Payet wins downhill in Pila Gressan
Ruchti fastest in women's contest
Florent Payet and Miriam Ruchti won the fifth leg of the iXS European Downhill Cup in Pila, Italy. With 337 competitors from 26 countries, the race was the most international of the series to date. And the course also had all the makings for a World Cup event.
Pila has been well-known to the mountain biking community far beyond Italy's borders since long before it hosted the World Cup in 2005. So it was not a total surprise when, last year, iXS selected it as the venue for a leg of the European Series.
The bike park in the Aosta Valley has a perfect infrastructure and former professional cyclist Corrado Herin designed a world quality course for this year's race.
The dry, extremely dusty conditions made the track very slippery and even more challenging. The names on the registration list already promised that the race would be top class but the atmosphere would still have been special despite this - the Italians are, after all, known the world over for their love of cycling. Conditions were thus perfect for the penultimate leg of the European Cup.
After Lewis Buchanan (ChainReactionCycles) recorded the fastest time in the seeding run, ahead of Cameron Cole (Lapierre) and Joshua Button (SC-Intense), Sunday saw a completely different set of names on the podium. Johann Potgieter set a best time very early on in the race and was able to relax in the hot seat for a while.
At the end of the day his time was, however, only good enough for third place, despite being only 36 hundredths of second slower than the winner. Second place went to junior rider Loic Bruni (Lapierre) who was thus able to leave all the major favourites behind him. Only one of the final top 20 was able to better his time by 14 hundredths of a second. Florent Payet (SC-Intense) took 4:19 to complete his run, winning one of the Cup's most hotly contested races by the narrowest of margins.
With first places in the seeding run and the finals Miriam Ruchti (SC-Nukeproof) assured her early victory in the overall rankings. Second place in the day's rankings went to Elisa Canepa (Eli-CA RRide asd) with Diana Marggraff able to repeat her success in Spicák and achieve another third place on the podium.
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Junior female biker Tahnee Seagrave (Fox/Intense) once again showed what we can expect from her in the coming season, when she will be able to compete in the elite women's category as a junior. The time she achieved in Pila would have made her the winner in exactly this category - for the second time after Monte Tamaro.
The results in the junior male category were also less than surprising: Gianluca Vernessa (Argentina Bikes) again took top points, as previously in the first race of the series and in Leogang.
In the masters category it looked as if Wilfred van de Haterd (Bike Service Eisenach) would clearly dominate the entire weekend. Despite falling he won the seeding run with just under five seconds' lead. However a flat tyre in the finals put paid to his hopes of gaining a fourth Cup victory. This left the way clear for Marcel Waldmann (Fatwork) to take his first win of the season. Heinz Hostettler (BanditBike.ch) came in second, ahead of Javier Santiago (Moser Sport).
