8 Things We Learned at the La Bresse World Cup

1. Martin Maes is an absolute beast.

This is the first time anyone has won an EWS & DH World Cup back-to-back. Fresh off his win in Whistler, and onto the new GT Fury, Maes showed us he's a massive force to be reckoned with. Say what you want about weather/course conditions, this was an epic win for a man who no doubt will be giving the top riders a run for their money in the next few years, as he's said he's planning on doing more downhill races in the future.

2. Rachel Atherton remains the fastest woman in the world, but Tahnee is hot on her tail.

Rachel only needed a top four performance to secure her 6th overall World Cup title but took the top spot in rough conditions, showing how much of a legend she really is. But, let's not forget Tahnee, who only missed the top spot in La Bresse by 0.638, and took 2nd in the overall standings despite a disqualification back in Leogang. Rachel and Tahnee each won three races this season. The battle between these two next season is sure to be monumental.

3. Commencal's Supreme DH took 28% of the wins this year.

With the World Cup season coming to a close there will be plenty of geeky stats to come, but a stand out one for us is that 28% of World Cup top spots were taken by the new bike under Amaury Pierron and team. And that was with Myriam Nicole missing out on quite a few rounds... Thibaut Daprela was a stand out this season taking nearly every Junior win whilst fighting off the likes of Kade Edwards and Henry Kerr. Commencal definitely seem to have nailed the 29er bike and were one of the first to adopt the new trend of high pivot idler pully designs.

4. The Juniors are coming.

The coming years will see a handful of Juniors joining the Elite ranks, but don't let their age fool you, they're here to make their mark. The phenomenon, Valentina Holl, swept the 2018 World Cup Season in style. She regularly put 30 seconds over the 2nd place time in the Junior Women's category, with times that would often have earned her a podium spot in Elite. Thibaut Daprela earned the series overall win on the Junior Men's side. He would have swept the season as well if it hadn't been for two second places to Kye A'Hern.

5. New tracks are a good thing.

La Bresse was one of two brand new World Cup tracks on the UCI circuit this year, and both have seemed to be rider favourites. Should we see more new venues/tracks? World Champs will be in Mont Saint Anne for 2019, so that leaves an opportunity for more new venues. Could we see more rounds in the USA or the Southern hemisphere?

6. 2018 was the season of Amaury Pierron.

Despite a crash to end his final series race run, Amaury had the overall locked up after MSA. For the man who was on the podium for five of seven World Cups, three of which he won, to celebrate such an amazing season with the grand finale in France sounds almost too good to be true. Can Amaury's fairytale season continue into World Champs next weekend? Guess we'll have to wait and find out.

7. The wheel size war never changes.

In this round we saw 60% of the men's podium on 27.5 and 100% of the women's podium on 27.5. With more companies having viable options for their riders to choose from, we will likely see more wagon wheels on the World Cup DH circuit next year, but we will have to wait and see if they start occupying the podium on a regular basis.

8. Gee Atherton proved himself (yet again).

Gee Atherton taking 2nd place is his first podium since 2014. He also took 9th in the overall whilst racing most of the season with a broken wrist. However, he didn't make the cut for the GBR worlds team. This is the first time he's missed a worlds, prompting the hashtag #gee4worlds.