The 2018 Fort William World Cup Finals Gallery

by Amanda Wishart June 5, 2018 11:14 am2

Under blue skies and unusually warm conditions, the 2018 Fort William World Cup was run and won over the weekend. You may have followed all the action via our STWFortBill news feed, where you would have seen and heard all the drama involving mechanicals and heavy crashes throughout the week. On Friday we had the timed practice session, where Danny Hart and Myriam Nicole smashed out some blisteringly quick runs in dry and dusty conditions. On Saturday during qualification however, it was Rachel Atherton and Luca Shaw that set the fastest times of the day.

As many of you will have already read in our race report from Sunday’s main event, things panned out a little differently on race day. If you haven’t done so already, make sure you check out the full results for both the Elite Men’s and the Elite Women’s races.

Right now though, we’ve got you a mega-gallery from Sunday’s race day, shot by our very own Amanda Wishart, Andi Sykes, & James Love. Scroll on down for a gallery of all the action, complete with crashes, pre-crashes, and sunshine!

fort william world cup finals emilie siegenthaler
Pivot Factory Racing team member, Emilie Siegenthaler was looking remarkably stress-free on her lift up in the gondola.
fort william world cup finals
Going up!
miranda miller fort william world cup finals
Miranda Miller had a pretty intensive warm-up routine at the top gondola station. Check out her big rubber band that she was using for various stretching and muscle engagement exercises.
fort william world cup finals mariana salazar
Mariana Salazar with her game-face on. She finished in the top-10, just a second behind Siegenthaler.
Fort William World Cup Finals
To see the speed that riders were able to carry around the rocky pinball section at the top of the course was something to behold.
Fort William World Cup Finals Carina Cappellari
Swiss rider Carina Cappellari pinballing her way down.
Fort William World Cup Finals Gee Atherton
Gee Atherton is still building up his form following a dramatic hip dislocation at the Fort William round of the British Downhill Series last year. He’s looking quick though, slotting into 15th place, just 5 seconds behind the winner.
fort william world cup finals kenta gallagher
Rocks, rocks, and more rocks. Kenta Gallagher scaling the slab.
fort william world cup finals gaetan ruffin
Commencal-Valnord had a strong showing at Fort William. Gatean Ruffin finished up in 52nd position.
fort william world cup finals kiran mackinnon
The upper section of the course didn’t quite go according to plan for the young American Kiran MacKinnon.
fort william world cup finals kiran mackinnon
Sleep time.
fort william world cup finals
Brendog piloted his prototype Scott Gambler to 21st place on race day, about 14 seconds behind the winning time.
fort william world cup finals martin maes
Ker-splash! Martin Maes from the GT Factory Racing team had a blinding run to finish in 10th. Not bad for an enduro racer!
fort william world cup finals
Brosnan was so very close today, coming just 0.3 seconds off the pace to take 3rd.
Fort William World Cup finals aaron gwin
Gwin’s weekend didn’t go according to plan. He slashed a tyre during qualies, finishing with the 14th fastest time going into race day. On Sunday, a meaty crash in the woods saw him pull off a nasty scorpion, dashing his podium hopes in the process. That’s racing eh?
Fort William World Cup finals miranda miller
Likewise, reigning World Champion Miranda Miller wasn’t able to find her winning form from last year, finishing in 14th on the big day.
Fort William World Cup finals myriam nicole
Myriam Nicole was the second last rider to come down the mountain, and was looking quick. But she too fell foul in the rubbly woods section, and the crash put her well behind Seagrave’s winning run.
Fort William World Cup finals rachel atherton
OOOPH! Rachel Atherton not only broke her chain right out of the start gate, she also had a nasty crash in the woods too. Somehow, Atherton still pulled off 3rd!
Fort William World Cup finals bryn dickerson
Bryn Dickerson sending it into the roots.
Fort William World Cup finals connor fearon
Aussie rider, Connor Fearon was looking smooth and fast on race day. How’s this though – just one second separated his 13th place from Loic Bruni’s 5th place. That’s how close downhill racing can be!
Fort William World Cup finals loic bruni
Bruni is still recovering from a dislocated elbow suffered at the opening World Cup round in Croatia, so his 5th place at Fort Bill is damn impressive.
Fort William World Cup finals remi thirion
Rémi Thirion was one of the riders just ahead of Connor Fearon, coming agonisingly close to a podium finish.
fort william world cup finals elliott heap
If in doubt, whip it out!
fort william world cup finals wyn masters
Mae’s teammate, Wyn Masters, has also taken a break from enduro racing to put it on the line at Fort William. Masters finished in 36th.
fort william world cup finals greg williamson
There were high hopes for Scottish rider Greg Williamson, after his 5th place in qualifying. A devastating rear brake failure early on his run saw him nurse his UNNO downhill bike to the finish line. Here’s hoping his luck turns the other way for Leogang!
Fort William World Cup finals amaury pierron
In a blinding performance that saw him bump Reece Wilson out of the hot seat, the young Frenchman Amaury Pierron ended up holding his lead to take his very first World Cup victory.
fort william amaury pierron
After Luca Shaw had finished limping down the mountain with a flat tyre, Pierron and his team mates began an epic bought of celebrations.
Fort William World Cup Amaury Pierron finals
The winning bike; a Commencal Supreme 29er. Big wheels win again at Fort William for the second year in a row.

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Comments (2)

  1. eddiebaby June 5, 2018 at 3:46 pm

    Some good photos, you may want to spend a bit of time in Lightroom before you post them though. All in all the best coverage of Ft William that STW has done to date.

  2. masmas June 6, 2018 at 12:20 pm

    I have to be honest, i felt it had gone a bit sponsorship mad this year. Don’t get me wrong i fully understand the need for it, but there where several sections especially in the woods that you couldn’t actually see the riders or the track due to a massive wall of sponsor banners!

    Also the double taping of the track was a bit crap too, obviously the health and safety chaps have been helping out!!!

    Still a wicked event, and well worth a trip – pretty sure we’ll be there again next year.

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