Andorra delivered absolutely wild world championships racing on Saturday, with incredibly close times separating the top riders. For Canada’s Finn Iles, Pal Arinsal delivered a long-awaited return to a world championships podium.
Times were incredibly tight in the elite men’s field, despite a long course and treacherously loose conditions on Saturday. The top four all finished on the same second and the top six riders were separated by only 1.009 seconds at the end of the day’s racing.
Coulanges takes early lead
After a fast time by Danny Hart, it was Benoit Coulanges setting the early time to beat. The tall Frenchman, racing in one of his last races for the Dorval AM team before it clsoes up shop, posted a 2:38.809, which would stand up for much of the day.
Finn Iles was the first to really challenge Coulanges’ time. The Canadian was up by as much as a second at one point on course, but lost time in the bottom section of the course. Iles ends up a heartwrenching 0.021 seconds behind Coulanges at the line.
It took another Frenchman, Loris Vergier, to beat the time set by Coulanges. The Trek racer put in an absolute heater of a run, finessing the deep Andorran dust to find traction where so many struggled. At the line, Vergier posted a new fastest time at 2:38.661. But, with several top-ranked riders still at the top of the mountain, the day was far from over.
Favourites struggle in Andorran dust
Dakota Norton was ahead of Vergier on course until the final corners. The U.S. rider was well up at the intermediate splits until losing traction and going off course into the woods. While he stays upright, Norton loses significant time and cruises across the line over 20 seconds back.
Loic Bruni is the last man on the mountain. After setting the fastest time in qualifying by a significant margin, all eyes were on the accomplished Frenchman. But, after clipping a stump, Bruni then exploded on a fast off-cambre section of course. That effectively ended his run and, with that, cemented Vergier’s title. Bruni finishes out his run, but all eyes were already on Vergier.
Loris Vergier is the 2024 elite men’s downhill world champion.
Vergier’s coronation, Iles podium
“It’s like I’ve been unlucky in the past years and I got lucky this time….
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