Snowshoe Mountain hosts a DH double-header this year. Watch the first of the two races, which takes place just days before the World Cup Finals, when the overall winners will be crowned.
Austrian Vali Höll dominated the first Snowshoe downhill in the UCI Mountain Bike World Cup and Briton Reece Wilson edged out Loïc Bruni to both earn their maiden elite wins.
Tahnée Seagrave was the first woman down the mountain who would ultimately make the podium and her run got off to the fastest first split of the day, but there was too much time lost in the last quarter. 2019 Snowshoe winner Marine Cabirou used her jumping skills to great effect and leapfrogged Briton Seagrave to take the hot seat with a time of 3:45.928 as 19-year-old Höll sat poised in the start gate. After a string of crashes and frustrating Finals runs, Höll was ready to just enjoy the last rounds of the year in Snowshoe and it worked as she turned the splits green all the way down with her strong, straight lines. She was four seconds up on Myriam Nicole’s winning Qualification run by the finish line and, with a big smile of satisfaction and relief, Höll took her place on the hot seat with some rivals left.
Swiss Camille Balanche put together another solid run for an eventual second place, while world champion Nicole was looking good for another win after going 3.672s up at split three before she crashed – only to bravely get up to finish in fourth and keep the overall World Cup lead.
Standout 2021 rider Thibaut Daprela was early to start in the men’s race but suffered a big crash and he thankfully got back to his feet to hold onto the overall World Cup lead with one round remaining. Daprela’s closest rival Loris Vergier smashed the quickest Qualification time set by Canadian Finn Iles by four seconds with Bruni’s lightning fast run shaving half a second off his time after a Quali puncture.
Canadian Mark Wallace put together the race run of his season to claim fifth at the end of the day before Scottish rider Reece Wilson, 25, recovered from his huge crash in Les Gets to put in a perfect final few sectors to claw back ground on his rivals and earn a maiden victory by just 0.032s for his maiden World Cup win.
Elite Women result
1. Vali Höll AUT 3:40.233
2. Camille Balanche SUI +4.617
3. Marine Cabirou FRA +5.695
4. Myriam Nicole FRA +9.895
5. Tahnée Seagrave GBR +10.414
Elite Men result
1. Reece Wilson GBR 3:10.066
2. Loïc Bruni FRA +0.032
3. Loris Vergier FRA +0.580
4. Finn Iles CAN +1.289
5. Mark Wallace CAN +1.332
Watch the full replay over at Red Bull TV! And if you’re still locked down, check the qualis and practice sessions below.