Bike Events: Last Sunday, the Atherton siblings once again invited to the toughest downhill race of the year, the Red Bull Hardline. The invited drivers spent the whole of last week in Wales and couldn't wait to master the racerun. The field of riders included last year's winner Gee Atherton, Brendan Faircloigh and many other greats of gravity mountain biking.
On September 14.09.2019, 6, freeride and downhill sports merged again in one race in Wales - the XNUMXth Red Bull Hardline. Described by many drivers as the "most brutal track in the world", it once again lived up to its name. The Hardline meanders down the heart of the Welsh Dyfi forest while combining massive freeride jumps with tricky, technical downhill features. Compared to the previous year, the construction crew around Dan Atherton only changed a few details.
This year we're dealing with a colorful mix of participants - from freeride athletes to professional downhill racers, everything was there. In addition to the regular DH World Cup racers around Brendan Fairclough, Bernard Kerr and Laurie Greenland, there were also some new faces involved, such as FMB World Tour rider Matt Jones. Big favorites of the Red Bull Hardline were last year's winner Gee Atherton and Bernard Kerr, who took the victory home in 2016 and has since achieved two 2nd places. For the first time in Hardline history, Rachel Atherton will join Rob Warner to commentate on both sessions. All information about drivers, location and the event itself can be found here .
The qualifying day went well and the drivers unanimously said that the conditions on the track were almost perfect. The fastest man in the qualifiers was Bernard Kerr, who, like Gee Atherton, was the first to try to repeat the Hardline's victory. But the unpredictable Welsh weather hit and the first race runs were not only covered with monstrous obstacles, but also took place in fog and wet conditions. This resulted in a few falls and the young guns, such as Kade Edwards and Kaos Seagreave, unfortunately didn't make it to the finish line without falling and brought up the rear. However, they still showed a lot of style, including 2 backflips by Kaos for the approx. 3000 fans. However, the first backflip in a Hardline race run was delivered by Frenchman Gaëtan Vigé, who even finished in a respectable ninth place. The young Norwegian Brage Vestavik gave us the first time under 3 minutes and made it to 4th place with this time. The top 3 finishes were decided between the Brits and Joe Smith took a super 3rd place despite a flat tire which he picked up just before the finish. As the penultimate rider in the race, Gee Atherton clocked a time of 2:55 and only the 2016 winner had a chance to beat that time. Pure excitement with the Red Bull Hardline. Completely unimpressed by the course and the top time to be beaten, Bernard Kerr delivered an almost perfect run. He was able to beat Atherton's time by more than three seconds. Just a few weeks after suffering a complicated hand injury, pivot pilot Bernard Kerr is the first and only person to climb the hardline podium for the second time. The Hardline marked the end of the downhill season again this year and we are already looking forward to 2020. Click here for the replay.
