Racing
Luke Wayman Breaks into the Top Ten on his A.200.G
4 June 2025
Fresh out of the Junior category and onto the Continental Atherton team, Luke Wayman shows he’s at home with the new bike, new team and new category.
Words Richard Cunynghame
We catch up with Luke Wayman on the team bus as it passes Sanremo. Travelling North East to Austria, through France and Italy from Loudenvielle, near France’s border with Spain. The location of the second round of the World Cup series where Luke just claimed the best result of his life. A 10th place in only his second World Cup in the Elite category.
Finishing on the Junior podium there last year, it’s clear the experience has set him up well. “I did both years racing junior there. First one, finals got cancelled and then last year it was pretty wet until finals, which was drier. So I never had it super dry there until this year, but yeah, a bit different but cool.”
“You don't have to worry about all the lines because most tapings are similar, so you can kind of go off what you did last year and just fine-tune the small things. From the very start of the week I was pretty comfortable on the track. I had Riley, the Line Spotter, up there, and he was sending me videos. The track was a lot like my home track, in Christchurch, New Zealand. It's pretty blown out, pretty rough, dusty, slippery surface. A good track for me.”
If the pace of the top category isn’t daunting enough, lining up next to legends of the sport can be, a point not lost on the 18 year-old, “When I was at the top of my run, my mechanic Johan took a photo and I had Danny Hart on my left and Troy Brosnan on my right. I was ready to drop-in which was pretty mad. A year ago, I wouldn't have thought that would happen."
Although this didn’t phase his finals run, “At first I thought it was pretty similar to my Q2 run because the top section felt the same, but I had a little bit of headwind, so I thought I'd be a bit behind. And then going into the lowest section was pretty mint. I got a good woods section apart from one corner after the big bridge. Almost lost that. It was a scary moment. Almost lost the front. From there, I'm just like, ‘alright, you've got to dog it now’ so I let it rip at the bottom and I think I had a pretty good last split."
Luke crossed the line to take the hot seat and when the dust had settled and results had been rendered, 10th place was his, only 5.31 seconds back from the winner. “I didn't expect a top 10 result at all. I was thinking maybe anything under 25th I'd be happy with. And that's probably just putting a run down in finals. If you're making finals, you're already top 30. Then people are going to crash and have mechanicals, so putting a time down would be around there. So, really really stoked to actually get top 10.”
A.200.G
It’s great to welcome another rider into the top ten as part of the Atherton lineage, a place well occupied by the bikes and team. A point not lost on it’s newest Elite rider, “Having Charlie Hatton there is really helpful, he knows what he wants. I think he's come out of his shell a lot with the development of the bike. He knows what he wants from that bike. Having him kind of as a teacher is really helpful. I’d been in Wales for three or four weeks before the World Cups. When we're at Dyfi Bike Park, we ride together. As soon as I jumped over there and got riding the A.200.G with Charlie and George and had Ben and Johan looking after me on the tools, it was easy to get comfortable on it. The main difference is the shifting and where the weight is. It does feel different but it's pretty quick to get used to that. Now I'm comfortable on it, I think it's a lot nicer to ride.”
With Leogang set to be a wet race, the whole team is looking forward to making the most of what will likely be unpredictable conditions. Last year, Charlie was quick in the lower steep sections with top ten splits but unfortunately a crash in qualifying hampered his weekend. Junior rider George Madley didn’t make the finals last year but after showing his wet-riding prowess at the opening round in Poland this year, he will be hoping to display that same form in the Austrian Alps.