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Santa Cruz Syndicate's Steve Peat Wins Andorra World Cup Downhill For 17th Career Dh Win, Minnaar 3rd

17th
MAY
2009

La Massana, Andorra

Santa Cruz Syndicate's Steve Peat (SRAM/RockShox) wins the Nissan UCI World Cup downhill today in Andorra with Greg Minnaar 3rd and Josh Bryceland having a solid run for a 9th place finish putting the Syndicate in the team overall lead. It was a storybook ending to the week with Peat's back to back wins earning him the prestige of winning the most UCI Downhill's in history at 17 wins. Minnaar said he rode a bit too conservative, but it was an excellent run to get him back on the podium. Bryceland's performance was his best all year and he shows that he is ramping up into the senior category nicely.

I just received this message from Greg and Josh's coach, Stephane Girrard: "Please forward to Steve Nico's text message I received driving home : "I've been watching live Steve taking and beating my record of wins away, congrats to the big guy!"

The week between La Bresse and Andorra was filled with a bit of fun. Steve went home to see his family. Josh, Greg and I went to Barcelona while Doug, Rick and Martyn drove the van to Andorra. It was a fun 24 hours in Barclelona. We rented some roach tourist bikes and Greg took us on a tour of Gaudi's spectacular architecture throughout the city. With Greg and Josh mucking about on the bikes I was in stitches. They both nearly died by not looking while crossing busy roads with scooters flying past. Josh struggled to remember that the brakes were backwards and nearly hit a lady. The capper was when Greg made a turn while Josh was launching off a sculpture and had to slide his bike, which under normal circumstances would've been fine, but a fistful of front brake had him bleeding on the ground while Greg and I couldn't stop laughing.

We rolled into Andorra to some foul weather and we walked the snow lined, muddy track on Thursday. Lucky for everyone the weather improved and sunny skies shined on the snow capped mountains, while the course dried out and got rougher each practice day.

The qualifier went well for the guys. Steve was 3rd fastest behind Sam Hill and Gee Atherton, with Greg in 4th. Josh pulled up in his qualifier with 20th spot. Each of them rode fast and steady, not taking any risks, while racing fast enough for those important qualification points.

Doug, Rick and Martyn enjoyed the venue and when each work day concluded they could drive past Cedric Gracia's Podium Bar and Café and join in all the festivities Cedric had planned. Stopping in for just one beer they thought it tasted just fine and thought they should try another to see if it tasted just as good. It did! It wasn't long before they arrived back to the apartment with 15 pair of fancy underpants that they had purchased at the Podium. The special ones were the teddy bears with chain saws, I knicked those off of Dougie right away.

Race day practice went well while the guys tried to find some more time on the course. The mechanics and the SRAM/RockShox crew had the Santa Cruz V-10's absolutely dialed. Preparation all the way around was rock solid. The air in the pit was electric and before Josh's start he told me he was nervous, and it seemed that he had just the right activation level for a good performance and it was true. He set off an hour before Steve and Greg who were taking a rest after lunch back at the apartment. The mechanics were on the hill as Steve and Greg prepared, running the course in their minds, their concentration on the task at head was thick in the air. Just before they left the pit they were talking and I could feel an energy that crept into me filling me with excitement and nerves.

I've never felt so anxious at the finish line watching, but today I was shaking watching things unfold. Josh was 20th down the hill and came across the line 2nd. His time held up for a 9th place finish at the end. Greg was fourth to last down the hill and he unseated Mick Hannah from the hot seat, but Old School was next up and he put 1.41 seconds into Greg's time. We watched Sam Hill's splits, he was over a second faster at the first split, but ended up having a nasty crash, and it became clear before he crossed the line that Steve had just made history. My knees and hands were shaking for minutes after, then we found out that we gained enough points to take the team overall.

It was a surreal race. Steve raced not expecting to win; yet he did. It was just amazing to be a part of Steve, Greg and Josh's success and to be a part of history. It is really just too hard to describe it. Doug was in tears, as was I. Doug has once again earned his nickname of "Hatrick" with three Syndicate wins in a row. I don't have any idea how we can top this day, but we'll continue to stick to our program because it seems to be working.

This weekend we will be at the Lisbon Downtown race where Steve will attempt to make history yet again, and Greg will be chomping at the bit to win Lisbon.

World Cup Rnd 3 2009