Video: Marcelo Gutierrez's Analysis of the Red Bull Medellín Cerro Abajo

Words: Marcelo Gutierrez

Let's start with a quite particular fact about this race: the top 5 were DH bikes. It's been a good while since this has not happened on urban races, why did this happen? Most likely merely a coincidence, since this was a completely new track, hard for the riders to have been able to anticipate what they were going to find, but the cool part is that DH bikes ruled the race.

Things were tight, not just talking about the width of the track in some parts where the riders looked like they were threading the needle but also talking about the length of the track, just over 1km and under 1 minute and a half, that's the equivalent to one small mistake will get you out of a good pace.


As always when we talk about urban races, things happen way too fast, the practice goes flying and then right into qualy; for this event, there were a few important matters:

-Pedro Ferreira from Chile (Valparaiso's winner last year) had an injured hand

-Tomas Slavik from the Czech Republic (Who just won Valparaiso a few weeks ago) had an injured ankle.

-JuanFer Velez from Colombia (2nd place in Valparaiso) was going to face the biggest challenge in his career mentally, back in Valparaiso he was without a doubt to win the event that day,
but his head was all over the place, so Medellin, his hometown, his people, his anger and extra motivation were the perfect combination to blow everything or… win the race.

-Camilo Sanchez from Colombia (top 5 in Valparaiso) he loves urban races, but sometimes his head has a loose bolt or simply goes over-revved and things tend to go sideways. Yesterday was the case, barely making the cut for finals and then blowing it 20 seconds after the start with a crash. (luckily nothing major)

-Lucas Borba from Brazil (3rd place in Valparaiso) was looking solid and comfortable as he did a few weeks ago

Qualifying showed a few clear points:

JuanFer Velez was on fire, he put 2,4 seconds to the 2nd place

Two Brazilians were already in the top three 0.2 seconds apart

Sebastian Holguin had a solid run for 4th place less than 0.3 seconds from the 2nd place

Surprising a few people, Pedro Burns from Chile, made it to a solid 5th place, just over 0.7 seconds from the 2nd place. (He's an "EWS" rider and has been running for these events on his DH bike.

Camilo Sanchez who might have been a solid contender for a win had a bubble on his qualy run and luckily made it into finals.

Finals:



Tomas Slavik rode solid but was probably a bit conservative considering his injured and finished in 6th place, 3.9 seconds behind.

Pedro Ferreira might have been a similar case as Slavik's but still was solid enough for a top 5, 3.8 seconds behind.

Pedro Burns could not push as far as the rest and moved from that 5th place in qualy to 8th place in finals, 5.5 seconds behind.

The 2 Brazilians: Lucas and Gabriel rode fast and solid which put them in 3rd and 4th, 2.5 and 3 seconds behind.

The 2nd place might have been a surprise for Sebastian Holguin himself. He rode super strong and with a good style had a great day for him and his team and finish 1.9 seconds behind the 1st place.

Juan Fer Velez made the rest look slowed on the second part of the track, what an exciting run, started with the first 2 splits in red but just 0.03, 0.04 behind, but then when the stair section started, he proved that all the recent training on the streets of Medellin paid off and his confidence, his flow, his speed, his lines and especially his style, allowed him to in just half of the track put almost 2 seconds to the second place with a solid time of 1:25:03. Big things to come for this young rider.

Now is the time to wait for the next stop in Mexico.

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Videos Racing and Events DH Racing Marcelo Gutierrez