Pinkbike Primer: The 2023 DH World Cup Series Finally Begins at Lenzerheide
Continuing a packed month of World Cup racing in June after the flat-out Enduro racing in the Finale Outdoor Region the DH World Cup finally kicks off its 2023 series in Lenzerheide. This weekend will be another test for the new ESO Sports and Warner Brothers Discovery. setup as it gets its first chance to impress with the new DH coverage and race format. Here is everything you need to know ahead of the 2023 DH World Cup opening weekend.
Where is the Opening Round?
As a regular venue on the World Cup circuit, Lenzerheide is a known quantity for both riders and fans as it offers a technical high-speed course to test riders' nerves as they make their way down the mountain to finish up their race run with a huge drop into the finish area. With high speeds and tight times, this will be a great opener to the 2023 series.
What's the Track Like?
There haven't been many changes to the Lenzerheide course since it first featured on the world circuit, although recent years have seen some fresh wood sections thrown in to mix things. The track has always been flat-out, with riders hitting high speeds before the classic big drop into the finish area.
When and What Racing is Happening this Weekend?
With the XC World Cup also taking place there is no shortage of action, here is the current schedule for the weekend according to the Lenzerheide World Cup website at the time of writing.
All times CEST
Wednesday, June 7
• 14:00-17:00 // Training - Juniors Only
Thursday, June 8
• 09:00-14:00 // Training
• 14:45-15:30 // Qualifying - Junior Women
• 16:00-17:00 // Qualifying - Junior Men
Friday, June 9
• 09:00-13:00 // Training
• 13:15-14:00 // Finals - Junior Women
• 14:00-14:45 // Finals - Junior Men
• 15:30-16:00 // Qualifying - Elite Women
• 16:00-16:45 // Qualifying - Elite Men
Saturday, June 10
• 08:30-10:00 // Training
• 10:45-11:20 // Semi-Final - Elite Women
• 11:20-13:00 // Semi-Final - Elite Men
• 13:00-13:00 // Finals - Elite Women
• 14:00-15:00 // Finals - Elite Men
Note: All times are local and subject to change by the UCI/event organizer.
What's the Weather Expected to be?
It looks like we are in for a thunderous start to the DH World Cup season as rain and thunderstorms are expected throughout the week. The best day of the event looks to be Saturday for the big day of racing with Semi-Finals in the morning followed by Finals.
Wednesday, June 7
Variable clouds with a couple of showers and a thunderstorm // 18°C // 88% probability of precipitation // 35% probability of thunderstorms // wind 6km/h
Thursday, June 8
Partly sunny with a couple of showers and a thunderstorm // 18°C // 48% probability of precipitation // 35% probability of thunderstorms // wind 6km/h
Friday, June 9
Periods of clouds and sun with a couple of showers and a thunderstorm // 20°C // 88% probability of precipitation // 35% probability of thunderstorms // wind 7km/h
Saturday, June 10
Periods of clouds and sun with a couple of showers and a thunderstorm; warm // 21°C // 60% probability of precipitation // 24% probability of thunderstorms // wind 7km/h
Weather forecast as of Monday, June 5 from Accuweather.
Who Won the 2022 Overall?
Racing doesn't get much better than what we witnessed during the 2022 season. After a dramatic series of races, it was Camille Balanche and Amaury Pierron who came away with the 2022 overall titles.
Elite Women: Camille Balanche
Elite Men: Amaury Pierron
What Happened Last Time at Lenzerheide?
The fourth round of the 2022 downhill World Cup at Lenzerheide saw Gracey Hemstreet lay down a rapid run to pull ahead of the fastest qualifier Phoebe Gale by just under two seconds. Jenna Hastings wrapped up the top three, five seconds back. Pinkbike Racing's Aimi Kenyon made a podium appearance in fifth place. For the Junior Men, it was Jackson Goldstone who came out on top and went one and a half seconds faster than Lachlan Stevens-McNab. Jordan Williams was fastest in the first two splits but lost time on the second half of the track and ended the day in third place.
Myriam Nicole put together an absolutely wild run on the dusty and blown-out course to secure a massive win of over four seconds. Camille Balanche improved upon her top qualifying run but she just didn't have the speed to match Myriam. Eleonora Farina was the only other rider within nine seconds of the winning run and completed the top three.
The Commencal team took a clean sweep of the Elite racing as Amaury Pierron went into the top spot by over 1.4 seconds. Finn Iles had been the man to beat for a large portion of the race but it wasn't enough for the win. Greg Minnaar had a great run to take third place and even beat Amaury in split two.
Elite Women
1st. Myriam Nicole: 3:11.751
2nd. Camille Balanche: 3:16.170
3rd. Eleonora Farina: 3:20.184
4th. Monika Hrastnik: 3:21.979
5th. Vali Höll: 3:22.963
Elite Men
1st. Amaury Pierron: 2:47.153
2nd. Finn Iles: 2:48.555
3rd. Greg Minnaar: 2:48.858
4th. Andreas Kolb: 2:48.865
5th. Benoit Coulanges: 2:49.907
Junior Women
1st. Gracey Hemstreet: 3:28.111
2nd. Phoebe Gale: 3:29.959
3rd. Jenna Hastings: 3:33.793
4th. Izabela Yankova: 3:34.886
5th. Aimi Kenyon: 3:40.734
Junior Men
1st. Jackson Goldstone: 2:50.072
2nd. Lachlan Stevens-McNab: 2:51.585
3rd. Jordan Williams: 2:51.681
4th. Davide Cappello: 2:55.771
5th. Bodhi Kuhn: 2:56.074
Who has Won here Before?
