The team will be missing Taylor who is at home in South Wales in the midst of his GCSEs and Rachel who’s chosen to sit this one out to concentrate on her rehab following the chest injury she sustained at Sea Otter.

Riders: Gee Atherton, Marc Beaumont

Mechanics: Pete Michaliszyn, Mark Maurissen, Andy Lund?

Team: Dan Brown

Bikes:

The team will be riding the GT prototype bikes which have served them well in the opening rounds of the BDS Series this season, continuing to offer feedback and data to the research and development team at GT.

Race Guide:

The team will be riding the German DH Cup on Monday, but as with Sea Otter the race is just part of the Festival Experience – they’ll have chance to catch up with Sponsors and to enjoy the atmosphere of Europe’s largest gravity festival – over 50,000 fans are expected.

Weather:

The weather should be fairly mild (about 12C) with light winds but there’s heavy rain forecast for the Monday increasing in intensity as the day goes on.

History:

Neither Gee or Marc has raced here before but they have both ridden the trails for fun – Marc went for some downtime between races in 2007 with his team and Gee rode there in 2008 with Dan and Rach.

Current perspectives.

The season is going well so far for the DH team with all riders on podium at both rounds of BDS.

Gee said this will be “ This will be the second festival event we’ve ridden this year, Sea Otter was fun  and we’re expecting to have a good time in Winterberg too – we always do have a great time whenever we race in Germany – the fans are wild, but the World Cup starts in just three weekends time so this will be an important race.”

Marc agreed – I’m looking forward to some downtime at that great jump park that they have there, and seeing the German fans who are just so passionate about the sport – It’s always a real treat when you get to hang out with these guys.”

Fresh from their downhill domination of BDS Round 1 at Combe Sydenham in UK the team are heading to Sea Otter this weekend to join the World’s leading Cycling Festival and to race the Dual Slalom and Downhill Events.

Gee, Marc and Rach have headed across the pond with mechanics Pete Michaliszyn and Mark Maurissen, their GT Downhill bikes and GT Distortions (a tough, short-travel fun bike for the Dual Slalom and Downhill events.)

After the first day of US practise Rach sent us this update on riding the Distortion…  ”It’s rad… we built them up a week before Sea Otter and rode the yard at home, after a few tweaks its almost my favourite bike at the moment,… so much fun throwing a little bike around the jumps, we rode in Santa Cruz forest on some big jumps the first day and it was AWESOME! ”

This year Sea Otter is expecting to host 9000 athletes and 55,000 fans so as well as racing expect to see the team catching up with Sponsors, loads of friends from the circuit and fans (don’t miss One Industries autograph session on Saturday at 2pm)

Riders: Gee Atherton, Rachel Atherton, Marc Beaumont

Mechanics: Pete Michaliszyn, Mark Maurissen.

Race Guide:

Saturday: Dual Slalom. Riders race in parallel pairs down a banked slalom track.

This will be a good chance to test the rider’s sprint capabilities over a short track. Rach sent this on Friday night “Slalom at Sea Otter is a discipline unto itself… the crowd are so wild… the course is tight, fast, intimate with the other racer, it’s sprint and technical all together and you have to race each rider twice, once on each course, so you need to be fit, strong and witty enough to keep the crowd entertained!!”

Sunday: Downhill. The course at Sea Otter is notoriously flat and very physical. Rachel won this event in 2007 but it would be fair to say that it hasn’t been the GT Factory Racing Team’s most successful DH event to date.

The team summarised the course  as “Short, fast, pedally as hell with a lot of jumps…  real fun to ride but horrible to race! There’s a big uphill where a full speed tuck is needed and then a pure bloody sprint.”

 Weather forecast: Sunny! 17 degrees forecast for Saturday and 18 for Sunday – a welcome change from last weekend!

History: Rachel came 2^nd in Dual Slalom in 2010 to Jill Kintner, And in 2007 she won the DH and came 4^th in Dual Slalom. Gee came 4^th in Dual Slalom in 2009 and took the Dual Slalom win at Crankworx in 2010.

Current perspectives.

This is the only Dual Slalom event the team will race this year. It’s a good chance to get over to the United States, support our sponsors GT and One who have their bases there and to race in front of our US supporters – especially as there isn’t going to be a US round of the World Cup this year.

Marc said “to be honest I have never had very much success at Sea Otter! I’m seeing it as a training race… The Downhill is very flat which will give us the opportunity to learn about our new bike on different terrain.

