Rob Warner (born 16 November 1970) is a retired professional downhill mountain biker born in

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of letters, symbols, etc., especially by sight or touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process involving such areas as word recognition, orthography (spelling ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. Before turning professional in 1993 Warner worked for 6 months at the

Rover Rover may refer to: People * Constance Rover (1910–2005), English historian * Jolanda de Rover (born 1963), Dutch swimmer * Rover Thomas (c. 1920–1998), Indigenous Australian artist Places * Rover, Arkansas, US * Rover, Missouri, US ...

plant in Oxford on a production line building the

Rover 800 series The Rover 800 series is an executive car ( E-segment in Europe) range manufactured by the Austin Rover Group subsidiary of British Leyland, and its successor the Rover Group from 1986 to 1999. It was also marketed as the Sterling in the United S ...

car. After riding for

Saracen upright 1.5, Late 15th-century German woodcut depicting Saracens Saracen ( ) was a term used in the early centuries, both in Greek and Latin writings, to refer to the people who lived in and near what was designated by the Romans as Arabia Pe ...

with teammate

Steve Peat Steve Peat (born 17 June 1974 in Chapeltown, South Yorkshire), nicknamed "Sheffield Steel" or more commonly just "Peaty", is a professional downhill mountain biker who was born and lives in Chapeltown, Sheffield, England. Prior to his career a ...

and then MBUK, he signed for the

Giant Bicycles Giant Manufacturing Co. Ltd. (commonly known as Giant) is a Taiwanese bicycle manufacturer, recognized as the world's largest bicycle designer and manufacturer. Giant has manufacturing facilities in Taiwan, the Netherlands, China, and Hungary. H ...

Downhill Team, and remained with them until the end of 2016. He then went on to join Commencal Bikes in 2017 in the role of brand ambassador. In 1996 he became the first ever British rider to win a round of the

UCI Mountain Bike World Cup The UCI Mountain Bike World Cup is a multi-round mountain bike racing series that is sanctioned by the Union Cycliste Internationale. The first World Cup series – which was composed of cross-country events – was held in 1989. The Downhill W ...

taking a historic win at

Kaprun Kaprun () is a municipality in the Zell am See District in the state of Salzburg, Austria. The town is a tourist destination known as "Zell am See-Kaprun" with the neighbouring Zell am See and known for the glacier Kitzsteinhorn. Geography It is ...

in Austria. According to Warner, in a video streamed to Pinkbike on 2 June 2014 title
The Lost Rob Warner Story
he actually won the Kaprun World Cup with an STI he picked up in Les Gets a week before. He became the UK National Champion in 1997, 1998 and finally in 2001. Rob Warner also appeared on a 1996 episode of

You Bet! ''You Bet!'' is a British game show that aired on ITV between 20 February 1988 and 12 April 1997, initially hosted by Bruce Forsyth from 1988 to 1990, then by Matthew Kelly from 1991 to 1995 and finally by Darren Day from 1996 to 1997. Forma ...

where he raced a rally car. Despite failing to beat the car, he did get to meet and secure a small kiss from Jet from

Gladiators A gladiator ( la, gladiator, "swordsman", from , "sword") was an armed combatant who entertained audiences in the Roman Republic and Roman Empire in violent confrontations with other gladiators, wild animals, and condemned criminals. Some gla ...

who was co-hosting the show. Aside from competition, Warner has turned his hand to television, presenting the Red Bull 2007 X Fighters Freestyle Motocross events with

Ed Leigh Ed Leigh (born 15 July 1975) is a British sports presenter and commentator. Broadcasting career Ed Leigh is part of the presenting team for the BBC2 show ''Ski Sunday'' and regularly works for Red Bull TV on a host of live events from skateboardin ...

. For the last two seasons he has also presented commentary on World Cup and World Championship downhill rounds with Claudio Caluori and the World Cup Cross Country (XCC & XCO) with Dutch 1996 Olympic Champion, Bart Brentjens. In 2019, Rob released a series of videos on

Red Bull TV Red Bull TV is a global multi-platform channel owned by Red Bull GmbH, distributed digitally on connected TVs, smartphones, tablets, and on its website. The channel is available globally. Programming is in English (with optional subtitles and clos ...

following his journey through several riding destinations, joined by other Mountain Biking celebrities such as Matt Jones, Olly Wilkins, and

Finn Iles Finn Iles (born 15 August 1999) is a Canadian Mountain bike racer competing in Downhill cycling. He currently competes in the Mountain Bike World Cup The UCI Mountain Bike World Cup is a multi-round mountain bike racing series that is sancti ...

. The countries visited include

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

Kenya ) , national_anthem = " Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi ...

, Lesotho,

Ecuador Ecuador ( ; ; Quechua: ''Ikwayur''; Shuar: ''Ecuador'' or ''Ekuatur''), officially the Republic of Ecuador ( es, República del Ecuador, which literally translates as "Republic of the Equator"; Quechua: ''Ikwadur Ripuwlika''; Shuar: ' ...

Nepal Nepal (; ne, :ne:नेपाल, नेपाल ), formerly the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal ( ne, सङ्घीय लोकतान्त्रिक गणतन्त्र नेपाल ), is a landlocked country in S ...

and Colombia.

References

External links

* 1970 births English male cyclists Downhill mountain bikers Living people Sportspeople from Reading, Berkshire English mountain bikers {{England-cycling-bio-stub