The YT Mob

AARON GWIN TAKES 5TH PLACE AT THE UCI WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS. Riding a prototype YT TUES 29er bike for only the second time in competition, Aaron Gwin took 5th place here in Switzerland in front of a raucous crowd of 20,000+ people. His team mate Angel Suarez was on a scorcher of a run that would have placed him 6th, but a front wheel wash out in the final sector put an end to a dream run.

ANGEL SUAREZ SCORES YET ANOTHER TOP 15 RESULT IN THE WORLD CUP FINALS. The YT Mob’s youngest rider backed up his top 10 from Mont-Sainte-Anne with yet another strong performance in his first ever wet World Cup final. The tricky conditions on a rainy Saturday in the Vosges Mountains caught out teammate Aaron Gwin who less than 30secs into his run went down briefly, but continued on to finished 43rd. Fellow American Neko Mulally was less fortunate crashing out in training earlier today and breaking his right hand, and will fly home on Monday for surgery.

ANGEL SUAREZ SCORES HIS FIRST WORLD CUP TOP 10 RESULT. The YT Mob’s youngest rider, Spain’s Angel Suarez, showed his hand today as a rider who’s determined to find a bright future for himself in the world of mountain bike racing. Straight after his career best result of 13th in Andorra a few weeks ago, Angel set a new personal benchmark by finishing 9th here at the demanding and long track in Mont-Sainte-Anne, Canada

ANGEL SUAREZ SCORES CAREER BEST RESULT AT THE VALLNORD WORLD CUP. Round 5 of the Mercedes Benz UCI Mountain Bike World Cup arrived in the Pyrenees this week, to the steep and fast track of Vallnord, for the 5th round of the 2018 series. The YT Mob was missing its lead rider, Aaron Gwin, who is busy recovering from his thumb injury back home in California. This meant the team mates Neko Mulally and Angel Suarez were front and center for this week’s event. After both qualified solidly in 27th and 28th place yesterday, it came down to a fast and dry track here on Sunday, and for one rider, it was a dream run, and for the other, it was disappointment after a crash late in his run.

AARON GWIN STAYS IN THE HUNT DESPITE REINJURING THUMB, NEKO MULALLY TOP 20. After just rolling out of the start house yesterday in qualifying and not completing his run, it was clear that the slide out crash which reinjured Aaron’s thumb was going to be the question mark over the 5 Time World Cup Champion coming into today’s race. After getting some training runs in today Aaron decided to give it a go and do what he could to stem the point loss. Impressively he finished 31st today after man handling the bike down the steepest and most technical track of the season, using his legs in places to press against the frame and relieve the pain and pressure from the thumb, it was a champion’s ride, and he now sits in 4th place overall, just 10 points from 2nd.

Angel Suarez trains in Lousa, Portugal to get used to the terrain of Val Di Sole, which is the next round of the UCI World Cup.

AARON GWIN TAKES IMPRESSIVE 2ND PLACE IN LEOGANG WITH INJURED HANDFollowing his over the bars crash due to a loose rock on course in Fort William last week, Aaron Gwin has been nursing a painful left thumb that’d been dislocated. It was giving Aaron a lot of grief in the first session of training here in Leogang earlier in the week, so much so that he was doubtful as to whether he’d even be able to race today’s final. Thanks to some injury management and a smart use of track time, by the 2nd half of his qualifying run yesterday Aaron was able to see that he did indeed have a solid chance for today’s race.

AARON GWIN TAKES 20TH PLACE DESPITE CRASH, RETAINS SERIES LEADDespite a great start to his finals run here in Fort William yesterday, Aaron Gwin had an uncharacteristic over the handlebar crash in a section of the track that took out his team mate, Angel Suarez, nearly an hour earlier. Despite the warm and sunny conditions, some sections of the track were still suffering from high levels of moisture and low levels of grip, thanks to heavy overnight storms.

AARON GWIN OPENS 2018 WORLD CUP SEASON WITH EXCITING WIN! For the 2nd time in three years Aaron Gwin (USA) has won the opening round of the UCI World Cup for his team The YT Mob, and this time it was at the brand new venue of Veli Losinj here in Croatia. The track is short, steep, and extremely rocky, with most riders finding it difficult to maintain lines at speed. It also took riders from the roughest section on the World Cup circuit, to the smoothest section with a short urban run to the finish line. In the past 20 years there have only been three occasions where the winning man of the opening round goes on to win the overall series, and all three times that was Aaron Gwin, so his rivals will be fully aware that ‘the boss’ has started his season with typical strength and precision.

For 2018 we will see the UCI DH World Cup visit new venue Losinj in Croatia for round 1. Angel Suarez gives you a preview of the nearly finished track when he rode it in March 2018.