Blog
What it takes to be king of the snake
19 June 2025
Val di Sole Incoming....
Words: Richard Cunynghame
Infamous for its wicked bite when riders get it wrong, Val di Sole’s Black Snake track is rearing its head again this weekend for the fourth round of the World Cup series.
After crashes at the first two rounds of the World Cup series this year, Charlie Hatton pulled it together last time out, with a far more fitting 12th in Austria and he’s looking forward to Italy, “I think it's a proper downhill, really rough, really gnarly, long. You can't just take your brain out and fly down the hill, there's a lot of things you've got to think about.
“It’s aggressive! The dirt doesn't stay above the roots. It goes below so you're almost riding on a bed of roots in the end and they're just massive. I guess that’s why it’s called the black snake. There's a particular section where it's all exposed roots, your wheels going in and out of them so it's almost like a whoop section but over roots.”
Gee on Racing at Val Di Sole
Gee Atherton has raced here nine times and his memories are clear, “One of my favourites, for sure. It was always a track that, you know, as the race was coming up in the season, you were aware that Val di Sole was on the horizon. It was daunting yet exciting in equal measures.” Having finished in the top three on five of those occasions, Gee knows how challenging it is, “I'd say it's the most challenging track. It just ticks all of the boxes.
It's one of the most physical, one of the most technical, the weather can change there in a heartbeat. Every year there's a new feature on it that's challenging in itself, let alone when you put it amongst the chaos of the rest of the track. It's just difficult in every aspect.” “It's got that technical difficulty that other tracks have in sections, but it's got it in such a vast quantity. You drop in and you're just getting absolutely pummelled from start to finish.
Also the amount it changes, you do track walk and you think you've picked a few lines and then, mid-practice, those lines have all gone and you've got to find new lines. You'll be halfway through a late practice run and holes are coming through that you've never seen before. It's almost like the goalposts are moving each time. It's just changing and getting harder and and you're really having to pay attention to what it's doing and predict what it's going to do. You have to look ahead rather than just ride from the memory of the previous run.”
Developing Atherton Bikes
In developing their own bike, the Atherton’s have synthesised a depth of knowledge gained from tracks like Val di Sole that not many others are able to, as Gee explains, “We've raced on tracks like this for years and you learn how important it is for the bike to be capable in some of those extremes.
A bike has to work well in that 80 percent range that it's often in but it also has to be capable when you're in a race run and you're pushing it to those very far limits. That's hard to find in testing and in those situations a lot of bikes don't work but I feel like ours is good in those extremes even if it's only once or twice you need it. If that's your World Cup final race run then it has to has to perform well there.”
“In Val di Sole you need a bike that can walk the line between being able to track all the difficult loose dusty small bumps with the roots and rocks but still take those huge hits. There's loads of big square compressions that just slam the bike. The bike has to hold you up through them so you're really asking quite a lot. It has to do two different things, with almost two different setups which is difficult.
A.200.G Belt Drive Bike vs. Val Di Sole's 'Black Snake'
“The belt drive bike will suit the track very well. That low down weight is going to be a real advantage. There’s a lot less unsprung weight on the rear end so the suspension is going to be a lot more reactive and I think that the DW6 platform is very good at being sensitive on the small bumps, like I was saying but also still very capable in those big hits. That's one of the bikes fortes and with the right setup that bike’s fairly unstoppable.”
Charlie will be acquainting the A.200.G with the Black Snake this weekend and he sounds confident that this rowdy first date will go well, “I think this bike’s biggest advantage is being so settled. Obviously when it's super rough, last thing you want is your bike kicking you everywhere. To have the bike settled over those horrendous roots and rocks is going to be really good. “To describe the the belt drive bike, I always say it's like riding a trail bike, then you jump on a downhill bike and it's much more stable. Going from a downhill bike to a gearbox bike is again like that next level of glued to the floor.”
Atherton Racing's History...
Atherton Racing have a great history with this Italian mountain.
In 2008 Gee & Rachel both won their first World Championship titles there. Gee recalls the day, “Mind-blowing! I remember coming down and it almost didn't seem real because it was so good. You know, it's not like I just managed to win a World Cup. It was bigger than that because it was World Champs. And then it was bigger than that again because Rach had just done it. And then it was bigger than that again because it was on Val di Sole, probably one of the hardest tracks in the world. So there were all these elements to it that elevated it even more in my mind. When you win a World Cup, it's a surreal feeling. In the moment, you're just kind of floating, let alone when it's World Champs and your sister's done it and it's Val di Sole. It just felt like I was in some kind of, you know, fake world.”
Charlie was 10 years old on that day (sorry for making everyone feel old) and this weekend he heads there to fly the Atherton flag and the challenge is very real. He too has shown he has what it takes to charm this track, placing 14th last year and previously a 7th and two 11th place finishes, “If you know you've done well here in the past, it’s a good feeling. It's one of my favourite tracks for sure. So yeah, really looking forward to it.”
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