SCOTT Foils Waste No Time Winning

Mitch Docker (Orica GreenEdge) has won the Mitchelton Bay Cycling Classic finale in Williamstown in style. Docker went on the attack within the first 10 minutes, quickly establishing a lead over the peloton. After taking out the first sprint, Docker was joined by Harry Carpenter. Once he had his gap on the field, which initially hovered around the 20 second mark, Docker's attention turned to the sprint classification.

"I wanted to make the breakaway worthwhile... At the end I saw that we had 30 seconds and both of us had been doing it fairly comfortably so we put a bit of extra effort in," he explained. "[The green jersey] was really unexpected. I think it's great for the team."

Melissa Hoskins finally broke her stage-winning duck at Williamstown today and in the process became only the fifth woman to win consecutive Mitchelton Bay Cycling Classic titles.

In a closely contested race, Tiffany Cromwell attacked from the front for a second-consecutive day, taking five sprint points which was enough to seal her hold on the green jersey. But as the field entered the home straight along Nelson Street, fittingly it was the three leading contenders for overall honours - Hoskins, Peta Mullins and Kimberley Wells - who were at the front of the pack.

Mullins made the first move, but she and Wells were soon left for dead by Hoskins who crossed the line knowing the yellow jersey was safe in her keeping. Hoskins won last year's bay crits without winning an individual stage and said securing this year's title was made all the more sweeter by her win today. "Back-to-back is sweet, but finishing with a stage win in the yellow jersey, you can't be much happier than that,'' Hoskins said. Read more race coverage here and on Cyclingnews.com.

Luke Durbridge scored the win that Orica GreenEdge had been craving for two years, having spent the majority of the Portarlington criterium at the head of the race. Durbridge was dominant over the one-hour event to claim the team's first ever win at the Mitchelton Bay Cycling Classic.

Tiffany Cromwell claimed her second win in Portarlington in two years, while Melissa Hoskins (Orica-AIS) all but sewed up the overall victory on Wednesday. Hoskins was second across the finish line, closely followed by Peta Mullens.

The result all but ensures Hoskins overall victory for the second successive year. On the final day, the West Australian needs to finish no worse than seventh to confirm her title.

Cromwell, not selected in the five-woman Orica-AIS team for the event, instead entered as an individual made the most of her freedom, moving away from the peloton on the third lap of the 45 minute criterium. Opening up a comfortable gap, Cromwell had a 21 second advantage by the time the first sprint rolled around. That put the 24-year-old on equal terms with Loes Gunnewijk for the green sprinter's jersey..Read full race coverage on Cyclingnews.com.

Welcome Brendan Fairclough

GIVISIEZ, CH (November 23, 2011) Following the wrap up of yet another amazing season of Downhill racing, a number of interesting rumors involving Claudio’s 11, Swiss cheese, pump tracks, and Brendan Fairclough’s next move have been circulating online. SCOTT Sports is delighted to put an end to the speculation and to proudly welcome professional DH racer, and all round pinner, Brendan Fairclough to the Scott11 team.

Brendan is widely recognized as one of the most well rounded riders on the DH circuit with a unique style that has captivated and inspired his many fans. Whether he is racing competitions or ripping with friends, his natural ability and bike control make him one of the most exciting riders to watch. Brendan is a regular top ten rider with an impressive 4th place finish at the recent 2011 Champéry World Championships, despite a torn ACL, and has featured in multiple highly acclaimed mountain bike films such as Clay Porter’s 3 Minute Gaps and Anthill Films’ Follow Me. Now, after having undergone reconstructive knee surgery, Brendan is ready to come back next season to continue working with top bike film producers and to take on the UCI World Cup DH series with a new knee and a new bike.

SCOTT Sports and the SCOTT11 team will give Brendan the opportunity to take his racing to the next level by providing him with unparalleled support and the finest equipment to reach his goals. Brendan will also play an instrumental role in developing and testing SCOTT products including SCOTT’s Gambler and Voltage FR bikes.  

“I’m really happy to have the opportunity to join Scott11 for the 2012 and 2013 seasons,” says Brendan. “It’s going to be a big change from the last few years since I’ll now act as the lead rider on the team, but it’s a role I feel I am ready to take up and feel it’s going to be good for me in my fight for a championship. It’s going to be good to progress with SCOTT in the downhill market and hope we can get the bike on the top step of the podium and beyond. Very happy to have signed and can't wait to get stuck into the season.”

“With Brendan on board, we can finally play a major role in the men's field,” adds Team Manager Claudio Caluori. “The whole team is totally excited and will work flat out to get Brendan where Floriane Pugin has been since joining Scott11: On that podium!”

Welcome to SCOTT, Brendog!

RATTY ON A ROLL, BRYCELAND TAKES 2ND AT MT. STE ANNE!

Mt. Ste. Anne, Quebec, Canada

New school is in session and Josh Bryceland (Santa Cruz Syndicate/SRAM/
RockShox) joins the ranks of the youngsters making headlines with his second place finish today at the UCI World Cup downhill at Mt. Ste. Anne, Canada, which is his first world cup podium! This comes on the heels of his win at the Halo BDS UK national race last week in Llangollen, Great Britain where he is also leading that series. After a first place qualifier Greg Minnaar was poised for a win but made an uncharacteristic mistake in the rocky woods which sent him over the bars and netted him an 18th place finish. Steve Peat finished 15th, which was a frustrating result for him.

