Amuary Pierron dropped in to produce one hell of a downhill run in difficult Fort William conditions on Sunday to remain undefeated after two rounds of the 2022 UCI Mountain Bike World Cup season as German Nina Hoffman earned her second World Cup win.
Frenchman Pierron won the opening 2022 round in Lourdes and he needed to draw on all his speed and guile down the slippery course to hold off compatriot Thibaut Daprela and Briton Laurie Greenland, who was up at the first two splits but lost time on the second half to finish third last man down.
France’s Benoit Coulanges came fourth and 2020 UCI MTB World Cup DH champion Matt Walker fifth as Pierron extended his overall lead over Greenland and Coulanges to 166 points with his victory completing a hat-trick at the iconic Scottish course following 2018 and 2019 victories.
All that said and done, our standout hits for the race had to be seeing Connor Fearon rocking his trail bike down possibly the roughest track in existence, Luke Meier Smith stomping his way into the top 10 with his best result a solid 9th, Kye A’Hern rolling with the big dogs and of course Kade Edwards letting loose on the motorway after an early run washout. Boom!
Winning three in a row here is really difficult. I didn’t feel good at the beginning of the weekend. The British were crazy fast this weekend. It has been really tough. It was really windy at the top, but I gave everything over the bridge. A battle to reach the bottom.”
Amuary Pierron
In the women’s DH race, Hoffman won by over three seconds from Switzerland’s Camille Balanche with France’s Myriam Nicole third, Italian Eleonora Farina fourth and Austrian Valentina Höll fifth.
Legendary, winning at Fort William. It was almost the perfect run. The fans are amazing. You just don’t have to care about the conditions. Trust your bike.”
Nina Hoffman
1. Amaury Pierron FRA 4:37.115
2. Thibaut Daprela FRA +0.469
3. Laurie Greenland GBR +0.916
4. Benoit Coulanges FRA +0.936
5. Matt Walker GBR +1.927
2022 UCI MTB World Cup men’s DH standings
1. Amaury Pierron FRA 455 points
2. Laurie Greenland GBR 289
3. Benoit Coulanges FRA 289
4. Danny Hart GBR 216
5. Matt Walker GBR 213
1. Nina Hoffmann GER 5:14.170
2. Camille Balanche SUI +3.615
3. Myriam Nicole FRA +7.172
4. Eleonora Farina ITA +9.621
5. Valentina Höll AUT +11.478
2022 UCI MTB World Cup women’s DH standings
1. Camille Balanche SUI 435 points
2. Myriam Nicole FRA 370
3. Valentina Höll AUT 325
4. Nina Hoffmann GER 292
5. Marine Cabirou FRA 246
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