15 Years Later… Danny Hart Returns To Face The Legend Of Champéry | Racer

Champery represents something really elemental and really brutal. Danny's run in Champery in 2011, his world championship run, was just one of those moments in our sports history that will never ever go away. What Danny did on a bike in the rain in 2011 there, stands so tall. Above every other race run, he threw everything at it. This is the danger man to me, this is the guy I think might win it this afternoon. It's Danny Hart from the UK. Yes, Danny Hart is 4.6 seconds off. Look at the speed he's going from. He's nine, nine seconds off. What? Danny Hart is on the run of his life here. He's even, oh my god, look at Danny Hart. He is an absolute legend. He's going to smash that time. Oh my god, 11.6 seconds. Look at the time man. How does Danny Hart sit down with balls that big dude? I think that moment was so big, it has to define him. It defined his character, the commentary at the time. What you don't get to watch is the 20 or 30 riders before it struggle. The world's best absolutely crumble. This is insane. Danny Hart is 10 seconds off and look how composed he is. He is just riding with it himself. Feet up, look at the skills he's got Rob. And then this guy from Redcar absolutely decimates them. And that's what downhill fans have always responded to. It's everyone's dream, isn't it? If you've ever raced a bike, if you've ever ridden a dyno bike, that's your dream. To be that good on that day, under that pressure, in those conditions. Danny Hart is an absolute legend. UCI World Championships change his venue every year. And now Sean Burry's back. That's a huge moment for downhill. The pressure, it'll be there. And he's got a chance to have everything put in a row again. And to head up the top of the hill. Danny, stay on your bike. Yeah, people say that's the most famous downhill run of all time. And there's the rig from it. Without this bike, I wouldn't be where I am today. So I guess it's quite nostalgic like that. Winning by nearly 12 seconds, like that cemented my name in the sport, if you like. And kept me going for a while. It probably still does. But it's always nice to pull her out of the garage and see how it is. There's a pedal missing. Because it was mounted on my bedroom wall. That would be weird. My living room wall in my old house. Champery 2011, I was 19. Won the World Championships there in dramatic style. Then I went to Mondraker in 2016. This is my Mondraker. This one's pretty posh. But yeah, another one there that took me to another set of rainbow stripes. Yeah, that season was another breakout season. I won three World Cups on the bounce. And then won World Championships in Valdasol. And then the season finished. So I sort of didn't want that season to end. I was just comfortable. Had good confidence. Big energy and no one was going to beat me. Because I was really hot property after that. In 2019, I won World Cup finals in Snowshoe. This one was my helmet from when I won in Snowshoe. This was good because it had this swirly thing on the top. And a bit of pink. And it was really, you could see it coming. And yeah, it was nice. Brilliant race, brilliant season. I moved teams. I went to Cube. I was the number one guy. And I was there to try and win an overall or win races or be at the sharp end. They never re-signed me because I don't think I was meeting their expectations. So there's no hiding from that. And I had to ask myself some serious questions at the end of that season. When I was struggling to find a ride. The moment that you don't show up on the start line. Then you're not really relevant anymore. And I didn't want that. And I still knew I had some results in me. My back was against the wall. I had to do something. The pressure was on me. Yeah, it could have gone either way. I could have called it a day and been done. But I knew I wasn't ready to be done. I had some, I still had life in these old legs yet. Invested in myself to go racing in 2024. I'm not going to say I was a privateer. But it was more privateer than I've ever been before. Didn't make a penny. But I was there on the start line. Nobody was to know that I wasn't making a penny. I was there doing my job. Racing as if totally normal. My season had been going okay. Top 15, quite a lot. I always tend to shine at world championships. All or nothing. And what will be, will be. And I managed to put a really, really good run down. I think I was less than half a second off taking the win. But I was, I ended up fourth. Super close racing. But it just showed to myself and to the industry that I can still do this. That secured me a factory ride at Norco. So yeah, it was super cool to get the phone call from Greg. Danny's competitive. So I didn't personally ask him what his expectation was. I could see he wanted to win. And I think moving to a team, coming from quite a tough season where he didn't have a lot of support. To now being on a team where there's a ton of support. He wanted to show the team that he had put in a lot of effort to do well. Super excited that Champery is back on the calendar. Obviously it's world champs. And you need to perform all season to guarantee a seat there. I'm excited to see what we can do. One of the big changes for this 2025 season is going to be the inclusion of the new last chance qualifier. Previously in downhill, we had the slightly controversial protected riders rule where basically you would go through the finals based on previous successes. Now you have to make it through from that quali session directly into finals or you go back up for the LCQ. And I think that will catch people out. I think it will all be fun and games until you don't qualify. And you've got to go into that LCQ. That will spike a few heart rates and that will get some heads scratching. Not ideal, but we'll go again. Try to put a heater in. There's lots of fast guys. It's going to be like a mini final. So there's like 10 world cup winners. A couple of world