Rain, wind and mud were on the menu for the UCI Mountain Bike World Cup Downhill in Fort William Scotland, the second race of the 2022 season. Despite one of the longest, most abusive courses on the circuit, race victories still came down to fractions of second as the fastest mountain bikers on the planet charged against each other and the clock for their one timed race run today.
Gracey Hemstreet took the Junior Women's victory over fastest qualifier, Phoebe Gale, by nearly three seconds as the Junior Women kicked off racing for the day. Aimi Kenyon rounded out third, six seconds off the winning pace. The Junior Men's battle was nothing short of spectacular with Jordan Williams and Jackson Goldstone, fastest qualifier, in a photo finish. Only .038 seconds separated the two after four-and-a-half minutes of racing with Williams taking the victory. Remy Meier-Smith placed third, four seconds off the lead.
Nina Hoffmann decided today was the day as she earned a hard-fought win in Scotland. Taking down fastest qualifier, Camille Balanche by 3.6 seconds, Hoffmann kept the bike on line and upright in the challenging conditions. Myriam Nicole, recovering from injury finished in 3rd with a deficit of 7 seconds.
Elite Men's race notes
- Laurie Greenland, last man down, up at the top splits then making small mistakes in the woods that could not be overcome despite a valiant effort on the motorway. He crossed the line .9 seconds off of Amaury and slotted into 3rd with Daprela 2nd. Amaury takes his 3rd Fort William win in a row, his second win of the 2022 season, and according to Warner on the webcast, the second-most successful World Cup racer after Nicolas Vouilloz.
- Charlie Hatton crosses the line in 14th after a solid run.
- The world was hopeful for a Greg Minnaar win, but it wasn't to be today as Greg lost time the entire way down the track.
- Amaury Pierron may have crushed all the mullet dreams as he crosses the line .4 seconds ahead of Thibaut Daprela on his dual 29er setup for Fort William. His run was composed and flawless to take the lead with 4 to go!
- Bernard Kerr, always exciting to watch, active on the bike, but his pace wasn't there to challenge the lead and also had a drivetrain issue through the motorway. 12th at the line. 5 riders remain.
- Loris Vergier was within .09 of Daprela on a heater and then he lost his chain and couldn't pedal the entire motorway on down. 4th at the line.
- Danny Hart had a bit of a roller coaster based on split times, but always in the red. Warner and Claudio speculated that the wind at the top was picking up and impacting pace, but regardless of reason, today was not Danny's day, crossing the line in 4th at 3.9 back.
- How dope does Benoit Coulanges look on a bike?! He had a big deficit to make up from the top and challenged with speed tucks and big pedal strokes on the bottom half of the course, crossing the line in 2nd just .4 seconds behind Daprela!
- Luca Shaw on a solid run, not in the green, but smooth and then oddly washed out on the hip jump next to the wallride. 8 riders remain.
- Matt Walker challenged Daprela's time, up at split 2. A bobble in the woods cost him a second and he slots into 2nd place.
- Angel Suarez, silky smooth, but ultimately off the pace of Amaury and Meier-Smith into 3rd, 4.7 seconds back.
- Luke Meier-Smith with a strong, battle of a run landing in 2nd with 10 riders to go.
- Kade Edwards with a hard crash in the rocks that led to an epic finish on the motorway jumps. Massive motowhip, Sui, no-foot can, manual lander and finally a huge tuck-no-hander off the classic step down at the end. #steeze
- Ethan Craik goes off track. He showed potential with his qualifier this weekend.
- Thibaut Daprela gained time on every split with a run that makes you realize you've held your breath the entire way down! A race winner? Possibly.
- Dak Norton was up by 1.5 before a crash took him down. Gutted.
- Reece Wilson, local, crowd favorite didn't have the run any of us, including him, expected.
- Austin Dooley and Dante Silva had strong runs! #USDH
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