The 2016 UCI Mountain Bike World Cup presented by Shimano concluded on September 3-4 in Andorra, which brought together both the DHI and XCO athletes for rounds 7 and 6, respectively.
The action began with the downhill, where Rachel Atherton (Trek Factory) took a record-setting 13th straight World Cup victory in the Women's competition. The British rider finished 6.568 seconds ahead of Tracey Hannah (Polygon UR), with Myriam Nicole (Commencal/Vallnord) third. Atherton ends the season with 1,700 points for her fifth World Cup title, followed by Manon Carpenter (Madison Saracen) at 1,140, barely holding off Hannah at 1,130 points.
In the Men's downhill, Danny Hart (MS Mondraker) took the third straight World Cup victory of his career. The Men's race saw a significant change in conditions for the final and fastest qualifiers. It began to rain for the final 20 riders, getting muddy and slippery for the final 12 starters. Hart set the fastest time with six riders to go and World Cup leader Aaron Gwin (The YT Mob), needing just to finish to take the title, rode conservatively to finish 55th. Gwin took the overall title with 1,252 points. Hart remains in second, but closed to within 26 points. Australian champion Troy Brosnan held onto third with 1,031 points, after also playing it cautious in his run. Canada's Finnley Iles (Specialized Racing) won the Junior Men's overall title, after finishing second to Gaëtan Vigé (Commencal/Vallnord) in the final round.
Sunday's focus was the XCO competition, with Catharine Pendrel (Luna) capping off a season that already includes an Olympic bronze medal with the overall World Cup title in Women's cross-country. It is Pendrel's third World Cup title. In the Men's competition, Julien Absalon (BMC) came back from a disappointing Olympics to win his 33rd World Cup and take the seventh World Cup overall title of his career.
Pendrel attacked at the start of the race, hoping to put a gap between herself and World Cup leader Annika Langvad (Specialized), who began the race with a 56 point lead. Only Dahle Flesjaa was initially able to stay with Pendrel, and the duo began to open a gap until Pendrel crashed on the roots and was overtaken by Neff. Neff attacked in the final lap to take the win. Pendrel wins the overall title with 1030 points, followed by Annika Langvad with 1,006 points, and Canadian National Champion Emily Batty (Trek Factory) finished third with 710 points.
Ondrej Cink (Multivan Merida) took the early lead in the men's race, closely followed by Julien Absalon and Olympic Champion Nino Schurter (Scott Odlo). Absalon and Schurter made their way up to Cink by the fourth lap, but Schurter suffered a slow leak and was dropped when Absalon attacked. Absalon soloed in for the win, followed by Cink and Pablo Rodriguez (MMR Factory) in third. Absalon finishes the season with 1,310 points and three World Cup victories. Schurter, despite missing one round, finishes second with three victories also, and 980 points. Maxime Marotte (BH-SR Suntour-KMC) is third with 948 points.
Val di Sole, Italy - DHI/4X UCI Mountain Bike World Championships > September 6-11
Four-cross
Women 1. Anneke Beerten (NED) 2. Lucia Oetjen (SUI) 3. Steffi Marth (GER)
Men 1. Aiko Göhler (GER) 2. Luke Cryer (GBR) 3. Benedikt Last (GER)
Downhill
Women 1. Rachel Atherton (GBR) 2. Manon Carpenter (GBR) 3. Tracey Hannah (AUS)
Men 1. Loïc Bruni (FRA) 2. Greg Minnaar (RSA) 3. Josh Bryceland (GBR)
The top DHI and 4X riders in the world return to Val di Sole, Italy for the UCI World Championships. Val di Sole is located in Trentino, the northeastern region of Italy, and has a long history of playing host to mountain bike events, including the 2008 UCI Mountain Bike World Championships and the 2015 UCI 4X World Championships.
The trail building team continues to redesign and upgrade the downhill track, which is a perfect mix between speed, spectacle and technical sections. The last upgrading of the downhill course – called Black Snake – was carried out in 2015. At that time the track was made 300 metres longer, for a total of 2,200 metres, with a 540 metre elevation change, for an average grade of 24.5%.
The 4-cross events take place on the track set up near the final section of the Black Snake. It was created for the 2008 UCI World Championships, and it is among the most stunning and challenging courses in the world. The 2015 UCI World Championships were also held here.
British downhiller Danny Hart first came to international prominence with his upset victory at the 2011 UCI World Championships in Champéry, Switzerland. The 24 year old (he will turn 25 just over a week after the World Championships), rides for the MS Mondraker team. He is having the strongest season of his career, with three consecutive World Cup wins and finished second overall in the World Cup.
Key Results
1st Elite DHI World Championships (2011) 1st Lenzerheide, Switzerland DHI World Cup (2016) 1st Mont-Ste-Anne, Canada DHI World Cup (2016) 1st Vallnord, Andorra DHI World Cup (2016) 2nd DHI World Cup overall (2016)
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