It’s all go in Austria for the Leogang World Cup as riders battle to make finals tomorrow on this rejuvenated track.
What chat there was about the track slowing down has been thrown to the wind times failed to look any different and the gaps between riders were just as tight. Find out who did what in qualifying at the Leogang World Cup today in the article below.
Elite Men.
Photo by Rae McKenzie.Greg Minnaar has cast his qualifying doubts aside and has posted the fastest time of the day in Leogang, pipping his team mate Loris Vergier to the post by a measly 0.166 seconds.
Interestingly enough, Loris was ahead on all four splits, only to lose the lead between the last split and the finish.
Troy Brosnan kept things at the sharp end with a third, 1.6 seconds back on Minnaar, with Fort William winner Amaury Pierron in fourth, a whisker behind the Australian.
What is mental about Elite Men’s qualifying was that the top 60 were separated by 9.5 seconds. That is easily one of the smallest qualifying gaps we can remember.
Elite Women.
Photo by Rae McKenzie.UR Team’s Tracey Hannah shows that she’s on the pace with yet another qualifying win to help take the fight to Rachel Atherton’s title defence. Half a second separated the two downhill veterans, so expect them to go head-to-head again. Will Atherton up her game and take the win, or can Hannah mix things with a win in Austria?
Nina Hoffman showed that her speed in Scotland was no fluke and came in third, some five seconds back with Marine Cabirou in fourth. Raphaela Richter rounded out the top five.
Junior Men.
Photo by Rae McKenzie.Commencal/Vallnord’s Thibaut Daprela tightened his grip on the Junior Men’s overall with yet another win in qualifying, while his closest rivals could only manage fourth or worse.
Canyon Factory Racing’s Kye A’Hern closest but could only manage fourth, while Matteo Iniguez would take second, 2.7 back, with Joey Foresta in third just a sniff behind second. Jamie Edmonson rounded out the top 5, four seconds adrift of Daprela.
Junior Women.
Vali Holl made good her second place in Fort William by taking a resounding qualifying win on home soil. The Austrian put over eighteen seconds into round 2’s winner Anna Newkirk, with Mille Johnset another three back in third.
