Qualifying has gone down in Maribor, Slovenia for the third round of the UCI Downhill World Cup in all time dusty and hot conditions.
Summer time was in full effect in Maribor for qualifying day at round three of the 2021 UCI Downhill World Cup. Here’s who came out on top and bagged themselves a handy fifty points.
Junior Women
Canada’s Gracey Hemstreet pulled a blinder to take the qualifying win ahead of the usual Junior Women podium contenders, with Leona Perrini and Sophie Gutoerhle in the mix. Canyon’s Phoebe Gale rounded out the top 5.
Junior Men
Madison Saracen’s Jordan Williams backed up his National Champs win with a six and a half second win over Lachlan Stevens-McNab. GT Factory Racing’s Ethan Craik made it two Brits in the top three. Times behind Williams were tight, with second to sixth separated by two seconds.
Jordan Williams’ time would have put him 8th in Elite Men, one spot ahead of Loic Bruni.
Elite Women
In a pattern that seems familiar, Vali Höll took the Elite Women’s qualifying win, with Myriam Nicole 2.7 seconds back. Will either of these two stay on their bikes tomorrow or will Camille Balanche be waiting to sweep up? Eleonora Farina had a solid run for fourth, with your 2021 European Champ Monika Hrastnik rounding out the top five.
Great to see Mikayla Parton back in the mix after a niggling injury to bag 11th.
Elite Men
In another pattern that you might well be used to, Loris Vergier snuck in ahead of your Les Gets winner Thibaut Daprela by a mere 0.296 seconds. The two Frenchmen would be three seconds clear of Laurie Greenland, both him and fourth place Greg Minnaar losing the most ground between split four and the finish.
Matt Walker rounded out the top five, with Danny Hart in sixth making it three Brits in the top six.
French National Champ Benoit Coulanges was on a flyer but had issues between splits one and two, not completing his run. As a protected rider, he’ll be grand for finals unless a crash took him out of ceontention.
Riders out of action include Gwin who stayed in the states with a back injury, Dakotah Norton who has COVID, while on track, Wyn Masters and Bernard Kerr joined a long list of riders in the local hospital waiting room. Happy healing chaps.
Massive shout out to Dan Slack, slotting himself neatly into 11th behind Luca Shaw.
