half crashing all the way down the hill, just holding on, and luckily I got it dialed.”

Greg Minnaar continues to lead the World Cup standings with 830 points but Gee is only 13 points back with two races to go. Highlights after the ad:

MPORA Action Sports >>

All the top MTB downhill riders are in Champery, Switzerland this weekend for the latest round of the UCI World Cup. Back in 2007 this was the scene of Sam Hill’s epic run in the wet. Here’s how Chris Ball describes it in an excerpt from his new MTB skills book:

“It looks like the finals of the 2007 World Cup in Champery will be on dry trails in mountain sunshine. Mid afternoon rolls in and all hell breaks loose. Torrential rain and storms smash into the mountain and the course goes from tough but dry to a near impossible river-cut run down the sheer mountainside. That day, the young Australian Sam Hill rode as though it was dry. His attack mode found grip where there shouldn’t have been any and he placed a time that beat most of the guys who’d come down in the dry. That moment changed many people’s perspectives on what can actually be done with a modern mountain bike. A lot of the younger guys, riding similar set-ups to Hill, suddenly found out just how far it can be pushed.”

Hill is currently 4th in the UCI rankings closely followed by current World & British National Champion Steve Peat. Greg Minnaar is leading the way and will be looking to stretch his lead from 2nd placed Gee Atherton.

Here’s a look at the course from Thursday practice from the guys at Dirt TV:

Dirt TV: Champery Thursday Practice >>