The 2015 British Cycling MTB Downhill Series will hit the season halfway mark at possibly the steepest race on the circuit when it heads to Llangollen this weekend for stage three.

Following wins by GT Factory Racing’s Gee and Rachel Atherton amid stormy weather at Fort William a fortnight ago, the overall standings show a gap opening up in the men’s competition after two successive wins by Gee, ahead of Josh Bryceland (Santa Cruz Syndicate) in second and Sam Dale (Madison Saracen) in third.

In the women’s standings, the gap is are narrowing, with Manon Carpenter (Madison Saracen) just retaining first place despite coming third to Atherton and Tahnee Seagrave (FMD Racing) at Fort William.

With Seagrave currently in second place and Katy Curd (Rose Vaujany) in third overall, with Atherton now up into sixth after missing the opening round at Ae Forest in early April.

The course at Llangollen contains some of the steepest track sections on the entire British Cycling MTB Downhill Series circuit.

Last year claiming the scalps of some of the world’s best riders as they struggled with gravity in the wet conditions on sharp gradients, ensuring the outcome of this weekend’s racing is far from certain.

With five of six elite podium places at the 2014 UCI Mountain Bike World Championships won by Brits, the British Cycling MTB Downhill Series is considered the world’s leading national series, attracting more than 300 of the globe’s fastest racers to Great Britain at each round.

Event information

The third round of the 2015 British Cycling MTB Downhill Series takes place on 30-31 May in Llangollen, Clywd, Wales.

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

For full details see www.britishdownhillseries.co.uk. View the start lists.

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