Rachel said “I’m really looking forward to a chilled out event, in the sun, hanging with the GT guys is always fun and Sea Otter is a mad place. There’s always so many fans everywhere,stoked on life, shouting your name, there’s banners, costumes, they love it and so it makes it really fun and mainly its about sponsors and the fans, the racing isn’t so important before a full season of world cups…but its a good test event.”

The British Downhill Series (BDS) is widely seen as the most prestigious National Series in the World. The top 300 riders in the U.K plus a sprinkling of International stars took to the field for the first round of the series at Combe Sydenham.

Saturday’s practice was wet, very wet! The course was soon thick with mud and ruts but the forecast for finer weather on Sunday made tyre choice and line choice more problematic for some. GT Factory racing’s Head Technician Pete Michaliszyn disagreed  “There’s only one, MudKIng!”

Seeding went well for the team with Gee leading from team-mate Slugger in the men’s Elite. Rachel seeded 1^st, 14 seconds clear of Manon Carpenter and Taylor put in a solid run to sit in 3^rd behind Phil Atwell and Innes Graham. With a mere one second gap to close the team’s newest rider knew that a win would be well within his capability.

On Sunday, a break in the rains coupled with some sunshine and winds meant that the course began to dry out – making conditions harder still. The course very quickly became deeply rutted and the mud was energy-sappingly thick and claggy.

Taylor was first up, racing in his first year of the junior class. His intensive winter training paid dividends as he showed that he had the strength and skills to ride faster than any of his second year opponents, taking the win 2.6 seconds faster than his South Wales compatriot Mike Jones.

Taylor said “ I’m stoked. Especially that it was such an all round great weekend for the team. Pete Michaliszyn did a top job on the bike.”

Rachel rode next. In 2012 Manon Carpenter took the win here from Rachel and she was not about to relinquish that achievement without a fight. She put in a courageous run, the only woman on the field to tackle the big road gap, to sit over 15 seconds clear of Tahnee Seagrave. But she couldn’t hold off Rachel who bettered

her own seeding time by 4 seconds to storm to a convincing victory 8.2 seconds clear.

Rachel said “The mud and conditions made the track ridiculously hard, the ruts were so deep and sticky, I had to work 100% and managed my race run pretty much feet up! so I was stoked because if you stopped pedalling you stopped moving!It was so physical, it hurt so much racing, but what made it all worth it were all the fans who came to watch in the conditions, I was amazed and impressed with their support, and to have the whole team working for the first time this year was awesome!”

By the time that Marc and then Gee took the field in the Men’s Elite the track was really rutted out – especially in the top section.  There was a strong wind gusting across an exposed mid section and more and more exposed roots. None of this seemed to pose any problems for the GT Factory Racing team, last year’s winner Marc missed Matt Simmonds by a mere 0.1 of a second before Gee tore down the hill to put two seconds into everyone.

Marc Beaumont who is his own fiercest critic said “Disappointed to be third. After a good qualifier I was keen to push on and challenge Gee for the win. Finals didn’t go how I planned at all, I made silly mistakes in the top section & while trying to push to gain time at the bottom made two crucial mistakes. I need to work on my race sharpness for up coming races.”

Team Director Dan Brown said “An awesome weekend. A great effort by all of the team – we’re all made up that Taylor smashed it his first weekend and that the riders are looking so strong. We’ve made some changes behind the scenes which mean we’re coming to top form. A great start to the season.”

Results :

Mens Elite

1. Gee Atherton                             GT Factory Racing                  2:42.049

2. Matt Simmonds                           Chain Reaction Cycles            2:44.168

3. Mark Beaumont                          GT Factory Racing                  2:44.265

Women’s Elite

1. Rachel Atherton                         GT Factory Racing                  3:06.029

2. Manon Carpenter                       Madison Saracen                    3:14.263

3. Tahnee Seagrave                      FMD Racing                             3:29.807

Junior Mens

1. Taylor Vernon                            GT Factory Racing                  2:52.639

2. Mike Jones                                 FMD Racing                             2:55.336

3. George Ganicott                         Dirt Norco                                2:56.156

It seems that the team have been waiting for this race for a long while now. Taylor is especially excited and ready to show his worth in his first season and first race onboard the GT Factory Racing team.

Gee and Rachel started to work with new trainer Alan Milway for the off season and are certainly coming into the race strong having had promising results from recent fitness tests. But it’s not all down to fitness with this sport so they will need their skills to be razor sharp to take on a top class field.

Marc started last season strong and is hoping that this season will be the same, he took the first round win here last year and he’ll be looking to replicate that come Sunday.

