Pinkbike Primer: Everything you Need to Know Ahead of the Val Di Sole World Cup DH 2019

Round Six, Forbidden Fruit

An Italian serpent with its fangs bared.

Val di Sole kicks off the final back-to-back duo of the year and it will be a rude awakening for the riders after three weeks of rest. The Black Snake track has been on the track for over a decade and it has maintained a fearsome reputation and produced a number of legendary races in its time. It's a relentless assault, probably not quite as steep as Vallnord but brutally rough, with big holes, rocks and roots strewn liberally throughout its 2km length.

From the very first race here in 2008, Sam Hill lit the hill up, running more than six seconds up on Steve Peat's hot seat time before sliding out while cutting an inside on the final left-hander before the finish, handing the World title over to Gee Atherton, as part of an Atherton double. Since then, we've seen Myriam Nicole announce herself on the world stage with her maiden win, Marc Beaumont grab a surprise second World Cup win, Aaron Gwin deliver one of the greatest World Cup runs ever and plenty more in between. Let's see what's in store for 2019:

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The Track

Val di Sole is a true brute with relentlessly steep and burly woods making up the majority of its length. The start gate has been moved up the hill slightly for the past few races meaning there's now a short, relaxed start to the race run but as soon as the woods hit it's a different story. Deep holes, rocks and roots, usually hidden beneath pools of dust, make for an evolving track that constantly seeks to trip up riders. The riders are spat out of the woods into a final, high-speed open section. It looks simple on paper but underestimate it at your peril, races have been lost here on multiple occasions.

Precision, lines and braking are as important as ever but one of the biggest challenges here is fatigue as bodies are battered by innumerable impacts on runs of this 4-minute long track. Repeated runs over the weekend will build up and staying fresh is one of the hardest things to master.

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Previous Winners

Note, * denotes a race which was a World Championship.

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What Happened in 2018

The Valley of Sun was visited by unfamiliar spells of rain last year, bringing a whole new challenge to this track. On the one hand, it washed away a lot of the deep dust and dirt that so often obscures the dangers hiding on this track but it also made the clay surface and the roots far slicker. Qualifying was worst hit by the weather and threw up a lottery but racing was run under fair skies. Pierron completed the trio of wins that would eventually secure him the title, closely followed by a Brit duo of Greenland and Hart.

In the women's race, Tahnee grabbed her second consecutive win in Val di Sole, nicking it off Rachel in the final sprint on the grass for the line. Monika Hrastnik backed up her pole position from qualifying with third on the day.

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What Happened at the Last Round?

Les Gets returned to the World Cup circuit and provided a unique, old-school challenge for the riders. It was all about speed and the fastest race for years with average speeds above 40km/h. Pierron proved himself to be a grass turn master and took big chunks of time out of Bruni, re-igniting the men's title race.

For the women's field, the final drop was a true test, it took out series leader Rachel Atherton in practice and had to be rolled by a lot of the women in race runs. Those that went for it were rewarded including Tracey Hannah, who took her second win of the season, and Marine Cabirou and Mariana Salazar, who picked up their joint best ever results.

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The Standings

ELITE MEN

1st // Loic BRUNI // FRA // 965
2nd= // Amaury PIERRON // FRA // 855
2nd= // Troy BROSNAN // AUS // 855
4th // Loris VERGIER // FRA // 614
5th // Danny HART // GBR // 602
6th // Greg MINNAAR // RSA // 506
7th // Laurie GREENLAND // GBR // 421
8th // Brook MACDONALD // NZL // 393
9th // Mark WALLACE // CAN // 387
10th // David TRUMMER // AUT // 312

ELITE WOMEN

1st // Tracey HANNAH // AUS // 1040
2nd // Marine CABIROU // FRA // 840
3rd // Rachel ATHERTON // GBR // 730
4th // Nina HOFFMANN // GER // 695
5th // Veronika WIDMANN // ITA // 514
6th // Kate WEATHERLY // NZL // 452
7th // Mariana SALAZAR // ESA // 448
8th // Eleonora FARINA // ITA // 370
9th= // Emilie SIEGENTHALER // SUI // 326
9th= // Camille BALANCHE // SUI // 326

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Weather Forecast

Looks like we're due for a repeat of last year in Val di Sole with rain on qualifying but a drier day for finals.

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The Schedule

Thursday, Aug 1
• 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
• 17:00-17:45 // On Foot Downhill Course Inspection - Riders and Teams

Friday Aug 2
• 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
• Followed by // 30 minutes On Foot Downhill Course Inspection - Riders and Teams

Saturday Aug 3
• 08:15-09:15 // Official Downhill Training - Junior Women, Junior Men, Elite Women
• 09:45 // Final - Junior Women
• 10:15 // Final - Junior Men
• 12:30 // Final - Elite Women
• 13:30 // Final - Elite Men followed by Awards ceremony

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

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Follow Along

Pinkbike will be providing you with the best daily coverage from our team in Trentino this week. Tune in to Pinkbike to catch photo epics, videos and results from Timed Training, Practice, Qualifying and Finals, as well as tech bits and news.

You can also watch the third round of the Mercedes-Benz UCI Mountain Bike World Cup free of charge, live or on demand, on redbull.tv. The live broadcast starts on Saturday, August 3 at 12:30pm CEST.

Schedule: Mercedes-Benz UCI Mountain Bike World Cup Val di Sole LIVE on Red Bull TV:

Val di Sole DHI Women: August 3 Live on Red Bull TV 12:30pm CEST
Val di Sole DHI Men: August 3 Live on Red Bull TV 1:45pm CEST

(all times CEST, replay available immediately following the races)

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Fantasy League

Don't forget to complete your DH Fantasy team before the Elite Women's qualifying starts on Saturday. Check out our analysis of the season so far here.

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MENTIONS: @trek / @SramMedia

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