HÖLL AND BRUNI STORM TO OVERALL VICTORY IN THE UCI DOWNHILL WORLD CUP 2024 ON STUNNING DAY FOR FRENCH RIDERS IN LOUDENVIELLE – PEYRAGUDES

Filthy conditions greeted the riders, alongside one of the biggest crowds of the season, and Marine Cabirou (Canyon CLLCTV Factory Team) responded in the women’s Elite race with a morale-boosting run to the hotseat. However, on a course where every corner offered the chance to gain or lose seconds, the contest came down to the familiar battle between Hemstreet and Valentina Höll (YT MOB). Meanwhile, Dunne celebrated his return to the WHOOP UCI Mountain Bike World Series in the best way possible while Loïc Bruni (Specialized Gravity) gained on overall leader Jackson Goldstone (Santa Cruz Syndicate) but failed to land a knockout blow following the Canadian’s crash. And facing the worst conditions of the day, Max Alran (Commencal/Muc-Off by Riding Addiction) and Rosa Zierl (CUBE Factory Racing) won the men’s and women’s Junior races to boost their UCI Downhill World Cup leads.   DUNNE CLAIMS COMEBACK WIN FOR THE AGES IN LES GETS Goldstone felt the total crushing pressure of a UCI World Cup title fight for the first time in France after a tough Friday where he was forced to reach the final through Q2 after hitting the deck in his opening run, and his crash in exactly the same place in the final meaning he fell to sixteenth overall.    Loris Revelli the first down the ramp and attacked the course aggressively, taking both feet off the pedals to steady himself at one stage, but it was Troy Brosnan (Canyon CLLCTV Factory Team) who set the first real benchmark, celebrating a century of UCI Downhill World Cup appearances. Wearing a bold all-white outfit, Brosnan needed a big performance to offset the wrath of the team kit manager and he produced one - beating the best time by nine seconds to go straight into the hot seat. Several riders crashed attempting to beat Brosnan’s time including Goldstone, who hopped over the root that brought him down in Q1 but caught another one as he landed and was on the floor before he could react, looking animated in his debrief with mud still caking his face. Andreas Kolb (YT MOB) was the first serious challenge to the centurion and made it count, flying down the opening section then holding that advantage all the way to the line to put well over a second into Brosnan and spark tearful celebrations from team staff.  It looked like that joy would be short-lived when Amaury Pierron (Commencal/Muc-Off By Riding Addiction) made a rapid start to his run but he was undone in a somersault crash, and it wasn’t until Martin Maes (Orbea/FMD Racing) rolled off the ramp with only five more riders to go that the Austrian was beaten. Over 1.5 seconds back at the last intermediate split, Maes produced the best finish of the day to stun Kolb by a tenth of a second, and Bruni had no answer to the Belgian.  Dunne did though, lighting up the timing screens from the very first split as he scorched his way to a second UCI World Cup win - the first time an Irishman has achieved that feat.  “Words can’t describe how this feels, it’s been such a rough season and all I’ve been thinking about for the past weeks has been doing well at this race and showing everyone I can still win a race,” Dunne said. “I go by the motto ‘helicopter or win’, or ‘helicopter or podium’ and I lived up to the name in La Thuile, and here we took a win.”  Meanwhile Bruni’s fifth-place finish means he’s slashed 112 points from Goldstone now but failed to wrestle the leader’s jersey from the Canadian. “That was the toughest race I’ve ever done for sure,” Goldstone said. “It was rowdy the whole way down and I couldn’t even stay on the bike. “Somehow still clinged onto the green jersey which is pretty cool so the fact I’m in it with a crash and two bad races is really positive. We’ve just got to go full beans from here and try and beat Loïc.” HEMSTREET HOLDS NERVE TO DOWN HӦLL ONCE AGAIN Cabirou needed the repechage to qualify for the Finals in Les Gets, Haute-Savoie but made it count, maximising the conditions she received as one of the first women’s Elite riders off the ramp before the run had been churned up by subsequent competitors. Despite the sun slowly pushing its way up the valley, that drying was offset by riders beating through the mud every minute and only Tahnée