FINAL RESULTS - Les Gets World Cup Downhill 11

World Cup downhill at its gnarliest delivers in fine fashion from France!

Throughout the week in Les Gets, France, the fastest downhill mountain bike racers have been buzzing about the brand new track that would test them on race day. Well, race day is upon us and just to make things extra spicy, the weather was threatening to do its thing again. The juniors got off to a dry start though, as any predicted precipitation was only due to hit somewhere between the end of practice and the start of the elite categories. Jackson Goldstone has wasted little time leaving his mark in the Junior Men's category, and you can now officially count the Squamish shredder among the select ranks of World Cup winners (at just 17 years of age, Jackson pretty much already dominates the rest of the MTB disciplines too!). In the Junior Women's, Phoebe Gale bounced back from her poor showing in Leogang to claim the win here in Les Gets.

As the Elite Women took to the track, the predicted drizzle had arrived and the unwelcome sight of umbrellas around the track was definitely going to play on the rider's nerves. Tahnee Seagrave put all her experience to good use as she delivered aย  steady run with just the right amount of aggression to take an emotional win and signal to the rest of the field that she is finally back - even though she is still feeling the effects of her latest injuries and admitted to not being fully in shape yet. Myriam Nicole was the fastest women on the track this week, but a mistake saw her slide out mid-run which left her with too much work to do - only 0.2 seconds back at the line must have felt bittersweet given the circumstances. Camille Balanche looked good through the woods but still ended up nearly 5 seconds back of Tahnee, while Vali Hรถll once again lost her front wheel in the very last turn - she wasn't on pace for the win but she was clearly pushing hard and would have landed on the podium. The step up to the elite category is always a challenge, even for somebody as talented as the young Austrian.

Elite Men's race notes

  • As the Red Bull webcast started, light drizzle showed its face and got worse throughout the finals. Max Hartenstern was in the hotseat as the webcast started.
  • Loic Bruni was INSANE out of the gate, but conditions were just too hectic to be in touch.
  • Angel Suarez had a tough one, but what a weekend qualifying 2nd!
  • Loris Vergier. Hangs on, commendable run.
  • REECE WILSON! OMG! Ride of his life in the loose, wet mud, then another shittily designed jump for race pace* bucks him into orbit! Somehow he survives. AMAZING. Glad you're OK! (* 8 hours after the race and getting over the visual disbelief of Reece's crash, it was reactionary to call the creek gap jump "shittily designed for race pace." Re-watching other riders in all classes, the creek jump seemed quite manageable, if not smooth, for most competitors.)
  • Reece Wilson survived this. Not human.
  • Coulanges is rowdy! Solid run in pouring rain and re-inforcing just how f'ing stupid that sketchy bridge at the end of the 40mph off-camber with a stump on the LOW SIDE is. When Warner and Eliot (who was RAD in commentator booth) are saying "he almost died," you know it's a cluster of an obstacle. Hold breath remaining riders make it through there.
  • 40mph, off-camber, don't blow your line and hit that tree stump.
  • Dak, Trummer and Finn survive in the pouring rain. All respectable runs.
  • Bernard Kerr is not messing around this year! Crushing the vlogs and crushing the track! Fully committed and ALMOST washing out in the final berm.
  • BROOK MACDONALD GIVES ZERO F*&KS! In the cabbage on high lines no one ever considered. The result is average, the showmanship of his ride is the winner so far!
  • Luca Shaw slides out.
  • Hell yeah Minnaar! Pushing, didn't care and survived even with a rad, legal, double over a course pole into 7th at the the time of his run!
  • Andreas Kolb with the greatest save in the history of saves in the final off-camber, avoiding the stupid, scandalously placed rubber-mat-bridge-padded-low-side-tree-stump-at-40mph obstacle
  • Remi Thirion off pace, but hitting all the gnarly high lines in the greasy, rooty sections. #boss
  • Rain very present during Gwin's run.
  • Eddie Masters goes down, finishes run.
  • Laurie Greenland post-run, "it's carnage up there now," and mentioned uncertainty about final grass sections, and literally the next shot on webcast is Thibaut Daprela with a smashed face and stitched up, half-cut-off tongue dropping in and taking the hotseat by over 2 seconds.
  • Thibaut into the hotseat
  • Troy Brosnan washed out in the tech roots, but finished run. gordo still believes.
  • Matteo Iniguez showed rain may be an issue washing out in the flat, blue groove before final jumps
  • Mick Hannah, 20 years of World Cup DH runs!
  • Isak Leivsson completes a solid race run on his homemade DH bike with a 3:45!

ย 

Tahnee Seagrave Audio Interview

Thibaut Daprela Audio Interview

Phoebe Gale Audio Interview

Myriam Nicole Audio Interview

Max Hartenstern Audio Interview

Baptiste Pierron Audio Interview

Greg Minnaar Audio Interview

Elite Men's Les Gets World Cup Downhill Results

Thibaut Daprela

Elite Women's Les Gets World Cup Downhill Results

Tahnee Seagrave.

Junior Men's Les Gets World Cup Downhill Results

Junior Women's Les Gets World Cup Downhill Results

See 115 PIT BITS Photos from the Les Gets World Cup Downhill


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