Britain’s Rachel Atherton extended her extraordinary run of UCI Downhill Mountain Bike World Cup wins to 11 as Danny Hart completed a British double in Lenzerheide, Switzerland.
Trek Factory Racing’s Atherton completed her run in 3:33.85, seven-tenths of a second quicker than Tahnee Seagrave who made it a British one-two in the women’s event on Saturday.
- Record extended.
— British Cycling (@BritishCycling) July 9, 2016
Watch @rachelatherton win an astounding 11th consecutive UCI Mountain Bike World Cup https://t.co/FiMTMfcmaA
“It was really exciting, not for a long time have I sat at the bottom and someone has been that close,” Atherton said.
“It’s really exciting and I can see why everyone likes it. We were just neck and neck the whole way, swapping - she had some lines, I had some lines. It was amazing, that is what it should be like."
Hart first win
2011 world champion Hart added to the British dominance with a dramatic run to win his first world cup event.
The 24-year-old, the fastest qualifier, was down on Aaron Gwin’s effort through every time check but clawed the gap back in the final moments to win by less than a hundredth of a second in 3:05.710.
What drama.
— British Cycling (@BritishCycling) July 9, 2016
Watch Britain's @DannyHart1 win his first #UCIMTBWC by just 0.096 seconds.https://t.co/owPZ65nq4R https://t.co/09zYjDBgvA
“I just don’t know what to say to you, absolutely unbelievable,” Hart said.
“That was so sketchy up there. It’s so hard to beat these guys, they go so fast. Gwin, I knew his time at the top and I never like to know but I heard on the radio...and there you go.”
British one-two
Seagrave had qualified fastest ahead of Atherton on Friday but the three-time world champion struck back in the finals.
Mental day!SO stoked for @DannyHart1 for taking his 1st World Cup win!! and me and @tahneeseagrave had a nail biting battle!Close racing!
— rachel atherton (@rachelatherton) July 9, 2016
Atherton, 28, has now won all five rounds of this season’s world cup, continuing her run of victories that started in June of 2015 at Fort William.
She now leads the series on 1220 points with Manon Carpenter second and Seagrave third.
Hart is now second overall in the men's standings on 768 points, 208 points adrift of Gwin with two rounds remaining.
