Holy Smokes - Lourdes DH Qualifying
Take me to church... that was one almighty day in the woods. There was no drama... just all-out war. For want of a more eloquent expression, the Lourdes downhill is absolutely balls-out and if there's one race you cannot miss tuning into this year, it would surely be this. The mad course brought out a French crowd unrivaled by most finals days and a seriously topsy-turvy top 20.
Loic Bruni stamped his seal of French authority on the hill but was hounded to within 1.8 seconds by Remi 'master of savage tracks' Thirion, in his biggest outing on the bike since Andorra 2013. Unbelievably Josh Bryceland smoked his way to within 1/10th of second behind for third, without seeming to break a sweat after his rehab, then came Neko Mulally before an astonishing effort from Dean Lucas for fifth. Fearon, Jones and Fairclough will be in the final 10 to make their final runs and a huge honorable mention goes out to French youngster, Rudy Cabirou for hitting 13th with plate 127! Let's not forget to spell out our credit to 1997 born Laurie Greenland, who would have just missed the elite podium, 4 seconds behind Bruni and ahead of the likes of Troy Brosnan and a mound of established pro bike legends. To top the day off we had Tracey Hannah burn the women's field by over 5 seconds and a collection monster spills, including significant dirt-naps for both elite world champions. Healing vibes go out to all those affected by the violence. Take a look at the madness below and see you for twice as much tomorrow...
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 Atherton team manager, Dan Brown, looking like he might fancy a lap at 7:48 this morning. Rather him than us... |
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| Dave Garland on a wheel building mission at the Giant pit. Guillaume Cauvin is on impressive form riding for his new team in French terrain. |
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| Brook Macdonald's speed machine, awaiting its master to go and blow up a mountainside. |
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| Long, early morning queues to get on the funicular. Carpenter focuses on the job ahead. |
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| The alpenglow of the Pyrenees greets you as you step off the uplift at the top of the track during the early morning hour of the first practice session. |
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| As the Funicular descends to pick up the next group of riders, Manon Carpenter gets practice started at a brisk and dark 8am as only the days first rays of light begin to shine of the village of Lourdes below. |
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| First runs into the crisp mountain air before the clouds rolled in. Luckily, it never rained today. |
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| Pom Pon picked up the pace in practice today and finished a very competitive 3rd in qualifiers - very much in reach of the win. Could we see a Commencal sweep on the men's and women's titles tomorrow? |
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| Manon Carpenter took a spill on her first run, and sat trackside for a few to shake it off. |
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| Casey Brown went down hard in her run and finished the day in the hospital. We did see her back at the pits in the evening with a clean bill of health, but as an unprotected rider, she will not be on the start list tomorrow. |
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| The new Shimano SPD shoe, modeled from afar by Rachel Atherton. |
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| Oscar Harnstrom... 'Huckstrom' as he's now known, makes a bottom-out test off the boulder drop. 10th at the first split he upped it to an incredible 6th, before a massive eject in the gully section lower down saw him break his arm. Out of surgery, he is now being looked after well by HS Racing teammate and night nurse, Lorenzo Suding. |
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| Alex Marin Trillo was in some fine form for the qualies flying into 3rd place in the juniors. |
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| Andrew Crimmins sporting the number 1 plate for the juniors would finish the day in 2nd spot, just a few seconds back. |
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| We said it yesterday and we're happy to repeat - this is Brendan with all the usual fun and games, plus new-found speed. Ninth in the quali; suspension testing with Neko in the off-season may have played its role... |
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| Lutz Weber riding a touch of motocross after the death chute section. |
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| Mike Jones seems to have been taking inspiration from a certain someone, absent from the race proceedings today.... 8th and only 4.9 back. |
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| Aaron Gwin has put meticulous effort into unlocking the secrets of this track from the start and is pulling original lines out of the bag at every turn. Today he was disqualified, tomorrow he might just win the thing. |
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| Portes du Soleil local, Tahnee Seagrave, loves the big stuff, making Lourdes her kind of place... coming in 6th, it's looking like she may have to scrap for the podium. |
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| Emmeline Ragot finding the smooth path through the upper rock gardens, later claiming 4th spot. |
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| The were more than a few lost chains on the floor today. That was the least of anyone's worries with the amount of carnage we saw on this ungodly hillside all afternoon. |
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| No riders were seriously harmed in the making of this photo... Getting worked is a pretty well-practiced pose on this unfriendly course. |
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| There are all kinds of animals in these woods. |
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| A stunning performance today for Devinci Global Racing's Dean Lucas, ramping his way to a jaw-dropping fifth place qualifier. Talk about a solid way to hold the fort in Stevie Smith's absence. Let's just hope the lack of mustache doesn't stop him doing it all again tomorrow... |
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| More than decent crowds for qualies. Race day attendance should be off the hook. |
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| New year, new team, new goals. Fourth in qualies for Neko Mulally. |
 | I have more for race day. I wasn't pushing too hard today. I just wanted to feel it out. - Neko Mullaly. |
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| Despite how he left off last season, Josh Bryceland has healed up and clearly has no fear. Josh finished third today. |
