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| Gee Atherton did an early morning practice run at the US Open with this prototype inverted Fox fork bolted to the front of his Commencal. While Fox was tight lipped about the fork, being sure to emphasize that it is still quite a ways from being a production unit (if ever), they were kind enough to share some interesting information with us. (more…) |
August 25th, 2010 @ 5:00 PM | Author: billy
As you may know, we here at Dirt have exclusive access to the new Commencal Supreme DH frame. We are following the frame from the initial early drawings, through to prototype stage, testing and then final production. The complete story will come out in the magazine in a few months time, but just to keep you interested we are going to be dropping some spy shots on the site.
June 29th, 2010 @ 2:47 PM | Author: billy | dirt magazine
This is going to be concise – with a whole load more of detail to follow both here on the website and in future issues of Dirt Magazine.
This is so new it hasn’t even been built yet. (more…)
Home favourite Gee Atherton (Commencal) blitzed his way to the win in a thrilling men’s downhill final at today’s UCI Mountain Bike World Cup round in Fort William, Scotland. (more…)
April 7th saw Commencal and the Athertons launch their new look team, as the complete family roster prepare for a 2010 season back at full strength. 2008 World Champion Rachel, returns this year after having to sit out last year due to an injury sustained in a training accident. With her form nearing one hundred percent you can be sure she will be in the mix for the overall World Cup title and in medal contention once again at the World Championships in September. Despite qualifying fastest at Andorra, Slovenia and Fort William last season, Gee found himself on the other steps of the podium too often come the finals. He finished the season in fourth place and is out to better that this year with an ambitious assault on the Downhill overall title, kicking off in full force at the Slovenian hosted first round in May. Eldest sibling Dan has undertaken a tough winter training schedule, with more emphasis on his speciality Four Cross. Working on his weaknesses from 2009, Dan is now ready to unleash these improvements on the World Cup series.
More Mountain Biking >>
Here is Gee Atherton’s World Championship Commencal.
Main points.
Air shock with lock-out.
Lighter weight frame but same geo as his World Cup bike, just without the adjustability
Atherton Pro bars, stem, seat, seat post, grips
Bladed spokes.
Minnaar and Jonnier take new DHI wins
There were two familiar faces on the podium for round seven of the downhill series in the Nissan UCI Mountain Bike World Cup presented by Shimano. Sabrina Jonnier (Maxxis-Rocky Mountain) took her sixth consecutive win in the women’s category, while Greg Minnaar (Santa Cruz Syndicate) took his third in the men’s, at Bromont, Quebec in Canada. Jonnier has now locked up the women’s overall title with one race still remaining. Sam Hill (Monster Energy-Specialized) retains the lead in the men’s series after finishing third, but Minnaar is only 16 points back, so this title will come down to the final round in Schladming, Austria, one month from now.
The off again – on again rain of the past week finally moved away overnight, with blue skies and bright sun appearing shortly before race time. The open sections of track dried out quickly, however, in among the trees the mud remained, forcing riders to carefully negotiate slippery rock gardens and rooted sections.
Women: Sixth consecutive win for Sabrina Jonnier
Junior World Cup leader Anais Pajot (Team Sunn) was the first to go below three minutes and 12 seconds in the women’s race, and took the Nissan Hot Seat. Jonnier was up only a few riders later, after an uncharacteristically slow qualifier that had her seeded fifth. The French rider obliterated the rest of the field, becoming the only rider to clock under three minutes. Floriane Pugin (Iron Horse-Kenda-Playbiker) took second, while Japan’s Mio Suemasa was third.
“I’ve been sick all week,” revealed Jonnier “and I had no energy. I was really disappointed with my qualifier, it was the worst that I have had. But the weather changes dried the track out and made it more to my liking. Even so, I was really surprised at how fast my time was.”
Men: Another win for South Africa Greg Minnaar
Mick Hannah (GT Bicycles), with 11 riders remaining, was the first to make a significant dent in the top time, taking it below 2:34. His time would hold until the young American revelation Aaron Gwin (Yeti Fox Shox) knocked a quarter of a second off the best time, to eventually take the fifth podium spot. World champion Gee Atherton (Animal Commencal) bumped Gwin, but Minnaar was only two riders later, and his time would prove to be the best, as the final two riders – Hill and number one qualifier Fabien Barel (Subaru) – could only manage the second and third fastest times respectively.
“The course was really tough after all the rain, many of the sections were just blown right out, and it was easy to make mistakes. I didn’t have a clean run; I don’t think anyone did, but I just tried to keep it clean and flowy, and be as smooth as I could. Definitely, this win is a confident booster, going into the Worlds, and I’ll be looking forward to having it all come down to the Final in Schladming.”
Mens
1 RSA MINNAAR Greg SCB 2:31.65
2 FRA BAREL Fabien SUB 2:32.11 +00.46
3 AUS HILL Samuel MER 2:32.28 +00.63
4 GBR ATHERTON Gee ANC 2:32.68 +01.03
5 USA GWIN Aaron YET 2:33.06 +01.41
6 AUS HANNAH Michael GTB 2:33.32 +01.67
7 GBR PEAT Steve SCB 2:33.48 +01.83
8 AUS KOVARIK Chris CRC 2:34.44 +02.79
9 GBR BRYCELAND Josh SCB 2:35.72 +04.07
10 GBR FAIRCLOUGH Brendan MER 2:35.74 +04.09
Womens
1 FRA JONNIER Sabrina TMR 2:58.28
2 FRA PUGIN Floriane IKP 3:00.92 +02.64
3 JPN SUEMASA Mio 3:01.23 +02.95
4 GBR MOSELEY Tracy TRK 3:02.24 +03.96
5 FRA GROS Céline MLG 3:04.24 +05.96
6 CAN GATTO Micayla 3:06.31 +08.03
7 CAN BUCHAR Claire CRC 3:06.75 +08.47
8 FRA RAGOT Emmeline SCT 3:06.97 +08.69
9 SUI SIEGENTHALER Emilie STT 3:07.55 +09.27
10 USA PRUITT Kathleen 3:09.06 +10.78
The exciting new 2010 range from Commencal in Andorra. Courtesy of freeride.tv
Particularly interesting are the comments about the new 160mm DH bike being enough for people who are trying to ride smooth down hill but NOT RACING… good advise, probably!
