The first World Cup of 2019 is finally here. It has been a long time since Loic Bruni and Rachel Atherton took the rainbow jerseys in Lenzerheide last September. There have been plenty of team changes and some exciting announcements during the off-season like Gwin moving to Intense, the Athertons starting their own bike brand and Cannondale returning to downhill the racing so we're looking forward to seeing how it all plays out. For the opening round of the 2019 season, the World Cup will be returning to rider-favourite Maribor. After a nine-year break, it is great to be back at this classic venue. Let's get you primed and ready for the weekend.
The track
We expect the 2.6k long track will stay pretty similar to last weekend's iXS European DH Cup, which saw riders tackle a loose and rooty course with plenty of deep compressions, sniper roots and a tricky rock garden. The uncertain weather forecast could shake things up and remove any advantage the riders that trekked over to Maribor a week early had.
iXS Results
The iXS race last weekend was a World Cup in all but name. Apart from a handful of big-names sitting the event out, a large portion of the elite field was in attendance, getting some extra time on track. In the Elite Men's race, Matt Walker would just take the win over teammate Danny Hart in an incredibly close race. Americans Charlie Harrison and Dakotah Norton would finish third and fourth. Rounding out the Elite Men's podium was Phil Atwill who looks to be back from the injury that plagued him for the 2018 season.
The Elite Women's race was missing Tahnee Seagrave and Rachel Atherton but there was still some great racing with Tracey Hannah taking the win by almost four seconds. German National Champion Nina Hoffmann would put almost a second into Monika Hrastnik and could be a rider to watch this weekend. Eleonora Farina and Veronika Widmann would complete the podium in fourth and fifth position.
Elite Men
1st. Matt Walker: 3:10.017
2nd. Danny Hart: +0.086
3rd. Charlie Harrison: +1.000
4th. Dakotah Norton: +2.136
5th. Phil Atwill: +3.085
Elite Women
1st. Tracey Hannah: 3:41.094
2nd. Nina Hoffmann: +3.996
3rd. Monika Hrastnik: +5.058
4th. Eleonora Farina: +7.401
5th. Veronika Widmann: +8.256
Junior Men
1st. Thibaut Daprela: 3:14.500
2nd. Ethan Shandro: +4.147
3rd. Kye A'Hern: +4.386
4th. Emile Rilat: +8.175
5th. Simon Chapelet: +8.382
Junior Women
1st. Vali Holl: 3:43.176
2nd. Anna Newkirk: +11.603
3rd. Mille Johnset: +18.269
4th. Ottilia Johansson Jones: 1:02.620
Previous winners
Maribor has been host to eight previous rounds going all the way back to 1999. Could a previous winner take the win again this weekend?
1999:
Elite Men: Nicolas Vouilloz
Elite Women: Anne-Caroline Chausson
2000:
Elite Men: Nicolas Vouilloz
Elite Women: Leigh Donovan
2001:
Elite Men: Steve Peat
Elite Women: Anne-Caroline Chausson
2002:
Elite Men: Chris Kovarik
Elite Women: Anne-Caroline Chausson
2007:
Elite Men: Sam Hill
Elite Women: Rachel Atherton
2008:
Elite Men: Sam Hill
Elite Women: Sabrina Jonnier
2009:
Elite Men: Fabien Barel
Elite Women: Sabrina Jonnier
2010:
Elite Men: Greg Minnaar
Elite Women: Rachel Atherton
Weather forecast
The forecast for this weekend is mixed and it's looking quite likely that we will see wet conditions on track. The opening grass turns will definitely be interesting if the heavens decide to open and the start of the track could become very reminiscent of La Bresse's final corners from last season.
Friday, April 26 - Practice
Periods of cloud and sunshine // 24°C // 5% precipitation // wind 18km/h // 33km/h gusts
Saturday, April 27 - Qualifying
Spotty showers // 17°C // 60% precipitation // wind 7km/h // 11km/h gusts
Sunday, April 28 - Finals
Periods of rain // 13°C // 66% precipitation // wind 13km/h // 18km/h gusts
Weather forecast as of Thursday 25 April. Live updates from Accuweather.
Schedule
Thursday 25 April • 08:30-11:00 // Downhill Course Inspection by UCI
• 13:00-14:00 // On Foot Downhill Course Inspection - Elite Teams
• 14:00-16:00 // On Foot Downhill Course Inspection - All Riders
Friday 26 April • 08:30-11:45 // Official Downhill Training - Group B
• 12:00-15:15 // Official Downhill Training - Group A
• 15:30-17:00 // Downhill Timed Training Session (World Cup Top 60 Men Elite, Top 15 Women Elite, Top 10 Men Juniors and Top 3 Women Juniors)
• 17:00-17:45 // On Foot Downhill Course Inspection - Riders and Teams
Saturday 27 April • 08:30-10:00 // Official Downhill Training - Group B
• 10:15-11:45 // Official Downhill Training - Group A
• 12:15 // Seeding Run - Junior Women
• 12:30 // Qualifying Round - Junior Men
• 13:30 // Qualifying Round - Elite Women
• 14:00 // Qualifying Round - Elite Men
Sunday 28 April • 08:15-09:15 // Official Downhill Training - Junior Women, Junior Men, Elite Women
• 09:45 // Final - Junior Women
• 10:15 // Final - Junior Men
• 11:00-12:00 // Official Downhill Training - Elite Men
• 12:30 // Final - Elite Women
• 13:30 // Final - Elite Men
Note: All times are local and subject to change by the UCI/event organiser.
How to watch
Pinkbike will be providing you with the best daily coverage from our team of photographers in Slovenia this week. Tune in to Pinkbike to catch photo epics and results from the track walk on Thursday, timed training on Friday, qualifying on Saturday, and finals on Sunday.
For the Elite Women and Elite Men finals, you can catch the World Cup chatter the day before the race
Red Bull TV and then watch the main event on Sunday 28 April from 12:30 CEST.
Here’s a breakdown of what these times mean in these locations.
• 03:30am Sunday // Vancouver, Canada (PDT)
• 06:30am Sunday // Washington DC, USA (EDT)
• 11:30am Sunday // London, UK (BST)
• 12:30pm Sunday // Berlin, Germany (CEST)
• 20:30pm Sunday // Sydney, Australia (AEST)
• 22:30pm Sunday // Auckland, New Zealand (NZST)
Note: These times are subject to change. Please check with your local provider.
Fantasy League
Don't forget to complete your DH Fantasy team before the Elite Women's qualifying starts on Saturday. If you don't know who to pick, check out our
2018 season breakdown and our
Form Guide that takes a look at who is looking good coming into the season. Here are all the
highlights videos from previous years' races.
The Fantasy Downhill League is Presented by Trek and SRAM.
MENTIONS: @trek /
@SramMedia
Me: Aaron Gwin
MTB is the best sport in the world, period.