The last leg of the iXS European Downhill Cup will take place in Châtel, France on September 17-18.
Full Results
| # | Rider Name (Country) Team | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Florent Payet (Fra) | 0:04:19.39 |
| 2 | Loic Bruni (Fra) | 0:00:00.14 |
| 3 | Johann Potgieter (RSA) | 0:00:00.36 |
| 4 | Markus Pekoll (Aut) | 0:00:00.86 |
| 5 | Joshua Button (Aus) | 0:00:01.39 |
| 6 | Matti Lehikoinen (Fin) | 0:00:01.58 |
| 7 | Robin Wallner (Swe) | 0:00:02.33 |
| 8 | Joseph Smith (GBr) | 0:00:02.83 |
| 9 | Connor Fearon (Aus) | 0:00:02.93 |
| 10 | Ruaridh Cunningham (GBr) | 0:00:04.09 |
| 11 | Marco Milivinti (Ita) | 0:00:04.13 |
| 12 | Lewis Buchanan (GBr) | 0:00:04.52 |
| 13 | Andréa Gamenara (Ita) | 0:00:04.75 |
| 14 | Dominik Gspan (Swi) | 0:00:04.84 |
| 15 | Ben Cathro (GBr) | 0:00:05.24 |
| 16 | Matthew Simmonds (GBr) | 0:00:05.39 |
| 17 | Adam Vagner (Cze) | 0:00:06.09 |
| 18 | Stuart Macdonald (Aus) | 0:00:07.18 |
| 19 | Lutz Weber (Swi) | 0:00:07.42 |
| 20 | Claudio Cozzi (Ita) | 0:00:09.30 |
| 21 | Fraser Mcglone (GBr) | 0:00:09.31 |
| 22 | Matthew Beer (Can) | 0:00:09.44 |
| 23 | Quentin Chanudet (Fra) | 0:00:10.20 |
| 24 | Basil Weber (Swi) | 0:00:10.26 |
| 25 | Mauricio Andres Acuna Quintana (Chi) | 0:00:10.94 |
| 26 | David Mcmillan (Aus) | 0:00:10.96 |
| 27 | Rhys Willemse (Aus) | 0:00:11.05 |
| 28 | Oscar Harnstrom (Swe) | 0:00:11.17 |
| 29 | Ben Power (Aus) | 0:00:11.20 |
| 30 | Martin Frei (Swi) | 0:00:11.36 |
| 31 | Ziga Pandur (Slo) | 0:00:11.40 |
| 32 | Ludovic May (Swi) | 0:00:11.51 |
| 33 | Stefan Garlicki (RSA) | 0:00:11.84 |
| 34 | Nejc Rutar (Slo) | 0:00:11.99 |
| 35 | Riku Lansio (Fin) | 0:00:12.18 |
| 36 | Jono Jones (GBr) | 0:00:12.96 |
| 37 | Marcel Beer (Swi) | 0:00:13.16 |
| 38 | Mark Scott (GBr) | 0:00:13.43 |
| 39 | Gerard Wolfe (Irl) | 0:00:13.63 |
| 40 | Matthias Stonig (Aut) | 0:00:13.77 |
| 41 | Benny Strasser (Ger) | 0:00:14.05 |
| 42 | Justyn Norek (Ita) | 0:00:14.07 |
| 43 | Mathew Stuttard (GBr) | 0:00:14.56 |
| 44 | Lars Peyer (Swi) | 0:00:14.60 |
| 45 | Phillip Piazza (Aus) | 0:00:15.06 |
| 46 | Andrea Mocellin (Ita) | 0:00:15.23 |
| 47 | Jeremias Maio (Arg) | 0:00:15.38 |
| 48 | Sam Shucksmith (GBr) | 0:00:15.68 |
| 49 | Joe Flanagan (GBr) | 0:00:15.77 |
| 50 | Gregory Brunache (Fra) | 0:00:16.42 |
| 51 | Fabian Bieli (Swi) | 0:00:16.58 |
| 52 | Joe Vejvoda (Aus) | 0:00:16.77 |
| 53 | Francesco Locatelli (Ita) | 0:00:17.21 |
| 54 | Robin Van Goubergen (Bel) | 0:00:17.51 |
| 55 | Elliott Machin (GBr) | 0:00:17.92 |
| 56 | Daniel Franks (NZl) | 0:00:17.93 |
| 57 | Ian Schaad (Swi) | 0:00:18.23 |
| 58 | Nils Correvon (Swi) | 0:00:19.15 |
| 59 | Mario Milani (Ita) | 0:00:19.43 |
| 60 | Niklas Wallner (Swe) | 0:00:19.61 |
| 61 | Gareth Brewin (GBr) | 0:00:19.76 |
| 62 | Thomas Jeandin (Swi) | 0:00:20.01 |
| 63 | Davide Sottocornola (Ita) | 0:00:20.04 |
| 64 | Antoine Bagnoud (Swi) | 0:00:20.67 |
| 65 | Ziki Fontana (Swi) | 0:00:20.73 |
