Greg Minnaar

Greg Minnaar
Personal information
Full name	Greg Minnaar
Nickname	GM
Born	13 November 1981 (age 42); Pietermaritzburg, South Africa
Height	1.90 m (6 ft 3 in)
Weight	87 kg (192 lb)
Team information
Current team	Santa Cruz Syndicate
Discipline	MTB
Role	Rider
Rider type	DH & 4X
Major wins
	NORBA Champion (2 Wins); Template:FlagiconUCI UCI DH World Champion (3 Wins); Template:FlagiconUCI UCI DH World Cup Overall (3 Wins)
Medal record
Representing South Africa
Mountain Bike
World Championships

Greg Minnaar (born 13 November 1981 in Pietermaritzburg) is a South African World Champion mountain bike racer competing in downhill cycling. Greg first started to get noticed as a world class downhill racer at the age of 17, in 1999, racing select World Cups (including one in his home country of South Africa, in Stellenbosch) on a local shop team, aboard a Kona Stab Dee-Lux bike with a Marzocchi Monster T. fork. The following year, still a junior, he was picked up by British international team Animal Orange, which used Orange frames (222 for downhill and Ms. Isle for dual slalom) and RockShox suspension. That year (2000) Greg podiumed at a World Cup points series race for the first time. The following two years Greg rode for the mighty Global Racing team, aboard similar bikes to the previous years', and on this team, at the age of 19, he won the overall World Cup points series in the Elite downhill. In 2003 Greg switched to the Haro Lee Dungarees team, which used Intense designed and built DHR frames for the dowhill and their own short travel Werx trailbike frames for Four Cross, with Manitou suspension. It was aboard this team that, at the age of 21, Greg became World Champion of downhill. Following this, Greg was offered a spot on the infamous Team G Cross Honda, which used one-off internally geared framesmade by Honda, and Showa suspension. He accepted, and stayed on that team for four years, which included his second World Cup points series overall victory in 2005. After the sudden pulling out of the sport by Honda after the 2007 season, which ended on a bittersweet note with a dislocated and fractured shoulder early in his winning World Championship final run (Greg got back on the bike to salvage a painful 4th place finish), Greg was forced to switch teams yet again. He recently chose the Santa Cruz Syndicate team, alongside riders Steve Peat, Nathan Rennie, and Josh Bryceland for the 2008 season. He competes in the NORBA and Mountain Bike World Cup points series races, in the Elite Downhill and Four Cross events.

Championships

UCI Downhill World Champions

Minnaar has won the UCI Downhill World Championship three times - in 2003, 2012 and 2013. He has finished second twice (2004 and 2006) and taken the bronze three times (2001, 2005 and 2010).

Downhill World Cup

Minnaar has been crowned Downhill World Cup champion three times (2001, 2005 and 2008) for winning the Mountain Bike World Cup points series. He was also crowned Downhill World Champion in 2003 for winning the season ending event. He has also done well in the Four Cross event, with one win in the 2003 World Cup points series, in Fort William, Scotland, and a fourth place finish at the 2005 World Championships.

In the 2008 World Cup, Minnaar podiumed at every one of the seven events in the series, taking the win at Fort William, Mont-Sainte-Anne and Canberra. This gave him a comfortable lead going into the finals at Schladming, Austria, where he placed fifth and clenched his overall lead to take the well-deserved title.

In 2009 World Cup series, Minnaar took first place at Pietermaritzburg South Africa, Fort William Scotland and Bromont Canada. He also came 6th at La Bresse in France, 3rd at Vallnord in Andorra, Maribor in Slovenia and in Schladming Austria. Greg also came 22nd in Mont-Sainte-Anne leaving him with a 2nd place overall. In the World Championships at Canberra Australia he lost 1st place to his team mate Steve Peat by 0.05seconds