Three-times World Downhill Champion Greg Minnaar, riding for the Maxxis sponsored Santa Cruz Syndicate team, has won the second round of the UCI Downhill World Cup at Fort William in Scotland. The race was doubly significant for Greg as not only was it his hundredth World Cup Downhill race since his career started, but also his seventeenth World Cup win. This latest victory means that the South African has drawn level with teammate Steve Peat in terms of race wins.

Due to heavy rain leading up to race day, event organisers decided to call off practise and qualifiers on Saturday and ran the whole competition on Sunday. After battling the elements and pushing his Maxxis Minions DHR to the max, Greg qualified fifth in the morning. Having qualified in the top five that morning, Greg pinned all his hopes on his race run and finished over a second ahead of Aaron Gwin. Following an epic battle against some of the toughest downhill competitors in the World, Greg came out victorious and achieved his fifth win at Fort William, putting him third overall.

Commenting on his performance on the day, Greg said: “I’m super happy to win here again! In my race run I didn’t feel like I had done enough on top so I pushed harder in the woods than I had planned. When I got to the motorway it hurt bad but I knew it had to hurt to pull this off. A lot of people said it surprised them that I won and that I was under the radar, but I’ve had a few good races under my belt and good training that gave me confidence.”

After slamming into a tree on the first day of practise, Greg’s teammate Josh Bryceland took the day off on Saturday to rest. Having decided he was able to ride on race day, considering the injuries he had suffered to his chest and shoulder, Josh rode well and placed thirty-first. Josh’s score on the day means that he is now eleventh on the overall leader board.

For more information on up and coming cycle events visit http://www.maxxis.co.uk/events/bicycle.