2026 Loudenvielle World Cup Downhill

Jonty Williamson's hot year continues as he takes 1st in qualifying for Men Juniors by about 1.8 seconds.

Men Elite Q1 qualifying times were fairly tight: The 20th place Q1 rider was 4.17 seconds behind the 1st place rider.

Not quite as close in women's Elite: In Q1 the 2nd place qualifier was 4.07 seconds behind the 1st place rider. All other Q1 riders were more than 5 seconds behind, with the 10th qualifier being 8.72 seconds back.

He’s really due for one, and I figure he’s gotta be getting hungry to prove that he can still be the guy, also, kinda got me thinking,,,,,, when’s hoods contract up? Gotta be time for Finn to eat some souls on that new school bike

Any info why Jackie was DQed? Guessing he missed a course marker.

What’s with all the DSQs? 

Isn't Jackson in Q2? He's on the start list.

***never mind. Didn't see the results***

Full elite results after Q2: https://www.vitalmtb.com/features/results-loudenvielle-downhill-world-cup-elite-qualifying. 

What happened to this weekend's RAW coverage?

Man Dak is DSQ too?

https://www.instagram.com/stories/fast.as.french/3908524408977594557?utm_source=ig_story_item_share&igsh=cWpvdWUwN2F6bDg0

wind got jackson off the stall wall and landed outside the poles

I hope this spurs riders and teams to complain about the poles enough to get them thrown into the trash heap of terrible ideas forever

So he was DSQ in Q1 and Q2?

Yes

Jackson’s DSQ had nothing to do with the poles themselves, other than the wind blowing him outside of them. If it had been tape instead, the same thing happens except he’s tangled up in tape too. 

First dq was caught in a bit of a rut

I don't buy it. Tiny little poles make it significantly more difficult to visualize course boundaries and influences the course boundaries themselves. Maybe one could say making things harder is a good thing but I find it sort of artificial and silly

yes, the tape would have blocked the wind!!!111

lol. Had he just kept going he’d probably qualify like amaury did.

Strong disagree. 

At the point where you are taking quali laps you know exactly where you're going and where the course is. Tape wouldn't have made it any different. 

Bring back race tape 

While I don’t think Jackson would have been saved from going out from having poles with tape, I do think they need to bring it back.  Any time there is a crest with a corner after your shooting in the dark and having to use visual markers in the background to know where to go.  The stall wall is a good example, riders can’t see where to aim because the poles are a foot tall.  Dak also mentions MSA had a ton of these last year, making it really hard.

These green poles are truly one of the worst changes of this post-Red Bull era. While the tapes provided a perfect perspective of the track, making it easier to see the curves and obstacles, these green poles are the opposite, difficult to see, often camouflaged in the green of the vegetation or tree shadows. Take the case of the excellent track in South Korea; the poles are placed like a chess game, making the track super difficult to see... curiously, the tape continues in UCI XCO and in all other world-class Downhill championships as well... before, with the tape, it was allowed to return to where the athlete left the track, and now, apparently, going outside the green pole results in disqualification... another thing that few noticed: before, there was the track tape and a second tape keeping the public away from getting too close to the track and risking being hit by the biker or their bicycle; now, without the second tape, the public is right next to the track, increasing the risk of accidents. Yes, the tape had its problems with getting caught on the bike, but it was rare. Bring back the tapes for 2027!