Follow britishcycling.org.uk on 
Report: 2010 UCI Mountain Bike World Cup R6 Windham
2010 Mountain Bike Coverage Home | 2010 UCI MTB World Cup Overall Standings
Gee Atherton has won his first ever Mountain Bike World Cup Series at the final round of the season - Rachel Atherton won the women's race on her return to the international competition.
REPORT: DOWNHILL
Result: Men | Women Series Standing: Men | Women || Action Replay
The Atherton's are back on top of the World just one week before the 2010 Mountain Bike World Championships - both winning the final round of the World Cup in astonishing circumstances.
For Rachel, it was a return to the World Cup Series following a huge crash in Leogang two months back. Her hopes of any result in the Series were over, so this week was treated as preparation for the World Championships in seven days - and judging by her winning margin, those preparations are right on track.
Edging out Tracy Moseley by under two seconds, Atherton is now right back in the mix for the World Championships - something nobody expected - but a circumstance which would put the pressure on over the next seven days, Rachel noted, in a post race interview.
While the pressure is only just building for Rachel, there was no doubt concerning the importance of the men's race, and Gee Atherton's season-long battle against Greg Minnaar certainly lived up to expectations as the pair went head to head in a final race showdown. With just four points separating the pair, it was a winner takes all scenario, and following a season of domination by both riders, it was only fitting the top two spots were filled by the two modern-day greats.
Gee was first down and put in what looked like a flawless run, but with Minnaar next on track Atherton kept his helmet and goggles on - almost certainly to shield his reaction as the final World Cup of the year unfolded.
All the way down Minnaar was close, but crossing the line 0.3 seconds was the time deficit, confirming Atherton's first World Cup Series win. So tiring was the season battle, it was telling neither rider had the energy to celebrate or look dejected, the thought immediately turning to Mont St. Anne where in seven days the World Championships will be contested.
Usually the World Cup results go some way to confirming a favourite for that event, but not this year - and confirming that was the final man down the hill, and reigning World Champion Steve Peat.
Fastest qualifier and coming down the mountain as Gee celebrated, he highlighted he was a top contender for retaining his World Championship status. Over one second ahead of Atherton's time with just the final section of the track to complete before a huge crash, which bought back shades of Les Gets 2005, you can be assured that Steve Peat is back to his best right on time for Mont St Anne.
REPORT: CROSS COUNTRY
Result: Men | Women | Junior Men Series Standing: Men | Women || Action Replay
In the best set of results across the board in 2010, Britain's cross country racers answered any critics just one week before the biggest race of the year. Season and career-best results across the board were initiated by three Junior riders on Saturday morning - Steve James, Grant Ferguson and Kenta Gallagher finishing fourth, fifth and sixth respectively.
Annie Last followed that up finishing twentieth in the women's elite race and second in the under-23 category on the day - securing third in the under-23 World Cup and underlining her medal potential for next weeks World Championships.
Perhaps the most encouraging performance of all however, came from Liam Killeen. Starting from 70th on the grid, Killeen rode through the field to finish 12th - his best result by far in 2010, while David Fletcher finally achieved his first top-sixty World Cup finish.
REPORT: FOURCROSS
Result: Men | Women Series Standing: Men | Women || Action Replay
A lack of rider numbers at the final Fourcross World Cup of the season resulted in just 32 men qualifying for the finals - Scott Beaumont by the smallest of margins getting through.
Showing up last on the gate is no advantage though, and up against a stacked gate including World Champion Jared Graves, and World Cup winner Michael Marosi, Beaumont had his work cut out.
Scott Roberts faced similar tough love in his opening round, being sliced up the inside by Filip Polc and forced off the track in a classic fourcross manouvre.
Jared Graves went on to win the finals, wrapping up the World Cup in style before heading to defend his World Champion status.
Katy Curd was the top performing Brit - winning the small final.
PREVIEW
Gee Atherton goes into the final round of the Mountain Bike World Cup leading the overall - but with Greg Minnaar just seven points back, the scene is set for a winner takes all showdown on Windham Mountain.
Not since Steve Peat in 2006 has a Briton won the World Cup - in any discipline. In what riders see as the ultimate test of consistency and skill, Minnaar and Atherton have been at the top of the pile all year, dominating the podium.
For Minnaar, a fourth World Cup Series would take him one step closer to the inimitable Nico Vouilloz, who won the competition five times. Atherton is still looking for his first win.
On an all-new Windham course, both riders will be going into the event blind and have chosen different routes of preparation; Atherton racing, Minnaar staying away from the big events.
Whatever the groundwork, both riders are sure to also have the World Championships in mind, which take place the following weekend, and it may come down to the man who wants to risk both the World Cup title and World Champs participation, to separate two riders who have been on a different level to the competition in 2010.
One Brit who is guaranteed a World Cup Series win is Manon Carpenter, who has already secured the Junior women's title, beating established elite names along the way.
In the Senior women's standings we're guaranteed a French winner, and it's most likely to be Sabrina Jonnier, who will equal Anne Caroline Chausson's five titles should everything go her way. Top British rider is Tracy Moseley who sits in fourth, while Rachel Atherton could make her World Cup comeback after her huge crash in Leogang two months back.
FOURCROSS
With Dan Atherton out through injury and Scott Beaumont returning from injury, the men's fourcross overall standings are without representation - but that won't stop Beaumont going for the win on the night.
Fionn Griffiths represents Britain's best chance of a podium finish in the women's fourcross, currently fourth overall and sixty points adrift of Jana Horakova in third.
CROSS COUNTRY
With the exception of Annie Last, 2010 has been a year devoid of podium performances in the senior cross country ranks.
Oli Beckingsale has been plagued by bad luck, crashes and mechanical issues - his best finish 37th at the first event of the season in Dalby. Liam Killeen has fared even worse - 41st at Offenburg a season highlight. When comparing both of these results to tenth and fourth in the 2008 World Championships, it is easy to conclude the two years since the Beijing Olympics have been sub-par for Britain's two Olympians.
And with only one Olympic Academy rider in the form of Dave Fletcher, who is still to achieve a top-sixty World Cup result with one year remaining in the under-23 category, the wait for a successor to Killeen and Beckingsale continues.
Of course, results from all of these riders at the two most important races of the year would turn the season around and leave a great deal of motivation for the last full season before the Olympic Games. What's more; gaining qualification points now is crucial, with just a two year period to accrue enough points for one or more start places at London 2012.
One area where that situation is much improved is in the women's ranks; Annie Last twice hitting the under-23 podium, and on one occasion finishing nineteenth overall. That all adds up to a World Cup ranking of fourth in the under-23 category, and 27th in the overall standings. Lily Matthews has also made continued progression throughout 2010, and perhaps her biggest marker will come the following week, with the separate under-23 race at the Worlds.
Whatever the result, you'll be able to catch the conclusion of the 2010 Mountain Bike World Cup on British Cycling.
