Australian Jared Graves is the first rider to cross the finish line with a serious time. And he does so on an enduro bike, which has some advantages on the pedal-heavy course. The next rider to come dangerously close to Graves' top time is Nick Beer. Despite a few small riding errors, the Bernese rider is only seven tenths of a second off the best time. He is not satisfied with his ride. "Too many small mistakes", he attests. He would have "missed" a corner right at the top and ended up in the barriers. "I lost two seconds for sure," says Beer. "Top five was my goal. Now I might still make it into the top ten," says the Swiss champion at the finish. He doesn't yet know that some of the top candidates will fail.

A short time later, Graves sets the fastest time. His compatriot Mick Hannah undercuts it by around three seconds. The next top rider, Australian Sam Hill, is also on course for a medal before he goes over the handlebars in the final section. After Hill, Greg Minnaar, who comes from Pietermaritzburg, plunges down the course. Still behind Hannah at the first split time, the South African turned up the pace even more and crossed the finish line just under four tenths of a second faster than the Australian a short time later.

Now all eyes are on the last two remaining riders. The fastest qualifier, Canadian Steve Smith, and World Cup leader Gee Atherton have the better maps on paper than Minnaar. Having arrived with the aim of winning, Smith skids off in the very first corner and buries his dreams of victory in the dust of the World Cup track. Atherton did not crash, but was over a second behind at the first split time and slipped to seventh place behind Beer at the finish.

Greg Minnaar thus defends his world championship title. As he is riding to the world title virtually on his doorstep, it is probably the best victory of the South African's career.