Our riders and writers take a look back at another awesome year for mountain biking and pick out their favourite bits from 2018.
2018 was yet another standout year for mountain bike events, athletes, brands, the lot. While the year might not quite be over yet, our staffers and pinners give us their picks of the best in mountain biking from the last year.
Chris Hutchens
British dominance in the U21 Womens’ Enduro World Series
https://www.instagram.com/p/BoZZc3OhB9D/
When you see a U21 category full to bursting and British ladies at the sharp end of that group, then you know the future is bright. Martha Gill, Polly Henderson, Abigail Lawton and Ella Connolly are all fighting to be the fastest.
Ella Connolly stands out for winning all bar one of her races in 2018, coming third behind Polly and Martha, again, showing that the strength in depth is there.
CathroVision
2018 was the year #CathroVision really came into its own. Ben Cathro was trackside at every World Cup this year, delivering analysis we simply don’t get anywhere else.
CathroVision 2018 was almost as good as the actual racing itself. Long may it continue.
Ben Plenge
Martin Maes Winning the Whistler EWS then the La Bresse World Cup
Let’s be honest, this was on everyone’s list, but rather than have it seven or eight times, we’ll just put it here.
Martin Maes’ 2018 can be described as nothing but superlative. After bagging a second place in Chile at the start of the year, he’d dislocate his shoulder at the second round in Colombia.
Nobody would have imagined he’d win the Whistler EWS, win the La Bresse World Cup then bag a silver at the World Champs in Lenzerheide all within a month.
Chris Hutchens’ turn bars
There is no greater sight in the wild than a Chris Hutchens sending a filthy turnbar. Team Wideopenmag’s elder statesman has a fine line in turnbies and time has not faded the glory that is.
Christo Gallagher
Red Bull Pumptrack World Championships.
With the explosion of pumptrack building around the World, what better way to see who is best at flying around them than the Red Bull Pumptrack World Championships? The events are open to bikes of all shapes and sizes, truly giving a platform to any rider who can make their bike pump the best.
Adventures with friends new and old.
The best part of 2018 for me might be clichéd as ever, but experiencing some of the best things you can do on a bike with new and old friends has to be up there. From bivvying under the northern lights high above Whistler to travelling Europe and to Asia, it’s been some experience this year. A year that’ll be hard to better.
Dave Konstanz
Changing of the guard.
Photo courtesy of Red Bull Content Pool.2018 was the first year that we saw a full changing of the guard in the men’s World Cup ranks. It was the year of the young guns. Pierron has been on the fringes for a couple of seasons, but the team change proved to be the catalyst that he needed to near dominate the series and take the overall with a round to go.
Sure, Gwin and Minnaar were injured near the beginning of the season, but you can’t take away the fact that the young guns and particularly the French ones were utterly dominant over the season.
Rachel Atherton is still the Greatest
Photo courtesy of Red Bull Content Pool.After a 2017 season plagued by injury, all eyes were on Nicole and Seagrave to take the fight to Rachel. This they did, with Nicole taking the win in Losinj and Seagrave taking the win at Fort William and then two further races. However, Rachel showed that consistency is key (as well as three race wins) and took the overall for a 5th time at La Bresse followed by utterly annihilating the field at World Champs.
Pete Scullion
Sam Hill’s casual disregard of Chilean ‘antigrip’.
There was plenty being said about the infamous antigrip ahead of the opening round of this year’s Enduro World Series. The High Andean dust notorious for its complete lack of traction.
We should have expected Sam Hill to thrive in these conditions, and thrive he did. Utter dominance when other struggle is a trademark of the Aussie pinner. The video above says it all. Maximum attack.
A return to form for Brook MacDonald.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BlbHvehBGOq/
After re-signing with MS-Mondraker, the Bulldog seemed to have re-lit the fire, stayed on his bike and got himself right back where he should be.
A Brook MacDonald on a charge truly is a unique sight that must be seen to be believed. Nobody rides a bike with the thunder that Brook brings. I’m very much looking forward to seeing him annihilate 2019.
