Mountain biking has plenty of amazing riders, and some stand out above the rest. Pete and Dave ponder whether two have nosed ahead of the rest though.
Everyone that races at an elite level is there by merit, and the cauldron of competition often sees some failing while others triumph. Pete and Dave pick out their two that have managed to get their heads above the rest of the pack.
Tracy Moseley.
There’s good reason that Tracy Moseley is at the top of this list.
Few riders, male or female, have excelled in as many disciplines with a quiet, driven focus that Tracy Moseley has.
The first British woman to win a World Cup, on home turf of all places, making up one of her sixteen World Cup wins and countless podium finishes. That would lead her to two World Cup Series Championship wins and a single World Championship title.
Seven times British Downhill Champion, two times British Dual Slalom Champ and two times British 4x Champ.
Add to that three Enduro World Series titles and a massive fifteen Enduro World Series wins.
Then you have a bronze at the 2013 British National Cross Country Champs and two top 10 World Cup Cross Country wins under her belt as well.
Sam Hill.
Photo by Lee Miller.Despite coming into everyone’s collective conscience two decades ago, Sam Hill is still the man to beat.
Titles haven’t been sparing either. Taking Junior World Downhill titles in 2002 and 2003, then backing them up with World Cup Series Championships in 2007 and 2009, with back-to-back Worlds wins in 2006 and 2007, and again in 2010. That latter was off the back of a season-long injury too.
More recently, he’s stamped his mark on the Enduro World Series in his inimitable style, taking six event wins and two world titles in three years.
There’s far more to Sam Hill than just race wins though. That run in Champery after taking qualifying by 11 seconds, all those massive margin wins at Val di Sole and Schladming, that run at Val di Sole Worlds, taking 6th at the downhill World Champs in Cairns, 2017 on his enduro bike… Sam Hill doesn’t do things by halves.
Arguably Sam Hill’s biggest achievement though is his riding style’s impact on how everyone reads a trail these days. Sam was, and still is, a trailblazer, both literally and metaphorically for how to read what’s in front of you. Countless riders nowadays cannot enter or exit a turn ‘normally’ anymore and are always searching for the inside line, all courtesy of Sam Hill.
Sam Hill’s legacy extends well beyond the realm of mere race statistics, and for that reason, he’s beaten the rest to the punch.
