World champions Gee Atherton and Manon Carpenter headline the opening round of the British Cycling MTB Downhill Series in Ae Forest, Scotland this weekend.

Carpenter and Atherton completed a British lock-down for the world titles in Norway last September and will carry the rainbow stripes for the 2015 season.

Carpenter returns to defend her British series victory on the only track she won at in 2014. The remainder of her series was a string of four second-places, her consistency proving unbeatable.

Atherton won at both Llangollen and Fort William last year, but the overall was claimed by then-teammate Marc Beaumont .

Like Carpenter, Beaumont’s only win came at Ae Forest, with podium performances at Fort William and Bike Park Wales enough to seal the series.

Also joined by Josh Bryceland and Tahnee Seagrave - who earned silver and bronze at the world championships respectively - the event will set the scene for the upcoming international season.

Taking place one week before the opening round of the UCI Mountain Bike World Cup, the race is the final chance for the best British riders to prepare for a series last won by Bryceland and Carpenter.

Event information

The opening round of the 2015 British Cycling MTB Downhill Series takes place on 4-5 April at Ae Forest.

Racing starts on Sunday from 11:00am, with 300 riders setting a seeding time, before their final race run. Race runs will last under three minutes, with the fastest riders from timed seeding the last down.

For full details see www.britishdownhillseries.co.uk. Start lists can be found here.

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