FINAL RESULTS - 2024 UCI Mountain Bike Elite and Junior World Cup Downhill Leogang 12

Mixed conditions, drama with flags and incredible action from Leogang, Austria.

sspomer

6/9/2024 5:43am

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The 2024 UCI Mountain Bike World Cup landed in Leogang, Austria, for the third race of the season. The classic venue nestled among beautiful high-alpine peaks is a racer and fan favorite with a diverse track. Rough, rut-filled off-cambers, technical rooty, steep sections and high-speed motorways with precision-testing jumps challenge the world's fastest racers in every way.

The evening before race day, the clouds opened up and drenched the track overnight making for a slippery morning practice and race day conditions that dried in the open, but remained greasy in the steepest, trickiest part of the run. Many a run was given up with slideouts and crashes in the finals woods.

Fresh faces and veteran occupants rounded out podiums today in front of a massive crowd. Dig into the results with some race notes below

Erice van Leuven put on a Junior Women's clinic holding it together for a victory by nearly 5 seconds
Max Alran takes his first Junior Men's win by just .4 seconds over Dane Jewett.
According to sources on the ground and partially seen on the live stream, Asa Vermette crashed up top, dashing any effort for a win. Later on down the track as he continued to push for valuable overall points, however, off-camera, he was red-flagged, so he stopped, as per the rules of a red flag. He raised his hands, confused about the red flag, as there was no apparent reason for it. He eventually carried on to the finish, objected to officials for a re-run but was denied. We're awaiting a statement from the officials, but Asa finished 21st, some 30 seconds off the pace.
UPDATE for Asa - via PB's Instagram, Asa says it was a fan's red beer flag that he saw and that was his mistake. Brutal and bummer.
Vali Holl proved Leogang is hers for the taking with a win by over 7 seconds. She nailed every section and pushed aggressively.
#USDH shredder, Anna Newkirk backed up qualifying and semi-finals with a 2nd place today in Leogang, her best World Cup DH finish yet. She did it aboard the Evan-Turpen-designed steel Contra downhill bike. From Evan Turpen, "I've got to get my first tattoo now...I had an agreement with Anna." A great day for American downhill racing!
Camille Balanche did not race after a hard hit to her head during semi-finals yesterday.
As Elite Men took the track the final woods was continually drying benefitting the later, well-qualifying riders. It wasn't perfect, however, as many riders slipped and unclipped if they were only inches off the main lines.
Lachie Stevens-Mcnab put down the first significant heater of finals, nailing a run and redeeming himself after giving it away in Poland
Big Andy Kolb, hometown hero and last year's winner, put down a solid run but rolled through second to Lachie at the time of his run.
Finn Iles, absent from qualifying and semi-finals apparently nursing a thumb injury, raced today as a protected rider. Despite only 7 total runs on the track, he threw down, nailing the upper section and throwing a foot out, drifting through the muck in the steeps. Finn crossed the line in first with a 3:07, about 2 seconds off the fastest semi-final time.
Benoit Coulanges put down a solid run but it looked sketchy in spots. He confirmed racing mud tires and being gassed by the end after having to push through the motorway.
Big names like Bernard, Ronan, Dak, and Amaury had loose, wild rides that didn't result in top times.
Oisin O'Callaghan looking more composed than expected, possibly leaving some time on the track but crossed in 3rd with 3 to go.
Luca Shaw was flying up top and earned back significant time through the motorway. He had an offline mishap into the grease of the woods that trimmed any advantage and he crossed in 6th with only Loic remaining.
The future DJ and French downhill dangerman, Loic Bruni, was the last rider down the mountain and took advantage of every inch of the track. While not the fastest in the 2nd split, he dominated all others continued with momentum and aggression all the way through the finish line, a whopping 2.3 seconds ahead of teammate Finn Iles in 2nd. Union rider, Lachie Stevens Mcnab finishes 3rd for a personal best!