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Red Bull Foxhunt 2018
© Sebastian Marko
MTB
VIDEO: See how Gee Atherton got on at Red Bull Foxhunt
Find out what Red Bull Foxhunt looked like from the pro foxes themselves
Written by Ric McLaughlin
4 min readPublished on
The longest-serving of 2018’s three superstar Foxes was, of course, Gee Atherton. A double downhill World Champion, UCI World Cup overall winner and the victor at this year's Red Bull Hardline race he has the sort of palmarès that puts him right in there with mountain biking royalty. 
He’s the original Red Bull Foxhunt Fox and has mastered the cunning art of foxiness over the last few years. Simply put, Gee will pass you - it’s only a matter of time! This year, against the biggest Red Bull Foxhunt field ever assembled, he could ‘only’ manage fifth place.
See how Gee got on all weekend in the video below:
We managed to track down Gee after the race to find out a bit more
Gee, how was Red Bull Foxhunt 2018 for you?
Yeah, it was good, absolutely incredible actually. It kind of feels like every year, Red Bull Foxhunt is getting a little bit bigger and a little bit better and every year you kind of think that it’s maybe maxed out but every year they manage to go one better still.
Tell us about your race run?
Race run was good. On the start, you never quite know what to expect and I’d been firing myself up for it a bit and saying that it’s going to busy when you meet everyone. Then you set off down the start straight and there's a moment when it’s almost peaceful alongside Loïc and Greg sprinting and then all of a sudden you come over that crest and join nearly six hundred other riders and any plans you have just go out of the window! You just end up ploughing into it and being as aggressive as you can and see what you can do.
Was there much competition between the three foxes?
There was this year, yeah. Last year was the first year that we’d had the three-Fox idea, so the others weren’t sure what to expect. I definitely had that bit more experience and they were definitely a bit more timid with it in a way but this year Bruni was a lot more fired up for it. He told me that he knew what he needed to do now - he wanted to go fast and he wanted to win the thing. Greg as well, it was his first time as a Fox but he’s raced the event before and knows what it’s all about. You could feel that tension before the race, everyone was up for it, it wasn’t just about that battle against the riders, there was a battle between the Foxes as well.
How impressed are you with ex-Fox Colin Ross’ 4th win?
Yeah, Colin is very impressive. I think it was nice having him at the back of the pack as a Fox last year and having him battling because it almost meant that the people up front had a better chance but it’s also cool to see someone taking an event so seriously - it shows just how big Red Bull Foxhunt is now. He’s up there training for it, he wants to do his best at it, it’s not just an event for him. And he’s a bloody good rider as well! People always ask why we don’t win it and to overtake all those riders and to then catch Colin as well it’s not going to happen. He flys down there! It’s impressive to see.
What makes Red Bull Foxhunt such a great race to end the year on?
The two things that make Foxhunt so special are the atmosphere and the crowd. There’s a real spirit there and it’s not just on race day either, it’s there all weekend. Everyone’s having a good time, stopping on track to have a chat together, riding new lines together, coming over to you in the pits for a chat… all weekend that atmosphere and it’s from people just enjoying themselves and having fun. Race day is also incredible. Every year I race down there and crash into people and stress that someone’s going to be pissed off but then every year they all come over to you in the finish and pat me on the back! They say things like “That was great! You took me out right on the top turn!”. I just absolutely love it - everything about it
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