No doubt last year Manon Carpenter came of age. When only the year prior Rachel Atherton dominated the women's class over Manon and Emmeline Ragot domination was not to be had for Rachel in 2014. Manon had the consistency, speed and nerve to overcome slow starts to kick things in gear at the end of each race run. This method netted her three wins and top 3 placings in 5 of the 7 races on the UCI World Cup season.
Got so much love for a lot of people right now ! Thank you 😘😘
https://t.co/bjJlk9bU3w pic.twitter.com/UMGWkvpONo
— Manon Carpenter (@ManonCarpenter) September 10, 2014
Wins were shared around with Carpenter, Atherton and Ragot cleaning up as the top of the women's class. Rachel didn't have the consistency to take the overall title but came a close second in the overall standings by a mere 50 points. The viral infection at the first round in South Africa really came back to haunt her in the overall standings. After then it was a hunt for wins of which she bagged three during the season. A bit of an off season for Emmeline left her another 10 points shy of Rachel's point total. Tracey Hannah, Tahnee Seagrave made their efforts known but routinely fell just short of top 3 placings in most of the races. Tahnee made vast improvements during her first season racing the Elite class and more will be expected of her in the upcoming year. Tracey's long road back got her up to speed in the hope that more speed will come from her in 2015.
Manon pulled off the rare double by taking the World Championship and the British girls ruled the podium taking the top 3 placings. Will it be more of the same this season or have the other girls put in the work over the winter to supplant Manon as champion in 2015? Will Emmeline thrive back with a familiar sponsor at Mondraker? Will Rachel come back to show the women she is the top of the pops? Will someone new show their face? Stay tuned to Vital for all the race reports and raw footage of the UCI World Cup downhill season!
No comments:
Post a Comment