What a beginning... What a sign of things to come. At long last, all the prophecies and wild speculation of the off-season can be laid to rest because Judgement Day has been and gone, sorting the good from the bad, the weak from the strong and dealing out some ugly crashes along the way. The crowds swelled and buckled rims and horns deafened, as all of mountain biking's most loyal French followers gathered together to witness a real life downhill miracle.
With a now dry, but hideously mutilated path through the woods our riders found themselves flying at twice the pace of yesterday, but not without confusion as their previous days of training had become somewhat obsolete. In the end it was a true mix of experience and fresh-blooded enthusiasm that would prosper. Canadian, Finn Iles, dominated the juniors, Rachel Atherton bounced back from her second place qualifier, and despite Loic Bruni's very best efforts, Aaron Gwin came down from above like hellfire to set the 2016 season fully ablaze.
Cut spikes for life... or at least for this entire gruesome week of World Cup action.
Some Lourdes accommodation only for the most committed of pilgrims.
Unfamiliar rays of golden light shone down from the heavens.
Keeping warm and dry this time in Lourdes was a bit like, let's see... peeing into the wind. Until today.
Sunshine was a welcome way to start things off and while the air was still cold, at least things could finally began to dry up.
In the juniors, Great Britain's Matt Walker obliterated his way through the mud to claim second.
American newcomer, Nikolas Nestoroff, tore this track a new-one to land in third.
Finn Iles had a commanding run today, but also had some luck on his side as top qualifier, Kevin Marry, crashed out at the last split on a real burner.
Iles just moments from claiming the win in his first WC race.
Congrats Finn, we have a feeling we will be shooting a lot of photos like this over the next few years.
Emilie Siegenthaler had a solid ride to fifth place today and will look to get comfy on the podium for the whole season ahead.
Tracey Hannah went absolutely massive off the final bridge en route to 4th.
Manon Carpenter held things together nicely all weekend, but for the first time found herself lagging behind Tahnee Seagrave and by a big margin.
Fastest qualifier, Seagrave, was on it again today, but in the end couldn't up the pace enough in the dry conditions to match Rachel.
Rachel Atherton cooling down on her warm-up.
Another race and another big victory for Atherton, but this one was hard-fought and definitely did not come easy.
Rachel dropping down to the finish area with the fastest time of the day.
Hucks and hugs, all on GoPro.
Lourdes and ladies 2016.
Steve Peat was loving being back on the World Cup circuit after missing most of last season with an ACL injury.
It's hard to believe this will be his last.
Remi Thirion wasn't at full strength today after a big crash in practice, but wanted to put a result down thinking ahead to the overall.
The Lourdes title-fight rematch was on: Bruni Vs Gwin, part II.
Gwin never showed much in the way of his cards during practice and his crash in the qualies muddied the water further still. What kind of pace was last year's champ on exactly?
If somehow you don't yet know the result of the battle it's too late to look away now. It was to be more than a fine day to remember for Martin Whitely and YT Industries.
Devinci had an excellent showing with Stevie in second and Mark Wallace in 8th
Top 10 and in the mix of things for Brendan Fairclough.
Roosty goodness through the off-camber as the mud baked harder and the grass flew.
Bonjour l'equipe des Smurfs.
Connor Fearon parting the crowds, flying into 9th position.
Gee Atherton muscled his way down to 7th, and while that's not the result he hoped for, it gives him very solid points going into what will no doubt be a long and hotly contested season.
Stevie Smith came out swinging and showed us that he might soon be back on the top step. Second place for the Chainsaw Massacre.
The Canadian Chainsaw is right back where he left off after 2013. No more injuries... Just podiums.
When the mud comes out, Danny's about.
Another massive result for Hart on this holy hillside - third place for the Redcar Rocket.
Holy moly was Ratboy's run a wild one. It didn't seem to translate to an outrageous result, but better believe he's still got it.
Troy Brosnan's ability to let his bike float over terrain took him straight to fourth place. We'll have to wait and see what home soil can help deliver in two weekend's time.
For the third year in a row, Aaron Gwin has won the opening round of the World Cup series, and set the bar at a new level that others must now push to meet if they ever want to contest for the overall.
Aaron Gwin charging into the finish area on yet another insane run.
Amaury Pierron was one of many French that shook up the field today.
It was a massive result for the up and coming Lac Blanc-Commencal team sender.
