Brook MacDonald Wins The Val d' Isere World Cup

It’s hard to find words for was has happened today. After the last race we needed to focus on the words “that’s racing” as the competition was clouded by some bad luck. But we knew that our luck will be back some when, but we didn’t expect it that quick . Brook won his first worldcup race here in Val d’ Isere/ France and Emmeline got 2nd again.

The race week started with a course walk, where no one seems to be too happy about the track. It’s a bit short and the village of Val d’ Isere is on a sea level of 1821 meters, which means almost no trees and no roots at all. After a few runs, most of the riders get used to it and the MS Mondraker Team had some good fun during the training days.

The qualification was a tough one as the weather changed a few times and quiet a lot of top 20 riders came down with flat tires such as Steve Smith or Sam Hill. Markus had solid run and ended up in 22nd place, Damien came in promising 7th place and Brook stand out with a 3rd place. Emmeline showed her strength again and finished in 2nd place just behind all-time competitor Rachel Atherton. Like in Windham everything seems to perfect for race day, but with outcome of this past worldcup race in mind we were a bit more nervous than at other races.

The girl’s finals were again a competition between Emmeline and Rachel Atherton. Emmeline had a couple of mistakes right after the start and a little bit of headwind. In the end Emmeline was 1,8 seconds off Rachel, which was the 2nd place of the day.

In the men’s race Markus was the first rider to come down of the MS Mondraker Team. He had again a solid run and finished in 19th position. Damien came down with a decent run, which might have brought him on the podium. He was around 0.7 seconds off the current lead as he went over his bars and crashed hard.
Last men to come down of the MS Mondraker Team was Brook and we knew that he was hungry for a podium. He came crossed the finish line and got in lead ahead of Greg Minaar and Gee Atherton, but there were 2 riders still to come, which was Josh Bryceland and Cameron Cole. Both weren’t able to beat Brooks time and Brook won his first worldcup race.

The whole MS MONDRAKER TEAM is now pretty proud and happy about this win, as it is the first men’s victory for MS RACING since Chris Kovarik in 2006. Furthermore it’s the last win on flat pedals since the world championships in 2010.
“Thank you Brook for making this happen and congrats to your first worldcup win- there are more to come!”

With this strong performance the MS Mondraker Team became 2nd best team of the day, which brought us back in 3rd position of the teams overall.

A big “thank you” to all our supporters and people who are helping us out in the background- you guys are awesome and you are a part of this victory!