| 66 | Antti Lampen (Fin) | 0:00:20.82 |
| 67 | Marius Paccolat (Swi) | 0:00:20.89 |
| 68 | Kevin Bessi (Fra) | 0:00:20.91 |
| 69 | Belli Walter (Ita) | 0:00:21.10 |
| 70 | Carlo Caire (Ita) | 0:00:21.37 |
| 71 | Scott Laughland (Irl) | 0:00:21.49 |
| 72 | Roman Roschi (Swi) | 0:00:21.66 |
| 73 | Maximilian Bender (Ger) | 0:00:21.74 |
| 74 | Christian Textor (Ger) | 0:00:22.28 |
| 75 | Rom Devouassoux (Fra) | 0:00:22.70 |
| 76 | Randy Van Goubergen (Bel) | 0:00:22.86 |
| 77 | Christian Vogt (Ger) | 0:00:22.93 |
| 78 | Samuel Baumann (Swi) | 0:00:22.95 |
| 79 | Willi Lutzeler (Ger) | 0:00:23.10 |
| 80 | Leopold Köllner (Aut) | 0:00:23.31 |
| 81 | Maxime Chapuis (Swi) | 0:00:23.38 |
| 82 | Colin Favre (Swi) | 0:00:24.04 |
| 83 | Marcus Neumann (Ger) | 0:00:24.46 |
| 84 | Benjamin Oluoch (Ger) | 0:00:24.53 |
| 85 | Tiaan Odendaal (RSA) | 0:00:24.59 |
| 86 | Callum Dew (GBr) | 0:00:25.09 |
| 87 | Nicolas Walser (Swi) | 0:00:25.29 |
| 88 | Joseph Taylor (GBr) | 0:00:25.59 |
| 89 | Philipp Bünnemann (Ger) | 0:00:26.52 |
| 90 | George Belk (GBr) | 0:00:26.66 |
| 91 | Sam Wakefield (GBr) | 0:00:26.69 |
| 92 | Tom Housman (GBr) | 0:00:26.78 |
| 93 | Mario Reinbacher (Aut) | 0:00:27.16 |
| 94 | Dominik Mai (Ger) | 0:00:27.38 |
| 95 | Alex Holowko (GBr) | 0:00:28.81 |
| 96 | Nicolas Mathieu (Bel) | 0:00:29.03 |
| 97 | Tim Kaelin (Swi) | 0:00:29.15 |
| 98 | Davide Dolfin (Ita) | 0:00:29.72 |
| 99 | Dale Russell (GBr) | 0:00:30.01 |
| 100 | Julien Juglair (Ita) | 0:00:30.70 |
| 101 | Oliver Morris (GBr) | 0:00:31.24 |
| 102 | Jack Graham (GBr) | 0:00:31.38 |
| 103 | Gustavo Cisneros (Arg) | 0:00:31.82 |
| 104 | Simon Brum (Fra) | 0:00:32.09 |
| 105 | Jonathan-James Foster-Smith (GBr) | 0:00:32.13 |
| 106 | Etienne Bosch (Fra) | 0:00:32.17 |
| 107 | Cameron Cole (NZl) | 0:00:32.42 |
| 108 | Lucas Frigout (Fra) | 0:00:32.49 |
| 109 | Patrik Deuss (Swi) | 0:00:32.51 |
| 110 | Maik Pfeifer (Ger) | 0:00:33.15 |
| 111 | Dave Reinhardt (Ger) | 0:00:33.43 |
| 112 | David Pache (Swi) | 0:00:33.63 |
| 113 | Michel Angelini (Ita) | 0:00:34.27 |
| 114 | Jonas Bernet (Swi) | 0:00:34.41 |
| 115 | Aviv Yanowski (Isr) | 0:00:34.87 |
| 116 | Chris Kilmurray (Irl) | 0:00:35.43 |
| 117 | Thomas Düber (Ger) | 0:00:36.26 |
| 118 | Stefan Beck (Ger) | 0:00:36.67 |
| 119 | Moritz Kruse (Ger) | 0:00:36.90 |
| 120 | Christoph Schnettler (Ger) | 0:00:37.16 |
| 121 | Luca Guglielmucci (Ita) | 0:00:37.47 |
| 122 | Jim Shaw (GBr) | 0:00:37.90 |
| 123 | Josh Lewis (GBr) | 0:00:38.35 |
| # | Rider Name (Country) Team | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Miriam Ruchti (Swi) | 0:05:11.27 |
| 2 | Elisa Canepa (Ita) | 0:00:04.61 |
| 3 | Diana Marggraff (Ecu) | 0:00:08.54 |
| 4 | Louise Paulin (Swe) | 0:00:09.13 |
| 5 | Alia Marcellini (Ita) | 0:00:09.43 |
| 6 | Nicole Beege (Ger) | 0:00:10.75 |
| 7 | Sarah Atkin (NZl) | 0:00:16.08 |
| 8 | Harriet Rucknagel (Ger) | 0:00:23.25 |
| 9 | Madeline Taylor (NZl) | 0:00:26.70 |
| 10 | Joanne Muoser (Swi) | 0:00:28.23 |
| 11 | Amy Laird (NZl) | 0:00:28.87 |
| 12 | Anita Gehrig (Swi) | 0:00:36.83 |
| 13 | Monica Ghione (Ita) | 0:01:04.80 |
