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What a day at the 2019 Val di Sole UCI Mountain Bike World Cup Downhill. Weather turned qualifying for the Elite Men into a complete roll of the dice with torrential downpours, lightning strikes and ever-changing conditions. Somehow, lightning didn't strike Sven. He, Boris and Dan deliver the drama-soaked goods from qualifying.
Your first-place qualifier, Joe Breeden coming down just after the rain started. While he had better conditions, don't think that it was easy. Brits know their way around slick woods. -Sven Martin
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Someone was happy about today's result. Joe Breeden getting interviewed by Svenos. @maddogboris
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Tracey coming down into the top spot with the leader's jersey. -Sven Martin
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Tracey Hannah taking the most points out of qualifying to make sure she keeps the leader's jersey. @maddogboris
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Norco Factory Team Junior, Elliot Jamieson, with the fastest Junior Men's time. In fact his time was over 8 seconds faster that Joe Breeden's in Elite men in the rain. @maddogboris
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It was a Canadian 1-2 today, with Seth Sherlock here taking second place in Junior Men. -Dan Hearn
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Vali Höll mentioned on Instagram that she didn't have her best run today. Let's see what she has in the bag for finals. @maddogboris
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Davide Palazzari on home soil with the second-fastest quali time. The fans will go crazy tomorrow! @maddogboris
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Marine Cabirou hot on Tracey's heels. -Sven Martin
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The first few riders down had a tricky job. It hadn't been raining long and grip levels were an unknown. Faustin Figaret seized his moment and qualified 3rd. -Dan Hearn
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One of just three riders to gap a big rock section during qualifying, Brook Macdonald kept pushing all the way down to the line. -Dan Hearn
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Veronika Widmann 5.3 seconds behind Tracey Hannah in 3rd. @maddogboris
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Kind of the story of today. Enjoy some squid trackside chat! @maddogboris
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Anna Newkirk had a busy day, qualifying 3rd and then taking 5th place in 4X World Championships. -Dan Hearn
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Forrest Riesco came down with a clean run just after the rain started. He's from the Vancouver Island and knows how to handle slippery snakes. Fourth place. -Sven Martin
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Kirk McDowall steals or sneaks into the last qualifying spot in dice-rolling conditions. He will have nothing to lose tomorrow. -Sven Martin
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Camille Balanche stays high and dry on the rooty chute into top five today. -Sven Martin
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Loic and Amaury had the worst of the conditions. It absolutely poured during their runs. Still feeling comfortable enough to throw some style though. Eliot Jackson narrates the day. -Sven Martin
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Amaury Pierron and Loic Bruni had the worst rain conditions of all, making their aggressiveness and times even more impressive. -Dan Hearn
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Amaury, Loic and Troy came down in the heaviest rain. @maddogboris
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Lucas Cruz fourth place. He will be aiming for a top three no doubt. -Sven Martin
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You can see why Laurie Greenland still put down a top-ten time in the rain and chaotic conditions. Riding out of his skin with commitment like this! -Sven Martin
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4th place today for Eleonora Farina. You can be sure the loudest cheers will be for the Italian riders in these parts. -Dan Hearn
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Greg Minnaar spitting a mix of mud and dry powder that still lies buried beneath the top surface in his race run. -Sven Martin
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Johannes Klebelsberg missed track walk because he had to work. He still went 9th-fastest today on his second "slower" race run. -Sven Martin
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Wyn helped out Johannes today when he had to go back up for a re-run. Take five minutes and listen to this story. -Sven Martin
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Johannes Von Klebelsberg sending it into the finish area after an ordeal of a day. -Dan Hearn
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We said it before and we'll say it again; get any kind of Top 10 at a World Cup wearing jeans and you get three shots in the slideshow. @maddogboris
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Finn Iles with and unusual 43rd position. Luckily he is not the only top-ten rider leaving qualifying without a point. @maddogboris
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Tough luck for Charlie Harrison, back from injury and riding strong and confident enough to do gaps like this. He would go down in his run and then get tangled up with other riders further on and miss the cut. -Sven Martin
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Rafael Gutierrez, knows how to ride in the mud, Manizales Colombia is good training grounds for these conditions. 11th place. -Sven Martin
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In 14 years of downhill World Cup racing, this is only the second time Blenki failed to qualify. Think about that. A crash and then a comedy of errors held him back today. -Sven Martin
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Blenki and Thomas Estaque had quite the run. Listen to Blenki describe his rather eventful qualifying run. -Sven Martin
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Back wheels took a hammering as riders plunged into their quali runs. -Dan Hearn
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Mick Hannah took advantage of his re-run, and we are stoked to see him in finals tomorrow. @maddogboris
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Thibaut Daprela crashed in his quali run and couldn't continue his domination today. He is unharmed and on the hunt for the win tomorrow. -Dan Hearn
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Flo Payet catching some rays during training. -Dan Hearn
