RESULTS ⚡⚡ ALL HELL BREAKS LOOSE! Qualifying, 2019 Val di Sole World Cup DH 7

Lightning strikes, mud and chaos during qualifying at the 2019 UCI Mountain Bike World Cup Downhill in Val di Sole, Italy.

sspomer

8/2/2019 7:03am

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Val di Sole, Italy, is possibly the most terrifying UCI Mountain Bike World Cup Downhill track on the circuit with big rocks, massive holes and a very steep pitch from top to bottom. Today during race qualification, the terror was amplified as the skies opened up with thunder, lightning and heavy rain. John Lawlor, who was filming Vital RAW this morning, explained that it was basically dry, just like in yesterday's training, despite an early drizzle which left exposed sections a bit slick early on. Junior Women, Junior Men and Elite Women enjoyed dry conditions for their qualifying runs. Tracey Hannah went fastest over Marine Cabirou by 1.4 seconds in Elite Women. Canada clocked some results in the Junior Men's class. Elliot Jamieson went fastest with fellow countryman, Seth Sherlock, just .2 behind in 2nd. Series leader, Thibaut Daprela, was down in 38th, crashing after being in the lead at the first split. Vali Holl went fastest in Junior Women's seeding, but Mille Johnset was hot on her heels, just 2.5 seconds back. Anna Newkirk struggled but held it for 3rd, 24 seconds off the pace.

By the time the Elite Men had to charge for the clock, the weather reared its ugly head. The first 40 riders down the mountain are the highest ranked, and they had the worst conditions of all in a torrential downpour. Sven Martin reports that lightning shut down the lift and may have taken out the timing system during the Elite Men's qualifying session. Joe Bowman reported seeing Luca Shaw, Charlie Harrison and Finn Iles all catching each other. "It's fucking madness," he said.

Standout performances in the conditions include Amaury Pierron in 6th and Brook Macdonald in 5th. Amaury, who is currently tied for 2nd in the overall with Troy Brosnan ,will earn valuable series points over Troy who qualified 16th. Sven reports that Brook sent the gnarliest gap on the course in the pouring rain - a mind-blowing feat. Joe Breeden of the UK capitalized on the slick conditions and qualified in 1st place with Italy's Davide Palazzari in 2nd and Faustin Figaret in 3rd. The #denimdestroyer and privateer, Johannes Von Klebelsberg, posted up a solid 9th place result after getting a re-run. The stack of DNF and DNS results is tall on the sheet today, and finals tomorrow will showcase a lot of riders not normally seen on the live webcast.