Leogang DH World Series Rd3 results, report and highlights vids

The day marked a milestone moment, with the Women’s Elite race closing the programme for the first time in history.

Race Highlights, Elite Women, Leogang Rd3

Race Highlights, Elite Men, Leogang Rd3

DH World Series Rd3 Leogang: Women’s Elite results

#	Rider / Team	Time	Gap	Points
1	Valentina HÖLL (AUT)COMMENCAL SCHWALBE BY LES ORRES	3:44.033	–	200
2	Marine CABIROU (FRA)CANYON DH RACING	3:47.868	+0:03.835	160
3	Anna NEWKIRK (USA)FRAMEWORKS RACING / TRP	3:48.449	+0:04.416	140
4	Gloria SCARSI (ITA)MS-RACING	3:53.195	+0:09.162	125
5	Lisa BOULADOU (FRA)SANTA CRUZ BURGTEC BY GOODMAN	3:54.630	+0:10.597	110
6	Gracey HEMSTREET (CAN)NORCO X ADIDAS RACE DIVISION	3:54.927	+0:10.894	95
7	Harriet HARNDEN (GBR)AON RACING	3:55.457	+0:11.424	80
8	Myriam NICOLE (FRA)COMMENCAL/MUC-OFF BY RIDING ADDICTION	3:55.848	+0:11.815	70
9	Jenna HASTINGS (NZL)PIVOT FACTORY RACING	3:58.881	+0:14.848	60
10	Lisa BAUMANN (SUI)COMMENCAL SCHWALBE BY LES ORRES	4:01.972	+0:17.939	55

DH World Series Rd3 Leogang: Men’s Elite results

#	Rider / Team	Time	Gap	Points
1	Finn ILES (CAN)SPECIALIZED GRAVITY	3:15.647	–	200
2	Amaury PIERRON (FRA)COMMENCAL/MUC-OFF BY RIDING ADDICTION	3:15.823	+0:00.176	160
3	Henri KIEFER (GER)CANYON DH RACING	3:16.491	+0:00.844	140
4	Troy BROSNAN (AUS)CANYON DH RACING	3:17.989	+0:02.342	125
5	Max ALRAN (FRA)COMMENCAL/MUC-OFF BY RIDING ADDICTION	3:18.195	+0:02.548	110
6	Ethan CRAIK (GBR)SCOTT DOWNHILL FACTORY	3:18.686	+0:03.039	95
7	Richard RUDE JR (USA)YETI / FOX FACTORY RACE TEAM	3:19.313	+0:03.666	90
8	Benoit COULANGES (FRA)SCOTT DOWNHILL FACTORY	3:19.467	+0:03.820	85
9	Luke MEIER-SMITH (AUS)GIANT FACTORY OFF-ROAD TEAM – DH	3:19.753	+0:04.106	80
10	Ryan PINKERTON (USA)MONDRAKER FACTORY RACING DH	3:19.971	+0:04.324	75

Race reports and photos courtesy of Warner Bros. Discovery Sports:

HÖLL AND ILES DELIVER EPIC PERFORMANCES TO CLINCH VICTORY IN SAALFELDEN LEOGANG-SALZBURGERLAND

Finn Iles (Specialized Gravity) and Valentina Höll (Commencal Schwalbe by Les Orres) mastered a rapidly evolving track at Saalfelden Leogang – Salzburgerland (Austria) to secure UCI Downhill World Cup victories in contrasting fashion. Höll delivered a dominant, historic performance, while Iles claimed an emotional win in a razor-thin battle decided by consistency. The day marked a milestone moment, with the Women’s Elite race closing the programme for the first time in history. Meanwhile, junior standouts Lina Frener (Norco x adidas Race Division) and Jonty Williamson (Yeti/Fox Factory Race Team) continued their impressive starts to the season.

Finn Iles (Specialized Gravity) and Valentina Höll (Commencal Schwalbe by Les Orres) conquered an unpredictable track at Saalfelden Leogang – Salzburgerland to take hard-fought victories in vastly different circumstances in the UCI Downhill World Cup.

