RESULTS - Lourdes World Cup Downhill Finals - Mountain Bike News Story

The first World Cup of the year is such a treat, with team and equipment changes adding to the intrigue as riders converge on the season-opening race venue to put their off-season training to the test. When that venue is Lourdes, throw in a couple of extra butterflies as this track does not tolerate mistakes and certainly takes no prisoners if you get it wrong. The pre-race hype was all about the weather, but threats of rain and even snow never materialized leaving us to enjoy the spectacle in all its glory.

The Juniors were up first, with Jackson Goldstone taking home an emphatic win by over 2.5 seconds in the men's final and Gracey Hemstreet denying qualification winner Phoebe Gale by over 6 seconds (!) in the women's final.

The Elite women came out charging the day, with Myriam Nicole suffering a big crash in the morning practice session that left her unsure if she would even take part in the race. She eventually did, and steered her Commencal home into second place, testament to grit and determination of the reigning World Champ. Miss Consistent, Camille Balanche, put down a smooth and fast run as she has now done so many times before to seal the deal on race day. Qualification winner Vali Höll was unable to confirm her pace in the final, finishing in 4th behind Tahnee Seagrave despite being up on the race winner through 3 splits.

Carnage and chaos from the practice session before race runs today!

Elite Men's Race Notes

Kade Edwards with an attacking run held the hot seat for quite some time.
Charlie Harrison was up at the splits but went down hard in the same spot where Aaron Gwin crashed in practice.
Flat pedal destroyer Connor Fearon was up at the first splits, a feat made more remarkable by the fact that his bike sponsor Forbidden has yet to provide him with a full DH bike leaving Connor to race their enduro platform for now. He faded at the end of the track, perhaps being bounced around a bit more with the shorter travel bike.
GOAT on track! Minnaar put down a smooth run but still 1 second back, adding a little shine to Kade's time at this point in the race.
Good run from Angel Suarez, but Kade's time still holding!
Martin Maes was flying on his enduro bike showing his trademark pace, but a crash put paid to his effort on the day.
Norton! Dak goes green by over a second, with a run that featured a couple of unique lines and controlled aggression the whole way.
Matt Walker (Saracen), making Dak’s joy short lived as he took another 0.7 seconds off the clock to roll right onto the hot seat.
Greenland on track for his first ever finals run on his new Santa Cruz V10, spectacular speed as always and looking sharp all the way to the finish line and into the lead.
Luca Shaw up by 1.4 at the first splits, making his Canyon Sender work for him as he showed his new team what he is capable of – 1.4 up at the finish line as well!!! He was visibly elated and at less than a second off Loic Bruni’s fastest qualifier, setting himself up for a nail biting finish.
Reece Wilson with a great run, finishing 0.9 back but that still saw him slot into 2nd place at the time, underlining just how good Luca’s run was moments before Reece came down.
Danny Hart! Back by 1.5 at the first split, Danny got off the brakes and laid down a trademark wild ride to get to within 0.2 seconds at the line. The pace is still there, no doubt!
Loris Vergier on pace, but sliding out in a relatively “simple” part of the track (he still went on to set the fastest time in the “key section” at that time, showing that the speed was definitely there). 8th at the line.
Coulanges in green!! So fast and loose, Benoit was hanging it all out and came across the line as the first man to better Bruni’s qualifying time! 3 more fast Frenchies and a Canadian dark horse left at the top!
Thibaut Daprela on track, checkers or wreckers as he doesn’t know how to hold back in a race run. Green at split 1, red at split 2, back on pace only to clip a tree in the woods and go down HARD. Thankfully Thibaut was able to get back up and keep riding, we know the speed is there, once he starts putting together race runs LOOK OUT.
Amaury, 1.4 seconds UP!!!!! CELEBRATING!!! Pierron is back! Riding with an injury from qualifying did nothing to hold him back here, and that was an incredible run. Can it be beaten?
Finn Iles on track, after qualifying in 2nd place he’ll be feeling the pressure by now – up at the first splits but then loosing time in the middle on the track. Fastest through the key section, still just in the red but fully in touch. 2nd at the line, showing just how fast Amaury’s final section of track was. This was a great ride and a great result for Finn though, perhaps 2022 will be the season for Finn to deliver on the potential we all know he has.
Loic on track! It’ll be a French winner, the only question now was who would it be. Green at split 2! 0.2 back at split 3, still looking smooth as always. 3rd at the line, and Amaury is back on top!!! Loic beat his own qualifying time but had no answer for Amaury today - going by his finish line interview this will only fire him up even more though, leaving us to look forward to a truly exciting season of racing!