The DH Form Guide: Who's Going Fast Coming into the 2021 World Cup Season

The DH season kicks off this weekend in Leogang alongside the third round of the XC World Cup. After a shortened 2020 season, riders will be looking to get in some top results and test out their winter training plans.

While the World Cup season is set to start this weekend, we have already seen a few local races with stacked line-ups of the top riders, so let's look at who has shown some good early form at the biggest races of the offseason.

New Zealand National DH Series - January to February

The New Zealand National DH series kicked off the big early season races with some consistent top performances from the likes of Tuhoto-Ariki Pene, Brook MacDonald and Sam Blenkinsop. With two wins and a third-place finish, Tuhoto-Ariki Pene is definitely looking strong heading into the season and for 2021 he has the support of the newly formed Union race program that has been formed by Steel City Media. In the Elite Women's racing, we saw some strong performances by Kate Weatherly, Jessica Blewitt and Robin Goomes. All three women took at least one win in the four-round series.

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Results:

Round 1:

Round 2:

Round 3:

Round 4:

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NZ Open - February 22


The NZ Open at the end of February saw Boaz Hebblethwaite take a big win over the likes of Sam Blenkinsop and George Brannigan. This shows a good sign of Sam Blenkinsop's speed after he missed international racing in 2020. Robin Goomes and Sacha Earnest were way out in front in the women's racing with a six-second gap to third place.

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Results:

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Windrock Tennessee National - March 14


The Tennessee National started off the 2021 US DH racing season with some wild racing at Windrock. In the Elite Men's racing Charlie Harrison just managed to beat out Dakotah Norton by a tiny 0.08 second margin. It's worth mentioning that Aaron Gwin crossed the line only 2.40 seconds back after having some issues during his race run. For the Elite Women Frida Ronning and Kailey Skelton were way out in front of the rest of the field with a 14-second gap back to third place.

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Results:

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Copa Catalana DH - 4 Riders Bike Park - April 12


The European DH race season kicked off in Barcelona with a stacked lineup of World Cup riders. Before the Elite Men's race, a patch of rain made the track a tricky challenge for the final runs. Despite the conditions, Thibaut Daprela came out on top, with Dylan Levesque coming across the line four seconds back in 2nd place. Junior rider Pau Menoyo Busquets set the fastest time of the day with a 1:49.21, 0.7 seconds ahead of Daprela.

For the Elite Women, Marine Cabirou took the top spot with Telma Torregrosa Sancho in 2nd and EWS racer Noga Korem rounding out the top three just over 21 seconds behind the fastest time. Check out the full results below.

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Results:

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Portugal Cup - Boticas - May 17


The European DH race season continued with Commencal riders taking the top spots in the Elite Women, Junior Men and Elite Men's categories.

In the Elite Men's racing, Amaury Pierron came out on top, with Angel Suarez coming across the line just 0.498 seconds back in 2nd place. For the Elite Women, Myriam Nicole took the top spot with Telma Torregrosa Sancho in 2nd and Agnes Delest rounding out the top three just under 16 seconds behind the fastest time.

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Results:

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Copa Italia - Sestola - May 17


The Coppa Italia in Sestola saw some big names getting between the tape to test out their new races bikes with the likes of Vali Höll, Loris Vergier, Remi Thirion and Jamie Edmondson in attendance. Loris Vergier came out on top in the Elite Men's race sending some big gaps on the course with a winning margin of 2.665 seconds. For the Elite Women, Vali Höll also took a win on the new Trek Session as she managed to find over six seconds on Veronika Widmann.

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Results:

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iXS NotARace Test Session - June 3 to 4


The iXS NotARace Test Session returned with a final chance to get between the tape for some timed runs and testing before the World Cup in Leogang. On the first day, Bernard Kerr just set the fastest time of the day beating Joe Breeden on his new NS DH bike by a tiny 0.177 seconds. For the Elite Women, Nina Hoffmann topped the time list with a time of 2:45.464, Eleonora Farina was the only other rider to come within a second of Hoffmann.

On day two, Joe Breeden took three seconds off Kerr's first day run with Danny Hart and Loris Vergier around a second back. Vali Höll laid down a blistering pace for the second day as she found eight seconds against the previous top time of Nina Hoffmann. With the World Cup less than a week after the Test Session, this is probably our best indicator of who may be looking more confident in their skills ahead of round one.

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Results:

Day 1:

Day 2:

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Racing and Events World Cup DH