Sunny skies and warm, dry conditions greeted downhill mountain bike racers for the 2019 UCI World Championships race in Mont-Sainte-Anne, Quebec, Canada today. Following a long week of course inspection, training and preparation, riders were given a single, high-pressure race run in a bid for the coveted rainbow-striped jersey as they represent their home country. The classic, long-running downhill course of MSA is a five-minute torture test for both bike and athlete, but it was in spectacular condition from top to bottom, making for fair, even racing the entire afternoon. Strategy, physical strength and mental prowess must come together with a perfectly performing bike for a gold medal to be earned. Throughout the week mechanical incidents and injuries have sidelined racers, with Brook Macdonald and Reece Wilson going down in training. We're wishing them both a speedy and strong recovery.
Austria's Vali Holl earned another World Championships rainbow jersey and gold medal today, dominating the Junior Women's class. Norwegian rider, Mille Johnset took silver, 12 seconds behind Vali's pace with American Junior, Anna Newkirk, nabbing a hard-fought bronze medal. #USDH
In the Junior Men's category, the Top 5 racers were separated by only 1.8 seconds. All eyes were on fast Frenchie, Thibaut Daprela, who swept the first three World Cup DH rounds, but struggled at the last two races. Today, as the last Junior down the mountain, he struggled again, ending up with a 5th place after falling off the pace through the last sectors of the course. Australia's Kye A'Hern worked hard for his gold medal and rainbow stripes. He had a run that gained momentum the entire way down the course, split times improving at each sector, until he ultimately took the win with a 4:17.776. French fireworks were however to be provided by EWS whiz kid, Antoine Vidal, who secured a silver medal ahead of New Zealand's Tuhoto-Ariki Pene in third..
As the Elite Women got ready to drop in, there was no shortage of captivating story lines to monitor. Would Marine Cabirou continue her recent World Cup win streak and add the rainbow stripes to her trophy cabinet? Would Tracey Hannah bounce back and swipe the coveted jersey for Australia? Could Myriam Nicole or Tahnee Seagrave reclaim their place at the top of the pile with improbable-but-not-impossible returns from injury?
Myriam would strike first, courtesy of an unusually low world ranking, with a time that looked fast and would only go on to look faster and faster as competitors tried and failed to get anywhere near the Frenchwoman’s score. Myriam hadn't raced a single World Cup this year and due to a foot injury and had go around a few features on course to avoid re-injury. That potential weakness did not seem overly penalizing as her overall speed on track was impressive. Tahnee Seagrave rode well and pulled back from a 4-second deficit at the early splits to cross the line in second place at the time, 1.2 seconds back behind Myriam's 4:53.22. With only three riders left to go, Veronika Widmann took a nasty crash in the infamous “Les Dalles” section, leaving only Cabirou and Hannah left to try and unseat Nicole. Cabirou went first, but a tense run saw her lose time the whole way down to land herself in third spot. All eyes to the top of the course, and Tracey Hannah’s attempt at Worlds glory. Sadly, it was not to be for the Australian as she lost time in every section of the track to land in fourth spot at the line, out of medal contention. What a comeback for Pompon, and equally impressive, Tahnee in second.
Elite Men's racing was a drama-filled nail-biter as usual. Here are some notes.
- Matt Walker (the Kiwi kind), put down a blistering 4:12 and held the hot seat for a long time.
- Bruce Klein, second-fastest in the speed trap all day! Only Loic went faster. #USDH
- Payet exploded his rear wheel on the Stevie Smith drop
- Moir had a red rear end on his bike. Anyone know the story?
- Denim Destroyer didn't care a patch kit in his jeans pockets. Flat tire.
- Win Neko Mulally's World Champs bike
- Alex Marin looked NFG and wild! Result not there though.
- The high-speed section where the speed trap recorded speeds upwards of 70kph? F THAT PLACE! Ha! So frightening.
- Gwin on the 279 bike off the pace of Matt Walker (NZ) by 2.2 seconds. Makes the rest of the race look super interesting!
