Loris Vergier won the gold medal for France in the junior men's downhill race at the UCI Mountain Bike World Championships in Hafjell, Norway on Sunday morning. Laurie Greenland (Great Britain) celebrated a silver medal while Jacob Dickson (Ireland) took home the bronze medal.
"I can't really believe it yet," said the new world champion Vergier, "but it was a good day for me."
Carlos Alfaro Peralta (Peru), the 16th man down the mountain, had time to get quite toasty in the hot seat after he clocked a 3:40.322.
"It was my best run today. I felt good after I had problems in the timed run," said Alfaro Peralta. Today the track was fast and dry."
Several riders commented that the track was so fast that it was scary to race.
It wasn't until New Zealand's Connor Hamilton came down as the 47th rider of the day that anyone was faster. Hamilton finished the 2.2km course in 3:38.736.
Australia's Max Warshawsky was the next man in the hot seat with a 3:37.721, but he wasn't fast enough for a medal.
"I'm pretty exhausted, but my run was good. It was pretty loose, but I got down in the end," said Warshawsky.
However, Dickson was quick enough to medal, thanks to a time of 3:36.384, which was within 7.294 seconds of Vergier. After his run, the Irishman took over the hot seat.
"I can't believe it. I had a few mistakes, but it's just the nature of the track, and I'm so happy to be in the top three," said Dickson.
Just three riders later, Greenland bumped him out of it with a 3:34.080, a time that would net him the silver medal.
"I had a good run. I slid out in the open turns, but pushed as hard as I could," said Greenland.
Pre-race favorite Luca Shaw (United States) crashed during his run, knocking himself out of medal contention. Other favorites, including Martin Maes (Belgium) and Taylor Vernon (Great Britain) had problems during their runs.
Vergier, the World Cup champion and top favorite for the day, was the last man down the mountain. His graceful, fluid run netted him the gold medal with a time of 3:29.100. He was the only man to go sub-3:30.
"The top of the course is so hard and I made some mistakes. It's so fast and so easy to crash, but it was a good day for me," said Vergier. After the top part, I applied some gas in the lower parts."
Full Results
| # | Rider Name (Country) Team | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Loris Vergier (France) | 0:03:29.100 |
| 2 | Laurie Greenland (Great Britain) | 0:00:04.990 |
| 3 | Jacob Dickson (Ireland) | 0:00:07.294 |
| 4 | Max Warshawsky (Australia) | 0:00:08.631 |
| 5 | Connor Hamilton (New Zealand) | 0:00:09.646 |
| 6 | Carlos Alfaro Peralta (Peru) | 0:00:11.232 |
| 7 | Aiden Varley (Australia) | 0:00:12.251 |
| 8 | Loris Revelli (Italy) | 0:00:12.781 |
| 9 | Keegan Wright (New Zealand) | 0:00:12.941 |
| 10 | Andreas Kolb (Austria) | 0:00:13.116 |
| 11 | Thomas Estaque (France) | 0:00:13.324 |
| 12 | Daniel Olarra Lopez (Spain) | 0:00:13.344 |
| 13 | Nal Otonicar (Slovenia) | 0:00:13.693 |
| 14 | Jack Iles (Canada) | 0:00:13.836 |
| 15 | Drew Carters (Great Britain) | 0:00:15.144 |
| 16 | Maxime Ciriego (France) | 0:00:15.555 |
| 17 | Andrew Crimmins (Australia) | 0:00:16.385 |
| 18 | Shane Leslie (United States Of America) | 0:00:16.484 |
| 19 | Benjamin Dengate (Australia) | 0:00:18.705 |
| 20 | Chase Nelson (United States Of America) | 0:00:20.232 |
| 21 | Jackson Davis (Australia) | 0:00:20.660 |
| 22 | Silvio Cesar Felix Junior (Brazil) | 0:00:20.750 |
| 23 | Miha Ivancic (Slovenia) | 0:00:21.051 |
| 24 | Connor Sandri (New Zealand) | 0:00:21.175 |
| 25 | Peter Bethell (New Zealand) | 0:00:22.498 |
| 26 | Pascal Engel (Austria) | 0:00:22.640 |
| 27 | Francisco Matias (Chile) | 0:00:22.722 |
| 28 | Andrew Martin (South Africa) | 0:00:22.809 |
| 29 | Jozef Ondic (Slovakia) | 0:00:23.324 |
| 30 | Johan Geschwind (Sweden) | 0:00:23.510 |
| 31 | Mike Schaer (Switzerland) | 0:00:23.529 |
| 32 | Kamil Gladysz (Poland) | 0:00:24.066 |
