Les Gets World Cup can’t help but be epic, it seems. The rabid French downhill fans and thrilling course always elevate this round above the rest. On Saturday, mother nature chipped in to make it an absolutely iconic race, to be remembered for years to come.
It wasn’t such a great weekend for the juniors, though. With severe weather rolling in, organizers decided to axe Saturday’s junior downhill so the elite races could start earlier. It was a matter of safety for riders, employees and volunteers, with severe rain and flash flooding forecast for the afternoon. But surely no fun for the junior riders. It was not bad for Canadians, though, as qualification results were used for the finals results. Jon Mozell gets third, leading three Canadians in a top-10.
Amaury Pierron’s homecoming
2023 was a rough year for Amaury Pierron. The Frenchman is at the end of a long road to recovery and, after winning a World Cup in Val di Sole to announce his return, rallied through absolutely mad conditions in Les Gets as a homecoming celebration. Pierron won by a staggering 6.498 seconds, approaching Danny Hart levels of mud mastery.
Behind, Andreas Kolb (Continental Atherton) was the best of the rest, finishing second. Greg Minnaar proved that experience is vastly important and age is nothing but a number, posting his first podium of the year in third. France rounded out the podium with Remi Thirion (Giant Off-Road), always a favorite on wild tracks, making his long-awaited podium return followed by the ever-stylish Thomas Estaque (Commencal IC Studio)
Finn Iles was on a wild run, posting fastest splits before Pierron’s dropped in, until a massive crash sent him sliding down the muddy French hillside. And, in order to enter the course where he left it, slowly hiking his way back up the mud while his hopes of an overall season title sank into the muck. He ends up 29th on the day.
Canadians were led by Jakob Jewett in 24th with Bodhi Kuhn in 27th.
Farina takes first World Cup win
If there’s a place to claim your first-ever World Cup win, Les Gets would be it. A challenging course, crazy fans, wild conditions: winning is…
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