MTB cycling: The magnificent summer weather, new sections of the route and last but not least the 23.000 fans along the route formed the perfect setting for the third round of the UCI Downhill Mountain Bike World Cup. The races in Saalfelden Leogang were hard to beat for spectacular action: At the end of the day, Amaury Pierron clinched his second win of the season, Rachel Atherton was finally able to celebrate a World Cup victory again after more than a year.
Last weekend, Saalfelden Leogang formed the impressive backdrop for the third round of the UCI Downhill Mountain Bike World Cup 2018. The elite of downhill mountain bike sports met in Salzburger Land as part of the Out of Bounds Festival to once again fight for important points. After the somewhat surprising victory of Frenchman Amaury Pierron in Fort William, could the cards be reshuffled in Saalfelden Leogang? Crowd favorite Aaron Gwin, despite his thumb injury, was also striving for victory – it would have been his fourth win in Leogang in four years.
And it looked good: the American was actually allowed to take a seat in the hot seat after his run, and Laurie Greenland (GBR) and Troy Brosnan (AUS), who started next, couldn't beat Gwin's time either. The third to last rider was Frenchman Amaury Pierron, who was 0,5 seconds faster in the end and then dethroned the American. But the race wasn't over yet! Luca Shaw's breath-taking run created a lot of excitement, but shortly before the last drop the American lost control of his bike and fell. Amaury Pierron thus won ahead of Aaron Gwin and Laurie Greenland.
The women's race was particularly turbulent. Due to her fall in qualifying, Rachel Atherton (GBR) took to the slopes unusually early and, as was to be expected, took the hot seat. However, it was not to be expected that the Brit would remain in the hot seat until the end. A driving error cost World Cup leader Myriam Nicole (FRA) valuable time and ultimately ruined a win. Things were going really badly for Tahnee Seagrave (GBR): Last year's Leogang winner went over the marked distance after a jump, resulting in a disqualification. Rachel Atherton was able to celebrate her first World Cup victory in over a year, followed by Myriam Nicole and Tracey Hannah (AUS). To the delight of the fans, there was a home victory in the juniors: local hero Valentina Höll from Saalbach was able to climb onto the top step of the podium despite her fall.
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