Pinkbike Primer - Maribor World Cup DH 2019

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.

---

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?

---

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.

---

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.

---

MENTIONS: @trek / @SramMedia

---

Posted In:
Racing and Events Pinkbike Primer