Seagrave (Orbea/FMD Racing) came seriously close to challenging the Frenchwoman before the final runs. In similar conditions to the Bielsko-Biała (Poland) 2025 season opener won by Seagrave, the Brit pushed hard through the early section and was three seconds ahead with just one intermediate split to go. However, Seagrave was riding through treacle once she left the forest behind and lost almost five seconds from there to the line. Jess Blewitt (CUBE Factory Racing) went down within a couple of corners, while Santa Cruz Syndicate’s Nina Hoffmann hit the deck on the very next run and crossed the line 18 seconds down yet still finished provisionally fifth with only four riders to go - illustrating the massive gaps created by the muddy conditions. Both riders had better luck than Sacha Earnest (Trek Factory Racing) though, the New Zealander crashed in training ahead of the final and suffered a separated AC joint. Gloria Scarsi (MS-Racing) brought green fleetingly back to the timing screen but as has been the case so often this season, Hemstreet and Höll took centre stage on the final two runs. Like Seagrave, Höll was up all the way through the trees, not as aggressive as her rival but carrying more speed on corner exit and she looked set to finally break her 2025 UCI World Cup drought. But the UCI World Champion looked in disbelief as she slid to a stop after the finish line, having gone behind by tenths of a second at the final split, then slipping to third behind Cabirou and Hemstreet who takes her fourth win of the season. “I don’t even know, I can’t believe that,” Hemstreet said. “I’m actually not a mud rider. I felt super slow up top so I thought ‘I’d rather just crash’ and go in as hot as I can rather than bring it back a bit. It was really tough.” Hemstreet now sits just 59 points behind Höll at the top of the UCI World Cup standings and the overall leader was downbeat afterwards.  JUNIORS LEADERS TAKE VICTORY IN CONTRASTING STYLES Zierl pulled off a nail-biting victory in a women’s Junior race that took a host of casualties, most importantly Aletha Ostgaard (Canyon CLLCTV Factory Team) on the penultimate run. Zierl had gone fastest by 22 seconds, but Ostgaard looked set to immediately knock her off that perch, going fastest at every intermediate split. But her three-second evaporated when she took a wrong turn navigating the final jumps, skewing to the left of a gate meaning the American needed to dismount to get herself back on course and dropped to second. And with fastest qualifier Cassandre Peizerat unable to match Zierl, that 20-point swing means the Austrian now holds a 65-point lead in the standings. “I don’t know how I came down here, that was probably the wildest run of my life! I nearly crashed five times or even more,” Zierl said. “Unfortunately, most of the other girls crashed, I just rode down. I stayed in the ruts, tried to go as slowly as possible.” Max Alran didn’t have anything like those issues as he extended his lead in the men’s Junior standings with a run faster than Dunne’s winning time. The last rider off the ramp immediately went green in his home race and finished the run four seconds ahead of Asa Vermette (Frameworks Racing/5Dev) having been first at every split. Almost as impressive as the last run of the final was the first though. Tyler Waite (Yeti/FOX Factory Race Team) had a disappointing qualifying and this looked like it could be the round that derailed the Kiwi’s overall ambitions as he trailed home 20th at 23 seconds back. Yet he set the tone on a drying course and only Vermette and Alran would beat him, meaning Waite leaves France only 29 points behind the UCI World Cup leader. “It feels insane, I’m cooked right because it was super super physical”, Alran said. “Just battling to the end, I made it to the bottom without too many mistakes and had a good run, just super happy. "My friends are here, my parents are here, to win here is just incredible. We have an insane crowd.” The action continues in Les Gets, Haute-Savoie with the UCI Cross-county Olympic World Cup rounding out the weekend’s action on Sunday. Hemstreet, Zierl, Alran and the rest of the downhill pack will next feature in the WHOOP UCI Mountain Bike World Series in Switzerland’s Bike Kingdom - Lenzerheide in three weeks’ time, after the UCI Mountain Bike World Championships in Valais.

