DH World Cup Rd 6 – Loudenvielle – Preview & How to Watch

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Are Vali Holl and Loic Bruni safe? Or do they still need to watch out for resurgent Tahnee Seagrave and Amaury Pierron? Here’s what to watch for this Sunday.

Elite Women – Current standings

  1. Vali Holl, 1445
  2. Tahnee Seagrave, 1221
  3. Marine Cabirou, 1036
  4. Myriam Nicole, 795
  5. Nina Hoffmann, 680

Elite Men – Current standings

  1. Loic Bruni:, 1403
  2. Amaury Pierron:, 1187
  3. Troy Brosnan, 1067
  4. Finn Iles, 1061
  5. Dakotah Norton, 974

What points are available?

PositionQualificationSemi-finalFinal
1st50100250
2nd4080210
3rd3070180
4th2565160
5th2260140

So, if a racer had the Perfect Event and came 1st in Quali, Semi AND Final they’d get 400 points.

A racer finishing 2nd in Quali, Semi AND Final would get 330 points.

Okay then. In the Women’s Elite there’s a total of 224 points separating Vali Holl from Tahnee Seagrave.

In the Men’s Elite there’s a total of 213 points separating Loic Bruni from Amaury Pierron.

Essentially, so long as Holl or Bruni don’t bin it, they’ve pretty much got the Overall Titles in the bag. Bruni crashed last week at the World Champs. Holl hasn’t crashed for a while.

The next and final round will be at Mont-Sainte-Anne, October 4-6th.

The track

Here’s the highlights reel from last year:

When & how to watch the racing

Saturday, September 7

  • 13:00 – Qualification Women Elite
  • 13:30 – Qualification Men Elite
  • 15:15 – Qualification Women Junior
  • 15:35 – Qualification Men Junior
  • 16:45 – Semi Finals Women Elite
  • 15:15 – Semi Finals Men Elite

Sunday, September 8

  • 12:30 – Finals Women Junior
  • 13:00 – Finals Men Junior
  • 14:15 – Finals Women Elite
  • 15:00 – Finals Men Elite

Both the men’s and women’s UCI Downhill World Cup Junior races will be broadcast live on the WHOOP UCI Mountain Bike World Series YouTube channel, while the Elite finals will be shown on discovery+, Eurosport 1 and (for the first time) TNT Sports 3. Pre-show starts at 13:45 UK.

Press release from WHOOP UCI Mountain Bike World Series…

In Downhill, Valentina Höll (YT Mob) and Loïc Bruni (Specialized Gravity) took the win at the debut UCI Downhill World Cup in difficult conditions on the Louron Bike and Trail Park course last year. Both lead the respective championships and are likely to be in the mix this time round, but there’s still time for twists and turns before the season concludes in Mont-Sainte-Anne, Canada in October.

Höll appears to be back to her best after securing a third consecutive UCI World Championship last weekend in Andorra, but Tahnée Seagrave (Canyon CLLCTV FMD), Marine Cabirou (Scott Downhill Factory) and Myriam Nicole (Commencal/Muc-Off by Riding Addiction) are ready to pounce if the 22-year-old Austrian has a finals run slip.

Bruni meanwhile will be looking to bounce back after crashing in his UCI World Championships race run. The Frenchman will be under pressure from his closest rival for the overall seriesAmaury Pierron (Commencal/Muc-Off by Riding Addiction), while Loris Vergier (Trek Factory Racing Gravity) will be hoping to show off the rainbow stripes in style in his first outing as UCI World Champion.

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Orange Switch 6er. Stif Squatcher. Schwalbe Magic Mary Purple Addix front. Maxxis DHR II 3C MaxxTerra rear. Coil fan. Ebikes are not evil. I have been a writer for nigh on 20 years, a photographer for 25 years and a mountain biker for 30 years. I have written countless magazine and website features and route guides for the UK mountain bike press, most notably for the esteemed and highly regarded Singletrackworld. Although I am a Lancastrian, I freely admit that West Yorkshire is my favourite place to ride. Rarely a week goes by without me riding and exploring the South Pennines.

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