After Friday’s UCI Cross-country Short Track (XCC) World Cup round took place in apocalyptic conditions, the sun was out in Austria for the downhill action but that produced its own challenges with the track still drying out run-to-run following such heavy rain.

Höll and Iles’ eyes and brains were rewarded as much as their legs at the legendary WHOOP UCI Mountain Bike World Series venue, with the Canadian edging out Amaury Pierron (COMMENCAL / MUC OFF by Riding Addiction) by a fraction of a second while the women’s UCI World Champion delivered a peerless performance to win by a street.

Höll becomes just the third woman to start the UCI Downhill World Cup with three consecutive victories, while a tearful Iles celebrated perseverance paying off as he claimed his second ever win in the series from 68 starts.

Meanwhile Lina Frener (Norco x adidas Race Division) and Jonty Williamson (Yeti/Fox Factory Race Team) won the women’s and men’s Junior races to continue their strong starts to the season.

HISTORIC HÖLL A CLASS ABOVE

It was a historic day for the WHOOP UCI Mountain Bike World Series as for the first time, the women’s race was the grand finale of the UCI Downhill World Cup round as the last action of the day – providing both a unique opportunity and challenge with such a long gap between the final and their last practice run.

The women’s leaderboard was much more dynamic than the men’s, with Gracey Hemstreet (Norco x adidas Race Division) setting the early benchmark as the fifth rider out of the gate. Her hair-raising run put her firmly in contention, looking set for an extended stay in the hot seat. But Lisa Bouladou (Santa Cruz Burgtec by Goodman) deposed her immediately with an incredibly fast finish through the wooded section, as the course effectively evolved into a run of two halves with the exposed start drying out much more quickly than the bottom of the hill.

Frida Helena Rønning (Crestline Speed Shop) and Valentina Roa Sánchez (MS-Racing) each spent time in the green then faded in the trees with the Colombian ejected from her saddle by a root, but her teammate Gloria Scarsi did take the lead from Bouladou with a hectic ride.

Myriam Nicole (COMMENCAL / MUC OFF by Riding Addiction) was three seconds ahead at the second split, but struggled through the technical wooded section, terrain that would typically play to her strengths. Yet the moment Höll dropped out of the gate, there was little doubt as to who would claim victory in Saalfelden Leogang – Salzburgerland.

Höll produced one of the most dominant performances in recent WHOOP UCI Mountain Bike World Series history, going quickest in every single section and beating Scarsi’s time by a monstrous nine seconds.

Neither Anna Newkirk (Frameworks Racing / TRP) nor Marine Cabirou (Canyon DH Racing) did anything visibly wrong on their runs and the Frenchwoman even went faster than Höll in one time split, but they never ever looked likely to upset the home favourite who launched herself straight into the crowd after Cabirou crossed the line.

“It was so nice, so quiet on track. I was really enjoying it, no one was disturbing me, so we can repeat that for sure. Pretty epic. I know how hard you need to push to be able to win World Cups nowadays. It took me so much energy to do this.

“I just wanted to give back and seeing all my family, all my friends, all the little shredders from Austria, it’s the most important thing I can give back.

“A lot of haters said they [the crowd] will all leave when we’re racing but look, the crowd is still there, it’s pretty epic, women’s sport is amazing.”

Höll looks unstoppable in the overall race, sitting almost 300 points ahead of Nicole.

ILES CELEBRATES EMOTIONAL RETURN TO THE TOP

In stark contrast to Höll’s supremacy in the women’s final, the elite men’s UCI Downhill World Cup round was decided by less than two tenths of a second between Iles and Pierron.

Both riders needed two rounds of qualifying to make the final, but with the weather much improved on Saturday they flipped the script, locking out the top two positions early and holding that advantage all the way to the end.

Pierron produced a strong finish to enter the hotseat as just the seventh rider down the ramp, but he was quickly pushed into second place by Iles just a few minutes later. Iles was only quickest through the final time split but was the most consistent rider on the difficult course and that’s what took him to the top of the timesheets and ultimately victory.

