[Ridemonkey.com]

The Santa Cruz Syndicate has dropped off their coverage of Fort William, wherein we are taken behind the scenes of the Syndicate team. This time, Greg Minnaar topped the ranks, obtaining his 50th career World Cup podium.
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Source: Santa Cruz Bicycles

Santa Cruz Syndicate’s Greg Minnaar (SRAM/Rockshox), moves into the leader’s jersey with his big win at the UCI Downhill World Cup in Fort William, Scotland. This was his fourth win at Fort William at the 10th running of the downhill classic on in the Nevis Range, and it was his 50th career World Cup downhill podium appearance. Steve Peat and Josh Bryceland both had good solid performances, which netted them 11th and 14th position respectively.

Hands down this race was one of the most exciting World Cups of recent memory the way the momentum built as the race progressed. As the race unfolded, young New Zealander Brook MacDonald took the hotseat. His fellow countrymen quickly joined him as Cameron Cole, Justin Leov and Sam Blenkinsop flew into the finish corral trying to unseat him. On the leader board was New Zealand 1,2,3,4! Josh and Steve came down with “mint” and “smashing” runs, and their times shuffled the hotseat around. With four riders to go, Greg took his precision and that special magic he has on the last section of track and had a stellar run unseating Brook.

Danny Hart, Gee Atherton and Aaron Gwin each came down giving Greg their best shot, but the mistakes they made keep them off the top block. Making it dramatic for spectators, the timing showed erratic split margins which may have been incorrect, yet it drove the crowd into a frenzy when they saw the UK riders, then Gwin five seconds faster at the second split. But at the finish any time advantage they had, either real or a mistake, they had thrown away and the best man won on the day.

Taking his SRAM equipped Santa Cruz Carbon V-10 with carbon Enve wheels to another win was just as thrilling to Greg as it was for the crowd. He says, “I’m stoked. I felt after qualifying 4th I didn’t have the pace or that I was missing something on the track, so in the final I wanted to really push hard in the top section where I was losing time to the others. But when I was pushing hard I made two stupid mistakes and felt I lost some time. When I got towards the bottom I knew I had to really push hard to regain some of the time I had lost, which I did. I was really stoked for Danny and Brook who rode amazingly well and I was bummed for Gee and Gwin who had mechanicals and problems on track. Winning the downhill four times in Fort William and 50 World Cup DH podiums, I am leaving Scotland a happy man. Special thanks to all the mechanics and the entire Syndicate, we work really well together.”

With 15 Downhill World Cup wins (9 on Santa Cruz), and 50 World Cup podiums, Greg has his sights to surpass Steve’s career record of 17 wins and 51 podiums, but Steve will be charging hard to keep this from happening anytime soon. World Cup #3 is this weekend in Leogang, Austria and Greg will take a shot at those records.

MEN’S TOP TEN:

1st: GREG MINNAAR (SANTA CRUZ SYNDICATE) 4:43.85
2nd: Danny Hart 4:45.15
3rd: Brook MacDonald 4:45.78
4th: Gee Atherton 4:46.85
5th: Aaron Gwin 4:47.04
6th: Cameron Cole 4:47.60
7th: Sam Blenkinsop 4:48.12
8th: Justin Leov 4:48.18
9th: Sam Hill 4:48.43
10th: Steve Smith 4:49.67
11th: STEVE PEAT (SANTA CRUZ SYNDICATE) 4:50.33
14TH: JOSH BRYCELAND (SANTA CRUZ SYNDICATE) 4:51.46

MEN’S OVERALL STANDINGS:

1ST: GREG MINNAAR (SANTA CRUZ SYNDICATE) 425
2ND: Aaron Gwin 378
3rd: Gee Atherton 327
4th: Danny Hart 249
5th: Brook MacDonald 199
6th: Steve Smith 197
7th: Sam Hill 195
8th: STEVE PEAT (SANTA CRUZ SYNDICATE) 190
9TH: Sam Blenkinsop 172
10th: Justin Leov 164
14th: JOSH BRYCELAND (SANTA CRUZ SYNDICATE) 15​

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Thanks to the Syndicate sponsors:

SANTA CRUZ BICYCLES
SRAM, ROCKSHOX, AVID, TRUVATIV
ENVE COMPOSITES
MAXXIS
CLIF BAR
MUC-OFF
LIZARD SKINS
WTB
CHRIS KING
Gore® RideOn™ Cable Systems
FOXHEAD
BIRZMAN
FIVE TEN​