Cycling: Leov sixth overall

Christchurch's Justin Leov has finished fourth in the latest round of the UCI mountainbike World Cup downhill in Slovenia.

This follows his solid fifth in the last round to elevate the Trek World Racing team rider to sixth overall on the World Cup standings.

Leov was happy with his efforts over the challenging and changing conditions at Maribor after torrential rain forced qualifying to be run on the morning of yesterday's race.

Fellow New Zealander Sam Blenkinsop (Wanganui) was 11th, to drop to eighth in the overall standings.

Leov produced a superb run to qualify second fastest but it was Frenchman Fabien Barel who set the standard with a three minutes 03.33 seconds run to make a return to the top of the podium after a long absence with injury.

Australian Sam Hill showed he is approaching top form for the upcoming world championships on his home turf with second place ahead of South Africa's Greg Minnaar, with Leov fourth in 3min 07.65sec, just behind three former world champions.

Other New Zealanders to finish were: Cameron Cole (Christchurch) 24th, Nathan Rankin (Levin) 29th, Aari Barrett (Havelock North) 40th and third junior, Matt Scoles (Alexandra) 49th and Kieran Bennett (Nelson) 77th.

The Maribor race signalled the end of the spring European portion of the World Cup.

Riders now have a four-week break before two rounds in Canada ahead of the World Championships in Canberra.

- NZPA