Race Report: UCI MTB World Cup 2016 Round 1, Lourdes, France, 9-10 April
Times were surprisingly wide-spaced on this fast track…
Qualifying
Men’s Elite Qualifying Results
1 Loic Bruni 3.18.07
2 Josh Bryceland 3.23.74
+5.67
3 Gee Atherton 3.24.71
+6.64
4 Steve Smith 3.25.36
+7.28
5 Troy Brosnan 3.22.67
+8.84
25 Taylor Vernon 3.33.89
+15.2
In the Women’s qualifying race, it was a British 1, 2, 3
with Tahnee Seagrave taking the win by a 4.5 second margin, despite a crash! As
in the Men’s race speculation rose high – would this be Tahnee’s first World
Cup win as an Elite rider? Rachel qualified second, having “struggled to get
into race mode resulting in a less than 100% run” and Manon Carpenter qualified
in 3rd over 8 seconds back from Tahnee.
Women’s Elite Qualifying Results
1 Tahnee Seagrave 4.09.77
2 Rachel Atherton 4.13.09
+3.32
3 Manon Carpenter 4.18.06
+8.29
4 Emilie Siegenthaler 4.28.81
+19.04
5 Morgan Charre 4.36.56
+26.7
As the weathermen had predicted Finals day dawned sunny and
dry. The track was drying out fast but there were still slippery patches to
catch out the unsuspecting, especially during the Women’s race which was first
up.
Australian Tracey Hannah was in the hot seat when British
Manon Carpenter came on course. Manon kept good speed all the way, she looked
smooth and kept it safe, applying the brakes over the finish jump to cross the
line into the number 1 spot.
Second-place qualifier Rachel Atherton came on track wearing
the rainbow stripes of the reigning World Champion. As soon as she was out of
the gate it was obvious that she was riding faster than anyone else in the
field. She found a little more speed over the wall but stayed in perfect
control, going 6.6 seconds up by the first split. She looked very much in
control, stretching her lead to the best part of 10 seconds by split 5. Rachel
sent the final jump to cross the line over 10 seconds up. Only Tahnee Seagrave
was left on course.
Maybe feeling the pressure a little, Tahnee lost a bit of
speed in one of the first turns and was almost 5 seconds back on Rachel by
split 2. She rode the bottom part of the course fairly steadily to come into
second place.
So Rachel took her 27th World Cup, 10 years after her first
World Cup victory in Brazil and it was an awesome 1, 2, 3 for Great Britain!
Rachel said: “The crowd here have been absolutely wild! It
was gnarly how hard we had to push it. With the weather and the track changing
so much I wasn’t sure how much I could push! I knew that Tahnee had smoked us
in qualis, even with a crash so it was always going to be all or nothing, crash
or win!
Women’s Elite Finals Results
1 Rachel Atherton 3.50.38
2 Tahnee Seagrave 3.54.55
+4.47
3 Manon Carpenter 4.00.64
+10.25
4 Tracey Hannah 4.03.97
+13.59
5 Emilie Siegenthaler 4.12.19
+21.8
In the Men’s race, Taylor Vernon was a casualty of the
unpredictable conditions. His suspension set-up proved too soft for the drying
track but his eventual 32nd is his second best World Cup result to date so Team
Director Dan Brown was not down-hearted. Taylor said: “I regret not upping my spring
rate, it was way too soft. I’m disappointed not to match my quali result but
I’ve learnt from it.”
Aaron Gwin had qualified in 10th. He looked assured on his
new bike from YT from the second he left the gate, 1.1 seconds up by the first
split. He continued to stretch this advantage with an insanely fast mid-section
leaving the remaining 9 riders to go flat out or go home. Fourth-place qualifier Steve Smith got
closest with a smoking run that saw him cross the line 2.4 seconds back, enough
for 2nd place. Then Gee was on course. Uncharacteristically for him, he looked
to be on the brakes as he came down the wall (scene of his practice crash)
losing him a little time. After the race he said: “I was pleased enough with my
run but not with 7th place. I took it a little too easy in places today which
cost me.”
Second-placed qualifier Josh Bryceland edged Gee down as a
spot as he crossed in 6th then only Loic Bruni was left on course. Loic was on
fire, already a second up by split 1, making a mistake and dragging a foot but
immediately getting back the time! He set a blistering pace and looked certain
to take his first World Cup victory on home soil but a crash in the woods lost
enough time to push him back into 14th place. Aaron Gwin was the winner.
Men’s Elite Final Results
1 Aaron Gwin 3.09.13
2 Stevie Smith 3.11.60
+2.47
3 Danny Hart 3.11.81
+2.68
4 Troy Brosnan 3.13.28
+ 4.15
5 Amaury Pierron 3.13.44
+ 4.3
7 Gee Atherton 3.14.41
+5.28
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