As the DH season rolled into round three here in Quebec, both the men's and women's overall standings have been as fun to watch as the races themselves. Steve Peat (GBR, Orange England) dominated the men's competition after stumbling in round 1 and then taking 2nd in round 2. He beat a motivated Cedric Gracia (FRA, Volvo-Cannondale) here to come closer to #1-ranked Chris Kovarik (AUS, Intense Cycles), who had an uncharacteristically bad final run.

At this first triple event of the season, the downhillers went first on Saturday, while the cross-country folks raced on Sunday. So the latter part of last week was spent inspecting and practicing on the course, which threw a few new wrinkles at racers this year.

Long the high-speed legend of North America, the MSA track has lost much of its wide-open speed sections over the past couple years as it transitioned to a more technical and interesting course. Some of the riders like the changes while others, such as Chausson, aren't fans of the additional rocks and mud.

And rocks and mud (depending on the weather) make up a good portion of this track these days, as organizers eliminated one open section last year - and then another one for this year. Arm-pumping rocks, off-camber roots and pinball-alley chutes had riders gasping for air at the bottom of the course - and we're not even at altitude!

PEAT SAYS F**K SKINSUITS!
Steve Peat (GBR, Orange England) has been working hard to get a win this season, and in the last round saw series-leader Chris Kovarik (AUS, Intense Cycles) beat him by .01 of a second. Some people say that's a difference in time that a skinsuit would cure, especially after Kovarik wore one during his final run in Maribor. But many DHers eschew aerodynamics for the moto style of Fox and Troy Lee gear, prompting Peat to exclaim "F**k skinsuits" as he took the leader's hotseat in the men's final. He was wearing loose clothes, and he crushed everyone. So there.

To be fair, Kovarik had crashed hard in practice Friday, when he hit a table-top jump at the bottom and landed hard - putting a huge scrape on his right shoulder and knocking him out momentarily. He only finished 9th, but held on to the leader's jersey for another week.

Things got rolling in the morning, when #4-ranked Cedric Gracia (FRA, Volvo-Cannondale) posted the fastest qualifying time by beating Greg Minnaar (RSA, Global Racing Team) by .35 seconds and Steve Peat (GBR, Orange England) by 2.7.

Then in the finals, Australian Nathan Rankin (Foes Azonic) took the hotseat with a fast run that would eventually earn him 6th place. He was finally bumped when 7th-seeded Oscar Saiz (ESP, Maxxis MSC) posted a time of 5:19. Saiz would finish 5th.

Saiz's teammate Claudio Calouri (SUI, Maxxis MSC) was next up, and posted a 5:18 to immediately take over the hotseat, after posting his career's best run. Now only five riders remained. But 5th-seeded Kirt Voreis (USA, Haro/Lee Dungarees) could manage no better than a 5:38 after he hit a tree on course, and neither could 4th-seeded Mickael Pascal (FRA, Be-One Team) who posted a time of 5:22 - good for an eventual 8th place.

Third-seeded Peat flew down the mountain to post a 5:09 - which shattered Calouri's time and beat Peat's own seeding run by 9 seconds. Minnaar came next, but could only make it down in 5:18, which put him into second position at the time.

Then top-seeded Gracia took to the mountain - riding above his limit and on the edge of control. He couldn't find the speed that had carried him through the semi-finals though, and finished in 5:13, good enough for 2nd place but not enough to beat Peat, who took his first win of the season.

Peat was having a good time in the hotseat (see the photos), and seemed to know he had the win. "It went really good for me today," he said afterward. "It's such a psychological course, so I prepared by warming up good, then getting a nap before the finals - I knew it was going to be hard."

Peat had extra work this year, as so much of this course was changed since he last raced on it in 2000 (and won here in 1999) "It's like a new course for me, because I didn't ride here last year and they've made all these changes," he said. "In practice I got blisters on my hands because it's so rough, so I saved it for the finals."

Gracia said that he couldn't seem to find the speed he needed in the finals, feeling that the course was getting a bit slower. "I was faster in qualifying that I thought I would be, but in the finals I expected a better time, like a 5:10," said Gracia. "But everyone seemed to be going a bit slower in the finals, and then when I went I saw why. All my lines were destroyed. I made a couple mistakes, because I was riding over my limit - I heard that little bell in my head going off."

Right behind Gracia was Minnaar, who was just under 5 seconds slower than Gracia - and 8.6 seconds slower than Peat. "I had a good run, and did really well in the top wooded section - I shot right through there," said Minnaar.

"I had a stumble in the second-to-last woods. I caught a log and it stopped me. But my foot stayed on the frame and I got going quick. It's a hard course mentally, and has tough tree sections technically."

Previously #2-ranked Nicolas Vouilloz (FRA, Vouilloz Racing Team) was not competing this week, as he recovers from surgery on his little finger (see Race Notes).

— Ari Cheren, MountainZone.com Correspondent