Rachel Atherton (GT Factory Racing) raced to victory in the Hafjell, Norway round of the UCI World Cup downhill on Sunday, with a time of 4:09.900. Her nearest competition was 7.631 seconds back: Manon Carpenter (Madison Saracen Downhill Team). Myriam Nicole (Commencal / Riding Addiction), Morgane Charre (MS Mondraker Team) and Emmeline Ragot (Lapierre Gravity Republic) completed the podium.
Favorites Emilie Siegenthaler (Gstaad-Scott) and Jill Kintner (Norco) both crashed on a rocky corner that caused many of the women trouble in the final. With rain, the rocky course was extremely slippery.
Eventual second place finisher Carpenter set a time that looked like it might hold up, but fastest qualifier Atherton, a fellow Brit, blew past it. French woman Nicole put up a good run, but could not beat Carpenter.
Ragot blazed the top part of the course, but made a mistake up top and would end up fifth.
Atherton set the tone for her run by being six seconds up after the first split. She increased her margin by a bit by the end.
"I was so nervous before the race. We had two runs before the race and it was wet," said Atherton. "It rained, and it was lethal - so slippery. I had a few wild moments and thought I was going down. I didn't know how fast I could and I just held on."
"I was struggling with the place the other girls crashed, even in the dry. I didn't slow down enough and had a massive slide, but I held it upright. The crowd went crazy and I thought maybe I was doing well."
Atherton leads the World Cup with one round remaining. Her nearest rival, Ragot, could still overtake her.
"Emmeline is right behind me and she gets faster and faster as the year goes on," said Atherton. "It's amazing. The girls are all pushing so hard. I don't know if I've gotten it sewn up. The last round, everyone wants to win and it's going to be fast."
Race note
Floriane Pugin (Gstaad-Scott) did not compete after crashing in training and separating her A-C joint in her shoulder.
Full Results
| # | Rider Name (Country) Team | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rachel Atherton (GBr) GT Factory Racing | 0:04:09.900 |
| 2 | Manon Carpenter (GBr) Madison Saracen Downhill Team | 0:00:07.631 |
| 3 | Myriam Nicole (Fra) Commencal / Riding Addiction | 0:00:08.081 |
| 4 | Morgane Charre (Fra) Ms Mondraker Team | 0:00:08.436 |
| 5 | Emmeline Ragot (Fra) Lapierre Gravity Republic | 0:00:09.778 |
| 6 | Anita Ager-Wick (Nor) | 0:00:17.473 |
| 7 | Tracey Hannah (Aus) Hutchinson UR | 0:00:19.584 |
| 8 | Casey Brown (Can) Dirt Norco Race Team | 0:00:21.451 |
| 9 | Miranda Miller (Can) | 0:00:22.542 |
| 10 | Emilie Siegenthaler (Swi) Gstaad-Scott | 0:00:22.887 |
| 11 | Zarja Cernilogar (Slo) Blackthorn GT | 0:00:32.500 |
| 12 | Tahnee Seagrave° (GBr) Fmd Racing / Intense Cycles | 0:00:36.047 |
| 13 | Claire Buchar (Can) | 0:00:39.768 |
| 14 | Alanna Columb (NZl) | 0:00:44.150 |
| 15 | Martina Bruehlmann (Swi) | 0:00:49.867 |
| 16 | Fiona Ourdouillie° (Fra) US Cagnes VTT | 0:00:50.459 |
| 17 | Miriam Ruchti (Swi) SC Intense | 0:00:51.003 |
| 18 | Josefine Björkman (Swe) | 0:00:54.368 |
| DNF | Jill Kintner (USA) Team Norco International | |
| DNS | Vaea Verbeeck (Can) |
| # | Rider Name (Country) Team | Result | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Giant Factory Off-Road Team | 91 | pts |
| 2 | GT Factory Racing | 72 | |
| 3 | Santa Cruz Syndicate | 71 | |
| 4 | Devinci Global Racing | 58 | |
| 5 | Lapierre Gravity Republic | 52 | |
| 6 | Madison Saracen Downhill Team | 40 | |
| 7 | Chain Reaction Cycles.Com / Nukeproof | 39 | |
| 8 | Commencal / Riding Addiction | 38 | |
| 9 | Specialized Racing DH | 33 | |
| 10 | Gstaad-Scott | 32 | |