champions in queue too. It shows how fast everything is right now. This is a mini final. It is. And I think in a way it's exciting because it's like, you've got to go. Nothing should be for you because it's not like, it's like you've got to go. There's no strategy going, well, let's just put in a clean run and try and get that. 10 seconds. Five. Yeah, I don't like doing it like that, but I'm in so we'll go again tomorrow at this stage. We've just got to take each day at a time and I'm glad today is over. So doing our best. He's grown up as a man, as a human, as a father, as a professional. Did we expect that back in 2011? Probably not. He was a bit of a wild man, but now he is one of the professionals. Sophia is my wife, my partner in crime. Huge part of my career of the past 10 years. Oh God, I don't know where to start with that one. His life hasn't really changed other than now he has to help brush teeth and get some people, little people dressed sometimes to help me. I'm glad that he's not, he doesn't seem to be like worried to get hurt or any of those things that could have happened with becoming a father. But something you can't know until you've actually become a parent. You're not going to know how it's going to affect you at all. So it was a risk in the beginning, but luckily it's seemed to have gone the right direction so far. The only reason we had children whilst he was racing was because I was getting old. And we also wanted to be able to share, you know, this part of our lives. Like I used to race motocross and I raced the Women's World Championship motocross, but that was before we had kids. And so I think they don't believe me. And they probably never will believe me. And I'm like, oh, you know, I used to ride bikes as well, you know. But they get to see daddy and what daddy does. And it's, it's fantastic. And obviously they get to travel all over the world and they don't even... Yeah, the kids have given me a massive motivation to carry on doing this racing. What it's all for, it's for their future as much as it is for mine and Sophia's. Denny's grown up with the qualifying procedure. It's a little bit more lax. Now we're in this cutthroat world that you don't have a safety net. There is no safety net. You have to get up to speed immediately throughout the week. And if you don't put down a race run early, it's all over. This warm-up's pretty sad, isn't it, Jack? You're recording, aren't you? No, it's *******... Yeah. I'm just going to go home. In the past, there was some kind of security amongst the top 10, where now everyone's kind of on their toes and guys are pushing really hard because they have to get a Q1. Any kind of mild mistake is quite exaggerated right now. I know that he's suffering this, like, you know, with this new format of racing, like, like many others. Maybe for him more so because he's seen as to being, like, old, which makes no difference whatsoever. When you've been used to being at the top literally forever, he's entirely, as soon as he was on any kind of bike, he's always at the front. And now, like, not qualifying and... Yeah, it's very difficult for him. He hides it well, but yeah. It's been a hard pill to swallow for a while. Green, green grass. You're into that, are you? Oh, it gets me, like, puffy. I wouldn't have thought. Green, green grass. Blue, blue sky. Now, **** off. Can we do it all again and again and again and again? Again and again and again and again? Thank you. First off, congratulations. I've heard there's some big news. Yeah, we had another baby. Delilah, doing well now. She's puffing up a little bit. A lot of shitting, drinking, eating. Not so much crying, which is being good. I think we've accepted that that's what we're having now as girls. So we've got three girls and Danny is, yes, very outnumbered. And I'm sure he'll love it in the future. She's now a mother of four. Three children and myself. Yes, so Delilah was delivered in between Lituile and Andorra. So that's a Sunday race to a Saturday race, giving you less time in between. Like, in the space of, like, 72 hours or something, I was in Italy, home for a baby, then back to Andorra. So yeah, it was a whirlwind, to say the least. It worked out really well, to be fair. I'm glad he was there because he wasn't there for our second daughter's birth. Yeah, the thing is, when you have a family at home, like many of the guys that have now got families and children, they fly home between the racing. And so if I can be nearer to him so that he doesn't have to do that, it makes everything easier and better for him. And I think it would have shortened his career a lot if I had stayed at home. And he would have been missing out on things and doing all the traveling, which he doesn't like doing. He doesn't like flying. He doesn't like hotel rooms. He likes the camper, the camper bed, having all of our home comforts. It's not for everybody. I don't need that one. What's that? Daddy. That's an old one, isn't it? That's him. That's me. Yeah, many people over the years have never even known that we actually stay in the camper. They've always thought that we'd stayed in accommodations. But no, we've always been in the camper. And that's the time Daddy did here before, when Daddy raced here before and he won. So having the opportunity to race World Champs in Champery again was almost like a dream come true because we've not raced there since 2011. And probably in my career, we won't do another World Champs there. Danny won there back in 2011. You know, there's a lot of expectation that comes with that. So this red one is the one I raced in 2011 in. Still mucky inside. When you went to World Champs, you always got different colored clothing to match your country's jersey. So I always used to like having a different helmet or different gear. My kit was like a throwback to my kit from 2011. And I had a really cool bike. The team did a great job. He won in such an iconic run. Can he repeat that? Can he do that again? He's