Rachel Atherton won for the second year in succession at Windham, USA in the fifth race of the 2011 UCI World Cup Mountainbike Downhill series at the weekend.
Rachel's first World Cup win of the 2011 season on the dry and dusty track in New York State marks a solid return from injury for the young Brit.
After undergoing shoulder surgery at the end of 2010, Rachel has been super consistent in the World Cups she has raced this year, with a second in Scotland and Austria and a third place in Canada last weekend. Today saw her take it one step further – claiming the win with an amazing run in front of a huge US crowd.
Second to last to race, Rachel's first interval time was a huge 3.4 seconds clear of the current leader, Tracey Moseley, and she managed to keep a similar pace as she rode the lower half – her time of 2.50.029 looked good with just the French rider, Floraine Pugin, out on the course.
Pugin couldn't get close to Rachel's top section and although she clawed a little back in the mid-sector of the course it wasn't enough and Rachel took her first World Cup of 2011 and the ninth of her career.
Sven Martin
The win sees Rachel claw some points back in the overall and she now trails leader, Moseley, by 260 points, which is a large gap, but one that isn't out of Rachel's reach.
The rest of the Atherton clan didn't have the best of weekends. Current third seed in the men's series, Gee Atherton, couldn't put a fast enough run together to get in the mix. He was disappointed with 11th spot and was left perplexed at his finishing position, having had what he felt was a solid run. He remains in third spot overall and hopes to turn things around for the next race in August.
Dan Atherton will also be looking for more in France next month, after he couldn't get to grips with the fast and loose track in Windham. Dan slipped into 71st spot amongst a stacked field.
The team now travels to Whistler, Vancouver for the Crankworx Festival, where they will compete in numerous events ahead of the final few stops of the World Cup tour.
Want more?
- Visit the Atherton Racing official site
- Read more at our bike sports page
- Rachel Atherton's profile on redbull.co.uk
- Follow Rachel on Twitter: @rachelatherton
Sven Martin
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