FINAL RESULTS: 🏁 2019 Les Gets World Cup Downhill 5

Feet out, bikes drifting - the limits of speed and traction on a mountain bike reach new heights today in Les Gets, France, leaving us totally speechless after an unbelievable race.

iceman2058

7/13/2019 2:48am

s1600 Screen Shot 2019 07 13 at 7.51.19 AM 885945

Despite threats (or promises) of overnight rain and the presence of a few ominous clouds on race day morning, the track was as dusty and dry as ever when the action got underway. Vali Holl and Thibaut Daprela delivered emphatic victories as per usual, such results are obviously never a foregone conclusion although it has certainly felt that way at times this season. Thibaut came down with about the same time as his winning qualifier, while Vali took 5 seconds off her qualifying effort to secure a 12-second victory with a time that was one second faster than Tracey's winning time in Elite Women's qualifying yesterday - and would have been enough to take the win in today's finals as well! 2020 Elite Women's field, you've been warned!

Vali Holl Post-Race Interview

After the rash of injuries that has severely decimated the Elite Women's field this season, all eyes were on Tracey Hannah. She said she wasn't planning on taking any major risks to avoid adding her name to the list of ladies watching from the sidelines, but she still had to commit to her run to keep her challengers at bay. Mariana Salazar and Marine Cabirou attacked hard to stake their respective claims to the hotseat, but a mistake-free run from Tracey saw her take her second World Cup win in as many races and prove to herself that she can keep it together when it matters.

Tracey Hannah in qualifying.

Elite Men's live update posts below:

In a bid to get Sven Martin's eyebrows shaved, Brendan Fairclough was the early pace setter with a 3:01 on flat pedals and stoked. He knocked 6 seconds off his qualifying time and forced Sven, who was trackside, to google whether eyebrows grow back if shaved. They have a bet that if Brendan makes the Worlds team, Sven will shave his eyebrows. A Top 10 at Les Gets is almost a guarantee for a Worlds selection.
Thomas Estaque was on flyer and lost his chain, but came close only .664 back.
There was a gap of riders in touch until David Trummer almost took out Fairclough with a solid run, but was still .447 behind at the finish. Fairclough keeps the hot seat hot with 16 riders remaining.
Laurie Greenland was the first to come down and take Brendan off the hot seat. An active, exuberant run took him to 3 minutes flat, over a second faster than Fairclough. Laurie is back and ultimately
Mike Jones and Finn Iles went down with 8 riders remaining and Brendan in 2nd guaranteeing a Top 10 and Sven with no eyebrows!
Greg Minnaar had a run to challenge the lead through the top of the course but just slowly lost it through the bottom.
Loris Vergier, to deafening screams from the French crowd, pushed through the woods but just didn't have it to edge Greenland out of the hot seat. He finished 1 second behind Laurie with 4 to go.
Danny Hart, holy crap, as loose as possible with the front wheel spitting dirt at 40 mph in one of the first corners. Despite the excitement, he was considerably off pace with Warner and Claudio speculating a possible tire leak and a time that well off the top paces. It turns out Danny went out of the tape at the top, off camera, resulting in a DSQ.
Troy Brosnan, on his 26th birthday was in touch the entire way down the course, clean and precise. He just didn't have it, however and couldn't take Laurie down. This ended up being the first race of 2019 with Troy out of the Top 3.
Loic Bruni is untouchable. He was precise and controlled all while letting bike drift with his foot out in critical corners. An unforgettable run took him over a second ahead of Greenland into first place with only Amaury remaining.
If Loic Bruni is untouchable, Amaury Pierron is not human. Not one single f*&k given during a wild, loose, roost-spitting, tire-drifting, crowd-roaring run. Amaury Pierron won by a whopping 2.35 seconds making it a French 1-2 on Bastille day. "I think that was my limit," Amaury said in a post-race interview. Amaury's win and Troy's 4th leave them tied for 2nd place in the overall!