Jill Kintner

Frenchies saw two winners. Sabrina with her 4th victory in a row, and Fabien Barel out of no where with all kinds of busted ligaments in his knee rallied back and came out of a dark cloud to take the World cup by storm...

Lots of really fast riders had to sit out and watch the final, this track was not an easy one. Mistakes were plentiful with all the technical elements and guesses on conditions. Seemed like time was lost mostly on the second half of the track, dunno why, maybe the high speed of it, pin-balling down? Pretty rooty in sections as well. Would have been better if Bryn was in the mix of the race today, but so it goes, downhill is a dangerous sport.

Anyway. I was filling in for Dirt TV doing interviews of the top 5. Better to ask the questions than have to answer them sometimes:). Hope I didn't sound like an idiot, was kinda winging it. 2 of the big guns, Steve Peat and Gee Atherton had problems, Peaty with a flat tire after a good top section, and Gee with a crash, got up, still ahead at the split, then another crash down below in the gully. He won quali and was going plenty fast enough.

Opened up opportunity though for a few other guys to stand on the podium. Justin Leov had his best race ever, qualifying 2nd, then finishing 4th, and Brenden rode in the 5th. Minnaar kept his podium consistency alive for 3rd, and is now leading the overall.

Thought this would have been Sam Hill territory as he has never lost on this track, as I remember, but he had a big crash in practice in the rock garden and was in a lot of pain, 2nd, but really motivated for Quebec I can imagine.

Anyway, super glad to be getting the hell out of Europe, and back to the NW. Seattle is calling. It's been fun, but havent been home in 3 months, time to regroup, rebuild and come back faster.... later. go check out www.dirtmag.co.uk