The arena atmosphere was both electric and deafening as all phones and eyes were trained on Loic Bruni.
After being almost 3 seconds up at the last split it was a shocker to everyone to see Loic cross the line more than 7 seconds behind Gwin.
This is why Loic is the people's champ. Moments after crashing out of a winning run he was celebrating in the finish area with the thousands of fans who had cheered him on all weekend.
With less than 20 seconds and only a handfull of turns remaining, it all came unraveled for Loic today.
Loic's fans will stand by him no matter what, and he was greeted at the finish line with a hero's welcome.
Gwin wasn't about to let Loic steal the spotlight, and with setting the fastest time of the day he was in high demand among all the fans.
Welcome to the podium club, Amaury Pierron.
The man to beat. Again. It's on.
From the holy steeps of Lourdes for another year... over and out.
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And I might as well get this debate started: did Gwin win this race, or did Bruni lose it? I have my opinion but I'm going to keep it to myself for now!
Not the bike it's the rider
why not its will be the cheapest of the 3.
So it depends on how you look at it. If you are the "a win is a win, today is all that matters" kind of fan, then Gwin is the man today. But if you are looking ahead to the season, like both Bruni and Gwin are, then this was not a great day for either one. Bruni needs to work on safely maintaining his pace, and Gwin has to find more speed.
No doubt all eyes will be on these two as long as they stay healthy.
Consistentcy wins the long game
I'm a hack and I (and a lot of other amateurs) could probably let go of the brakes and be faster than a lot of those racers down most of those courses on my enduro 29er for large sections of the course......
....... Yet I would most likely crash and prolly be killed after a few turns or a rock garden
That's why these guys a pros
They can go fast w out crashing(sometimes)
And that is why Gwin is the "Man"
He's faster and he rarely crashes
Loic is super fast, but he crashes
When he is on a pace equal or above Gwin( or other winning riders)
Loic's time is coming you can see it
I think the question of "did Gwin win this race, or did Bruni lose it?" is more about " Is Bruni fast enough to race with a top form Gwin, & ride safely enough to keep himself out of trouble, or does he have to put himself in danger to best Gwin.
My opinion is that his split times prove that he can race with Gwin. he was up by over a second, IMO that means he could have held back slightly & still beat Gwin's time.
To be a top rider you have to put yourself "in danger" every single ride. This whole "oh he was outta control" nonsense is hilarious. We are talking about the fastest DH riders on the planet...THEY ARE ALL OUTTA CONTROL!
It's especially hilarious when talking about Aaron Gwin, one of the craziest most on-the-edge riders in the sport. That's the style that has gotten him to where he is and it's the style that will carry him through another great season, assuming his new bike can keep up.
black aluminium
I thought Ratty was on it when he flew into that gully up top. Sadly not.
What happened to Hill?
I will never regret being able to relive a moment when something spectacular happened and I was right there in the midst of the incredible atmosphere!... Memories fade unfortunately... Footage/photos live forever...
youtu.be/kZwsJDqv91M
Rachel smashed it too, I was really surprised to see her launch the last jump as well, nailed it.
Remember when Aaron crashed in world champs? Does Aaron now lack skill?
It doesn't matter what pace you're going at, it's inevitable you will crash. You should be commending him for being over 2 seconds up when last season he was forever in Gwins shadow coming second 4 times...
It's not that @AaronGwin1 didn't touch his brakes it's just that they don't work.
1. Hardest part of downhill is being able to pin it at the bottom full gas when all you've done from the top was full gas too. Splits don't matter if you can't maintain pace. You can tell the section Bruni went down in was hazardous traction. Muck for days.
2. Bruni has crashed out a lot, so is he learning what pace is right to win or is he being stubborn and going full gas and his win was just managing to stay up.
3. Since he's only managed to put down a single run that won (Worlds), maybe he just still hasn't learned what it takes to win a race: pace, thought process, mindset, where to go hard and where to conserve.
Best sport with the most variables...evuhhhhhh!!!!
and as an birthday gift, my fionce asked him to wish me a happy birthday, he did so, in a video ^^ made my year!!!
More seriously:
1. I would have watched (all) women live
2. Did you take a look at how much men are in the first 40sec of quali compared to the number of women in the first minute during finals ?
Worrying though...
I think a mix of both would be awesome, more and more people are watching these races live and not everyone is fond of Warner's sense of humor.
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