Les Gets, quickly cementing its reputation as an iconic World Cup venue, played host to another thrilling day of downhill racing on Saturday. The French riders delivered for the home crowd, with Marine Cabirou and Benoit Coulanges taking the elite women’s and men’s wins.
Elite Women: Cabirou takes control
The elite women’s race started as a battle for the overall between Nina Hoffmann, who was trying to keep her hopes alive, and Vali Höll, who was trying to lock in the overall title with two rounds remaining. Hoffmann did her part, laying down a strong run in the dust despite reportedly battling through a lingering illness. Next was Marine Cabirou, intent on stealing the win for the French home crowd. The Scott DH racer put in an absolute heater of a run to take the lead.
Only world champion Vali Höll remained at the top of the mountain. The Austrian’s challenge was short-lived, as she washed out in the deep dust on the second corner out of the start hut and went down. Uninjured, Höll finished out her run but was unable to challenge Cabirou’s time.
Marine Cabirou takes her first win of the 2023 season. Monika Hrastnik (Dorval AM) earns a big result in second place with Nina Hoffmann, Mille Johnset and Italian Gloria Scarsi joining her on the podium.
Höll’s crash means she will have to wait until racing resumes in Snowshoe, W.Va to try lock down the overall title. But she still leads by a substantial margin, with 1842 points to Hoffmann’s 1418. Cabirou closes slightly on the German, now with 1328 points of her own.
B.C.’s Gracey Hemstreet and Emmy Lan both qualified for Saturday’s semi-finals, but didn’t make UCI’s strict 10-rider cut-off for women’s finals. Hemstreet was 11th in semi-finals, just one spot outside of making the final round. Lan, in a still-impressive show for her first elite World Cup appearance, was 16th.
Elite Men: A perfect weekend
Mark Wallace was the first of three Canadians in the 30-rider final. The Norco Factory Racing rider went into the hot seat early, only to be unseated by the U.S.A.’s Luca Shaw. Wallace would end up 16th by the end of the day.
After a crash in semi-finals, Loic Bruni dropped in early in the start order. Super Bruni…
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