Canadians Gracey Hemstreet (Norco Race Division) and Jackson Goldstone (Santa Cruz Syndicate) continue to make waves in the Downhill scene, clocking the fastest qualifying times for tomorrow’s UCI Downhill World Cup Finals in La Thuile - Valle d’Aosta, Italy.
Hemstreet, aged 20, has won two UCI Downhill World Cup rounds already this season, but this was the first time she has qualified fastest. Meanwhile, 21-year-old Goldstone leads the Men Elite UCI Downhill World Cup overall standings and qualified quickest for the second time this season.
The alpine ski town of La Thuile - Valle d’Aosta is hosting the UCI Downhill World Cup for the first time and the specially designed track is set to provide some exciting racing. The technical, steep and fast 2.3-kilometre downhill course has an average gradient of -27% as it drops 641 metres in elevation. Both Hemstreet and Goldstone took advantage of the fast, flowing white-knuckle ride down towards the finish line as they set fastest times in the final sector to go quickest.
Meanwhile, the new qualifying format for this season made for intense racing. Fourth placed overall rider in the Men Elite UCI Downhill World Cup standings, Amaury Pierron (Commencal/Muc-Off By Riding Addiction), suffered difficulties in Q1 and narrowly booked his finals place in Q2, along with Jordan Williams (Specialized Gravity).
In the women’s and men’s Junior UCI Downhill World Cup categories Rosa Zierl (Cube Factory Racing) and Asa Vermette (Frameworks Racing/5DEV) impressed by posting the quickest time in their respective events.
HEMSTREET FINISHES QUICKLY TO POST QUICKEST TIME
A blistering final section was enough for Hemstreet to overcome her rivals to finish quickest qualifier. The Canadian was also the fastest qualifier in Saalfelden Leogang – Salzburgerland (Austria) before placing fourth in the finals the following day. On this occasion, she was just 11th quickest in the opening split and was over a second behind her rivals before battling back to post the fastest time.
One of the non-starters at the new downhill venue was fourth placed rider overall Anna Newkirk (Frameworks Racing/5DEV) after having surgery on her hand. Also choosing not to start in La Thuile - Valle d’Aosta was Harriet Harnden (AON Racing- Tourne Campervans) following a crash in practice.
Experienced British rider Tahnee Seagrave (Orbea/FMD Racing) won the opening round of the series in Bielsko-Biała (Poland) but had a tough ride two weeks ago in Val di Sole – Trentino (Italy) when a crash resulted in a 15th place finish, damaging her overall hopes.
Seagrave was determined for revenge and set the quickest time through the opening three sectors and was over two seconds quicker than Hemstreet. However, Hemstreet hit back with a blistering fourth sector to overturn the deficit and then stretched her advantage out to stop the clock in 4:04.9 - beating Seagrave into second by +1.13 seconds.
Swiss rider Camille Balanche will be looking for her first podium finish of the season in tomorrow’s final. The Yeti/Fox Factory Race Team rider was in the mix for quickest qualifier and held the fastest time after the fourth split, before struggling through to final section, to qualify third fastest and 1.549 seconds behind Hemstreet.
UCI Downhill World Cup overall leader and UCI World Champion, Valentina Höll (YT Mob) is looking for her first win of this year’s series. The Austrian rider, who finished runner-up in Val di Sole, had a consistent qualifying run to finish fourth and just +2.4 seconds behind.
Quickest in Q2 to book their place in tomorrow’s final was Phoebe Gale (Orbea/FMD Racing) who stopped the clock in 4:14.5.
GOLDSTONE OVERCOMES CHALLENGE TO GO FASTEST
Goldstone recorded a perfect weekend two weeks ago in Val di Sole – Trentino by qualifying quickest and winning the event. The Santa Cruz Syndicate rider has a healthy lead in the UCI Downhill World Cup overall standings following three wins from the opening five events.
The lightweight rider has been forced to battle back against his more powerful rivals already this season and it was a similar scenario in La Thuile - Valle d’Aosta. UCI World Champion and overall challenger Loïc Bruni (Specialized Gravity) had the perfect start to the weekend going quickest through the first half of the course and had a 1.1-second advantage over Goldstone. The fourth sector was costly for Bruni who slipped from leading down to fourth position.
Meanwhile, Luca Shaw (Canyon CLLCTV Factory Team) will be bidding for his first podium place of the season after setting a competitive qualifying time. The American was competing for the quickest time throughout and led after the fourth sector.
However, Goldstone went quickest through the final section to overturn a 0.8-second deficit to win in 3:33.7 – just 0.4 of a second faster than Shaw. Oisin O’Callaghan (YT Mob), a third 0.5 of a second behind Goldstone and Bruni, was fourth.
The depth of competition in the men’s Elite field meant that Amaury Pierron and Williams were punished for their mistakes in Q1 and had to battle through Q2 in a bid for a Finals spot.
With just 10 men qualifying from Q2, their place in tomorrow’s final was far from certain and Pierron risked losing vital points on his overall challengers. After a disastrous Q1 in which he finished 70th, Pierron was an early starter in the second round. Despite starting well, the Frenchman posted a time of 3:38.7 which made for a nervous wait.
Columbian rider Juan Fernando Muñoz (Axess Intense Factory Racing) was quickest in Q2 after posting a time of 3:35.7, while Williams was eight +2.5 seconds behind and Pierron claimed the final qualification spot in 10th.
ZIERL AND VERMETTE IMPRESS IN JUNIOR QUALIFYING
Men’s Junior UCI World Champion Vermette posted the quickest time in the Junior Downhill Qualifying.
The Frameworks Racing/5DEV rider has yet to win a round of this season’s UCI World Cup with podium finishes in the last two rounds.
With the men’s Junior Qualifying being closely fought, Vermette took the lead after a quick second sector and held on to a slender advantage – stopping the clock in 3:36.3.
Max Alran (Commencal/Muc-Off By Riding Addiction) leads the overall standings and finished quickly to finish second fastest 0.205 of a second behind. His twin brother Till Alran (Commencal/Muc-Off By Riding Addiction) won the previous round at Val di Sole – Trentino and qualified third quickest just +0.278 of a second slower then Vermette.
Meanwhile, Zierl came into the weekend with a healthy overall lead in the Women Junior UCI Downhill World Cup standings after taking wins in the previous two rounds.
Aletha Ostgaard (Canyon CLLCTV Factory Team) finished runner-up in both of the previous events and brought the challenge to the Austrian once again. Ostgaard had a slender lead through the opening two sectors before Zierl came fighting back to go quickest by 1.66 seconds in a time of 4:18.7.
Bellah Birchall (Team High Country) will be looking for her first podium finish of the season in tomorrow’s Finals after finishing third in qualifying +4.4 seconds behind the leading rider.
The WHOOP UCI Mountain Bike World Series continues in La Thuile - Valle d’Aosta tomorrow with the UCI Downhill World Cup Finals.
