Hill takes his first victory of the season and moves into the series lead here at MSA.
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Sam Hill (AUS) Monster Energy - Specialized and Sabrina Jonnier (FRA) Maxxis have taken home the wins on the behemoth of a track here in Mont Ste Anne. Rain fell throughout the night last night, started to dry and then fell again just as practice ended, giving riders a course with incredibly variable conditions. The earliest riders got slick, greasy corners, but by the last 10 min conditions had improved considerably allowing the best of the best to let it all hang out.
Jonnier has been on a tear as of late and didn't let up, crushing the field with a 3.79 second margin over second place finisher Emmeline Ragot (Suspension Center) of France. Ragot did incredibly well, considering she is riding with an inflatable cast on a broken ankle. Third place was taken by Tracy Moseley (GBR) of the Trek Global Team.
"It's pretty awesome, I'm really happy. I kind of put too much pressure on myself at the start, after winning 4 world cups in a row. I really wanted this one to make a 5th one. I wasn't myself in the gate, I was way too nervous compared to normal. The track wasn't my conditions, i don't like the wet. I am really happy with my result. it's awesome. I don't really care about the overall [points], I just want to win and be happy on my bike."
Hill broke a streak of bad luck that has some massive crashes and moved back to the top step of the podium at the week's round. The Australian took his Specialized tires to the limit, committing to the corners more than any other rider in order to take home the win. After an impressive qualifying lead of over 7 seconds, Hill decided to tone it down and play it safe for his race run.
"The run was alright. It was a bit slow with the rain, some bits were slick. I felt like i could just back off a little having 7 seconds [lead] after qualifying, I didn't want to make any mistakes, but I still got a bit wild in a few sections. It was good to get another win, it was more of a relief than exciting. I'm sure i'll enjoy it later when we're partying up at the BBQ cooking up some sausages."
Besides Hill's victory, the story of the day at Mont Ste Anne was not the return of an American Legend in Shaun Palmer who had a rough day at the races, but the creation of another.
In only his second world cup here at MSA, and a year to the date of his first big race at the same venue, Aaron Gwin scored a 3rd place podium finish for the Yeti Fox team. The young American looked dumfounded from his spot on the hot seat as rider after after came across the line to stop the clock, but not one could touch his time.
Another young American, JD Swanguen, had a brush with fate when his ti stem bolts all gave way leading into the massive hip jump mid course and saw him "fly about 200 feet" according the the Intense ODI team rider. Somehow, Swanguen walked away without a scratch.