Over the Rainbow: Val Di Sole DH World Champs FINALS 2016
Checkers or wreckers; it’s the essence of World Champs in a nutshell. Always has been, always will. The one-hit-wonder format to finish the season is the jewel in the crown every time, but what a ferocious battle this was. For some it was more of a massacre, an orgy of red flags and explosive crashes, on a parched and blown-out course that already had a history of violence. Many of the riders were in agreement; it was the toughest of all time. And, with the likes of Greg Minnaar almost completely gassed and literally red-eyed and white-knuckled just to hang on through the final turns, it was now time to go big or go home.
Rachel Atherton stole the show, just one more time in the women's to put the cherry on an immaculate 2016, taking her fourth gold medal back to the Welsh mountains she calls home. Canadian junior prodigy, Finn Iles, stepped up after his brutal crash just two days prior to take the stripes by almost four seconds alongside Italy’s own great female hope of the future, Alessia Missiaggia.
Then, after five long years, Danny Hart reclaimed the coveted jersey and swapped out the furry dice for another gold medal to hang from the rear-view mirror in his motorhome. If Hart’s rainbow run had failed then fellow GB team-mate Laurie Greenland would have been right there with his wild ride to do the unthinkable and claim gold in junior and elite on consecutive years… Instead, 19 year-old Greenland took silver, just ahead of veteran racer, Florent Payet, and the three Mondraker bike riders celebrated their new hardware together as Aaron Gwin’s assault on the top step, in the only race he’s never won, went up in flames. What an absolute barn-burner... 2016 World Champs; out.
Sometimes it hurts...
Swiss junior, Eva Battolla, bites the dust, but somehow rides away unscathed.
Another day of sun, dust and a good deal of destruction here in Val di Sole.
:: JUNIORS' FINALS ::
Number 6 FTW... Young Italian, Alessia Missiaggia, raced to victory in the junior women this afternoon.
Melanie Chappaz of France was over 2 seconds up and set for gold until disaster struck in the final chute...
Sometimes it hurts more when you come to cross the line.
1999 born, Flora Lesoin, on her bronze medal run for team France.
Junior Samantha Kingshill raced her first international and world-class event this weekend and heads back to the USA with a silver medal.
The future stars of women's racing; Missiaggia, Kingshill and Lesoin.
4th for American, Nikolas Nestoroff today who finishes his first year as a junior with much to look forward to in 2017.
Gaetan Vige had a rough go of it in practice and never did find his true groove in finals.
He ends his junior career with a bronze medal and we look forward to what he can do in 2017 when he joins the elite ranks.
Magnus Manson looked pinned all week, with a freakish ability to maintain textbook shape through all the savage sections where most were getting bucked. Still no one would have guessed he was on for such a massive result this afternoon... A silver medal performance for Manson to make a Canadian one-two.
Finn Iles may have been roughed up by that crash on the first day of practice, but he sure as hell didn't show it on his race run.
The moment the clock ticked past Finn's time and he became the Junior Word Champion.
Two Canadians and a Frenchman. Iles, Manson, and Vige post race.
Two of these guys will make the jump to elites next year while the guy in the middle still has one more to go. Who will be the next to challenge Finn in 2017?
:: WOMEN'S FINAL ::
Marine Cabirou rails out of the first turn in the early morning light. She would go on to take 4th in the women's race to cap off a solid first season in elites.
Tahnee Seagrave has had a rough second half of the season, today she took fifth place. Time to rest up and regroup for next season.
Tracey Hannah would take bronze today, but was disappointed to go almost 9 seconds slower than she did in yesterday's timed runs. A time that would have put her toe to toe with Rachel for the title.
Hannah looked like she had all the makings for a winning World Champs run this week, unfortunately a couple of mistakes would cost her.
Veronika Widmann on a tear for team Italy. She and Alia Marcellini would finish strong together, just a second apart in 6th and 7th.
Healing vibes for Manon Carpenter as well as a plethora of other riders who went down hard today.
Myriam Nicole has won here before and would come oh-so-close to ending Rachel's winning streak today.
After missing the beginning of the season with a broken collarbone and missing the latter half with more injuries, it was fantastic for Pompon to end things with a silver medal.
Rachel Atherton had her eyes on the prize today and brings home home her 15th consecutive win.
Atherton wraps up a perfect season with a perfect World Champs run.
Rachel drops into the finish arena, up at the splits and just meters from another world title.
Winning doesn't get any less fun and Atherton's long list of accomplishments grows by one more.
Rachel was exhausted at the finish and said this was one of the hardest runs she has ever done. It almost came undone on more than a few occasions today.
Fierce competitors on track, but always friends after the finish arch.
Champagne for the champs. What a way to wrap up an exciting season.
Pompon, Rachel, and Tracey show off their hardware.
:: MEN'S FINAL ::
A race like no other - World Champs.
A flat for the Loic Bruni put him out of the running, but we can't wait to see him back to his winning ways next season.
Not at all the way the defending World Champ was looking to end his season. He'll be back.
Clouds would build all day but luckily no rain would dampen the vibe in Val di Sole.
The World Champs curse continues to haunt Aaron Gwin, and he ends another year as World Cup Champion, but with no medal from World Champs once again.
Loris showed flashes of brilliance this season, but his hopes to end 2016 with a World Championship medal went down in a blaze of glory today.