Iles’ run wasn’t the most memorable moment of the day though – that honour went to Asa Vermette (Frameworks Racing / TRP) who flew off a jump and was thrown from his bike on landing, with the American somehow escaping the high-speed crash relatively unscathed.

Englishman Ethan Craik (Scott Downhill Factory) went closest to deposing Iles, as he lit up the timesheets for three-quarters of the course but slipped in the trees and trailed home in sixth, three seconds behind Iles.

Fellow youngster Henri Kiefer (Canyon DH Racing) – the ambassador for the Epic Bikepark Leogang – wasn’t as spectacular and produced a dreadful start yet rebounded to claim the final podium place as the only other rider within a second of Iles, while his teammate Troy Brosnan finished fourth.

“That feels really good. Last year was such a struggle with injuries and I just didn’t feel like myself,” Iles said. “This offseason I put in so much work to find my groove back and to get a win in the third race of the season is incredible.

“I just can’t say thank you enough to my team, all the people at Specialized for how much work they put into the demo and everybody around me for supporting me through last year because it was such a tough one for me. Now I feel like I’m back to being myself and it means so much.”

For Pierron, there’s the consolation that he now leads the Elite Men UCI Downhill World Cup as he jumped from third to first and now leads second-placed Iles by 29 points. Pierron also pushed his COMMENCAL / MUC OFF by Riding Addiction team to the top of the team standings as both they and Canyon DH Racing leapfrogged Commencal Schwalbe by Les Orres.

UCI DHI World Cup Women Elite Overall Standings

#	Rider / Team	Total points
1	Valentina HÖLL (AUT)COMMENCAL SCHWALBE BY LES ORRES	696
2	Myriam NICOLE (FRA)COMMENCAL/MUC-OFF BY RIDING ADDICTION	425
3	Harriet HARNDEN (GBR)AON RACING	370
4	Gracey HEMSTREET (CAN)NORCO X ADIDAS RACE DIVISION	365
5	Valentina ROA SANCHEZ (COL)MS-RACING	347
6	Marine CABIROU (FRA)CANYON DH RACING	343
7	Gloria SCARSI (ITA)MS-RACING	329
8	Anna NEWKIRK (USA)FRAMEWORKS RACING / TRP	292
9	Lisa BAUMANN (SUI)COMMENCAL SCHWALBE BY LES ORRES	280
10	Lisa BOULADOU (FRA)SANTA CRUZ BURGTEC BY GOODMAN	250

UCI DHI World Cup Men Elite Overall Standings

#	Rider / Team	Total points
1	Amaury PIERRON (FRA)COMMENCAL/MUC-OFF BY RIDING ADDICTION	421
2	Finn ILES (CAN)SPECIALIZED GRAVITY	392
3	Benoit COULANGES (FRA)SCOTT DOWNHILL FACTORY	370
4	Troy BROSNAN (AUS)CANYON DH RACING	301
5	Jordan WILLIAMS (GBR)SPECIALIZED GRAVITY	297
6	Asa VERMETTE (USA)FRAMEWORKS RACING / TRP	296
7	Max ALRAN (FRA)COMMENCAL/MUC-OFF BY RIDING ADDICTION	287
8	Luca SHAW (USA)CANYON DH RACING	285
9	Andreas KOLB (AUT)SANTA CRUZ SYNDICATE	265
10	Ryan PINKERTON (USA)MONDRAKER FACTORY RACING DH	260

WHOOP UCI DHI MOUNTAIN BIKE WORLD SERIES 2026 CALENDAR:

• Round 1 / May 1-3: Race of South Korea, South Korea
• Round 2 / May 28-31: Loudenvielle-Peyragudes, France
• Round 3 / June 11-14: Saalfelden-Leogang Salzburgerland, Austria
• Round 4 / June 19-21: Lenzerheide, Switzerland
• Round 5 / July 3-5: La Thuile-Valle d’Aosta, Italy
• Round 6 / July 8-12: Pal Arinsal, Andorra
• Round 7 / August 14-16: Haute-Savoie, France
• Round 8 / September 25-27: Whistler Mountain Bike Park, British Columbia, Canada
• Round 9 / October 2-4: Lake Placid Olympic Sites, New York, USA