Bike
We're in Fort William for the finals of the 2022 Mercedes-Benz UCI Downhill World Cup. Find out what went on with the replays, winning runs and the stories that matter from the Scottish round.
Summary
- 1It's Fort William so the weather inevitably came into play
- 2Nina Hoffmann is Queen of the Fort
- 3Three wins in a row for Amaury Pierron
- 4It was a case of near yet so far for Laurie Greenland this race
- 5Rachel Atherton returned to World Cup racing, kinda
- 6Heavy hits meant some downhill talent were missing from this round
Downhill racing returned to Fort William for the Mercedes-Benz UCI Downhill World Cup first time since 2019. Tens of thousands of spectators made the trip to see the world's fastest downhill racers deliver an exciting finale to the weekend's racing on Sunday.
The full replay of the races can be watched via the links below.
Get the downhill results from Fort William and the latest World Cup overall standings by clicking here and scroll down for things you might have missed from the racing weekend.
01
It's Fort William so the weather inevitably came into play
If racing a relentless energy-sapping five-minute track isn’t enough to test the riders, Scottish Mother Nature always tends to spice things up forcing riders to keep line choices open for a mixed array of track conditions. Dry and sunny one minute only to be pouring with rain and howling with wind the next. The 2022 round had all these things. While most of the UK has been enjoying pretty warm temperatures this past week, Fort William has been cold and damp.
Over the weekend, riders got to experience a dry-ish track for practice, rain for qualifying and ever-changing weather come race day. Sunshine could be spotted in-between moderate rain showers, making the track extremely difficult to navigate for the riders. On race day there was more than just huge holes, rough rocks and arm pump for the riders to worry about.
02
Nina Hoffmann is Queen of the Fort
An emotional and extremely happy Nina Hoffmann managed to tame the beast that is Fort William to take the win by an impressive 3.6 seconds over current World Cup leader Camille Balanche. She’s the first German rider to ever win at the historic venue.
Hoffmann knew it was a track that played to her strengths having won the British Downhill Series here a couple of weeks ago and was leading Saturday’s qualifying until a puncture saw her finish down in eighth. Putting that technical mishap behind her, she recharged for finals and put down a stormer of a run that none of the other riders could match.
Valentina Höll came closest to Hoffman’s first split, but the tricky track conditions saw her washout moments later on a rocky corner. After a tough start to the season in Lourdes, this must be a sweet-tasting victory for the German powerhouse.
03
Three wins in a row for Amaury Pierron
It was another peerless Amaury Pierron performance in the men's race as the Frenchman took his third consecutive win on the Fort William track following his victories in 2018 and 2019 in Scotland. Pierron again showed his knack of being a race-day-player with a pin-point accurate run that saw him make a mockery of deteriorating course conditions for the last ten riders down the hill. He finished just +0.469s ahead of his Commencal team-mate Thibaut Dapréla, who had started outside of the top 10, and had been sitting pretty in the hotseat for some time.
With this Fort William success, it is eight overall World Cup wins for Pierron now, which puts him on the same number as Gee Atherton, and one ahead of his French rival Loïc Bruni.
04
It was a case of near yet so far for Laurie Greenland this race
Laurie Greenland came close to knocking the two Frenchmen off the top spot, and securing what would have been a second World Cup win in his career. Greenland had been fast on this course all week in the differing weather conditions of practice and quails. Qualifying first, Greenland started as the last man down the hill for finals.
The pace was there in his race run, with Greenland bettering Pierron’s leading time in the first two splits on the course. But then he began to lose time to Pierron and Dapréla in the mid-section of the track. By the time he got on the motorway section Greenland wasn’t carrying enough speed, and when he crossed the finish line he had the third best time. The momentum of maintaining speed is important on this Fort William track and Greenland admitted in his post-race interview that he knew where he had made the mistake that saw him lose his speed from the top section of the course.
05
Rachel Atherton returned to World Cup racing, kinda
One of the questions that was being asked at the start of this World Cup was whether Rachel Atherton, the greatest women's downhill racer ever seen, would be returning to World Cup racing after becoming a mum to now ten-month-old girl Arna. With Fort William being a home venue for the British rider, Atherton traveled to Fort William to shake some hands and to be seen by the fans. Except that didn't quite happen. She let herself be convinced by brother Gee try a practice run on Friday.
Three laps later a tired but excited Atherton confirmed she wasn't ready to come back to racing just yet. However, getting back in-between the tape at a World Cup definitely sparked up that racing flame within her, and who knows we may see her appear at a World Cup further down the line.
06
Heavy hits meant some downhill talent were missing from this round
There were some notable absentees from Fort William in Tahnée Seagrave and Finn Iles. Both suffered from heavy crashes post the first World Cup round in Lourdes that resulted in concussions. On-going issues from those concussions has seen both taking time off the bike. In Iles’s case, he’s gone to Red Bull's Athlete Performance Centre in Austria to undergo testing and rehab. Seagrave has been suffering from severe anxiety following her concussion, and won’t take any risks while she’s not feeling right.
There was another athlete who opened up about concussion symptoms in the run up to this race and that was Myriam Nicole. This concussion came from her crash during final practice at Lourdes, a race where she finishes second. Since then she’s had severe headaches but took the decision to race in Fort William after seeking help.
Concussion can be a taboo subject so it’s good to see athletes be so open about their issues. Seagrave’s dad, Tony Seagrave, has called for the UCI or race organisers to have a concussion specialist at World Cup rounds to make sure riders welfare is properly looked after
.png)
