Finals Photo Epic: Mont-Sainte-Anne DH World Cup 2018
'All or nothing' is more of a World Champs vibe, but today had that same unmistakable flavour as riders took their shot for the top steps. The shadiest of starts in the worst of conditions at the outset somehow morphed into one of the most gripping finals all season - pun fully intended. Savage thunderstorms and axle-deep river rapids of the first day became a distant memory as bone-dry grass and granite, and the huge Québécois crowds turned the Velirium festival spirit up to eleven.
While the battle for dominance in the women's race appeared to be something of a two horse race in the ever-growing rivalry between Seagrave and Atherton, the men's was absolutely wide-open. Unusually tight qualifying times suggested it was all to play for after series leader Amaury Pierron took a massive crash as the last man on the hill during morning practice. Of the many great candidates for the win, it would be World Champion, Loic Bruni, charging to victory on a run so fast and precise, it was positively ninja-like. 'Checkers or wreckers' is Bruni's mantra, and today his stars finally realigned, narrowly shutting down Troy Brosnan's bid to get back on top, and Danny Hart's chance to take back 2016 glory.
Meanwhile in the junior races, Vali Höll put the best part of a minute into the competition to go six for six, while Thibaut Diprala once again claimed the top spot, with Kade Edwards and Henry Kerr in hot pursuit. Moving onto the final round in France, the elite men's series may now belong to Pierron, but there's plenty of pride at stake and overall podium spots to fill. The elite women's and junior men's winners are both TBC and we can hardly wait to reconvene across the pond in a fortnight. For now, it's 'au revoir, Québec', it's been a wild ride.
Vali Holl, dropping and rolling towards her biggest winning margin so far; 45 seconds.
A solid second place for US National Champ, Samantha Soriano.
Mazie Hayden rounded off the junior women podium in 3rd.
Holl continues her utter domination and is set for a perfect season heading to the final round in France in two weeks.
Vali Holl, Samantha Soriano, and Mazie Hayden close out the Junior Women.
Kade Edwards has missed the podium more often than he should have, but this time he nailed it and took 2nd by just 0.9 seconds.
Thibaut Daprela is starting to get into the swing of things in juniors, but Kade Edwards kept him honest.
Henry Kerr, smashing the rocks hard enough for third in the Juniors.
Thibault Daprela up top for Junior Men. Kade Edwards was close behind before Henry Kerr.
Commencal's Myriam Nicole and Thibaut Daprela get into their morning warm up.
Myriam Nicole's return to racing ended in a crash and a DNF. She's healthy, though, and can focus on taking a win at home next time out.
Another fresh face to the podium this year. Mariana Salazar has been knocking on the door for a while and things finally came together for her.
Salazar had the ride of her career to make the podium for the first time.
Tracey Hannah limbers up for a day on the hill.
Hannah ran into some mechanical troubles, but managed to pull off a third place.
Pumping down to the finish arch without a chain.
The carnage that explains the cavernous 15-second gap back to third place.
A return to the podium for Marine Cabirou which bodes well with the final round coming up at home in France in a few weeks.
Seagrave, the last woman down the mountain, went green at the first split, but couldn't keep pace with Atherton.
The physical beast took its toll on riders by the bottom. Tahnee Seagrave with her head in her hands, watching that overall slip a little farther into the distance.
Rachel Atherton rose to Seagrave's qualification challenge, storming to victory by a convincing, 5 seconds.
Atherton crushing it, back in domination mode, one step closer to taking the series.
Atherton, Seagrave, Hannah, Cabirou and Salazar on top of the box.
First-time champagne showers for Mariana Salazar.
The aftermath of Pierron's huge crash during the final run in training. Initially, it looked pretty severe and suddenly, the overall was blown open again.
It took Amaury five minutes to gather his thoughts again before rolling back to the pits.
Hard to believe Pierron was still able to come back with a vengeance this afternoon.
Bruni looked convincing from the get-go here in Quebec and deadly in morning practice.
Greg Minnaar was on course to re-acquaint himself with the top 10, but sadly hit the deck and will have to wait for La Bresse for his comeback.
Phil Atwill, stripping the rubber off his rim. Lucky for him, this was during practice.
Finn Iles was up by a sizeable margin until split 3 in his run. He made a costly mistake, but being nearly 2.4 seconds up shows what he's capable of.
Angel Suarez was another rider to achieve a personal best. After so much bad luck over the past seasons, he finally hit the top 10.
Gee Atherton is back and it's quite possible he plans to stick around for a while.
100 World Cups for this man and finally back in the top ten to boot. Congrats to Gee Atherton.
Charlie Harrison, fully pinned on the ride of his life for 7th place.
Harrison enjoying a fair spell in the hot seat ahead of Atherton and Suarez.
Mark Wallace always comes good with the style and you can count on a solid result. 13th for the 13 plate.
Sun's out, Buds out.
New British National Champ Matt Walker took the Union Jack sleeve to a 12th place finish in its first outing.
Jack Moir's come-back race went right to plan; climbing the splits all the way down to finish in 11th.
Hugo Frixtalon keeping it low for yet another strong finish. One to watch for the future.
Unfortunately for Laurie Greenland he would not start come finals. His ankle injury was just too much and he now slips down the ranks to 6th.
Brook MacDonald gutted to be rolling across the line with less PSI in his rear tire than he'd like after a 5th place qualie.
Dean Lucas, warp speed to the finish line for 10th. Who knows what great a season he would've had had he not gone down in Fort William?
Connor Fearon, buttering into the arena.
Plenty of reminders out here of the legend that was.
Luca Shaw at full tilt and keeping it upright, just missing out on the podium with 6th.
Shaw checks back for the time after a crash free run at last.
Amaury, resurrected just in time to take the overall on the season.
Vergier showing style is fast after all on a stunning run for 5th place, 3.4 seconds back.
Troy Brosnan, attacking across the grass and bedrock for his best result of the season.
Brosnan hucks big on the final double to score the podium he so narrowly missed here in 2017.
Keeping to himself before the flower ceremony, Troy Brosnan thought he had it in the bag after putting on a heater.
Bruni giving it the Blenkinsop treatment, full bore down to the line through the huge MSA crowds.
Loic Bruni on the last charge to the line.
Step 1. Cross the line to riotous noise.
Step 2. Check the time is good.
Step 3. Celebrate.
Super Bruni about to take off.
Despite missing out on the win, Danny Hart was happy with how he rode after beating his qualifying time.
Danny Hart seeing all reds after a rowdy run. The best he could manage was third.
Hart smoking into the finish area in front of the best MSA crowd in years.
3rd place number 2 for the 2018 season for Hart.
After a massive stack in the morning training session it was all the more impressive that Pierron was able to get on the podium and wrap the season a round early.
Finally, Malene Degn's turn to congratulate her World Champ.
Three Frenchmen, a Brit and an Aussie soaking up the podium spots here in Quebec.
Podium chugging has become customary.
King Pierron raised to the rafters, ruling the 2018 season.
No reward without consequence. A well-deserved prize for Commencal.
The North American stop to the circuit did not disappoint. France, here we come.
Author Info:
Must Read This Week
A good job for RC.
So I have a minimum wage high school kid put it together, that's supposed to be a benefit? I don't get it. It really seems like the "bike shops are charities" model - they don't add any value to the deal, but Trek throws them some money and you're supposed to feel better about it.
Is completely not about making a more informed choice. It creates an illusion that you make a better choice. The choice itself is more often than not, a rather irrational action. Hence you may as well go for the direct sales.
Awesome work Max cool you sold out 2 production runs.
Buy yourself a Bugatti.