Lenzerheide seems to have a habit of producing repeat winners and seeing the French riders on top. Since it became a World Cup venue in 2015 Rachel Atherton and Myriam Nicole have each won three times with Greg Minnaar and Amaury Pierron taking the top step twice. Sadly Myriam Nicole won't be able to attempt to secure three wins in a row as she is sitting out the first sets of World Cups as she continues to suffer from ongoing concussion symptoms.
Elite Men
2022: Amaury Pierron
2021: Loris Vergier
2019: Amaury Pierron
2018//Worlds: Loïc Bruni
2017: Greg Minnaar
2016: Danny Hart
2015: Greg Minnaar
2022: Amaury Pierron
2021: Loris Vergier
2019: Amaury Pierron
2018//Worlds: Loïc Bruni
2017: Greg Minnaar
2016: Danny Hart
2015: Greg Minnaar
Elite Women
2022: Myriam Nicole
2021: Myriam Nicole
2019: Marine Cabirou
2018//Worlds: Rachel Atherton
2017: Myriam Nicole
2016: Rachel Atherton
2015: Rachel Atherton
2022: Myriam Nicole
2021: Myriam Nicole
2019: Marine Cabirou
2018//Worlds: Rachel Atherton
2017: Myriam Nicole
2016: Rachel Atherton
2015: Rachel Atherton
How to Follow the Racing?
Tune in to Pinkbike to catch all the Lenzerheide coverage throughout the week with results, photo epics, bike checks, race analysis and more.
This weekend is the first test for the new DH broadcast coverage and you can find out all the ways to watch the action here.
Author Info:
Must Read This Week
The bad:
- You need to wait for longer.
- Riders who get injured will likely miss several rounds.
The good:
- Privateers can have a longer more regular job in the off season to save up for racing season.
- Considering most races are in Europe, non-European athletes can cut back on travel and staying costs if they don't have to stay abroad for that long. We know there are amazing racers in Australia, Aotearoa and Canada but the costs for racing the (European rounds of) the world cup is prohibitive for most.
In line with my last point, I still don't get why there aren't more races in other continents. Yes it might become more expensive and more difficult for the status quo but it will open up opportunities for others for whom the current situation is even more prohibitive. Even BMX racing is seeing more races across the world even though the tracks they build for the races are truly inaccessible for the enthusiast. Which isn't the case for DH and XC.
Either way, a longer series will always benefit the pro racers and make life harder for the privateers. I'm not really sure whether this is where I'd like to see the sport go. It has already become more corporate and polished recently (especially with the rule prescribing them to wear clothes marketed for the purpose and wearing them exactly as told). Yes, possibly great for making the sport look professional and sleek to the outside world, but harder to relate to for those who aren't attracted by "sleek". Making the series longer will weed out the privateers or at least keep them from riding most rounds hence getting noticed on the overall scoring sheet. If you add the other races and events these athletes can compete in (Crankworx, Hardline, Rampage, national series) there is still more than enough racing going on.
www.srf.ch/play/tv/-/video/mountainbike-weltcup-in-lenzerheide-downhill-maenner?urn=urn:swisstxt:video:srf:1774041
on the calendar and new tracks. Not the same tracks twice.
DH coverage is the only thing I'm paying for. Don't really care about the rest of the content on GCN.
Same here I will give a try for that price, and I have asked them if it works abroad as well and the answer is yes. The calendar you have access to depends on your original subscription and then you can watch from any country (handy if you travel for work or holidays)
@russthedog : You can filter. For instance when you choose "racing" in the white bar up top, you can click "mountain biking" in the bar with the icons. This will not only give you racing, but further down you also have "The Athertons" and "High Stakes" with Chopper Fielder. Yes, nowhere near as much as we would have liked to see but at least you're no longer being bombarded with road cycling
I have been subscribing to GCN+ already as the coverage of cycling races is pretty bad in Australia (both in the number of races we don't get to see and the quality of the commentators).
LIke many others have said, the cost of GCN+ is a fraction of a single new tire, and for the one sport I really love watching, I shelled out the cash for this year with fingers and toes crossed for decent broadcast!
realize involved inbreds, mattress eaters, multispouses or pedophiles... Soooo... GSN???
I think? The most frustrating thing is that it isn't clear. I'm fine with $9/month if they just freaking communicated with us.
Never had a spoiler pop up while I tap through to the video I want.
(Though the reason is not actually emissions)
I’ve got a feeling it will be on Discovery+, which shows the live Eurosport stuff and you can get as an app, for free on sky through certain sky subscriptions.
www.sky.com/help/articles/discovery-plus
Not 100% on this, will have to check later when I’m home.
But it then said i needed to pay for live sport ! Gutted !
Whether i can watch the DH on catch-up without seeing the result as we're out cycling already, that's very much open to debate.