VALPARAISO (Reuters) - Slovakian Filip Polc raced to his third win at the Red Bull Valparaiso Cerro Abajo downhill mountain bike race on Sunday afternoon in front of thousands of cheering fans lining the city streets.

Polc navigated the tricky 1.7 kilometre (1.05 mile) urban course in central Chile that winds down ramps, stairs, streets, and man-made obstacles in 2 minutes 28.06 seconds.

In speaking after his victory, Polc acknowledged the treacherous trail to victory.

"The course is crazy, you know. The first corner was so crowded since the practice. So that made the atmosphere, after that, doing the jumps for the people, and you see the feedback, they just cheer for you, it makes you go faster. Towards the finish, it was still better and better, it probably made me sprint a little faster," he said.

Colombian Marcelo Gutierrez placed second with a time of 2:29.48 and Tomas Slavik from the Czech Republic took third in 2:31.44.

The race is part of the new mountain bike City Downhill World Tour.