UCI Mountain Bike World Cup

The Mercedes Benz UCI DH MTB World Cup reached its conclusion in La Bresse, France in less than ideal conditions. The rain that so affected qualifying the day before returned for finals, making the course super slick in places. This was no bad thing, with the track running faster than in qualifying as a result. For the Elite Women, the overall title still needed to be decided, while in the Elite Men's contest there was still the question of who would finish second to World Cup champion Amaury Pierron to settle, with up to five riders in contention for that spot. The weather started to clear up as the session went on, but this appeared to be at the disadvantage to the riders now coming down, as the muddy seemed to get a bit stickier. Times were slowing considerably, with huge amounts of time being lost by riders in the steep section in the middle of the course, where Maes had been incredibly fast.

Take a deep breath… the finals are upon us. Some titles remain up for grabs, champions-elect are yet to be crowned, but for the rest of the pros, it’s their last opportunity to claim a scalp or two before the UCI World Championships. They're officially calling last orders in the Last Chance Saloon and the stage is perfectly set for a classic! La Bresse seems to have a propensity for producing dramatic racing and historically significant results. In 2011, Aaron Gwin locked up the first of his back-to-back titles here with a third place. It sealed him the title for Trek Factory Racing with a round to spare. It was the first time an American had won the overall crown.

Take a deep breath… the finals are upon us. Some titles remain up for grabs, champions-elect are yet to be crowned, but for the rest of the pros, it’s their last opportunity to claim a scalp or two before the UCI World Championships. They're officially calling last orders in the Last Chance Saloon and the stage is perfectly set for a classic! La Bresse seems to have a propensity for producing dramatic racing and historically significant results. In 2011, Aaron Gwin locked up the first of his back-to-back titles here with a third place. It sealed him the title for Trek Factory Racing with a round to spare. It was the first time an American had won the overall crown. The race was won by none other than Greg Minnaar who beat Gee Atherton home for said victory. As far back as seven years ago it was the South African’s 52nd career podium and, almost unbelievably, his first premier class win in France. In the women’s DH race, Tracy Moseley stampeded home 4.9secs ahead of Floriane Pugin to put the Martin Whiteley-run Trek operation on it’s way to a clean sweep of the top honours. Of those women from that results sheet who are still racing, Rachel Atherton is the highest placed having captured a fourth.