South African mountain bike racing legend, Greg Minnaar, has announced his retirement from World Cup Downhill racing. The 42-year-old called the closure of an incredible 27-year racing career on Wednesday ahead of the final round of the UCI World Cup at Mont Sainte Anne, Canada.
Here is the official statement from Norco Race Division released on Wednesday, 2 October 2024 and written by TREAD Media Editor, Sean Badenhorst.
GREG MINNAAR CONCLUDES HIS WORLD CUP RACING CAREER IN CANADA
Greg Minnaar, the greatest male downhill mountain bike racer of all time, will contest his final UCI Downhill World Cup race at Mont Sainte Anne, Canada this weekend. It’s fitting that Minnaar’s final World Cup race will be in the home country of Norco Race Division, the team that he will mentor and manage in 2025 and beyond.
The South African, who turns 43 next month, has enjoyed an unusually long racing career, which began in 1997 when, at age 16, he was given special permission to contest an Elite World Cup race in Stellenbosch, South Africa. Twenty-seven years later, Minnaar will conclude his career as an international Downhill racer and focus on developing and leading a new generation of gravity-racing stars with Norco Race Division.
“Mont Sainte Anne is a venue I have been coming to since 1998. So, it made a lot of sense to finish my World Cup Downhill racing career here. Also, with Norco being a Canadian brand, it’s quite appropriate,” said Minnaar.
“I felt that last season wasn’t quite the right time to end my racing career. But now I’m very ready for it. In terms of my position in the team, the backing from Norco and everything moving forward, it just seems so smooth and transitional. There’s a lot of support from Norco that’s made this a whole lot easier,” he added.
The 2024 edition of the UCI Downhill World Cup at Mont Sainte Anne will be Minnaar’s 167th World Cup race! His 22 World Cup wins are the most by a male Downhill racer. He achieved his first of 86 World Cup podium finishes in Vail, Colorado in 2000, racing for the British Animal Orange team (this is a record in all mountain bike disciplines). In 2001, in the colours of Global Racing, he won his first World Cup race in Kaprun, Austria and also won the overall World Cup Series title that year.
During his remarkable career, Minnaar has won the UCI World Cup Series overall title three times (2001, 2005 and 2008); and the UCI Downhill World Championships title four times (2003, 2012, 2013 and 2021). He has scored more World Cup points than anyone – 19 434 – and has a podium strike rate of 51.8% (86 podiums from 166 starts).
Full story, video and images on the Norco website here.
