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Cape Town - For a while in Andorra on Sunday it seemed as though South Africa's Greg Minnaar had done enough to win his fourth UCI MTN Downhill World Championships title.
When Minnaar smashed Mike Jones' leading time by four seconds there were only five riders left to go.
Four of them failed to better Minnaar's time, but 21-year-old Frenchman Loic Bruni stepped up with the ride of his life.
Bruni has been consistently good in this year's World Cup series but was not able to win any of the season's seven legs. He saved the best for last, and bettered Minnaar's time by two and a half seconds on Sunday.
"When I started I didn't feel that great," Bruni told the UCI's official website after the race.
"So I did everything I could to get a good rhythm. The first bit is pretty physical and I gave everything at the top. I tried to find a very good flow. I didn't believe it could be possible. I wasn't even thinking about the win and I had a good run. At the bottom were all the people and fans, so I went off the brakes and went really loose, and I held it to the bottom. It's amazing."
Results
1. Loic Bruni (FRA) 4:19.58
2. Greg Minnaar (RSA) 4:21.95
3. Josh Bryceland (GBR) 4:24.36
4. Mike Jones (GBR) 4:26.17
5. Marcelo Gutierrez Villegas (COL) 4:26.42
