It was the second World Cup in Maribor, Slovenia last weekend, May 15-16. We had some awesome riders over there who, even in terrible weather conditions, totally rocked the show. Greg Minnaar killed it winning 1st place and Anneke Beerten winning 3rd place. We are stoked to sponsor such amazing riders.

Santa Cruz Syndicate's Minnaar Takes First 2010 World Cup Win!

Greg Minnaar (Santa Cruz Syndicate/SRAM/RockShox), starts off the UCI World Cup downhill season with a big win. He put together a brilliant run to win the season opener in Maribor, Slovenia in the most dismal conditions on a course Greg would describe as “the hardest course I’ve ever ridden because of the mud and rain.” Teammates Josh Bryceland and Steve Peat strung together less than optimal runs for disappointing 16th and 45th positions respectively.

This was a technical track under difficult conditions where many people don’t think of Greg as being suited to a track like this, but he bloody well is.

He unequivocally proved that he shines on any track, any time.

Greg has trained hard to come back after a serious leg injury he sustained in November and he is in a very good place now and he knows his training has been right.

With the win still sinking in, Greg said, “When I pedaled out the gate my mechanic, ‘Doug E. Fresh’, yelled out “oneLife” and it made me laugh and put a big smile on my face. The win was really unexpected. I was hoping to leave Maribor with a top three to start the season in a solid position. Considering the course conditions, my past results here and a 3rd in qualifying I would have been stoked with a top three. I felt after the qualifier that I could race for the win and not just for a podium. We’ve been on the road for 2 weeks now and I’ve been adjusting to the carbon bike and working with all the guys from Santa Cruz has been great. It’s nice to be getting on a plane home with a win under my belt ending the trip on a high.”

This is Greg’s 12th World Cup downhill career win, 7 of those on Santa Cruz. He goes into the next World Cup at Ft. William, Scotland where he has quite a bit of good history and he’ll be wearing the UCI leader’s jersey. Josh is still chasing the podium and Steve hasn’t been in this position in a long while and will be hungry for redemption.

Anneke Beerten World Cup #2

Maribor, Slovenia was host of the second World Cup 4-cross and the first World Cup Downhill of this season. I've been to Maribor a couple of times, but this time we had the worst weather ever! Since my arrival on Tuesday it did not stop raining! The 4-cross course had some new features in it, but because of the changes the dirt was even more soft and almost unrideable in some spots.

I've always liked this track and I was getting on quite well in practice. My qualifying run went not well at all, I made a lot of mistakes and I had a hard time getting trough the mud and ended up in 4th. World Champion Caroline Buchanan had the fastest qualifying time.

On race day the weather got even worse, it rained all day and when racing started it only got worse.

I knew I just had to go for it and try to ride aggressive!

I won my quarter- and semi final, which were pretty stacked with good bmx riders, and was happy to made it trough to the final. I had a great first straight in the final and was able to lead going in to the first corner. In the second corner Caroline Buchanan tried to make an inside move on me, but crashed in front of me... Fionn Griffiths road around it and took the win. I ended up in 3rd.

Now it is back to training for the next 2 weeks before we fly out to Fort William, Schotland for round #3.