Video: Up to Speed at the 2024 Bielsko-Biala DH World Cup with Ben Cathro

Following the incredible spectacle of racing in Fort William, the 2024 series now heads to Bielsko-Biala, Poland. The brand-new venue in Poland will offer a fresh challenge for riders with plenty of unknowns coming into the race weekend. Here is everything you need to know ahead of the second round of the 2024 DH World Cup series.

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Race Briefing

With just a short break between rounds, we are already back with more downhill World Cup racing. After the classic venue of Fort William, we are now heading somewhere completely new with a freshly built course in Poland.

Fort William brought some wild racing as the legendary Scottish course saw the dominance of Vali Höll and Loic Bruni continue with standout performances making them the riders to beat in 2024. The opening round also saw some great performances from Troy Brosnan and Nina Hoffmann as they put some real pressure on the 2023 overall winners in the battle for the top step of the podium.

Luckily, the brutal Fort William course did not cause too many injuries this year with most of the top riders walking away unscathed, although we'll see how Greg Minnaar's shoulder holds up the rest of the season. After several big names had to miss large parts of the season last year for injuries, it was good to see a few of them return to form in Scotland. Amaury Pierron, Benoit Coulanges and Camille Balanche were all back up to speed and building back their confidence. It was also great to see Myriam Nicole back racing after dealing with a concussion and thumb ligament injurt and Tahnee Seagrave looked to be back to full-speed and threatening for the win after her own battle with concussion.

We hope that helps get you prepped for this weekend's racing and keep scrolling to gather more details to get you ready for the second of DH racing in Poland.

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What Happened at the Last Round?


The legendary Fort William course delivered more racing moments to remember for the opening round of the 2024 series as we saw two new Junior winners alongside Vali Höll’s continued dominance and Loic Bruni finally winning in Scotland on his tenth trip to the famed venue.

Heather Wilson dominated on home soil in the Junior women’s racing before Asa Vermette answered the wild pre-season hype storming the Fort William course to a round one victory despite breaking his hip in March. If round one is anything to go by, we are in for an amazing year of racing as the future of the sport looks bright.

A new team and bike didn’t slow Vali Höll down as she started 2024 in the same fashion she ended the 2023 season with a race win. Nina Hoffmann provided some tough competition as she led the race through the middle of the course, only losing the lead to Höll in the final sector. It was great to see Tahnee Seagrave back at full speed as she went fastest in qualifying and ended the weekend in third.

Loic Bruni battled off some close competitors to secure his first elite World Cup win in Fort William after never quite managing to bring it all together in past years. Troy Brosnan came very close to matching the success of his first World Cup win back in 2014 at Fort William, but he had to settle for second after not finding an answer to Bruni’s show of strength at the season opener. Finn Iles wrapped up the top three elite men making it a great weekend for Specialized and their high-tech prototype bike.

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Who's Leading the 2024 Overall Standings?


With one round wrapped up so far in 2024, the overall standings present a similar picture to 2023 as both of last year’s overall winners lead the series. Nina Hoffmann remains tied for second with Tahnee Seagrave as they sit on 310 points. Troy Brosnan holds second for the elite men as he is sandwiched by Specialized teammates Loic Bruni and Finn Iles. After their race wins, Heather Wilson and Asa Vermette lead the Juniors.

Elite Women:

1st. Vali Höll: 370
2nd. Nina Hoffmann: 310
3rd. Tahnee Seagrave: 310
4th. Camille Balanche: 245
5th. Gloria Scarsi: 150

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Elite Men:

1st. Loic Bruni: 370
2nd. Troy Brosnan: 335
3rd. Finn Iles: 300
4th. Luca Shaw: 235
5th. Dakotah Norton: 212

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What's the Track Like?


We haven't seen a full look at the new course for round two yet, but we do have the video above showing parts of the upper sections of the track.

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When and What Racing is Happening this Weekend?


For the first time this season, we have two World Cups in one weekend as the EDR and DH events come together. Here is a look at what you can expect from the downhill racing this weekend.

All times CEST

Friday, May 17
• 08:30-10:30 // Training - Group B
• 10:30-12:30 // Training - Group A
• 12:30-14:30 // Training - Group B (Timed Session)
• 14:30-16:30 // Training - Group A (Timed Session)

Saturday, May 18
• 08:30-10:00 // Training - Group B
• 10:00-11:30 // Training - Group A
• 12:00 // Qualifying - Women
• 12:30 // Qualifying - Men
• 14:00 // Qualifying - Junior Women
• 14:15 // Qualifying - Junior Men
• 15:00 // Semi-Final - Women
• 15:30 // Semi-Final - Men

Sunday, May 19
• 09:00-10:00 // Training - Qualified Juniors
• 10:00-11:00 // Training - Qualified Elites
• 11:30 // Finals - Junior Women
• 12:00 // Finals - Junior Men
• 13:15 // Finals - Women
• 14:00 // Finals - Men

Note: All times are local and subject to change by the UCI/event organizer.

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What's the Weather Expected to be?

For the second round of the 2024 season, the weather is looking good although some rain on Saturday and Sunday could shake things up considerably.

Thursday, May 16

Mostly cloudy and remaining warm // 22°C // 1% probability of precipitation // wind 9km/h

Friday, May 17

Sun and areas of high clouds in the morning followed by considerable cloudiness // 21°C // 14% probability of precipitation // wind 13km/h

Saturday, May 18

A thick cloud cover with occasional rain and drizzle, mainly early on // 21°C // 73% probability of precipitation // 15% probability of thunderstorms // wind 9km/h

Sunday, May 19

Some sunshine // 22°C // 25% probability of precipitation // wind 9km/h


Weather forecast as of Monday, May 13 from Accuweather.

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Pinkbike Downhill Fantasy League


After some close results for the first round, it's time to start prepping your teams for round two before the cut-off at the start of qualifying on Saturday.

As part of the new dynamic riding pricing for 2024, we have updated the rider pricing for round two and added a couple of new riders to the roster who had good weekends in Fort William. If you haven't already, you can create your team ready for round two here.

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How to Follow the Racing?

If you're in Poland, you can buy tickets to watch the racing live here.

Otherwise, tune in to Pinkbike to catch all the second round coverage throughout the week with results, photo epics, bike checks, race analysis and more. Read our How to Watch guide to see how to watch the races live in your country.

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Racing and Events Videos DH Racing Fantasy DH Pinkbike Primer World Cup DH Up To Speed Ben Cathro Bielsko Biala World Cup Dh 2024