Valentina Höll (YT MOB) and Loïc Bruni (Specialized Gravity) kicked off the final stretches of their WHOOP UCI Mountain Bike World Series title defences in fine style in Les Gets, Haute-Savoie (France) as the UCI Downhill World Cup returned from a seven-week holiday with a bang in Qualifications.  The top two riders in the women’s Elite standings will be the last pair off the ramp in the Les Gets, Haute-Savoie Finals as Höll and Gracey Hemstreet (Norco Race Division) were a class above the rest of the field, with the Canadian trailing by two seconds and no other riders within 10 seconds of the UCI World Champion. Rémi Thirion (Giant Factory Off-Road Team - DH) was the surprise face delighting home fans as the fastest elite male qualifier ahead of Mondraker Factory Racing DH’s Ronan Dunne, but third-placed Bruni could be happier than either of them. With overall leader Jackson Goldstone (Santa Cruz Syndicate) 30th on his first run, over 10 seconds behind his main rival in Q1, Bruni closed his gap to just 107 points ahead of the main event tomorrow. But it could’ve been much worse for the Canadian. GOLDSTONE LIVES TO FIGHT ANOTHER DAY WITH WORK TO DO Goldstone had a nightmare first run and was forced to ride again in Q2 to reach the Les Gets Finals, as the UCI Downhill World Cup leader returned from the summer break looking a shadow of the rider who lit up the first half of the season. On a run of four victories and a second place in his last five rounds, Goldstone did at least survive Q2 but was almost seven seconds behind CUBE Factory Racing’s pacesetter Max Harternstern, indicating improvement is needed if he’s to head to Bike Kingdom - Lenzerheide (Switzerland) next time out as still the man to beat. While Thirion was comfortably ahead of Dunne who enjoyed a similar advantage to Bruni, the field was impossibly tight behind that with the entire top 20 in Q1 separated by a meagre eight seconds. DAUNTLESS HӦLL REMAINS IN CONTROL  Höll was fastest through three of the four immediate time checks as only Lisa Baumann (Commencal Schwalbe by Les Orres) could interrupt her dominances - the 24-year-old crashed further down the course but came through Q2. Meanwhile Hemstreet started sluggishly but got faster and faster as she surged down the mountainside to clinch second and now trails Höll by 129 points, while Gloria Scarsi (MS-Racing) was best of the rest in third. Tahnée Seagrave (Orbea / FMD Racing), the only other elite woman on four figures overall, had a more difficult afternoon. Without any major incidents, Seagrave crossed the finish line 21 seconds behind Höll and saw her deficit in the standings stretch to 230 points.   Marine Cabirou (Canyon CLLCTV Factory Team) will also take to the startline on Saturday after the home favourite survived a Q2 scare. She was third in the repecharge, finishing with an almost identical time to Höll while Sacha Earnest (Trek Factory Racing DH) was seven seconds quicker on her second run. JUNIOR FAVOURITES TUMBLE DOWN ORDER The men’s Junior picture is as it were last time out in Pal Arinsal - Andorra, with Commencal/Muc-Off by Riding Addiction’s Max Alran leading the pack ahead of Asa Vermette (Frameworks Racing/5Dev). On home trails, Alran was almost five seconds ahead of the American while his main title rival had a nightmare.   Tyler Waite was down in 20th for Yeti/FOX Factory Race Team, while women’s Junior overall leader didn’t have a smooth qualifying either - Rosa Zierl (CUBE Factory Racing) finished fourth but was 10 seconds behind Aletha Ostgaard (Canyon CLLCTV Factory Team), her main rival. However, it was France’s Cassandre Peizerat who qualified in first. The final French round of the season continues tomorrow with the UCI Downhill World Cup Finals, as the junior action kicks off at 10:50 CEST and the elite racing gets underway just after midday.