a different person now. He's a dad. You know, 14 years ago, as a World Champion, as a young guy up and coming, nothing to lose, absolutely reckless. Can he step back into that old flair of Danny? Of course he can. It's in there. It never left. As that week built and we got closer to racing and I was really sort of feeling the pressure because everybody was talking about all them years ago when I won. I said to Alan, I'm quite nervous today. And he said, these people aren't necessarily giving all this attention for you to go up there and win by 11 seconds again. Then it's more like of a celebration, if you like, from the last time. So that maybe made it somewhat easier to register, if you like. The fans were amazing. The loudest reception at the finish line. So that was pretty surreal. The kids were swinging around with Gracie, dancing to Frozen and all of this. And I had to leave. I was like, I need to go. This is just too much. And I went back to the camper and yeah, it sort of hit home then. Quite hard. Doing my best. I guess that's all I can do. So this is where I guess I put a lot of pressure on myself and everything for that event. Can you imagine when, however many years ago it was, what, 16 years, I think? It was a totally different tears of joy, probably. Whereas that was, yeah, it sort of, I guess, all got on top of me a little bit. Looking back now, it was quite an emotional week. You know, it's like very nostalgic for me to go back there. What I did in Champery all those years ago, it makes me very proud to get the opportunity to do it again. It was brilliant. Yeah, it was just the most insane feeling ever doing another race run down there. It meant a lot to me. So yeah, pretty special. To go to the World Championship where everyone is kind of expecting him to have another big show and get those big balls out again. There was a lot of pressure on him. So it doesn't really surprise me that his best result so far in the season came after that. Once I get a hold of you, I swear to God. What, are you nervous? I'm practicing. You practice faster than anybody I've ever met. Yeah, it was a brilliant week. I really enjoy the track in Lenzerheide. I got my first World Cup win there. It's like a track that you could go and ride for fun with your friends. Getting into the final of Q1 was like massive weight off my shoulders. And always Lena, the junior on our team, and Gracie, they always go and do a track walk while we're doing Q2. So I got to do the Q2 track walk, which was pretty nice. The Q2 riders are going, and you know what they're going through. And you're like, oh, this feels so good not to be going through that right now. When you're in the final, it's almost like a weight off my shoulders at the moment because it's so competitive to get in. So then you just go hammer and tongs in the race run and that's it. Everywhere. He's almost being comms. Hey, birthday boy. Happy birthday. What's on here then? Well, Siri, even though it's not your birthday, what do you think we've got for you? Go and see then. Can you reach the pedals? It was my 120th World Cup. So the team got me a really cool helmet painted. Yeah, I enjoyed the whole week. Next up is the birthday boy, Danny Hart, 34 years young today. In the start line, you get in there and it's like, this is it. Let's have it. 120 UCI Downhill World Cups. And for all 120 of them, he's been one of the ones to watch. Danny Hart, crucially, is back inside the top 10 in a qualifying session. Yeah, he looked great on that one. And this is the track that he has won on before. So he'll be feeling some confidence and good vibes coming to this race. Where do you see this crowd? By the bridge jump. All the way to flat. What a moment for Danny last weekend in Champeray. Revisit one of the biggest moments of his career with his family there. Went high there coming into the steep section. We haven't seen anybody do that. And that's what Danny Hart does best. Comes up with imaginative lines, creative lines. Danny Hart, let's see what he does through the rocks. Good through there. That was great speed from Danny. That big Norco track in the ground. So, so well. Danny Hart. Let's get him through this next flip. 1.4. He's flying half a second. We thought it was looking faster from Hart. He's on a run here, Josh. There's 1.4 back. This is good for Danny. Danny Hart! And everybody, let's wish a big happy birthday to Danny Hart! Top Top Pro, great to see him getting that ride on Norco Race Division and turn it into top ten result. Danny! Thank you. Nice work. Wonderful work. Cheers. Thanks, Tom. Thanks for your help. You have fun riding. That's when the results come through, I guess. Yeah, so I'm coming into my second year of my contract with Norco. Team has partnered with Adidas, which is super cool. I've been with Adidas and 510 for my whole career, pretty much. For Adidas to be a title sponsor of our team is huge. I feel like Lionel Messi. Just a bit behind him on the bank account. It was from last season. As we spoke about earlier, 120 World Cups. Yeah, it's crazy. I don't think there's too many people on the scene now that have done more than that. That might be the most, to be fair. What do you love most about racing? You know, these questions like these quite, they're not deep, but like open answered sort of questions I really struggle with because I don't know anything else. Lutwil, it says there. Paul, Aaron Salt. Peter Maritzberg. Leogane. Port Lillian. When you put that good race run down and you know you couldn't have done any more. Yeah, that's a pretty unreal feeling. Yeah, this is my life really on a helmet, I guess. Every World Cup start. There is more to my life than just riding bikes now, but that's because of all of the riding bikes that I've done as it enables us to have the sort of life we do. Any last things you can think of just about racing or anything? No, I think we're good. Time for a cup of tea? Yeah, sure, yeah. Let's see what's happening in the mud house.