- DAKOTAH NORTON! #USDH. Knocks Matt Walker off the hot seat. Made us shit our pants in The Dalles rocks with a little swap, and hucked and railed and held it together. Up by 1.4 with like 18 or so riders to go. Well done, Dak!
- Luca Shaw was in touch with Dak's time, but couldn't quite do it. 1 second off. Dak stays in the hot seat.
- Finn Iles, Canada's most exciting pinball and Justin Bieber look-alike, had a stellar, heart-stopping run, keeping it together through the finish. Up at the top he was ahead by 1.4, but he slowly lost time through the rough and rocks. Finn kept it in the green enough to be up by .5 seconds when he finished. Hot seat for Finn with a 4:10.
- Mark Wallace was up to 2.5 seconds off the back on the upper splits. Fitness and grit pulled him into a 3rd place at the time of crossing the line.
- Connor Fearon, flat tire.
- Dean Lucas, extremely gross nose-case-to-rear-hang-up-to-crash in the rocks. He got up and finished the run. Brutal. No gloves, too.
- Greg Minnaar is a beast! He was composed, controlled and exactly what we'd expect from the 37-year-old. He took out 1.7 seconds on Finn's time, grabbing the lead with the best of the best to come. Could the GOAT earn his 4th World Champs? #stressball
- The Feral F*%*ing Kid, Laurie Greenland, back how we like to see him! Loose, ragged, wild and on the edge the entire way down the mountain. Greenland had it until the very end of the last rock section. He hucked, ball-rode and saved it with his feet out. A flat tire was the culprit and he went into 2nd with a just a few remaining. Laurie sent it for Brook and it may be the most exciting DH run we've seen in a long time.
- Loris Vergier with some kind of off-camera issue, out of contention.
- Amaury Pierron. Wow. He pulled back a lot of time after some relatively poor upper splits. Going for broke, smooth the rocks and the rough, he crossed the line .6 seconds ahead of Minnaar with Danny, Troy and Loic to go. Amaury didn't have the body language at the end to think he had. We'll see.
- Danny Hart was earning time and earning time, up by 1 second at one point only to have it dwindle away through the roughest sections of the course. He crossed the line with a great-looking run, but was just .2 seconds off Amaury's time into 2nd at the time. Two riders to go.
- Troy Brosnan. Perfection. 27.5-inch wheels. Light as a feather, floating, attacking. Almost two seconds up on Amaury's time. Loic remains.
- Loic Bruni. MORE PERFECT. HE TAKES THE 2019 UCI MOUNTAIN BIKE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS DOWNHILL WIN! Not a single knob out of place, almost 72kph on the speed trap, and the second rider to earn three World Championship Downhills in a row. Super Bruni has delivered as the last rider down the mountain under more pressure than any other rider, even though in his post-race interview, Loic said there wasn't pressure! "I had nothing to lose except my rainbow jersey." He keeps the jersey another year. Now go watch Loic's Outspoken interview series!
