World Championship Craziness - Atherton, Bryceland, Hill or Brosnan?

September 8th, 2014 9:45am

2014 UCI World Championships Best Yet.

The World Championships are in the Books and Unbelievable is the only word one could use to describe what happened in Hafjell.

For starters, the course was the real deal and worthy of being the host of the World Championships. Featuring multiple, super technical sections that were loaded with huge sharp rocks and multiple line choices, the course was all about keeping upright and momentum to keep the wheels out of the rock holes waiting to eat your wheels.

I can’t remember a course that challenged the top riders so much from top to bottom.

The excitement really kicked in when Trek’s Neko Mulally, broke his chain on the first pedal stroke out of the gate. Instead of quitting, Mulally, continued to down the course riding the entire course chainless. Pumping his bike on the backside of every rock, ridge and slope, Mulally did the impossible and took the hot seat by being the fastest rider down the hill by .8 tenths of a second.

Here is a video of Nekos Run..

neko mulally chanless run

Neko's Chainless run to the hot seat was a spectacle to watch and more exciting to cheer for.

Mullaly's effort was nothing short of amazing. And with the top 12 riders still to come, it seemed like only a matter of time until Neko's place in the hot seat would be taken. But on a course as technical as this, anything can happen. Rider after rider came down. Crashing, bobbles, flat tires or just using too much brake. Four riders later, Mullaly was still the fastest man down the hill until the hottest rider on UCI came down. Sam Hill, winner of two of the last three world cups races used his trademark bike skills to set the fastest time on each of the first two splits before a brutal crash over the bars would end his chances. Hill's crash was a scary reminder of just how dangerous the sport is and the edge these pros ride on. Hill did get up to finish his run but he would not take home his fourth set of stripes. Minnaar, Bruni, Gwin all came down but couldn't unseat the chainless time.

sam hill run at Hafjell was on a winning pace

Sam Hills pace aboard his specially painted Gold Nukeproof was probably the fastest of the day until a viscious crash took out. Hill was okay but will be thnking about the one that got away for the entire offseason.

It wasn't until Gee Atherton's run did Mulally have to change seats. Gee worked hard all the way down even making some near catastrophic mistakes but hanging on to set the fastest time by two seconds. Only three riders remained. Sam Blenkinsop just wasn’t fast enough and Troy Brosnan challenged for the lead but missed out by less than half a second, leaving the freshly crowded 2014 World Cup overall champion Josh Bryceland, the only man who could take the title. From the start Bryceland looked as fluid and smooth as he has all season. Deceivingly fast Bryceland was fastest at split two by 1.3 seconds. All Bryceland had to do was make a clean run on the last technical section. Bryceland seemed to get smoother as the run went on. He Cleaned every technical bit with ease when the unexpected happened. On the fast sweeping finishing turns and jump Bryceland’s smooth style bit him as he carried too much speed over the last wooden jump sending it clear to a flat landing and shattering his ankle just 200 meters from a gold medal. Bryceland managed to hang and coast across the finish line on one leg and losing the World Championships by .4 of a second.

josh bryceland on his run

The fastest man on the mountain until the last 200 yards - Josh Bryceland addes so much excitement to the season and was in it until the very end. If wasn't going so fast, he would have won...

A class act, Gee Atherton takes his second set of Rainbow stripes.

It was easily the most exciting world cup race I have ever seen and on a course that truly rewarded the best rider. It was a fitting end to the one of the world’s most exciting sports.

manon carpenter wins the world cup

Manon Carpenter continued her faboulous season winning her first World Championship over Rachel Atherton by .5 second. Tahnee Seagrave to the third step in her first senior women season.

For the Women, the battle for supremecy continued with Manon Carpenter and Rachel Atherton and Emily Ragot. Unfortunately, Rago suffered a serious crash on the final qualifier breaking her hand and forcing her to miss her bid for a third World ChampionshipTitle.

So it basically was a two woman race with Mannon Carpenter outpacing Rachel Atherton by less than half a second for her first Stripes title. The women’s podium was an all English sweep. Tahnee Seagrave took the Bronze in her first year with the senior elite women. Seagraves will definitely be challenging both Carpenter and Atherton next season.

(ALL PHOTO CREDITS - Thanks to DIRT)

Pro Men

Gold - Gee ATherton

Silver - Josh Bryceland

Bronze - Troy Brosnan

4^th - Neko Mulally

5^th - Brook MacDonald

Pro Women

Gold - Mannon Carpenter

Silver - Rachel Atherton

Bronze - Tahnee Seagraves

JR MEN