Riders: Gee Atherton, Marc Beaumont, Rachel Atherton, Taylor Vernon
Mechanics: Piotr Michaliszyn, Mark Maurissen, Andy Lund

Race guide:
Combe Sydenham is the first round of five in the British Downhill Series 2013. The team hopes to compete in at least four rounds this season but schedules are subject to change as the season progresses.

The course has a 200m vertical drop over 1.6km which makes it one of the flatter races on the circuit, the track does take in a bit of everything however with a mixture of flowing turns, plenty of wooded root sections, a rock garden and some nice sized jumps. The racing should be tight with the win going to a rider who can perform well on a variety of terrain. Assuming that no major track changes have been made look for a time under 2.30 to take the win in the Men’s and 2:50 in the Women’s. Taylor should be chasing a time of around 2:35 in the junior event.

Weather forecast
Showers and cloudy – high 11 degrees C

History
Combe Sydenham has a lot of positive associations for the team – Gee and Rachel grew up in the locality and used to ride the tracks there with their dad, Simon and Marc won this event last year in his first ever race for GT Factory Racing – a result that Taylor will be hoping to emulate. Taylor has only raced Combe Sydenham once before, taking 3rd in last year’s event which gave him a solid base for the 2012 season.

Current situation – team perspectives

Rachel: ”We’re coming into the first race of the year strong – it’s been the first winter I haven’t had any major injuries to deal with so I’m feeling a lot more prepared. This will be a great warm-up race to get back into the swing of racing and figure out where we are and what we need to work on as we head into the World Cup.”

Gee: ”Really looking forward to it, first race of the new season, new team-mate on board. Last year I was watching which was the first time I’d watched a race in so long – the last time was also at Combe Sydenham actually – way back – but I got to watch Slugger take the win. This year I’m after him!”

Marc:“Yeah, would love to repeat 2012 victory but I’m going to have to keep clear of my team-mate for one!”

Taylor: ”Bring it on.”

 

Catch all the action on Dirt’s Live feed on Sunday with Pit walks from 11am

UK based Silverline Tools manufacture hand and power tools. The partnership will see the team fully kitted out for the 2013 season and working with Silverline to develop a new range of specific mountain biking tools.

GT Factory Racing’s agreement with Silverline will see the tool manufacturer’s branding featured on the athletes ‘jerseys, team clothing and vehicles as well as the creation of a fully branded workshop at Atherton HQ in Wales.

Dan Brown, GT Factory Racing Team Director said “We’re really excited to have Silverline Tools partner with the team. Silverline produce a massive range of tools, many of which we’ll be able to use straight away, Dan Atherton’s got his trail building order delivered and has started digging already! But maybe the most exciting part of this is that we’ll be helping to develop, test and launch a new range of tools specifically for Mountain Biking. ”

Silverline Managing Director Darrell Morris said: “GT Factory Racing are amazing at what they do, their list of achievements and world titles are endless and we’re really excited to have them as part of our team. Silverline has long been established with racing in many forms and Mountain Biking felt like a natural progression. Silverline is dedicated to making quality tools that are affordable and together with GT Factory Racing team we will be developing a new range specifically for mountain Biking.”

On Saturday evening a stacked elite field took to Stage 5 for a seeding run that would contribute to the overall times for Sunday. A flowy start to the trail was soon rudely interrupted by a long hard pedal before it descended through some muddy turns and into the 4X track. Dan rode a strong stage taking fastest spot by 2.2 seconds from last year’s winner Neil Donoghue.

By Sunday morning the temperature had dropped to just above freezing leaving the trails unpredictable with sections of ice causing many riders issues, Dan had no problems though and claimed stage one by 1.6 seconds from Neil.

A long transfer to stage 2 kept the riders on their toes before a relatively flat 4 minute stage. Dan showed that his new training programme with coach Alan Milway is definitely paying dividends as  he pulled a full 8.9 seconds clear of Neil and considerably more from the rest of the field.

Stage 3 was the longest of the weekend, the trail alternated between flowy singletrack, fire road linking sections and fast undulating downhill which took in the infamous ‘wall descent’. This trail most closely resembled enduro stages on the continent with a decent drop in elevation and duration of over 6 minutes. Again Dan took the fastest time with Neil 5 seconds behind. No-one from the rest of the field managed sub 7 minutes leaving the overall to Dan and Neil with just two stages to go.