LOIC BRUNI POST-RACE INTERVIEW
Elite Men's 2019 World Championships Downhill Race Results
- BRUNI Loic - FRA, 4:05.544
- BROSNAN Troy - AUS, +0.581
- PIERRON Amaury - FRA, +2.549
- HART Danny - GBR, +2.805
- MINNAAR Greg - RSA, +3.187
- GREENLAND Laurie - GBR, +4.896
- ILES Finn - CAN, +4.981
- NORTON Dakotah - USA, +5.490
- WALLACE Mark - CAN, +6.129
- SHAW Luca - USA, +6.347
- WALKER Matthew - NZL, +6.948
- GWIN Aaron - USA, +8.560
- HARRISON Charlie - USA, +8.600
- WILLIAMSON Greg - GBR, +9.087
- McDOWALL Kirk - CAN, +9.196
- FRIXTALON Hugo - FRA, +9.619
- TRUMMER David - AUT, +9.819
- MOIR Jack - AUS, +9.952
- THIRION Remi - FRA, +9.972
- ESTAQUE Thomas - FRA, +10.577
- MAES Martin - BEL, +10.714
- WALKER Matt - GBR, +10.849
- MULALLY Neko - USA, +11.101
- ZABJEK Jure - SLO, +11.627
- LANGEVIN Hugo - CAN, +12.112
- BRANNIGAN George - NZL, +12.166
- KLEIN Bruce - USA, +12.196
- PIERRON Baptiste - FRA, +12.859
- MARIN Alex - ESP, +13.185
- FREW Jackson - AUS, +13.722
- KOLB Andreas - AUT, +14.029
- DICKSON Jacob - IRL, +14.386
- FAIRCLOUGH Brendan - GBR, +15.803
- KERR Bernard - GBR, +16.313
- MANSON Magnus - CAN, +16.359
- GUTIERREZ VILLEGAS Marcelo - COL, +16.467
- SEHNAL Stanislav - CZE, +16.729
- HARTENSTERN Max - GER, +18.419
- HANNAH Michael - AUS, +19.570
- FEARON Connor - AUS, +19.726
- MASTERS Wyn - NZL, +19.800
- THIBAULT Samuel - CAN, +20.774
- GRANDY Silas - GER, +21.701
- BARANEK Rastislav - SVK, +22.933
- WEBER Lutz - SUI, +23.481
- PALAZZARI Davide - ITA, +23.662
- ZWAR Oliver - AUS, +24.456
- WRIGHT Keegan - NZL, +26.783
- POMBO Emanuel - POR, +28.127
- HAFNER Matthias - GER, +28.583
- MAURER Simon - GER, +28.841
- KUSHIMA Yuki - JPN, +30.444
- ZWAR KVIST Benjamin - AUS, +32.143
- ESTRADA PULGARIN Mauricio Ernesto - COL, +32.814
- LUCAS Dean - AUS, +32.866
- PARDAL Francisco - POR, +33.475
- ALCANTAR de los REYES Fabian - MEX, +34.699
- WEBER Basil - SUI, +37.556
- WENDE Yannick - BOL, +47.749
- IMOTO Hajime - JPN, +48.816
- VERGIER Loris - FRA, +50.428
- MATTUS Juho - EST, +1:04.391
- GARCIA RAMIREZ Jose - MEX, +1:06.776
- SUKCHANYA Chinnapat - THA, +1:07.256
- von KLEBELSBERG Johannes - ITA, +2:00.155
- BLENKINSOP Samuel - NZL, +2:39.189
- LANFREDI Gabriel Imseis - BRA, +4:02.810
- IRMISCH Erik - GER, DNF
- PAYET Florent - FRA, DNF
- ULMSCHNEIDER Till - GER, DNF
- ERLANGSEN Theo - RSA, DNF
- MACDONALD Brook - NZL, DNS
- GUTIERREZ VILLEGAS Rafael - COL, DNS
- WILSON Reece - GBR, DNS
- REVELLI Loris - ITA, DNS
- CEBALLOS OTALVARO Steven - COL, DNS
Elite Women's 2019 World Championships Downhill Race Results
- NICOLE Myriam - FRA, 4:53.226
- SEAGRAVE Tahnee - GBR, +1.204
- CABIROU Marine - FRA, +1.694
- HANNAH Tracey - AUS, +4.121
- SIEGENTHALER Emilie - SUI, +5.391
- FARINA Eleonora - ITA, +8.555
- CHAPPAZ Melanie - FRA, +18.109
- VERBEECK Vaea - CAN, +18.783
- A'HERN Sian - AUS, +20.590
