FINAL RESULTS: Losinj, Croatia World Cup Downhill 25

Incredible downhill mountain bike racing under sunny, blue skies took place on the island of Losinj, Croatia, today as the first UCI World Cup DH event concluded in dramatic fashion. Losinj, about 50 miles east of Italy across the Adriatic Sea, is a first-time World Cup venue and while the scenery is breath-taking, the race course was unrelenting and abusive. Razor-sharp rocks littered the track from top to bottom, challenging both bike and rider in a battle of survival. Flat tires cost many riders a result and mechanics experimented with any and all forms of flat-tire protection they could throughout the week. If riders were able to keep air in their tires, the short course was still a physical and mental struggle with countless rocks and holes vying to steal precious momentum and a sprint straight out of the start gate that increased competitor heart rates before the technical challenges began. Thousands of fans cheered the entire way down the two-and-a-half-minute course and the race finished after a short, maze-like wind through the city, ending up at the edge of the sea. Dig into the results and split times to see how this race was won, or lost.

WINNING BIKE - Aaron Gwin's YT TUES

Elite Men's Final Results

The Red Bull TV webcast revealed just how incredibly talented (and crazy?) the fastest downhill riders are. Practice and training video footage is one thing, we knew the course was rough, but the reckless abandon and speed that racers carried through the rocky sections of the Losinj track was mind-blowing. There was no room for error in the rocks and going down almost certainly meant injury. The fact that any bike, tire or wheel could survive the pounding of this course gave is beyond impressive.  

Chronological Run Highlights

• Dakotah Norton, #USHD, pinned and solid! YEAH DAK! "It's like riding on tennis balls," Dak said regarding the dust and rubber
  
• Eddie Masters, wide open, but unfortunately his chain came off mid-run.
  
• Brook MacDonald, fastest qualifier was on a killer run, scrubbed and slid his front end out off the same drop that claimed Claudio. He took his time with the medics getting up, but he ended up riding down. #gutted UPDATE: Hearing he has a broken collarbone :(
  
• Danny Hart, blitzed the top, rocky section of course with splits ahead of Dakotah (who was in the hot seat at the time), only to lose nearly 2 seconds on the bottom, flatter, pedal-heavy section of track. Putting him in 2nd place at the time.
  
• Greg Minnaar, up through the rough only to flat before the bottom. Brutal.
• Jack Moir put together a rowdy, flawless run, ahead through the tech only to just narrowly lose to Dakotah through the urban section.
• Laurie Greenland, what a freaking firecracker! He laid it all out, mobbing the tech. His first split and a bit of a slower mid-section held him back. He left nothing on the track with full sprint through the urban section.
• Amaury Pierron, first through all splits with graceful destroying of the tech sections. A flat tire at the very end of the rocks crushed a run that would have been fastest so far.
• Luca Shaw can pedal and handle a bike! First off the sprint first split, mobbing the tech and rocks, green light the entire way, finally taking down Dakotah's time by 1.8-seconds. #USDH 1 and 2 in the hot seat at the moment. YES!
• Sam Blenkinsop, aka E.T. because he's alien-fast and pedals in the air all the time! A blistering run through the rocks, only losing time through the flatter portions of the course. 2nd place to Luca at this point with 3 riders to go.
• Troy Brosnan, smooth, but possibly too conservative with a non-podium result.
• AARON GWIN, incredible. His speed through the rocks and the rough was unparalleled. He lost a second through the bottom half of the track but his time was enough to seal the victory by .9 seconds.
• Dean Lucas, last man down with all the pressure of the world on his shoulders. An incredible performance with a solid, impressive run and 3rd place results.
• THREE AMERICANS ON THE PODIUM and 5 in the Top 15! #USDH IS CRUSHING!

Elite Women's Final Results

A highly competitive Elite Women's class was anticipated for 2018 and the racing in Croatia proved the anticipation was justified. Rachel Atherton was back and healthy, but the rest of the women's field had gained confidence and momentum in the 2017 season, swapping race wins. 2017 World Cup overall winner, Myriam Nicole, will hold on to that number 1 plate with a race win in Losinj. Rachel Atherton, up at the first split, continued to lose time on Nicole down the rest of the course and narrowly took 2nd place over Tahnee Seagrave, who was just .22 seconds back in 3rd.

Junior Men's Final Results

The Junior Men's class is full of new, competitive young talent. Riders like Finn Iles, Matt Walker and Kaos Seagrave, who have battled for the last couple years, have moved up to the Elite ranks in 2018 leaving fresh, hungry riders to challenge each other in the Junior ranks. French rider, Thibaut Daprela, took the Junior Men's victory. With mentoring from Nicolas Vouilloz and the foundation of French DH success on his side, Thibaut edged out fastest qualifier, Kade Edwards, by 1.6 seconds. Aussie Jr, Kye A'hern, was 3rd, 3.4 seconds off the winning pace. Stoked to see #USDH shredder, Joey Foresta so close to the podium! Keep crushing it!

Junior Women's Final Results

The bright, young Austrian, Vali Höll earned the win in her first-ever World Cup DH race by a significant 12.5-second margin. Her time of 2:50 and change would have placed her 6th in the Elite Women's class, proving she has a long career ahead. Trackside reports from Sven and crew say that #USDH rider, Anna Newkirk ended up with a flat tire. Her times were solid with podium potential until then. YEAH ANNA!!

ALL THINGS CROATIA WORLD CUP DH