With a freshly cut trail and serious rain immediately before the event stage 4 was always going to be a bit of a lottery but Dan showed pure class as he took his 5th stage win by a huge 13 second gap, once again it was Donoghue claiming that second spot.

But as always with Enduro its not over till the very end and Dan still had to negotiate stage 5 again, this time with the trail riding a bit faster than Saturday night’s seeding. He bettered his time by 7 seconds and put another 2 seconds into Neil Donoghue, cementing the win with all stage wins and a 34 second winning margin.

Third spot went to Sam Flanagan who came strong despite a crash on stage one. He was 1minute 15 seconds back on Dan.

Dan said “It was great to be battling Donny again, we battled when we were riding downhill and now he’s keeping me on my toes in Enduro. Of course we were both battling the weather- one of the biggest challenges for everybody out there was some really tough conditions.”

He will now have a good break to settle back into training before the season begins in earnest with the lead up to the first round of the World Series in Punta Ala, Italy in mid May.

All Photos: Doc Ward

He will be joined by Matteo Nati who helped Dan to win the final Super Enduro race at  Finale Ligure, the pinnacle of last year’s Enduro season. It will be Matteo’s first official event as new Enduro mechanic for GT Factory Racing Team. He will play a key role in the 2013 season supporting Dan and Martin Maes.

Rider: Dan Atherton

Mechanic: Matteo Nati

Race guide:

This race is the first of five rounds of the third national Enduro series. The event is held over a weekend with open practice and seeding taking place on Saturday afternoon and the main enduro event taking place on Sunday.

The exact course is being kept under wraps till the weekend but we’re expecting a mixture of tracks from the Whites level and the Wall courses with some fresh trails to ensure that every stage will be a challenge.

Afan is home to some of the country’s most testing rocky outcrops, the longer stage has a vertical drop of around 250 meters so we’ll be expecting stage times to be between 3 and 5 minutes.

Weather forecast

Cold and cloudy  – high 3 degrees C

History

In 2012 Dan rode just one round of the Gravity Series where he suffered a crash and a mechanical during the event but still managed to salvage second place. With far more experience and races under his belt Dan will be looking to start the season on a high and get the first of many wins.

Current situation  – Dan’s Perspective

“This will be my first race since I started training with Alan Milway – I’m coming to it after two really intensive training camps that focused on fitness in a big way. I’ve also been training hard on a race replica loop  – this weekend it’s for real. It’s a month before the big races start so I’m expecting it to give me a good measure of the areas that still need polishing up. I want the win.”

So, as well as riding since I joined the GT Factory Racing team there have been a lot of questions about myself – it’s a little hard for me to write in English but here’s a few pictures and some things that some of you have asked me.

Starting with my personality and philosophy – I think I am sporty, discreet and friendly and I always try to be natural and to pay attention to others. My friends and family are massively important to me – in my top 3 things I’d never give up it would be those two and my bike.

I think I am quite a laid back kind of person – I’m not freaked out by anything much, I don’t tend to get stressed – but I do eat too much chocolate – I know Dan Atherton is going to kill me for that!

I’m still at school which I hate! I’m in secondary school up 18 years old, now there is a fourth year and I (try to!) pass exams in June to go in to the fifth. It can be really hard to combine my school work around bike races but I still get some time to hang out and play other sports – I ride in quad and I do ski and snowboard – I’d say I like pretty much every sport.

Hopefully I will learn a lot better English this year as well as learning a lot about my bike! I’m really looking forward to riding with Dan Atherton – to be part of this team is like a dream come true for me. As well as the World Enduro Series I’m very excited to ride the Megavalanche in Alpe d’Huez – this will be a real highlight for me.

The same for me as for Taylor I have had massive support from Family and other people to let me get this far – My Father Patric was a champion in Belgium 23 times and rides all disciplines – he runs a bike school so it was easy for me to start in the sport and to try different styles of riding – especially I was lucky to start racing when i was very young – riding in a cross country team with my older brother Tom. I was also sponsored by Viper in 2008 – 11 and Yeti in 2012 so big thanks to them.

Team Director Dan Brown said “We’re stoked to be announcing this partnership with the guys at Muc-Off. We feel like we’ve found someone who’s as obsessed with pushing things to the limit as we are – up a mountainside, down a trail, whatever the conditions – you can be sure we’re going to test them to the max!

The whole team are made up , riders, mechanics and management all use the products. It’s the best there is for keeping our race bikes running and looking like the world beaters they are.”

To celebrate the new partnership check out the competition over on Muc-Off’s Facebook page for your chance to win loads of great product plus some signed kit from us.

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