Round 3 World Cup Finals Leogang

After consulting the dictionary and thinking about it for awhile, i was wondering what does Leogang mean, is it an indigenous name meaning high wet place?, does it refer to a river or place? or as i figured, a gang of leo's?..i think the latter!
Now that i had figured that bit of trivia out, it was time to concentrate on the racing, there were a lot of questions running around in my head, who is the real deal? in the womens is tracey Moseley the unstoppable force? what is going on in the french connection? is Kintner the mountains girl really coming through or a couple of lucky runs?, and the men, can anybody stop Gwin? will the real Hill and Atherton come to the fore?, what about ol man river, Peaty, he has looked good but what is really going on?, can Minnaar stamp a vuvuzela on his competition?..And what about the track itself, while not a pure non-pedalfest, it has a couple of really steep sections that are awfully technical but when mud gets thrown into the mix, anything can happen, but the pedal mashers need not worry, there are a couple of sections of pedalling to get back time, if thats your thing!

Womens Elite
It started with a very small fiels owing to Manon Carpenter being away with study commitments, and a few others just plain frightened by what this track could extract from them!!
While all was pretty predictable to start with, things soon got going nicely, with plenty of stacks in the steep rooty sections, while it was a bit of a laugh, i soon got worried for our Jill and the other top ladies!
Meanwhile Micayla Gatto took over the hot seat in anticipation of having a good reat and maybe a bit of shut eye, but not to be when super stunner Emilie Siegenthaler came down and took over and took her helmet off and showed us why i call her super stunner( i had her down for the win!), then reality kicked in and down came the charge of the fairer brigade, with Miriam Nicole putting in a great time and claiming the hot seat.
It was now that the nerves started, our Jill was on track, she was up by a long way at the first split, oh boy, the Moet was cold and about to be uncorked!!, then the bad news, Jill had gone down, this was cause for deep anger and depression, for when i was watching i swore i seen some punk throw a stick into her spokes!, problem was, nobody else seen it, was i seeing things?, was i making up things in my mind?, is Elvis is still alive making hamburgers in a take away at Wentworthville?..sadly the answers to all these questions are YES!!
After all this mind numbing stuff there were still a few more riders to come, first came Moseley, she destroyed Nicoles time, then Atherton dropkicked Moseley out of the seat, only for Floriane Pugin to come down and take the win by 2 and a half seconds, she handled the treacherous conditions to perfection, taking a well deserved win, the womens elite looking very good this year!
Some personal observations came from the gang of Leo's, Atherton is starting to warm into the season just nicely, the French girls are not done with yet, and Jill Kintner is looking very threatening with her split times indicating that if she holds it together she will definitely podium soon!

1- Floriane Pugin- 4.29.427
2- Rachel Atherton- +2.583
3- Tracy Moseley- +2.692
4- Miriam Nicole- +9.806
5- Sabrina Jonnier- +10.735
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18- Jill Kintner

Mens Elite
Well it was time, time for the boys to stand up and show there teeth, or fists, or anything they wanted to??
It seems that so many things have happened this year and it really has only just got going, the new breed have started to stamp there authority on the old guard, but time will tell if the old guard have it in them to retaliate, can Gwin keep his stellar form, and Danny Hart has emerged as a flyer, but can he keep it together, what about Blenkinsop, will he take that next step that he has promised to deliver, especially after winning at schladming in 2008, and Brendan Fairclough, despite being more banged up than a land mine victim, will he get his mojo and talent to align to get a win, after getting a couple of podiums last year!
And so it was up to these guys and the rest to prove themselves after a 7 day turnaround from Fort Bill.
The old guard seem to be readying themselves for a charge, Peaty looks more like the elephant man at the moment carrying around a club hand, sustained in a scary crash at Leogang, Hannah broken like a rag doll, courtesy of Pietermaritzburg, Hill, just starting to show a bit of form after having a terrible 2010 world cup campaign, and what of Fabien Barel, with on leg shorter than the other after some terrible knee injuries, the man struggles to walk let alone ride a bike!..And the juniors, it is a 2 horse race between Troy Brosnan and Neko Mullaly, with Brosnan streeting him, especially qualifying in 11th here!!
It was time to go racing, and it was apparent early that there was going to be a lot of mud diving today, when one after the other blokes started mud diving on cue, it was embarrasing but looked like lots of fun, then things got serious with some fast times being laid down!
Qualifying 15th, Sam Hill came down on a flyer, comfortably hopping into the hot seat as one after the other came and went in a blur of flying mud and little rocks, Brosnan tried but came off in the mud, he recovered enough to ensure a very good time, Peaty came and went, even with his club hand he posted a very good time, Bryceland came and went, so too did Blenkinsop and Leov and McDonald, but then Gracia came down and was whipping off jumps, styling it up for the crowd, it was a great run again, it was entertaining but missed out on dislodging hill, he was set in the hot seat like a hungry tick on a dog!, Danny Hart came down, it was wild again, but he was composed this time, bu could not dislodgeHill, that was until Minnaar set the fastest time with a near flawless run, Stevie Smith slotted into 4th then Gee"the vulcan" Atherton came down with a blistering time that looked good enough for the win, but Gwin and "god" had other ideas, whether by divine intervention or just plain skill and courage, he tore Athertons time apart, in the end thanking god for his win, i now wonder if a lot of the pro's will now be heading to church to get the old ones blessing for traction and favourable times?
What is really apparent is that Gwin is riding high on a tide of confidence and skill, what also sticks out is his willingness to have a red hot go and put everything on the line for the win, it truly is a time of change in the world of downhill!

1- Aaron Gwin- 3.44.181
2- Gee Atherton- +2.113
3- Greg Minnaar- +5.721
4- Steve Smith- +7.942
5- San Hill- +9.225
6- Danny Hart- +9.253
7- Cedric Gracia- +9.357
8- Justin Leov- +9.984
9- Sam Blenkinsop- +10.163
10- Brook McDonald- +10.615
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15- Troy Brosnan- +13.832
27- Mitch Delfs- +16.331

So that was that, another great installment of the downhill at the gang of leo's, it seems to have answered a lot of questions, but also left a lot of things in the air and undecided!
Todd