| 11 | MS Mondraker Team | 26 | |
| 12 | Pivot Factory Team | 22 | |
| 13 | Team W-Racing | 22 | |
| 14 | Hutchinson UR | 21 | |
| 15 | Trek World Racing | 20 | |
| 16 | Dirt Norco Race Team | 16 | |
| 17 | RRP Ghost | 14 | |
| 18 | Evil Vengeance Tour | 14 | |
| 19 | Blackthorn GT | 10 | |
| 20 | Fmd Racing / Intense Cycles | 9 | |
| 21 | Unior Tools Team | 6 | |
| 22 | US Cagnes VTT | 5 | |
| 23 | SC Intense | 4 | |
| 24 | Yeti Fox Shox Factory Race Team | 2 | |
| 25 | Evil Ck Racing Evian | 1 |
| # | Rider Name (Country) Team | Result | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rachel Atherton (GBr) GT Factory Racing | 1085 | pts |
| 2 | Emmeline Ragot (Fra) Lapierre Gravity Republic | 925 | |
| 3 | Manon Carpenter (GBr) Madison Saracen Downhill Team | 880 | |
| 4 | Myriam Nicole (Fra) Commencal / Riding Addiction | 683 | |
| 5 | Morgane Charre (Fra) Ms Mondraker Team | 636 | |
| 6 | Floriane Pugin (Fra) Gstaad-Scott | 580 | |
| 7 | Emilie Siegenthaler (Swi) Gstaad-Scott | 451 | |
| 8 | Tahnee Seagrave° (GBr) Fmd Racing / Intense Cycles | 291 | |
| 9 | Jill Kintner (USA) Team Norco International | 241 | |
| 10 | Tracey Hannah (Aus) Hutchinson UR | 236 | |
| 11 | Fionn Griffiths (GBr) | 205 | |
| 12 | Anita Ager-Wick (Nor) | 195 | |
| 13 | Zarja Cernilogar (Slo) Blackthorn GT | 195 | |
| 14 | Casey Brown (Can) Dirt Norco Race Team | 175 | |
| 15 | Micayla Gatto (Can) | 175 | |
| 16 | Jessica Stone (GBr) Unior Tools Team | 100 | |
| 17 | Alanna Columb (NZl) | 85 | |
| 18 | Miriam Ruchti (Swi) SC Intense | 85 | |
| 19 | Vaea Verbeeck (Can) | 75 | |
| 20 | Mélanie Pugin (Fra) Team Morzine-Avoriaz/Haute-Savoie | 75 | |
| 21 | Miranda Miller (Can) | 70 | |
| 22 | Mio Suemasa (Jpn) Japan | 60 | |
| 23 | Alia Marcellini* (Ita) Italy | 55 | |
| 24 | Fiona Ourdouillie° (Fra) US Cagnes VTT | 55 | |
| 25 | Claire Buchar (Can) | 52 | |
| 26 | Petra Bernhard (Aut) Rrp Ghost | 50 | |
| 27 | Jana Bartova (Cze) Czech Republic | 35 | |
| 28 | Martina Bruehlmann (Swi) | 35 | |
| 29 | Jaime Hill (Can) | 30 | |
| 30 | Kristen Courtney (Can) | 25 | |
| 31 | Rebecca Gardner (USA) | 20 | |
| 32 | Alison Zimmer (USA) | 15 | |
| 33 | Jacqueline Harmony (USA) | 15 | |
| 34 | Marianne Ruud° (Nor) | 15 | |
| 35 | Josefine Björkman (Swe) | 15 | |
| 36 | Rachael Walker (GBr) | 10 | |
| 37 | Severine Cigana (Fra) US Cagnes VTT | 10 | |
| 38 | Taylor Allison° (USA) | 5 |
| # | Rider Name (Country) Team | Result | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | GT Factory Racing | 408 | pts |
| 2 | Lapierre Gravity Republic | 335 | |
| 3 | Giant Factory Off-Road Team | 270 | |
| 4 | Santa Cruz Syndicate | 261 | |
| 5 | Gstaad-Scott | 255 | |
| 6 | Commencal / Riding Addiction | 222 | |
| 7 | Devinci Global Racing | 218 | |
| 8 | Specialized Racing DH | 214 | |
| 9 | Madison Saracen Downhill Team | 195 | |
| 10 | Chain Reaction Cycles.Com / Nukeproof | 184 | |
| 11 | MS Mondraker Team | 162 | |
| 12 | Trek World Racing | 135 | |
| 13 | Hutchinson UR | 115 | |
| 14 | Evil Vengeance Tour | 81 | |
| 15 | Fmd Racing / Intense Cycles | 55 | |
| 16 | Team Norco International | 54 | |
| 17 | Pivot Factory Team | 51 | |
| 18 | Evil Ck Racing Evian | 46 | |
| 19 | GT / 360 Degrees | 40 | |
| 20 | RRP Ghost | 39 | |
| 21 | Blackthorn GT | 39 | |
| 22 | Dirt Norco Race Team | 36 | |
| 23 | Topcycle By Trek | 34 | |
| 24 | SC Intense | 29 | |
| 25 | Unior Tools Team | 27 | |
| 26 | Team W-Racing | 22 | |
| 27 | Yeti Fox Shox Factory Race Team | 21 | |
| 28 | Team Morzine-Avoriaz/Haute-Savoie | 15 | |
| 29 | US Cagnes VTT | 13 | |
| 30 | Torpado Surfing Shop | 11 | |
| 31 | Kona | 10 | |
| 32 | Team Bulls - DH | 9 |
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