IS MINNAAR BACK TO HIS BEST?

A tenth of a second is how long it takes to blink. And that’s the margin by which South African sporting legend, Greg Minnaar, was beaten at the weather-disrupted UCI Downhill World Cup in Andorra on Saturday. Why celebrate second place? Because even for the sport’s greatest athlete, it’s a remarkable achievement. Here’s a breakdown of Minnaar 85^th World Cup podium finish and an incredible photo gallery of this moment.

By Sean Badenhorst

Since he began racing professionally in 2000, Greg Minnaar has beaten everyone that’s risen through the ranks in a racing discipline that has evolved significantly in that time. And he’s done so because he’s been able to do what every great champion does – adapt.

Bicycle and gear technology has progressed significantly, the race courses have changed, the organisation and administration has evolved, media coverage has advanced, his greatest competitors have come and gone – and through all of that, Minnaar has endured. He’s shown he can win on any course in any conditions against any opposition. That’s truly incredible. How’s this for a stat? This was Minnaar’s 25^th second place finish at a UCI World Cup race!

While we tend to focus on his major wins – 23 World Cups, four World Champs, three World Cup Series, it’s important to also recognise Minnaar’s unmatched podium record. This was his 85^th World Cup podium finish (top 5). When you consider that some DH racers never make a podium, or might make it once or twice, Minnaar’s record is phenomenal.

During his career, Minnaar has won at most venues, but Valnord, Andorra eludes him. He did win a Spanish National Cup race at the venue in 2015 just before the World Championships that year. But in the eight World Cups and one World Championship at Valnord, Andorra, his best finish is second – on four occasions!

Here’s Minnaar’s Valnord, Andorra record:

This past Saturday, a tumultuous day in the Pyrenean principality, the Men’s Downhill GOAT put his troubled season behind him and focussed on the only thing that truly matters – himself. In Downhill mountain bike racing, you can only really control your own performance. After finishing 13^th in qualifying on Friday when he clipped a tree, Minnaar was eager to find his rhythm in the semi-final and final on Saturday.

But predictions of a potentially violent storm later in the day saw the organisers decide to cancel the semi-final and only run a final with all qualifiers in the morning, in an effort to beat the storm. But strong winds scuppered that plan and the organisers were eventually able to run the final in the afternoon, later than originally scheduled.

Minnaar’s run wasn’t perfect, but the conditions were dry and he was setting the quickest time at the all the splits. Not really surprising, but obviously exciting for Minnaar fans. The other biggest names in the sport were still to start from a stacked final 10.

Curiously though, Frenchman Thibaut Diprela, who started 11^th from the end, just two riders after Minnaar, would end up posting the fastest time. Weird, right? Not if you watched the race live and saw that rain arrived and made conditions tricky for the top 10 qualifiers from whom the winner would ordinarily have come.

Of course, having raced more well over 100 World Cups in his career, Minnaar has been a victim of the late afternoon rain on numerous occasions. This time it counted in his favour. It’s an outdoor sport and the weather is simply a factor that cannot be changed or controlled.

So, would he have finished on the podium if it hadn’t rained in Andorra? Loic Bruni’s time as the fastest qualifier in dry conditions was 2:46.720. In the final, Diprela clocked 2:46.455 and Minnaar 2:46.576. We’ll never know. However, what we do know is that Minnaar seems to have shaken the bad luck monkey off his back from the first half of the season.

A second place by the narrowest margin is amazing. That he’s 41 years old and achieving that is also remarkable. But realistically, the changed weather did prevent the top 10 from throwing down their best performances on a ‘level playing field’. But whether he’s back to his best will only tell in the final four rounds of the 2023 World Cup, starting this week already at a brand-new venue, Loudenvielle-Peyragudesin the French Pyrenees.