Practice and qualifying at the 2022 UCI Mountain Bike World Cup Downhill in Mont-Sainte-Anne proved that the legendary track has not grown tamer over the years. If the bikes were surviving the four- to five-minute onslaught of rocks, holes, roots and speeds, the riders were often not. Race- or season-ending injuries were a common, unfortunate experience this weekend. Camille Balanche, Loris Vergier and Loic Bruni are just a few claimed by the unforgiving course in Quebec, Canada. Those who did make it through to the end with a final time were happy to be in one piece.
Junior woman, Phoebe Gale backed up a number one qualifier with a convincing race win by nearly 7 seconds - some 16 seconds faster than her qualifying time. Her performance keeps the overall points race with Gracey Hemstreet (3rd today) close with only one World Cup DH in Val di Sole remaining.
Jackson Goldstone kept the air in his tires to take the victory over Jordan Williams in the Junior Men's category. Jackson's 4:13 is four seconds faster than Finn Iles' Elite Men's qualifier from yesterday. The 3.8-second margin was enough help Goldstone increase his overall lead to 74 points going into Val di Sole. #USDH shredder, Ryan Pinkerton, landed on the podium in 5th!
Elite Women's notes
- Awesome crowds the entire length of the track
- Dappled light making transitions between woods and open tricky
- Anna Newkirk #USDH looked smooth and flowy, taking hands off the bars and shaking them in flat section before the finish
- Vero Widmann with a flawless looking run, making up significant time in the roughest sections. Hot seat with a 5:14 by 5 seconds. Fastest quali time was a 5:04.
- Eleonora Farina lands at 5:00 flat with a nearly perfect run, only bobbling for a bit entering the big rock section.
- Jess Blewitt was aggressive with a good huck-to-flat exiting the rocks. She went into 2nd place, but was 11 seconds off Farina's pace.
- Myriam Nicole in a league of her own through the upper section and through the Stevie Smith drop, up by 5.8 seconds only to suffer a rear flat tire halfway through the high-speed section. This makes the overall interesting.
- Nina Hoffman, 57kph through the speed trap, up by 2 into the rocks, keeping it aggressive but clean through the bottom and crossing the line just under the 5-minute mark into first place with two riders remaining.
- Monika Hrastnik attacking up top, but her splits were off that of Nina Hoffman. She insided the turn after the Stevie Smith drop, but then had a time-consuming bobble in the big rock garden. Into 4th at the line with Vali remaining.
- Vali handled the pressure without incident and a playful, fast run. Dancing through the rocks, styling the jumps, she was mistake-free and takes the win by 3 seconds over Nina Hoffman.
Elite Men's Notes
- Warner mentioned a new DH from Giant next season during Remi Thirion's run
- Ethan Craik, always exciting to watch, in the hotseat with a 4:19 with Top 20 to come
- Track is dusty-dry for last riders
- Laurie Greenland crosses the line 7 seconds up with a 4:11.95 60kph in the speed zone, floating like a butterfly over every rock, doubling and gapping where ever he can and putting together a flawless performance. Fastest qualifier from Finn Iles was a 4:17 yesterday. Warner's quote to describe Laurie's run, "like a kangaroo on a trampoline." HAHA
- Frix Frix bobbled in main rock garden and then washed the front end off the hip jump near the end of the track.
- Exciting riding from Antoine Vidal, hitting 60.8kph in the speed trap. Time was off the top pace.
- David Trummer was having a solid run, but still off top pace, until a rear flat ended the effort near the bottom.
- Charlie Hatton, uneventful and tidy-looking run, but across the line 10 seconds back, slowly losing time the entire way down. Laurie's time easily hanging in.
- Fantastic run for the gloveless veteran, Sam Blenkinsop! Crossing the line in 3rd, keeping it stylish the whole way down.
- Tuhoto Ariki-Pene handling the gnar with an impressive 4th place across the line.
- Dylan Levesque manages the beating well bumping Tuhoto back into 5th as he earns a 4th place with a 4:20 as the field continues to narrow.
- Thibaut Daprela with a successful run into 4th at the time. No major mistakes, just off of Laurie's pace.
- Aaron Gwin, 5.5 off Laurie at the line for 2nd place, keeping him inside the Top 10. Nice to see another solid run out of him!
- Nice job to Loris Revelli! He earned his best World Cup finish today with a great, aggressive run that backed up a good qualifier. He came through with a 4:19 for third place with 7 riders to go.
- Andreas Kolb, smooth as silk through all the roughest sections and not too far off pace only to suffer a rear flat near the bottom.
- HOLY CRAP, BENOIT COULANGES! Troubles with pedals multiple times up top and then flatting at the fastest part of the course nearly 60kph, blowing off the track, but saving it gracefully. End of his day, but thankfully unscathed. 5 riders remain.
- Bernard Kerr, 61.5kph in the speed zone, giving it his all, but losing time every so slightly through the bottom half of the track. He crossed the line into 3rd about .5 behind Gwin.
- Brosnan is back! He floats and maneuvers all the sectors, but still couldn't match Laurie's pace. Crossing the line in 2nd, 3.2 seconds behind Greenland's pace.
- Amaury Pierron pushing it and having a big off in the corner after the Stevie Smith drop, dashing any hopes for a race win. But he gets back up and pushes as hard as he can in hopes of securing the overall for the season. We won't know the result until Greg and Finn cross the line.
- Greg Minnaar, was on a heater with potential to beat Laurie. He bobbled the big rocks, then on his infamous gap just below them, he got off line and hit a tree. Grabs his bike and finishes the race. Insane for the GOAT.
- Finn Iles makes it happen for his first World Cup Downhill win on home soil! Up in all sectors, smashing lines and apparently losing his chain "halfway down the track" according to his post-race interview! He hit the last jump, coasting his way through the finish as the time added up, he won by .2 seconds with a 4:11.717. Finn's victory means that Amaury Pierron DID NOT clinch the overall in Mont-Sainte-Anne, and the battle goes to the last race in Val di Sole, Italy. Finn, emotional after the race said it was the greatest day of his life and gave all the credit to inspiration from the late, great Stevie Smith. He won the race on his prototype Specialized Demo DH bike.
Elite Men's Final Results
Elite Men's Top 20 overall results with one race remaining
Elite Women's Final Results
Elite Women's Top 20 overall results with one race remaining
Junior Men's Final Results
Junior Men's overall Top 25 with one race remaining
Junior Women's Final Results
Junior Women's overall with one race remaining
Celebrate how far Finn has come over the years with this video from 2014 and a petition to get him into Whip Off World Champs!
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