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Four Kiwis (tying France) in the Junior Top 20. Finn Hawkesby-Browne comes in seventh. -Sven Martin
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XC short track kicked off today, and this man put down an awesome display of power in the last lap to take the win. Mathieu van der Poel will be a name we will hear about for a long time cycling. He even rides a bit of DH and DJ, too. -Sven Martin
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Till Ulmschneider won't be racing tomorrow, so he throws some style on the finish line jump today. Expect these stands to be packed tomorrow. -Sven Martin
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Zak Gomilscek, yet another fast up-and-coming rider from Slovenia into third place. -Sven Martin
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Roll-off and goggle prep was first on the agenda in the pits this morning. -Sven Martin
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Vali just two seconds ahead this time. A few mistakes on a hard-to-read course and time slips away. -Sven Martin
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George Brannigan talks about the how the day went from good to bad. -Sven Martin
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Junior and B practice started off greasy from the overnight rain, it slowly dried up during training. -Sven Martin
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I feel for Loris Revelli He was absolutely killing it on course all weekend in the dry and wet this morning only to suffer a flat tire in qualification. What could have been. -Sven Martin
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Loris Vergier, Top 30. How weird does that sound? -Sven Martin
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Mark Wallace dodging wheels and later lightning bolts. -Sven Martin
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Look who showed up after Danny came by. One thing we have to mention is that Amaury spends a lot of time checking out the track. The other thing is that he was one of the riders with the worst conditions in qualifying and still managed 6th. @maddogboris
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Jack Reading with the 7th-fastest time and pretty good first split. @maddogboris
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Early morning river mist. Guess no one had an ice bath today. @maddogboris
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14th for Danny Hart. He was the first rider in group A practice today, and that's the only reason it was possible to get a clean shot on that spot. @maddogboris
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Quote about cutting tires - "29er sucks, way more work dude." @maddogboris
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Mille Johnset in 2nd just 2.5 seconds behind Vali Höll in the Junior Women's class. Well done! @maddogboris
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Adam Brayton had a rough day on the hill. How many times did you crash Adam? @maddogboris
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Brendan's "oh no, what have I done?" face when Sven's eyebrows are finally shaved? @maddogboris
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I would bet a box of beer and my ciggi that you were stoked about a video produced by Brock VanHeel (left) or Joe Bowman (right)! @maddogboris
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At this spot you had 3 to 4 different line options. Now imagine how many options the riders have in total throughout the entire track. Send a message to Ben Cathro that he has to count all of them. @maddogboris
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Francisco Pardal is always one of the stylish and pinned riders out there. He brings down one of his wild runs and ended up in 8th today. @maddogboris
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Kiwi Tuhoto-Ariki Pene in 5th! Guess he will get some extra big Subway sandwiches when he gets back home. @maddogboris
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Last girl standing! Carina Cappellari with the last spot for the Elite Women finals. @maddogboris
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Do you remember the time when just 5-10 rider were able (or had the balls) to jump that gap? @maddogboris
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SSALCX-panshotfriday @maddogboris
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Kenta Gallagher is having his first weekend on the new Cannondale and made the show in 53rd. Not bad for a first try. @maddogboris
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Damn it. Loris Revelli was on it and we were sure he would end up in the Top 10, if not better. Unfortunately he ended up with a flat and DNF. @maddogboris
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Do you remember the Bruce Klein shot from yesterday with the mountain view? Today started a bit differently. They also closed the inside line you can see there. @maddogboris
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12th for Charlie Hatton. Guess he is feeling pretty comfortable on his prototype Atherton bike. @maddogboris
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Tracey, fresh and clean after a day in the mud. @maddogboris
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Mike and Brook weren't quite sure what happened to their pits overnight. Maybe someone in stilettos finally decided it would make a good bouncy castle. -Dan Hearn
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Laurie's determination wasn't enough to get past 10th place, but that is a great place to be considering the conditions. He really has his head-game in check and is managing whatever the track can throw at him - rain or shine. -Dan Hearn
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At least he left the front of his jacket open for the photographers - shooting riders in the rain and in jackets is our least favorite conditions. -Dan Hearn
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Some parts of the track became slippery as ice, but some gained traction. Riders had to make the most of their training runs to work out where to hold back and where to push. -Dan Hearn
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In the more open parts, tree roots turned to glass. -Dan Hearn
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Not the most inviting conditions to start training at 8.30am. -Dan Hearn
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Parts and bodies took a battering today, but luckily sun is forecast for tomorrow. -Dan Hearn
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Riders tentatively checked out the first couple of berms in B practice this morning. -Dan Hearn
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