MARIBOR, Slovenia (transcendmagazine.com) -- Sam Hill (Aus) Monster-Iron Horse continued his domination of the UCI MTB World DH Cup by winning the first race of the 2008 downhill season by a margin of more than four seconds. Frenchman Julien Camellini of the Chain Reaction-Intense team brought home second place. Fan favorite Steve Peat (Gbr) Santa Cruz Syndicate finished third, making up for the flat tire and back-of-the-pack finish here last season. The course itself was rough, fast and hard packed - the fastest riders have ever seen at this venue, and it left little room for error.
Hill discussed his run after the podium when asked how he goes so fast. "I don't feel that fast. I'd love to go faster, I had a good run today just wasn't really happy with qualifying didn't ride that good just rode a lot better then, it was a fun run."
For the women, it was the current queen of downhill, Sabrina Jonnier (Fra) Maxxis-Iron Horse who took home the gold. Jonnier edged out Rachel Atherton (Gbr) Animal-Commencal and youngster Emmeline Ragot (Fra) Suspension Center who finished in third.
Canada's Steve Smith (Team Cove Bikes) and Claire Buchar (Intense) took home 44th and 11th, respectively. Smith qualified 15th, but managed had some bad luck during his final run. "I hit a tree going really fast and then I pinned it in the bit after. I got a little relaxed and got off my line in a section I shouldn't have," said Smith. Buchar spoke about her day while packing up. "I only ended up making up 1 second off my qualifier [in the finals] and I feel like i could have gone faster, which is a good thing I guess in the end. I wasn't totally nailing everything perfect. I am pretty happy."
Men
1. Sam Hill 2:47.54
2. Julien Camellini 2:50.62
3. Steve Peat 2:51.85
4. Fabien Barel
5. Greg Minnaar
Women
1. Sabrina Jonnier
2. Rachel Atherton
3. Emmeline Ragot
Watch Sam Hill destroy the competition.
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