VANCOUVER (July 7, 2001) - Global Racing athletes competing in round three of the Tissot-UCI World Cup returned a winning set of podium results, keeping the team at the head of the UCI downhill rankings.

The Grouse Mountain resort is located only twenty minutes from downtown Vancouver, on the renowned North Shore. This venue attracted large crowds, estimated at over 10,000, when it played host to its first World Cup downhill and dual events on Saturday. The downhill course, athough short compared to other World Cup courses, contained a wide variety of terrain. Darting in and out of loamy, rooted wood sections, the course also featured steep, rocky sections and a wide-open finish straight strewn with jumps.

Missy Giove's downhill performance earned her second place, and it was the highlight of her day's racing. Now that she is getting her Orange set-up finely tuned, she feels that victory over the mighty Anne-Caroline Chausson is coming closer and closer. "I don't have to ride over the edge to beat her. It's just a matter of time... I thought I could have posted a 2:07 today without going crazy, and this would have been a winning time." An annoying error high on the course cost Missy what she felt was the winning edge, but she quickly re-set her sights on world cup round four at Durango next weekend. "I'm excited, I'm really psyched for Durango," she said. Missy is now comfortably second overall in the world cup standings.

Mick Hannah earned himself 50 UCI rankings points as fastest qualifier in the semi-final run. In the final he bobbed and weaved his way to a commendable third place finish, less than a second away from the winner Fabien Barel. "The course was awesome, kind of like what's at home. I really had fun here this weekend," he said. Mick becomes only the fifth Junior to step onto a world cup podium in downhill. Part of his success here Mick attributed to adjustments in his suspension. "I put a different RockShox unit on the rear that is 13mm shorter, and had my Boxxers stiffened up with some new valving, these changes made the bike work a lot better for me." He stated.

Greg Minnaar was delighted with his fourth place finish - his best result so far. "I was happy and surprised, because the course didn't suit me so well. But I was having fun with all those rock jumps although at one point I went into a tree - luckily it was padded up!" This result got Greg on the podium again and shows that he is a consistent top performer. Furthermore, it contributes valuable team points to keep Global Racing the number one name in world downhill competition.

Sean McCarroll put in a great eighth place effort that saw him back into the top ten. Motivated by the success of his teammates, Sean would like to put himself on the podium in the near future. In the dual, Sean advanced to the quarter finals and ended up eighth. Also making a top-ten appearance was Marielle Saner who finished ninth in the women's downhill race.

Grouse Mountain also marked the return of Daisaku Kaneko after an injury forced him to miss the first two World Cups. A wildcard spot allowed him to compete at this race and he improved on his qualification time by four seconds to finish up in 55th. The Global Racing Team is happy to have both of their Japanese riders back in the fold.

That first world cup win seems to be edging nearer and nearer, and when it comes Global Racing will have both the world's highest achieving individuals as well as the world's top team. With results like these it seems hard to believe that Global Racing is still less than half way through its first season of racing.

"The team is ecstatic that we have kept our number once ranking", said team manager, Ben Munroe, "and we have increased our lead over BeOne which is important. We're reaching the half-way point of the season so we hope to keep the momentum going and bring Global Racing its first World Cup win soon."