British riders were dominant at round two of the 2014 UCI Mountain Bike Downhill World Cup in Cairns, Australia on 25-27 April.

Gee Atherton and Josh Bryceland were first and second in the elite men’s category, revelling in the muddy conditions, while Rachel Atherton and Manon Carpenter proved similarly adept in the mud in the women’s category.

Junior British rider Tahnee Seagrave was the first Brit to occupy the hotseat in the women’s event, before being deposed by successive faster riders. Manon Carpenter, winner of round one in Pietermaritzburg, then took the lead with a 5:02 run before 2013 world cup winner and world champion Rachel Atherton took to the course and posted the only sub-five-minute time of the day, clocking a 4:50 run to take victory.

After two rounds, Carpenter and Atherton tie on 450 points ahead of Myriam Nicole on 297 points.

After her run a delighted Atherton, who was ill at round one in South Africa, said:

"I think everyone was nervous, because the track is absolutely ruined.

"It's like riding through peanut butter. But when you hit the rocks you were worrying about crashing and you were sliding all over the place.

“For me it's been a hard start to the year after getting sick and then getting such hard conditions here.

“The team worked so hard on the bike and the suspension set up ... here I was definitely just a passenger."

Rachel’s brother Gee kept it in the family with a win in the elite men’s category, storming the slippery course to clock a 4:00.7, over four seconds faster than compatriot Josh Bryceland.

Steve Peat and Sam Dale were seventh and eighth, 10 seconds back on Atherton, while round one winner Aaron Gwin was fourth.

Atherton, whose win saw him leap from tenth to second in the series standings after two rounds, said:

"It's absolutely amazing to win.

“It's been a tough week, with changing conditions all the time, but the crowd was pushing all the riders on.

“It was a wild ride, so I'm absolutely over the moon to be on the top step. In conditions like these you don't know if you can do it.

“I knew I had the speed, and luckily I held it together and made it to the bottom. The first World Cup was a rocky start for me, so I'm stoked to win this next one."

There was British representation on the podium in the junior men’s race too, with Neil Stewart third, one place ahead of fellow Brit Taylor Vernon, with Loris Vergier of France taking the win.

Results

Women

1 Rachel Atherton (GBr) Gt Factory Racing 0:04:50.600
2 Manon Carpenter (GBr) Madison Saracen Factory Team 0:00:11.655
3 Myriam Nicole (Fra) Commencal / Riding Addiction 0:00:25.846
4 Emmeline Ragot (Fra) Lapierre Gravity Republic 0:00:28.264
5 Tracey Hannah (Aus) Hutchinson Ur 0:00:29.581
6 Morgane Charre (Fra) Evil Vengeance Tour 0:00:32.181
7 Fionn Griffiths (GBr) 0:00:36.165
8 Tahnee Seagrave (GBr) Fmd Racing 0:00:39.261
9 Micayla Gatto (Can) Pivot Factory Dh Team 0:00:47.199
10 Claire Buchar (Can) 0:00:58.294

Elite men

1 Gee Atherton (GBr) Gt Factory Racing 0:04:00.700
2 Josh Bryceland (GBr) Santa Cruz Syndicate 0:00:04.229
3 Neko Mulally (USA) Trek World Racing 0:00:06.930
4 Aaron Gwin (USA) Specialized Racing Dh 0:00:07.093
5 Samuel Hill (Aus) Chain Reaction Cycles.Com / Nukeproof 0:00:07.182
6 Samuel Blenkinsop (NZl) Lapierre Gravity Republic 0:00:08.576
7 Steve Peat (GBr) Santa Cruz Syndicate 0:00:10.073
8 Sam Dale (GBr) Madison Saracen Factory Team 0:00:10.284
9 Troy Brosnan (Aus) Specialized Racing Dh 0:00:10.535
10 Marcelo Gutierrez Villegas (Col) Giant Factory Off-Road Team 0:00:10.925

Junior men

1 Loris Vergier (Fra) Lapierre Gravity Republic 0:04:27.900
2 Aiden Varley (Aus) Australia 0:00:05.705
3 Neil Stewart (GBr) Fmd Racing 0:00:11.025
4 Taylor Vernon (GBr) Gt Factory Racing 0:00:16.778
5 Connor Hamilton (NZl) New-Zealand 0:00:19.423
6 Connor Sandri (NZl) New-Zealand 0:00:23.105
7 Ben Hill (Aus) Australia 0:00:23.150
8 Keegan Wright (NZl) New-Zealand 0:00:25.664
9 Joshua Mccombie (NZl) New-Zealand 0:00:27.269
10 Luca Shaw (USA) Sram/Tld Racing 0:00:31.762