We will be finding dirt in our gear, underwear and lungs for weeks.
Jack Moir scored his equal best World Champs performance for team Aus - 10th just like Hafjell 2014. A lot of water has passed under the bridge since then with Jack struggling with complications to a collarbone break so it is great to see the Aussie lad back on the up.
8th place for flying Scotsman, Greg Williamson, after having the season of his life.
Who else but Sik Mik? We count three suicide no-handers on finals runs this season.
Greg Minnaar is a World Champs specialist, but has never taken a VDS win, finishing 7th and off the podium today.
Disappointment for Remi Thirion sending it into the finish arena on his way to sixth place after a mechanical may have affected his time.
Bernard Kerr may have shown up late to the party, but he brought the goods big time come race day finishing number 3 Brit in fifth place.
Troy was riding so aggressively in training and you could tell he wanted this one really, really badly. In the end he would come 4th just 0.80 out of the medals.
Always close to the top times, but never on the podium, Florent Payet finally delivered when it counted.
The tall Frenchman throws a little style coming into the finish arena and leaves Val di Sole with a bronze medal.
Payet kisses his wife and child after the finish of an amazing day.
Laurie Greenland gets in the zone before go time at the MS pit. We're keen to know what kind of sounds might inspired him to that run and the silver medal...
This was the moment that Laurie Greenland nearly threw it all away... How he held this one up on the steepest section of track is incredible.
Greenland came down like the blazes and put 8.5 seconds into the field.
Laurie Greenland can be proud of the day he just had; second place in his first season as an elite.
Danny Hart ending the final training session down in the dirt, but having no such issues later on...
Hart was pushing hard even by his own standards, but still managed to race like he was on rails once again.
What else is there to say about Danny Hart right now? He is truly in a league of his own at the moment.
Danny Hart. Foot out, flat out and puts 2.5 seconds into new-gen teammate Greenland.
What a finale to an insane season, eventually managing to double Gwin's victory count for 2016.
The fastest men in Val di Sole; Hart, Greenland and Payet.
Cometh the hour...
It begins to set in for Danny - World Champion once again.
Florent Payet and Laurie Greenland celebrate after an incredible day of racing in the dust.
Security did such a good job keeping the masses out of the finish area they even kept the press out.
Time to crown the kings of MTB for 2016...
3 Brits, an Aussie and Frenchman made up the top 5.
The lads enjoy the bubbly.
Your 2016 hardware recipients.
This one hurt... After last year's Worlds disaster, Aaron Gwin was pretty upbeat and seemed to shake it off easily, this time, it stung a fair bit more. On the track he roared to victory on last season, Gwin goes home empty handed without even making it across the line.
Nothing a high-quality, Italian, mozzarella pizza can't fix of course. Aaron talks about his day of bad luck on the hill with Rob Parkin for Red Bull TV.
Five years later, Danny 'the Redcar Rocket' Hart reclaims the stripes and claims gold here in the Italian dust. The second time is even sweeter, he assures us. Congrats Mr Hart!
Winner, winner... Danny Hart's Mondraker Summum Carbon Pro and the first bike to ever sweep gold, silver and bronze medals at World Champs in downhill MTB History. Any bike manufacturer's dream come true, and then some.
Tip of the hat to 4 gold medals and the perfect season. Congratulations to the absolutely unsurpassable Rachel Atherton from all at Pinkbike!
Yep, that's downhill racing on the world stage wrapped for another year. Needless to say, it's been emotional. Until next time.
MENTIONS: @davetrump / @natedh9 / @mdelorme
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Must Read This Week
- You have to really love riding as we have no hills
- It's ALWAYS raining, so we ride on super wet terrain
- Jump trails don't exist as much, s'all about tech
- We don't get snow on the hills we do have, so can ride easily all year round
Any other suggestions?!
* This is one of the few times I'm actually stoked to be British, as a Brit living in Whis for the summer - I just claimed to be from New Zealand during the Brexit vote.
Yes I know "derr you don't pay for it, derr you provide the coverage then"
Thanks.
Enjoy
"We can always do better"
Probably needs changing
For the best I reckon
Awesome Bernard tho......
Part of me thinks he's "taking the piss" with a reason like that.
If anything, it looked like his heart just wasn't in it this past season, and needed an official reason maybe? The melting of polar bear habitats required to get him to each venue had already occurred, which shoulda been even more incentive to drop the hammer down and take home some wins.
But whatever, to each his own I suppose.
another amazing thing I learned from Warner this weekend, haha.
He was well down at the first split anyway, even if he hadn't had shredded his rim I doubt very much he would have hot near to Danny or Laurie
I give you the last 3 rounds of the world cup
I think she'd have more motivation, train and ride harder... IMO, she knows she's got the ladies beat, she tries hard, but I think she could ride faster...
The king is dead. Long live the king!
Sh!t. Already can't wait for next year.
Pun?
I think a track this gnarly would be better left for the World Cup series as opposed to the world championships, where less experienced racers are throwing themselves down the mountain for glory without the experience of those who tour the series.
Also, the battle between Myriam Nicole and Rachel Atherton this weekend was absolutely fantastic to watch.
Myriam's run was so aggressive, I thought she had the win. Rachel proved that she can perform at her best under immense pressure.
Sometimes she looks smoking. Sometimes just all chin like Jimmy Hill.