The week unfolded well with mixed weather conditions. Lot's of practice in the sloppy mud went well for the boys and the qualifier went even better.
Greg put together a very smooth run with a time that clinched 1st position. Josh was pleasantly pleased with a solid run that held up for 3rd. Steve felt like he was riding well in practice but didn't put it together in the run and wasn't happy with 11th place qualifier.

Saturday's practice was under beautiful sunny skies and the track tacked up and was drying quickly. I was taking photos of Josh and overheard the comment, "That man will be on the podium tomorrow." Everyone could see the confidence in Josh's riding and it was great to see a great performance net him a great result in the final.

Josh says, "I was happy to improve on my qualifying which is something I've struggled to do and I put a smooth run together on one of the longest tracks on the circuit. I got to finally get a world cup podium and follow up the previous weekends success at the national round. I felt more nervous about going up on the podium than I did about the race!"

Steve comments on the weekend, "It was a mixed weekend for the Syndicate. Ratty Bryce did us proud and it was awesome to see. Unlucky for Greg with a crash and the good news is he's okay for next week. It was a frustrating result for me."

Greg says, "I felt pretty decent on the track and I like this track. I had a great qualy and felt I could've backed it up in the final. I'd been playing around with suspension and my bike felt good all week which was what I needed to try to topple ‘ole Gwinny. Unfortunately I made a mistake in the woods and took a tumble, but the season isn't over yet. I'm still in second overall due to Gee's bad luck; he would have been up there without a puncture,"

MEN'S RESULTS:
1st Aaron Gwin 4:31.77
2nd JOSH BRYCELAND (SANTA CRUZ SYNDICATE) 4:32.23
3rd Brook MacDonald 4:32.28
4th Danny Hart 4:34.45
5th Cameron Cole 4:35.49
6th Troy Brosnan 4:37.89
7th Steve Smith 4:38.57
8th Sam Blenkinsop 4:38.92
9th Andrew Neethling 4:39.09
10th Justin Leov 4:39.48
15th STEVE PEAT (SANTA CRUZ SYNDICATE) 4:41.25
18th GREG MINNAAR (SANTA CRUZ SYNDICATE) 4:42.42
 

Genius 900 is an Absolute Masterpiece (Bike Radar)

Scott developed two new Genius trail bike platforms alongside each other, abandoning 26in wheels in favour of 150mm travel 650b/27.5in wheel 700 bikes and the 130mm travel, 29in wheel 900 family. We were lucky enough to leave big dust trails all over the Las Vegas desert at the Interbike trade show on the flagship 900 SL. 

The race bike weight translates into similarly race bike-style acceleration. There’s still an element of the van rather than car-style lag that typifies 29ers’ typical responses to the first few crank strokes. The lightweight wheel/tyre combo and serious head tube to rear dropout stiffness means this is the sort of modded, massive horsepower dragster van you see in YouTube clips, not your average Transit.

We had no trouble blasting it up to speed time and time again for photos, and whether we’re hitting rock piles or drifting dust trails through climbing corners the Genius just felt great under power. The ability to choke down the shock and fork to a firmer or locked setting at the push of a lever became an addictive advantage to getting every last bit of speed out of short sprint or smooth climb sections.

The rare combination of really light weight and precision placement also makes the Scott easy to put exactly where you want it. It’ll respond instantly to properly dynamic flick and lift, pre-jump or hip inputs that heavier 29ers normally need written notice for. 
While there’s a fair amount of flex in the wheels and the extended mix front fork, the low slung geometry option keeps your feet firmly planted enough to push the hard inside line and let the bike slide its way into sync on the exit.

Scott have been one of the leading composite frame creators since introducing their distinctive E-Stay Endorphin frame in the mid-Nineties. The company have elevated the art of layering and joining carbon sheets to give maximum strength for minimum weight in its IMP frames to a level that few others can get close to. So, while the claimed weight for the 130mm travel 900 frame and shock might seem implausibly low at 2,290g (5.04lb), experience tells us it’s likely to be absolutely accurate. The Genius-specific DT Swiss Nude shock is mounted on rose joints to reduce potentially damaging side loading.

The short 190mm can is further subdivided into two separate air chambers that can be opened sequentially via the handlebar-mounted Twinloc remote lever to give 90 or 130mm of travel or a complete lockout. The rear shock bolt screws into a reversible chip on the swing link that changes bottom bracket height by 7mm and head angle by half a degree.

The dropped seatstay bridge means there’s ample room even with a chunky tyre and the post-style brake dropouts make for easy alignment. The IDS SL rear dropouts can be swapped from the 142x12mm thru-axle to 135x12mm or 135x10mm options should you want to. The almost entirely carbon frame is backed up by a similarly carbon rich, cost-no-object spec, including a lot of gear from Scott-acquired component brand Syncros. This includes lightweight carbon rims, carbon railed saddle, a cockpit lowering but relatively narrow flat bar and a welcome short carbon wrapped stem. The SRAM 2x10 crank arms are also carbon, as are the rear mech cage and brake levers.

While the remote control shock certainly divides opinion, there’s no doubt that the Genius 900 frame is an absolute masterpiece, with properly outstanding handling, stiffness, weight and attention to feature detail. The kit package that Scott have put together is even better than it looks at first, providing a suitably superlative performance to suit this genuine XC/fast trail super bike. Click to read the full review on Bikeradar.com.