Reece is the word as Gordon rider races to world title

Gordon rider Reece Wilson won the UCi men’s elite downhill mountain bike event, becoming the first Scottish biker to do so, and it’s also his first victory on the world stage.

There were scenes of elation, disbelief and relief at the end of the nail-biting climax to the UCI

cycling Mountain bike World Championships in Leogang, Austria.

The week-long festival culminated in the blue-riband event on Sunday afternoon, when the Mercedes

Men’s Elite Downhill MTB hit the slopes to decide who would wear the coveted rainbow jersey for the year ahead.

Earlier in the day, the juniors and women’s races had reaped rewards for team GB with a silverand bronze in junior men and a fifth place in Women’s Elite.

Never before has the event been the first race of the season and been held as late in the year as October.

With no form to go on, no-one knew exactly who’s preparation was best, apart from the riders from France, where the National series had been run over the summer.

Hot favourite was Frenchman and reigning champion Loic Bruni, who was going for his fourth jersey, closely followed by teammates Loris Vergier and Remi Thirion.

Team GB hopes focused on Laurie Greenland former winner Danny Hart, who were the only riders to derail the French juggernaut in 2019.

Reece (24), who rides for the US-based Factory Trek team, was hoping for a better time in the GB team jersey than his debut last year, when he had to withdraw because of an injury at the previous World Cup race.

The big unknown factor in all this was the weather. Normally, the track, known as the Speedster, is raced in the World series in June, when it is dry, fast and open.

But a raft of changes to the layout over last winter made it much more technical. Added on top were the autumnal conditions, which made the practice and qualifying midweek a new and often unpleasant experience for everyone.

Sunday dawned cold and wet, with sleety snow falling at the top of the hill and temperatures barely hitting five degrees.

As the first junior riders came down, it was obvious the slippery roots and ankle-deep mud would play a major role in the day’s proceedings.

For the Elite race, the top qualifiers raced in reverse order from their world ranking positions, 80th first down to number one, ‘SuperBruni’, last away.

Reece, riding number 32, put all his experience of wet and miserable Scottish conditions to great effect as he blitzed the course with a clean run, 10 seconds ahead of leader to that point, Jo Fischbach of Germany.

Taking up his position on the ‘hot seat’ at the finish line, the wait began to see how the big favourites would cope.

One by one, the following riders slipped, slithered and crashed down the course but nobody could get near the 3.51 set by the Borderer. By the time the big favourites started in the top 10, only Thirion had got within six seconds with some wild riding and the race commentators were thinking an upset was on the cards.

Austrian home hero David Trummer, number seven, came close, riding smoothly but coming up short by three seconds to go into second, and Reece breathed a nervous sigh of relief.

Down to the last three and it was Hart looking to break Scottish hearts. Unable to get ahead early on, a slip in the muddy woods lower down cost 10 seconds and a chance of a medal.

Second last came Australian hard charger Troy Brosnan, who got ahead of Reece by the third split time. But, again, he was caught out by the mud and roots, and finished eighth.

So the dream was alive and the only man who could shatter it was the reigning champion. Everyone held their breath as he launched into the woods, only a second adrift of the lead. But even ‘SuperBruni’ couldn’t tame the conditions and crashed heavily on several occasions, eventually rolling in 62nd and dejected.

At the bottom, Reece, who has only been in the sport seven years, looked stunned as the other competitors and team staff erupted in celebration.

Visibly emotional, he lifted his bike, specially painted in Scottish Saltire colours, above his head to take the adulation for one of the most dramatic performances in the sport and the first ever Elite class champion from Scotland.

Back at home, family and friends not allowed to attend revelled in seeing the live TV pictures, observing Reece achieve the seemingly impossible.

Afterwards, he said: “ I don’t know what went right this weekend. I was ready, wet or dry. I believed in myself and used the year off productively.

“There have been times over the years I’ve thought of giving up – but here we are. I can’t believe it!”

Unfortunately, there was not a lot of time to celebrate and no time to come home, as the teams packed up and moved to Slovenia for the start of the truncated World Cup campaign, which kicks off today (Friday).

With the rainbow stripes on his back, Reece will have plenty people cheering him on.