FINAL RESULTS - Mont-Sainte-Anne Elite World Cup Downhill - Mountain Bike News Story

Screen Shot 2023-10-07 at 11.52.35 AM.png?VersionId=o4JSYU272Vr0W3kMqsuPxZy56p

The end of a hard-fought UCI Mountain Bike World Cup Downhill season has come and with it, incredible performances as racers tackled the treacherous Mont-Sainte-Anne course in Quebec, Canada. Early morning rain hampered conditions for semi-finals, but as Elite Women dropped in for their final runs, the track was improving as the rain held off.

Vali Holl had wrapped up the overall race prior in Snowshoe, so it was a battle for 2nd in the Elite Women's class. Nina Hoffmann and Marine Cabirou let it all hang out and both suffered crashes during their runs. Marie had a serious ragdoll which put her in 9th overall, while Nina also hugged a tree during her run and had a spectacular double flat casing the finish jump, but retained a 2nd place finish and 2nd place overall result. Vali Holl, with little pressure still managed to perform flawlessly and took the victory by a staggering 13 seconds! Veronika Widmann had a season-best finish in 3rd place with Monika Hrastnik 4th and Harriet Harnden 5th.

The first of the Elite Men dropped in and the rain held back with a drying track. Then as Phil Atwill left the gate light rain was seen on camera at the top fo the track. Phil put down the first significant time of 4:09 as the race continued. The rain never materialized as riders flatted or crashed or struggled until Oisn O'Callaghan put together a heater, 1.7 ahead of Phil with a 4:07. Richie Rude, #USDH, with a strong semi-final performance and a powerful run, crossed the line with bike and body intact and a 4:11 Dylan Maples, #USDH, held it together with some wild moments and survived .7 behind Oisin with a solid performance and a 4:08. Andreas Kolb is a large human who takes punches at trees and drifts rocks slabs on his way to dropping fast times! He crossed the line 2 seconds ahead of the pace with a 4:05. Then, #USDH destroyer, Luca Shaw, flew down the mountain, nabbing tricky doubles in the rocks and powering his way to the hotseat by just .097 over Kolb! 10 riders to go with the rain still holding off. Candian, Finn Iles, winner of Mont-Sainte-Anne last year, was letting it all hang out and was up by 3 seconds mid-way through his run. He danced through the upper portion of the rocky slab section only to wash out and tumble down the last slab on his back, dashing hopes of a repeat performance. French rider and silent pinner, Gaetan Vige, had a stellar upper portion of the track, snuck into a nasty inside line on the slabs and used the advantage he gained at the top of the track to keep enough momentum to cross the line in first, just .08 ahead of Shaw! Enter Bernard Kerr. Putting in pedal strokes where ever he could, hucking the Stevie Smith drop, greasing the rocks slabs and clawing back enough time at the last split to roll into 1st by .4 seconds with a 4:04.7.Five riders remain, the weather remains clear with a drying track. Troy Brosnan ran a spectacular and flawless run but was red the whole way as he nibbled away at the time, crossing into 5th, .6 off first. Dakotah Norton snipered secret lines up top and ended up crashing before the 2nd split. Everyone thought he was done, then as he cruised down, he was only 2.5 back, then he kept trimming time, but seemingly not trying very hard. He crossed the line in 3rd place only half a second off the pace with a crash in MSA! Loic Bruni, 3rd rider remaining, had a run filled with precision, one mistake unclipping and an almost lazy look. He hit his lines, did his work and earned a hotseat time to secure the 2023 overall victory as Ethan Craik and Jackson Goldstone remained. Ethan Craik out of the UK started out quick, but in the red and then just smashed his way down the second half of the track clawing back time. His momentum kept growing and he ultimately broke the beam and set a time of 4:02 that was over 2 seconds faster than Loic Bruni. The crowd went nuts as Jackson Goldstone left the start hut. Jackson was having fun with a spritely, aggressive run connecting new doubles and lines without a care in the world. Besides the first split, he was fastest through all splits and stomped home to the finish line with the Canadian crowd going crazy. When the clock revealed what Jackson had done, he was 4.3 seconds ahead of Ethan Craik and 6.7 seconds ahead of Loic Bruni. Jackson goes home the only Elite Men's multi-time World Cup DH winner of 2023. An incredible end to an exciting and drama-filled race season.