Vid – Team Specialized at Worlds

Date Sep 7, 2011

Australian Troy Brosnan won his second junior downhill world championship title in a row at the UCI Mountain Bike Worlds in Champery, Switzerland, on Sunday afternoon.

Rain started the morning of the competition and only got stronger all day. It made a very technical track even more technical and many of the top racers were crashing and slipping all over during their final runs.

specialized monster energy, troy brosnan, sam hill, Brendan fairclough, 2011, champery

Brosnan defeated 57 other juniors to take his second consecutive rainbow-striped jersey in a time of 3:51.503. He was the third last junior man down the hill and beat the time of the previous best rider, David Trummer (Austria) by more than 12 seconds.

“It feels amazing. Winning this one was harder than the first one,” said Brosnan. “I can’t believe it.”

“This year was so different. The whole year I’ve been riding well, but so have so many other juniors. To come across the line this far ahead of them is amazing. I didn’t think it’d be that easy.”

Brosnan had a nearly flawless run and looked smooth in the treacherous conditions where other riders struggled. “I had the sickest run. I was keeping all my lines I was doing in the dry, and it was wild. I was slipping everywhere, but I held it together I guess. I had a lot of moments, nearly the entire way down was a moment. I unclipped a few times to save myself.”

“I couldn’t believe I was 10 seconds up at the bottom. That’s just amazing. I couldn’t ask much more. Everyone and everything has helped me out so much.”

Brosnan was delighted with his Specialized bike’s performance. “My bike was stiff, and I never lost tracking. I think it was a big advantage over the rest of the field.” He used Specialized Storm tires, which his mechanic had cut down a bit with “some sneaky ramps on the front wheel so it would roll just a little bit faster. They were hooking me up like mad.”

Brosnan’s Specialized bike was sporting the yellow and green colors of Australia. “We’re definitely running the best looking bikes,” he said, before thanking his mechanic and support crew for all the support this season.

In the elite men’s downhill world championship, Brendan Fairclough, racing for Great Britain, finished just out of the medals in fourth place while 2010 World Champion Sam Hill, racing for Australia, was seventh.

“It was pretty tough coming back to the world championships,” said Hill. “At least at a World Cup, you get on the podium and you’re happy, but at Worlds you’re there to win.”

“I had a bit of pressure on myself and haven’t spent much time on the bike. I did my best and had a pretty good run, I had a lot of fun,” said Hill, who was sporting a green striped hairdo. “I started a week before Worlds back on my bike, maybe 10 days or so. I rode my downhill bike just three times before I came here. It’s good to be back and racing. Conditions were pretty fun, I just wish things had finished out a little different.”

Fairclough was pleased to finish off the season on a good note. “I had a shitty season, but fourth at Worlds is cool. I knew I could do well here, but I didn’t push hard enough. When it came down to it, it was pretty greasy and wild, but I had a good time. I just wish it was under better circumstances after a better season, and I was coming in with more confidence. Fourth is cool – it’s a result.”

Fairclough’s time was 3:55.124 while Hill’s was 3:57.890. It’s worth noting that Brosnan’s time would have placed him second among the elite men!

This concludes the 2011 race season and we couldn’t succeed without the support and teamwork of our sponsors; Monster Energy, Specialized Bicycles, Mad Catz, SRAM, Truvativ, Rock Shox, Avid, DT Swiss, SDG, Renthal, Troy Lee Designs, Maxima, Spy Optics, Cane Creek, e-thirteen, Contour, Five Ten, Alligator, Obtainium, Freestyle, Kicker, KMC.