Abetone, Italy, made it's first appearance to the iXS European Downhill Cup scene just last year, but is already one of the riders' favorite tracks. Deep in Tuscany, the Abetone course is one of the most demanding tracks on the circuit. The five-minute long track wasn't the only challenge to riders with heat over 32 degrees C on race day.
In the women field it was Veronika Widmann was up for a revenge and took a 12-second victory as payback for a 2nd at National Champs the weekend before. This time fellow Italian racer, Eleonora Farina, who had claimed the National Champs title, wasn't able to hold the speed of Widmann and settled for 2nd. Swiss rider Janine Hübscher took third in front of Abby Hogie and Lea Rutz.
Davide Palazzari was the man of the day. In front of his home crowd, the Italian fought hard and took the win by two seconds. Harry Molloy had rounded out 2nd followed by Luka Berginc, Christopher Philogene and Felix Klee.
Pictured here: Oisin O'Callaghan won the U17 seeding run but had to settle for second in the finals.