- CAPPELLARI Carina - SUI, +23.813
- MILLER Miranda - CAN, +24.336
- RUBESAM Sandra - GER, +25.805
- HRASTNIK Monika - SLO, +28.978
- NOGUEIRA Camila - ARG, +32.203
- SORIANO Samantha - USA, +35.090
- RONNING Frida Helena - NOR, +36.036
- BALANCHE Camille - SUI, +37.995
- SALAZAR Mariana - ESA, +39.667
- WASHAM Caroline - USA, +42.030
- ASTLE Georgia - CAN, +46.888
- WIDMANN Veronika - ITA, +47.509
- HAYDEN Mazie - USA, +2:00.311
- GROSSMANN Steffanie - NAM, +2:04.642
- DEEKABALLES Vipavee - THA, DNF
- WEATHERLY Kate - NZL, DNS
Junior Men's 2019 World Championships Downhill Race Results
- A'HERN Kye - AUS, 4:17.776
- VIDAL Antoine - FRA, +1.144
- PENE Tuhoto-Ariki - NZL, +1.294
- CRUZ Lucas - CAN, +1.304
- DAPRELA Thibaut - FRA, +1.889
- JAMIESON Elliot - CAN, +5.060
- MEIER-SMITH Luke - AUS, +6.662
- LAFFEY Patrick - CAN, +6.994
- SHERLOCK Seth - CAN, +7.438
- GALE Sam - NZL, +9.077
- KLAUS Janosch - SUI, +9.323
- GOMILSCEK Zak - SLO, +9.359
- STERLING Matthew - USA, +9.361
- INIGUEZ Matteo - FRA, +9.456
- SILVA Dante - USA, +9.706
- FORESTA Joseph - USA, +10.411
- ROSS Blake - NZL, +11.397
- DUNNE Ronan - IRL, +13.255
- SUETOS Cole - USA, +13.814
- LEHMANN Hannes - GER, +14.209
- EDMONDSON Jamie - GBR, +14.578
- BANDEIRA Goncalo - POR, +15.546
- DOOLEY Austin - USA, +16.153
- DOWNEY Cooper - AUS, +16.722
- MUMFORD Luke - GBR, +17.422
- WILLIAMSON Luke - GBR, +17.794
- GAREIS Zach - USA, +19.695
- HANCOCK Emmett - CAN, +19.779
- BOONSANE Methasit - THA, +20.999
- SAWYER Jaxon - AUS, +23.384
- CLEMENTS Justin - CAN, +23.580
- CUMMING Christopher - IRL, +23.830
- GONZALEZ GRIMAU Adrian - ESP, +24.993
- PARSONS Finn - NZL, +25.868
- BARRETT Jasper - RSA, +26.035
- ARCUS Joshua - AUS, +26.485
- VULETA Louis - NZL, +29.087
- DESCALZO Facundo - ARG, +30.499
- BARKE Alex - NZL, +30.827
- EBDON Jake - GBR, +31.194
- ARBLASTER Will - AUS, +32.155
- JOHANSON Robert - EST, +32.799
- GOMBALA Oliver - SVK, +32.945
- VANIN GIASSON Ismael - BRA, +48.427
- McCONVILLE Milton - CAN, +54.834
- BONILLA MEDINA Adrian Felipe - COL, +55.628
- AKIMOTO Takumi - JPN, DNF
- BAECHLER Yannick - SUI, DNF
- GAJDOSECH Gonzalo - ARG, DSQ
- CORNEY Ethan - AUS, DNS
- HAWKESBY-BROWNE Finn - NZL, DNS
Top 20 times with Splits
Junior Women's 2019 World Championships Downhill Race Results
- HOLL Valentina - AUT, 5:01.033
- JOHNSET Mille - NOR, 12.928
- NEWKIRK Anna - USA, 21.230
- GIMENEZ Nastasia - FRA, 38.316
- SCOTT Jordan - USA, 46.863
- MURRAY Fiona - NZL, 47.412
- VOYSEY Cassie - AUS, 52.679
- CHAPPAZ Lauryne - FRA, 54.002
- THIES Sabine - RSA, 1:31.874
- MERTEN McKenna - IRL, 1:33.916
- ERTEL Amy - CAN, 1:34.979
- PARHAM Autumn - USA, 1:50.583
- GOLDSTONE Bailey - CAN, DNF
- SKRYPNEK Madison - CAN, DNF
View replies to: FINAL RESULTS: 🏁 ️2019 UCI Mountain Bike World Championships Downhill, Mont-Sainte-Anne ️🌈
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