After an Enduro series finale in Morillon, Haute-Savoie, the WHOOP UCI Mountain Bike World Series stays in the French Alps with the UCI Cross-country and Downhill World Cups taking to the nearby trails of Les Gets, Haute-Savoie. We look at everything you need to know about the Les Gets, Haute-Savoie round of the WHOOP UCI Mountain Bike World Series, including when the Cross-county Short Track (XCC), Cross-country Olympic (XCO) and Downhill events are scheduled to take place, who is racing, and how to watch. WHEN? The 2025 WHOOP UCI Mountain Bike World Series round in Les Gets, Haute-Savoie (France) starts with the Women Under 23 Cross-country Short Track at 09:45 (UTC+2) on Friday, August 29 and concludes with the Men Elite UCI Cross-country Olympic World Cup at 15:00 (UTC+2) on Sunday, August 31. Below are the key timings for race weekend. All times are UTC+2 (EST+6/BST+1/CEST): Friday, August 29 09:45 – UCI Cross-country Short Track World Cup | Women U23 10:35 – UCI Cross-country Short Track World Cup | Men U23 18:00 – UCI Cross-country Short Track World Cup | Women Elite 18:40 – UCI Cross-country Short Track World Cup | Men Elite 12:45 – UCI Downhill World Cup | Qualification 1 Women Elite 13:15 – UCI Downhill World Cup | Qualification 1 Men Elite 14:25 – UCI Downhill World Cup | Qualification Women Junior 14:50 – UCI Downhill World Cup | Qualification Men Junior 15:45 – UCI Downhill World Cup | Qualification 2 Women Elite 16:10 – UCI Downhill World Cup | Qualification 2 Men Elite Saturday, August 30 10:50 – UCI Downhill World Cup | Finals Women Junior 11:15 – UCI Downhill World Cup | Finals Men Junior 12:10 – UCI Downhill World Cup | Finals Women Elite 13:10 – UCI Downhill World Cup | Finals Men Elite        Sunday, August 31 09:00 – UCI Cross-country Olympic World Cup | Women U23 11:00 – UCI Cross-country Olympic World Cup | Men U23 13:00 – UCI Cross-country Olympic World Cup | Women Elite 15:00 – UCI Cross-country Olympic World Cup | Men Elite WHERE CAN I WATCH? There will be several ways to watch the action unfold at the last French rounds of the 2025 season.   The UCI Downhill World Cup Qualification day can be followed on live timing and across social media. For the seventh UCI Cross-country Olympic, Cross-country Short Track and Downhill World Cups of the season, you can watch the finals live anywhere in the world. Both the Men Junior and Women Junior UCI Downhill World Cup races will be broadcast live on discovery+ (in front of paywall), HBO Max* (in front of the sports add-on) and MTBWS TV (included in subscription), while the Elite finals will be shown on one of the below channels or streaming services: North America Canada – Flosports USA – HBO Max South & Central America All Central and South American territories – MTBWS TV Caribbean – Rushsports Asia Indonesia, Macao, Malaysia, Mongolia, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand – Eurosport China - Zhibo.TV (Only Elite Downhill races live) All other Asian territories – MTBWS TV Oceania Australia – Stan Sport New Zealand – MTBWS TV Africa All African territories – MTBWS TV Europe Andorra – HBO Max, Eurosport, ATV Austria – discovery+, Eurosport Belgium – HBO Max, Eurosport, LN24 (Only Elite XCO races live) Bosnia & Herzegovina – Max, Eurosport Bulgaria – HBO Max, Eurosport Croatia – HBO Max, Eurosport Czechia – HBO Max, Eurosport, CT Sport+ (only Elite XCO and XCC races live) Denmark – HBO Max, Eurosport Faroe Islands – HBO Max, Eurosport France – HBO Max, Eurosport and La Chaine L’Equipe (only Elite XCC and XCO races live) Germany – discovery+, Eurosport Hungary – HBO Max, Eurosport Ireland – TNT Sports Italy – discovery+, Eurosport Moldova – HBO Max, Eurosport Montenegro – HBO Max, Eurosport Netherlands – HBO Max, Eurosport North Macedonia – HBO Max, Eurosport Norway – HBO Max, Eurosport Poland – HBO Max, Eurosport Portugal – HBO Max, Eurosport Romania – HBO Max, Eurosport Serbia – HBO Max, Eurosport Slovakia – HBO Max, Eurosport Slovenia – HBO Max, Eurosport Spain – HBO Max, Eurosport Sweden – HBO Max, Eurosport Switzerland – MTBWS TV , SRF/RSI (only Elite XCO and XCC races live online) Türkiye – HBO Max, Eurosport United Kingdom – discovery+, TNT Sports All other European territories – MTBWS TV RIDERS TO WATCH In Downhill, all eyes are on the battle between Jackson Goldstone (Santa Cruz Syndicate) and Loïc Bruni (Specialized Gravity). The pair have shared the spoils so far this season – Goldstone leading Bruni four wins to two – but the Frenchman’s victory in Pal Arinsal (Andorra) last time out brought an end to the Canadian’s record winning streak. With four rounds remaining in the series, every point and place takes on even greater importance in the title race. Whatever happens, it’s likely to be an all-French affair with the last non-native to win at Les Gets, Haute-Savoie, Steve Peat back in 2002. Amaury Pierron (Commencal/Muc-Off by Riding Addiction), Thibaut Daprela (Rogue Racing - SR Suntour), Bruni and Benoît Coulanges (Scott Downhill Factory) have all won at the venue since it rejoined the UCI Downhill World Cup circuit in 2019, and are all in with a shot during Saturday’s finale. While the home riders haven’t been as dominant in the women’s field, expect Marine Cabirou (Canyon CLLCTV Factory Team) and Myriam Nicole (Commencal/Muc-Off by Riding Addiction) to give the partisan crowd something to cheer about. Elsewhere, series leader Valentina Höll’s (YT Mob) search for a win continues but with four second-places this year it’s only a matter of time for the Austrian, while Tahnée Seagrave (Orbea/FMD Racing) and Gracey Hemstreet (Norco Race Division) look the most likely to challenge the reigning UCI Downhill World Champion for top spot. Either side of the Downhill action is the Friday’s XCC and Sunday’s XCO, with both series getting interesting as they near their conclusion. Previously, it was hard to look beyond Christopher Blevins (Specialized Factory Racing) and Puck Pieterse (Alpecin-Deceuninck) in the XCC, but both riders’ winning streaks came to an end at altitude in Pal Arinsal. While the pair will be aiming to bounce back, they’ve shown that they’re not infallible. In the men’s field, Luca Martin (Cannondale Factory Racing) became the only rider to get the better of Blevins all year, and he’ll be fired up to repeat the feat in front of a home crowd. Alessandra Keller (Thömus Maxon) meanwhile showed that she shouldn’t be overlooked in the overall series, and will be aiming to catch series leader Evie Richards (Trek Factory Racing - Pirelli) on a course where she won in 2024. On Sunday, Martin and Blevins will once again be in contention, while the American’s teammate Martin Vidaurre Kossman (Specialized Factory Racing) will be targeting a return to the XCO podium. Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) is another likely to be contesting the win as the Dutchman switches to mountain bike ahead of his tilt at next weekend’s XCO race at the UCI Mountain Bike World Championships. The race will also be Nino Schurter’s (Scott-SRAM MTB Racing Team) penultimate UCI XCO World Cup – the Swiss G.O.A.T announcing that he plans to retire at the next round in Bike Kingdom - Lenzerheide (Switzerland). The 39-year-old has won at Les Gets, Haute-Savoie twice in his storied career, including at the 2022 UCI Mountain Bike World Championships, and few would bet against him making it a fairytale ending with a third this year. In the women’s field, attention falls to a rider at the other end of her career – Samara Maxwell (Decathlon Ford Racing Team). The New Zealander is enjoying her breakthrough year with two wins and four second places so far and appears to be unassailable in the overall series. A result in France would make the title a foregone conclusion. The rider with the best shot at stopping her is Pieterse. The Dutchwoman returns to mountain biking after a quiet Tour de France Femmes by her own standards, and will be hoping to get back to winning ways after a disappointing weekend in Pal Arinsal.  Racing gets underway on Friday, August 29 in Les Gets, Haute-Savoie. Full schedule and event details are available HERE.