Pedal clearances tight, forks bottoming from the G-out

Maybe I'm not cool any more, perhaps I'm just not with the times - after all I did just snag a sweet deal on a pair on '97 Judy SLs, officially the coolest forks of all eternity - but dammit, I thought 4X was kinda neat. Snagging the holeshot, the sneaky tricks and blocks, the mass carnage when one fall triggers a rider domino cascade, they were all aspects of the race that made for some good photos and great spectating.

Imagine my disappointment then, if you will, when I found out that 4X had been bumped from this year's schedule in favour of *another* slalom race. Sure, this one was on a longer course with larger whoops and doubles, trading the tight twisting berms of the previous track for huge arcing banks that plowed their way down to the village, but slalom it still was - no rider contact, separate tracks and ne'er the twain shall meet.

Grumbling aside, it's still great to watch each racer gradually refine their runs throughout the rankings, shaving fractions of a second with a scrub here and manualling a section smoother there; as weaker riders fell by the wayside the action became increasingly frenetic as each competitor jostled for bragging rights and novelty-sized cheques.

In the women's pro race, Anneke Beerten doubled up on her earlier win in the Dual Slalom, while Greg Minnaar walked to a win in the final after Brian Lopes fell early on. If I'd had my way, it would've been because of a sneaky elbow to blocking move combo.

Greg Minaar about to drop the hammer to take the final race of the day

Giant Slalom results

Pro Men

1 Greg Minnaar (Santa Cruz Syndicate SRAM RockShox)
2 Brian Lopes (Oakley Ibis Marzocchi Kenda Easton Bell)
3 Gee Atherton (Animal Commencal)
4 Guido Tschugg (Fusion Red Bull Shimano Northwave)

Pro Women

1 Anneke Beerten (MS- Intense Factory Racing)
2 Sheryl McLeod (Giant Bicycles R&R Sport)
3 Helene Valerie (Morewood Frontworx Generali)
4 Lorraine Blancher (Rocky Mountain, Fox Racing)

All pics: Dan Barham