| I was going quick up top and got a little wobbly, and slowed it down a bit towards the end - Josh Bryceland. |
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| Father of the Rat! Ratty's dad is here in Lourdes to support Josh. He had this to say, "Josh's just real glad to be on his bike right now. He thought he may have had to sit out this first round, but he is getting back into it just fine. Taking it a little slow at first, getting a feel for it." |
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| George Brannigan 10, berm 0. George was twelfth in qualies today. He was held up by Nick Beer, who flatted. |
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| Bernard Kerr ripping though the loam in the dark forest. |
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| The new Nukeproof, sniped from a far-off, grassy knoll. |
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| Remi Thirion took second spot today. We are guessing he could have what it takes to make a repeat of Andorra and take a win here in Lourdes. |
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| French fans are, well, fanatical. The crowds during practice were insane, let alone during qualies. What tomorrow brings might be frightening. |
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| Laurie Greenland took qualies easily today. He has gas in the tank to spare, too. In pro men, he would have finished in twelfth. Clearly, Laurie is one to watch. |
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| George turned up the wick today; he may have shot through a berm, and his bike just may have collided with this young lady's face. She suffered a broken nose, but came by the pits to let George know she is ok and all is forgiven. |
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| Laurie Greeland, on his way to a first place qualifier. Trek World Racing's young gun has come out swinging this year. |
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| Brendan Fairclough qualified ninth. The "free racer" is clearly liking this track. |
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| Andrew Neethling is breathing down the necks of all the youngsters sitting in 10th, just a few seconds off the podium. |
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| Still only 22 years of age Troy Brosnan is older than all but one of the six riders seeded ahead of his in qualifying. Could this be the year that all the young guns show the veterans who's boss? |
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| At almost 8 seconds back from his former teammate and a 23rd in qualifying, Sam Blenkinsop has his work cut out if he wants to get on the podium tomorrow. |
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| Crashing is the new yoga here in Lourdes. |
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| Rachel Atherton was second today, down almost six seconds on Hannah. Rest assured, second won't be good enough for her tomorrow. |
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| Tracey Hannah threw down the gauntlet today. First in qualies for the women. |
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| Aaron Gwin has been pushing limits all weekend here with blazing speeds and creative lines, and to say he doesn't badly want the win is an understatement. After blowing out a few corners while carrying too much pace in practice in the morning, he took a tumble down the gnarliest section of track in his quali run as well. If he can control the speed he has on track we fully expect to see him at or near the top step on race day. |
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| This is not how Gee Atherton wanted to start his 2015 World Cup campaign. The dirt on the rainbow jersey tells the tale of Gee's day. |
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| After a top 10 in the timed training yesterday, everyone expected Loris Vergier to put down a solid result in qualifying, but a crash and mechanical left him unable to finish his run. |
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| Danny Hart flatted mid-track and ended up 43rd, but remains a big threat for tomorrow. |
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| Connor Fearon and his 650b Kona Operator were fully committed today, just 3 seconds off the top spot in qualifying. Could tomorrow be the first World Cup podium appearance for the young Australian? |
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| Loic Bruni proves he is the one to beat in the early season following up his recent Crankworx win with a first place qualifier here in Lourdes. |
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| Tracey Hannah has good reason to smile. She knows what she is capable of and has the confidence to back it up. |
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| Loic Bruni and his team manager, calm and collected back at the Lapierre pits. |
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| Gee's top split ended up fastest of the day. His crash near the bottom was quite a punisher, but he figured he'd be back on it fine tomorrow. |
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| Loic making lots of well-earned new friends at the Lapierre pits at the close of play. |
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| We know what the French fans came here to see, and after qualifying today they might just get their wish. |
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| So far, things look pretty shaken up. There are a bunch of up and comers hungry for that top step. If this is any indication of how the season is going to go, fasten your goddamned seat belt. |
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Level by ask F1 legend Michael Schumaker. That poor legend is now a vegetable from a crash where his hero and helmet and tree impacted. Cameras can certainly increase brain injuries severely!! Chest mounted however I can't see much elevated danger?
It's not the same point of view, but better than nothing. (sorry, I didn't read the UCI's statment about the camera, so I don't know what are the rules exactly.)
Also gutted for Steve smith this season, I imagine this much downtime will kill his career :/
Wow.... is this the most exciting world cup or what????
I can't imagine people race w/o insurance.
Protected riders are the top 20 riders in points standing (men anyway not sure how far down women's goes) are automatically qualified for the final.
Gee crashed and didn't finish his quail run, if he were not a top 20 protected rider he would not be racing tomorrow. Same with Gwin, DQ'd but he's protected rider.
Unprotected rider ? Could someone tell me what it means ?
Did she ride without the required protections ? insurance issue ?
Steve Smith will sit out the first round of the 2015 UCI World Cup. Due to an unrelated injury to his navicular bone in his foot Steve has been sidelined for recent weeks
Just start and stop etc. Fans and uci would be pissed i guess=rule change...but especially if I'm nursn an injury, maybe I'd save it fir race run..