Greg Minnaar
Greg Minnaar at Val d'Isère (2012 World Cup 6th round)
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| Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Full name | Greg Minnaar | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Nickname | GM, The Fresh Prince of Big Air | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born |
13 November 1981 Pietermaritzburg, South Africa |
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| Height | 1.90 m (6 ft 3 in) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Weight | 87 kg (192 lb) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Current team | Santa Cruz Syndicate | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Discipline | MTB | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Role | Rider | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Rider type | DH & 4X | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Professional team(s) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1999 | Local bike shop | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2000 | Animal Orange | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2001–2002 | Global Racing | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2003 | Haro Lee Dungarees | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2004–2007 | Team G Cross Honda | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2008– | Santa Cruz Syndicate | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Major wins | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| NORBA Champion (2 Wins) UCI DH World Champion (3 Wins) UCI DH World Cup Overall (3 Wins) |
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Medal record
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Greg Minnaar (born 13 November 1981 in Pietermaritzburg) is a South African World Champion mountain bike racer competing in downhill cycling. He currently competes in the Mountain Bike World Cup points series races, in the Elite Downhill event. Minnaar is currently the most prolific winner among male professional downhill mountain bike racers, with 19 world cup career victories.
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. In 2000, he was picked up as a junior by British international team Animal Orange, which used Orange frames (222 for downhill and Ms. Isle for dual slalom) and RockShox suspension. That year Greg podiumed at a World Cup points series race for the first time.
The following two years Greg rode for the 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.
In 2004, Greg was offered a spot on Team G Cross Honda, which used one-off internally geared frames made by Honda, with a Showa suspension. He accepted and stayed for four years, winning his second World Cup points series overall victory in 2005. The 2007 season ended on a bittersweet note with a dislocated and fractured shoulder early in his winning World Championship final run although Greg got back on the bike to salvage a painful 4th-place finish. In addition, Greg was forced to switch teams yet again when Honda pulled out of the sport and he chose the Santa Cruz Syndicate team, alongside riders Steve Peat, Nathan Rennie, and Josh Bryceland for the 2008 season.
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