| 33 | Petteri Leivo (Finland) | 0:00:24.223 |
| 34 | Myles Weber (Switzerland) | 0:00:24.585 |
| 35 | Artur Hryszko (Poland) | 0:00:25.938 |
| 36 | Per Henrik Thorp (Norway) | 0:00:25.999 |
| 37 | Henrik Myhrvold (Norway) | 0:00:26.077 |
| 38 | Max Scharf (Canada) | 0:00:28.064 |
| 39 | Masaki Kato (Japan) | 0:00:28.208 |
| 40 | Taylor Vernon (Great Britain) | 0:00:28.592 |
| 41 | Ben Hill (Australia) | 0:00:29.864 |
| 42 | Tomas Navratil (Czech Republic) | 0:00:30.153 |
| 43 | Carl Goodwin (New Zealand) | 0:00:30.664 |
| 44 | Juraj Straka (Slovakia) | 0:00:30.832 |
| 45 | Luciano Jose De Neufville (Ecuador) | 0:00:30.981 |
| 46 | Amaury Pierron (France) | 0:00:32.289 |
| 47 | Samuel Jakobsson (Sweden) | 0:00:34.281 |
| 48 | Grunde Kvalseth (Norway) | 0:00:34.655 |
| 49 | Gregg Brown (South Africa) | 0:00:34.749 |
| 50 | Martin Klette (Norway) | 0:00:35.028 |
| 51 | Neil Stewart (Great Britain) | 0:00:37.301 |
| 52 | Charlie Harrison (United States Of America) | 0:00:37.669 |
| 53 | Vitaly Khripunov (Russian Federation) | 0:00:38.247 |
| 54 | Sondre Furuheim (Norway) | 0:00:39.517 |
| 55 | Tomas Uruba (Czech Republic) | 0:00:39.776 |
| 56 | Luca Shaw (United States Of America) | 0:00:42.374 |
| 57 | Robin Andre Ryste Skjeret (Norway) | 0:00:55.217 |
| 58 | Marton Nagy (Hungary) | 0:00:59.018 |
| 59 | Martin Maes (Belgium) | 0:01:15.657 |
| 60 | Erik Toth (Hungary) | 0:01:35.770 |
| DNF | Armin Kiraly (Hungary) | Row 60 - Cell 2 |
| DNF | Joshua Mccombie (New Zealand) | Row 61 - Cell 2 |
| DNF | Severin Poppe Midteide (Norway) | Row 62 - Cell 2 |
| DNF | Silas Grandy (Germany) | Row 63 - Cell 2 |
| DNF | Martin Lebl (Czech Republic) | Row 64 - Cell 2 |
| DNS | Ferran Jorba Prats (Spain) | Row 65 - Cell 2 |
| DNS | Marcus Hansson (Sweden) | Row 66 - Cell 2 |
| DNS | Matthew Mccorkell (Australia) | Row 67 - Cell 2 |
| # | Rider Name (Country) Team | Result | Header Cell - Column 3 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | France | 170 | pts |
| 2 | Australia | 170 | Row 1 - Cell 3 |
| 3 | New-Zealand | 160 | Row 2 - Cell 3 |
| 4 | Great Britain | 141 | Row 3 - Cell 3 |
| 5 | United States Of America | 108 | Row 4 - Cell 3 |
| 6 | Austria | 96 | Row 5 - Cell 3 |
| 7 | Slovenia | 96 | Row 6 - Cell 3 |
| 8 | Canada | 80 | Row 7 - Cell 3 |
| 9 | Norway | 77 | Row 8 - Cell 3 |
| 10 | Switzerland | 67 | Row 9 - Cell 3 |
| 11 | Poland | 65 | Row 10 - Cell 3 |
| 12 | Ireland | 63 | Row 11 - Cell 3 |
| 13 | Peru | 60 | Row 12 - Cell 3 |
| 14 | Slovakia | 59 | Row 13 - Cell 3 |
| 15 | Italy | 58 | Row 14 - Cell 3 |
| 16 | South Africa | 55 | Row 15 - Cell 3 |
| 17 | Sweden | 55 | Row 16 - Cell 3 |
| 18 | Spain | 54 | Row 17 - Cell 3 |
| 19 | Brazil | 44 | Row 18 - Cell 3 |
| 20 | Chile | 39 | Row 19 - Cell 3 |
| 21 | Czech Republic | 35 | Row 20 - Cell 3 |
| 22 | Finland | 33 | Row 21 - Cell 3 |
| 23 | Japan | 27 | Row 22 - Cell 3 |
| 24 | Ecuador | 21 | Row 23 - Cell 3 |
| 25 | Hungary | 14 | Row 24 - Cell 3 |
| 26 | Russian Federation | 13 | Row 25 - Cell 3 |
| 27 | Belgium | 7 | Row 26 - Cell 3 |
-
TrainingPeaks Virtual confirmed as new platform for Echelon Racing League and USA Cycling esports National Championships
Calendar for Esports evolving as Zwift moving away from its own series and academy this fall -
Zoe Bäckstedt vs the rest? – Riders to watch in the World Championships women's U23 time trial
First-ever edition of separate U23 time trial for women has a field stacked full of talent -
'I don't feel done' - Ellen Noble returns to elite cyclocross competition to prove she is still 'tough, capable, powerful'
Two-time US U23 cyclocross national champion overcomes years of illness and injuries for first full 'cross schedule since 2019 -
Vaccinations, malaria pills, boiled water – Belgian team doctor outlines health precautions in place for Road World Championships in Rwanda
'We started preparing for this World Championships a year ago' says Kris Van der Mieren
