Today was the turn of the Elite men and women to duke it out for the coveted Rainbow stripes and the 2024 UCI Downhill World Championship title.
Andorra once again provided some thrilling racing for the 2024 World Championships. What. A. Race.
Elite Women
Myriam Nicole’s would be the first to beat her own winning qualifying time by three seconds as we got into the top ten qualifiers in Andorra. Hemstreet, Baumann and Seagrave would get close but no cigar.
In the end, barely anything would separate Myriam Nicole and Vali Höll on track. Both would be looking to take their third Elite World Champs title. Myriam Nicole would occupy the hotseat for a fair part of the afternoon, with rider after rider not getting close.
In the end, it would be the young Austrian who would take the win in the final split with just over half a second the good. Tahnee Seagrave would round out the podium in third.
Not only is this Vali’s third win, it’s three in a row.
Elite Men
Belgian powerhouse Martin Maes would set a hot finals time, just a couple of seconds shy of Bruni’s qualifier and would keep the hot seat warm a while on his custom Orbea Wild. American Austin Dooley but his stint in the hotseat would be one rider long as Angel Suarez pipped him. Bruni’s qualifier would not yet fall with over 25 riders to go.
Alonso would keep the hotseat his for a fair old while, with Minnaar not coming close but getting a rapturous applause. It doesn’t look like the track is getting any quicker here.
Danny Hart… The Redcar Rocket looked to be losing time at the top but built into his run, going from 1.3 back to a full second up at the finish. He’d be the first rider to go faster than Bruni’s qualifier.
Pierron would go immediately green, but remember, Hart was faster on the lower slopes… What can the big Frenchman do? Second by 0.174… Danny is the man to beat in the final sectors. 13 to go and plenty of fast riders in that number.
Remi Thirion goes green in S2 and S3, but Danny Hart’s lower sectors see him drop full seconds to the Continental GT Racing man. Defending champion Charlie Hatton couldn’t replicate his run from 2023.
With ten to go, Danny Hart’s time would stand, with few able to get close to his lower sectors that have floored many other riders who were well up on the higher slopes. Ronan Dunne loses over a second to Hart in the last sector and goes third over the line.
Benoit Coulanges would be the first rider to not hemorrhage time to Hart and go into the hotseat by a tenth of a second. The quiet Frenchman getting the job done when it mattered. Oisin O’Callaghan would lose the front in the first rock section. Game over.
Finn Iles goes second by a whisker. After going green at all the splits, he’d go 0.021 back once he crossed the line. Five to go. The top five would be separated by less than a second. Luca Shaw wasn’t hanging about but goes more than two seconds back over the line.
Loris Vergier would displace his compatriot, having gone green, he’d be half a second back between S4 and the finish, to go fastest by a 0.021. Top three separated by 0.135. Dak Norton would make a good go at Vergier’s time with four green splits, only to slide low just before popping out of the woods. He would be the only person to gain time in that last split. Gutted.
Andi Kolb would be one of the few top ranked riders to not go green on any splits. Not his day and no repeat of his silver at last year’s Worlds. Only Bruni can ruin Vergier’s day now. Who of these best of friends would come out on top? Will we have another all-French Worlds podium?
Bruni would extend his S1 lead to over half a second at S2, growing to 1.8 seconds at S3 then disaster. Bruni started to lose the front as he exits the woods onto the piste… The first thing Bruni did when he crossed the line was congratulate Loris. What a gent.
Loris Vergier is your 2024 UCI Downhill World Champion.
