What a race. While the weather threatened some chaos, it ultimately held off and racers didn't have to contend with changing conditions like they did in qualifying.
The steep, unforgiving track made for wide time margins, and line choice was absolutely everything.
In the junior men's, the number 1 plate Kye A'Hearn was missing after a crash in qualifying, and it was Butler 3rd, Kerr 2nd, and Thibault Daprela 1st. In the junior women's a familiar refrain: Valentina Höll took the win with a massive 17-second gap back to 2nd place Newkirk and 3rd place Johnset. Höll's time would have been good enough for 10th in elite.
In the elite women's race, Rachel Atherton put down a heater with 6 riders to go. Back from injury, taking risks, looking strong. With nearly 10 seconds of wiggle room, Rachel's time looked untouchable until Tahnee Seagrave, who held back for the first parts of the course, attacking through the last corner to take the win. Fastest qualifier Monika Hrastnik was the last woman down the hill, riding to an impressive 3rd place.
In the men's race, we've witnessed a true changing of the guard. Frenchman Thomas Estaque held the hot seat for quite a while, before Laurie Greenland stamped his run with a Sam Hill-esque foot out around that corner. Greenland would end his day in 2nd place. Danny Hart will be disappointed with 3rd, but on a podium of young guns it's good to see the man take his 20th world cup podium. Luca Shaw finally got to the bottom of a race run, perhaps being a bit conservative but still showing what he's capable and riding into 4th. But ultimately, the last man on the hill was the man of the moment, Amaury Pierron. A run full of different line choices and creative riding was rewarded and he took 1st place by over half a second.
We're still buzzing, Andorra next weekend is going to be insane.
Red Bull TV broadcast.
UCI results & live timing.
Final Results:Elite Men
1st. PIERRON Amaury 3:36.788
2nd. GREENLAND Laurie 3:37.312 (+0.524)
3rd. HART Danny 3:37.448 (+0.660)
4th. SHAW Luca 3:39.036 (+2.248 )
5th. ESTAQUE Thomas 3:39.254 (+2.466)
Elite Women
1st. SEAGRAVE Tahnee 4:26.424
2nd. ATHERTON Rachel 4:26.547 (+0.123)
3rd. HRASTNIK Monika 4:28.029 (+1.605)
4th. HANNAH Tracey 4:29.718 (+3.294)
5th. WIDMANN Veronika 4:35.824 (+9.400)
Junior Men
1st. DAPRELA Thibaut 3:53.411
2nd. KERR Henry 3:54.546 +1.135
3rd. BUTLER Patrick 3:56.790 +3.379
4th. EDWARDS Kade 3:57.816 +4.405
5th. LEHMANN Hannes 3:59.006
Junior Women
1st. HOLL Valentina 4:43.057
2nd. NEWKIRK Anna 5:00.413 +17.356
3rd. JOHNSET Mille 5:00.673 +17.616
4th. ZIBASA Paula 5:03.574 +20.517
5th. SORIANO Samantha 5:05.744 +22.687
Live Updates:4:49am PST - Adam Brayton takes the hot seat from Faustin Figaret with a 3:43.199!
4:50am PST - Charlie Hatton with a mega slam!
4:58am PST - Neko Mullaly with a strong run into 2nd place, just losing time at the end. Fairclough on track now.
5:05am PST - Baptiste Pierron starts a little slow but smashes every split after the first. 3:43.196 and into the hot seat.
5:11am PST - Switching over to the Red Bull broadcast now as the top men get ready, with Phil Atwill slotting into 3rd.
5:19am PST - Sounds like Aaron may try to race on his injured thumb. Clouds looking ominous, hoping things stay dry!
5:22am PST - Foot out around that final corner! Benoit Coulanges attacking the course moves into the lead.
5:26am PST - And just like that! Reece Wilson takes the lead, then Thomas Estaque takes it from him. Times are heating up.
5:34am PST - Finn Iles looking composed the whole way down slots into 3rd, maybe an error off camera.
5:36am PST - Gwin on track!
5:39am PST - Gwin off the pace, nursing an injured thumb. What an absolute warrior. Getting some points but 9+ seconds back.
5:43am PST - The chainsaws are out in force today, and thankfully the weather looks like it's going to hold for now.
5:51am PST - Mark Wallace goes across 2nd, 1.5 seconds back. A problem up top cost him, making up a lot of time throughout the rest of the track.
5:55am PST - Troy Brosnan getting bounced around by this rough course. Goes across 5th. Playing it safe for the overall?
6:01am PST - So many Commencals. I'm claiming it's all due to the
Resurgence of High Pivot Suspension article.
6:03am PST - Brook on track, but about 2 seconds off the pace. Good ride, possibly into the top 10.
6:05am PST - Sam Blenkinsop wearing gloves is just wrong. 5+ back.
6:15am PST - BRUNI GOES DOWN! He was up, sending gaps left and right... That run looked destined for greatness, until it wasn't.
6:21am PST - Laurie Greenland is on fire! Oh god he goes sideways on Sam Hill's corner! Greenland takes the hot seat by 1.9. Enough?
6:22am PST - Big slide out crash in the first few corners for Loris Vergier. Back 11 seconds by split 1, but rides aggressive the rest of the track. Good to see.
6:27am PST - Luca Shaw riding conservatively, maybe gun-shy after two rounds with massive speeds and massive mistakes. Pulls back time towards the bottom to go just 1.7 back into 2nd!
6:31am PST - Danny Hart attacking hard. Can he pull back .2?
6:32am PST - No! He goes 2nd, 0.1 back.
6:35am PST - PIERRON TAKES IT! What a come from behind run! Different lines all over the place to take the win by half a second.
Don't forget that Minnaar has also gone to some extreme measures to race through injury when it had a chance to pay off.
My dream would be for him to tie the GOAT, then have them battle it out for eternity.
@PHeller:
yeah!
There's a start list and live timing on here:
www.uci.ch/mountain-bike/ucievents/2018-mountain-bike-uci-mountain-bike-world-cup/162153118/widgets/live-timing-results-185534
But the real news here is a dude got 12th in the woman's race!
IOC & UCI need to sort their shit out & not let a transgender person compete just because they've meet the "acceptable" level of hormones for their chosen gender.
There's so much more to it than that!
The push to be "inclusive" is over riding basic science.
I feel sorry for all the other elite woman who have busted their arses & worked hard for results, only to have them hijacked by someone who has rode MTB as a male for 90% of their life
interactives.stuff.co.nz/2018/03/a-level-playing-field
www.google.co.nz/search?q=kate+weatherly&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en-nz&client=safari
I thought I might have a chance but I get f all from the girls with Nicole out.