Greg Minnaar

Greg Minnaar (born 13 November 1981) is a retired South African World Champion mountain bike racer competing in downhill cycling. He won four world championships. Minnaar is regarded as one of the most dominant DH racers ever, with a record 22 career victories and 86 podiums in 167 starts . Since retirement, he is the team manager for Norco Race Division.

Career Minnaar first began getting 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 as 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 downhill and their own short travel Werx trail bike 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.

Minnaar was appointed as a member of the inaugural UCI Athletes' Commission in 2011.

Minnaar is last race for Norco Factory Racing as the team captain for the 2024 UCI World Cup Downhill season.

After racing at the highest level for 25 years, Minnaar officially retired from World Cup racing 6 October 2024 at the final round of the UCI World Cup Downhill season in Mont-Sainte-Anne, Canada.

He continues to be involved in the sport as the director of the Norco Race Division.

UCI Downhill World Champions Minnaar has won the UCI Downhill World Championship four times - in 2003, 2012, 2013, and 2021. He has finished second four times (2004, 2006, 2009, and 2015) 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 the 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 the 1st place to his teammate Steve Peat by 0.05 seconds.

In the 2015 World Cup series, Minnaar took first place at Lenzerheide, Switzerland, earning him his 18th career win and setting the record for most world cup wins in the history of downhill racing. Until this victory, Minnaar had shared the record for most overall world cup race wins with Santa Cruz Syndicate teammate Steve Peat, after a victory earlier in the 2015 season.

NORBA (USA Cycling) Minnaar was twice (2003, 2004) crowned champion of the NORBA (now USA Cycling) points series.

Results

1998 1st DH, South African National Mountain Biking Championships

1999 1st DH, All African National Mountain Biking Championships

2000 5th DH, UCI Mountain Bike World Cup, Vail, United States

2001 1st DH, UCI Mountain Bike World Cup, Kaprun, Austria 1st DH, UCI Mountain Bike World Cup, Series Overall 3rd DH, UCI Mountain Bike & Trials World Championships, Vail, United States

2002 3rd 4X, UCI Mountain Bike World Cup, Telluride, United States

2003 1st DH, UCI Mountain Bike & Trials World Championships, Lugano, Switzerland 1st NORBA, Series Overall

2004 2nd DH, UCI Mountain Bike & Trials World Championships, Les Gets, France 1st NORBA, Series Overall

2005 1st DH, UCI Mountain Bike World Cup, Series Overall 3rd DH, UCI Mountain Bike & Trials World Championships, Livigno, Italy

2006 2nd DH, UCI Mountain Bike & Trials World Championships, Rotorua, New Zealand 3rd DH, UCI Mountain Bike World Cup, Series Overall

2007 4th DH, UCI Mountain Bike & Trials World Championships, Fort William, Scotland rode half the race with a broken scapular and dislocated shoulder 2008 1st DH, UCI Mountain Bike World Cup, Series Overall podium every single round

2009 1st DH, UCI Mountain Bike World Cup, Pietermaritzburg, South Africa; Fort William, Scotland; Bromont, Canada 2nd DH, UCI Mountain Bike & Trials World Championships, Canberra, Australia

2010 2nd DH, UCI Mountain Bike World Cup, Series Overall 3rd DH, UCI Mountain Bike & Trials World Championships, Mont-Sainte-Anne, Canada

2011 2nd DH, UCI Mountain Bike World Cup, Pietermaritzburg, South Africa 1st DH, UCI Mountain Bike World Cup, Fort William, Scotland 1st DH, UCI Mountain Bike World Cup, La Bresse, France

2012 1st DH, UCI Mountain Bike World Cup, Pietermaritzburg, South Africa 1st DH, UCI Mountain Bike & Trials World Championships, Leogang, Austria

2013 1st DH, UCI Mountain Bike & Trials World Championships, Pietermaritzburg, South Africa 3rd DH, UCI Mountain Bike World Cup, Series Overall

2016 4th DH, UCI Mountain Bike World Cup, Series Overall 1st DH, UCI Mountain Bike World Cup, Fort William, Scotland

3rd DH, UCI Mountain Bike World Cup, Lenzerheide, Switzerland 2nd DH, UCI Mountain Bike World Cup, Vallnord, Andorra

2017 3rd DH, UCI Mountain Bike World Cup, Series Overall 1st DH, UCI Mountain Bike World Cup, Fort William, Scotland 3rd DH, UCI Mountain Bike World Cup, Leogang, Austria 2nd DH, UCI Mountain Bike World Cup, Vallnord, Andorra 1st DH, UCI Mountain Bike World Cup, Lenzerheide, Switzerland

2019 2nd DH, UCI Mountain Bike World Cup, Leogang, Austria 2nd DH, UCI Mountain Bike World Cup, Lenzerheide, Switzerland

2021 1st DH, UCI Mountain Bike and Trials World Championships, Val di Sole, Italy