After three days of what seemed like near constant rain, the valley of sun finally lived up to its namesake just in time for race day. With the usual overnight downpour holding off as well after qualifying, the track that greeted riders today was dry, tacky and super fast. Almost a complete opposite of what they trained on during the week and many riders said they struggled for a bit to get used to the added speed and had to force themselves to stay loose and let the bike roll.
The junior men and women were the first to take to the rapidly drying track and with similar results we have seen at prior rounds. Vale Holl once again put double digits into the women'd field with a time that would be competitive among the elites - and for the men, Thibaut Daprela took top honors over Henry Kerr. With a series leader Kye A'hern not qualifying for the finals, Daprela would steal back the series lead with a healthy gap in points as we head into the second half of the season.
Storm clouds would build over the mountain as the elite women took to the track, but they were more of a foreshadowing of the race to come, thankfully. Rachel Atherton would be the first to post what looked to be a winning time, and Emile Siegenthaler and Tracey tried to challenge, but fell short. Tahnee Seagrave struggled to match Rachel's pace up top, but when she heard the loudspeaker halfway down saying she was just 2 seconds behind, she dropped the hammer. Her fourth split cut things to within a second and as a very nervous Rachel Atherton sat in the hot seat, Tahnee crossed the line to take the lead by just a tenth of a second. Last rider down, Monika Hrastnik, also started slow at the splits, but would make time as her run progressed. Looking stronger and stronger as her run carried on, she would eventually bump Tracey Hannah down at the finish to claim a career-best third place.
The day only got hotter, literally and figuratively, as the men took to the track. Any threat of storms at this point had dissipated and the sun was scorching all in attendance - so much so that finding a place in the shade up top to for the rider's warmup routine became the newest challenge. It would be 8th place qualifier Thomas Estaque who would occupy the hot seat the longest. Sweating it out, rider after rider, until Laurie Greenland came flying across the line. Laurie always has strong finishes here and his time was looking good for the win as both Danny Hart and Luca Shaw failed to best it. Loic Bruni was on pace to challenge as well, but a crash while up at the splits and just 40 seconds for the line would dash his hopes once again.
Everyone knew, however, that the biggest threat would be the last man down, Amaury Pierron, who after winning two in a row, was riding a wave of confidence at incredible speeds in practice, and in yesterday's treacherous and rain soaked qualifier. Amaury would be up at split one, then down at split two, and up yet again at the third. Each time his split flashed up on the screen, the hot seat got more uncomfortable for those watching and waiting. Especially for Laurie Greenland, who would grow more and more tense as his first win was within reach, yet so close to being snatched away. The race would come down to the wire, with the final top three only separated by tenths of a second, but it would be Pierron who came out on top to make it three wins in a row, proving he is without a doubt, the man to beat right now.
In the overall standings, Rachel Atherton moves into the lead, following the injury to Myriam Nicole, and Tahnee Seagrave now occupies the second spot. For the men, Pierron took advantage of off-days by Troy Brosnan, an injured Aaron Gwin, and a crash by Lori's Vergier, to distance himself quite comfortably from his competition. Laurie Greenland would vault himself all the way from 5th into 2nd. It's still anyone's race, though, especially for the spots just behind the leaders, and things are surely going to heat up next week when World Cup DH action continues in Andorra.
| I’m always puzzling! It just takes me a lot more time than others to piece it together. Most of the time it comes together for race day! I think even if it had been wet I knew where I was going and knew what I needed to do. I still would have given it my all and I’m confident I would have ended up with a good result but I am so glad I managed to take the win! I’m not really used to riding in the dry, it’s been a weird one...It’s been the best win so far because it was so tight and you have to work really hard for it and that’s exactly what I had to do... Rewarding!—Tahnee Seagrave |
| I really wanted this one because I like this track, it’s not the same as Fort William or Leogang, but three is just crazy... To have another one is just crazy. The track was pretty destroyed, it was super hard. It was not easy. It was not easy to race this track. The times are super tight… The conditions were changing all weekend so it was hard to find the pace each run but for finals the track was totally dry so running so fast!—Amaury Pierron |
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