Cabirou storms to victory, Höll crashes in the first sector

Marine Cabirou experienced a disappointing race by her standards in Fort William. She did not finish on the podium and still has a lot to do to challenge Valentina Höll (YT Mob) in the overall standings of the UCI World Cup. However, she seemed to have put the Scottish season opener behind her and arrived in Poland as one of the most consistent riders on the course in the Beskids.

Third place in qualifying and the semi-final on Saturday was a sign that Cabirou wasn't just in Poland to score points, and when she had only Tahnée Seagrave (Canyon CLLCTV FMD) and Höll ahead of her in the final, she knew she would have to better her time from the semi-final by more than three seconds to knock off the previous leader Camille Balanche (Dorval AM Commencal).

After a steady upper section, the 27-year-old gained more and more confidence over the course of her run and set a rapid pace in the lower section, which was enough for first place. Seagrave looked like she was in the fast lane and made up almost a second at the first intermediate split, but the reinvigorated Brit came off the pedals in the technical forest section, lost momentum and crossed the finish line in fifth place.

And then there was Höll. The 2023 UCI Downhill World Champion put a chain break in qualifying behind her and rode the fastest time in the semi-final, which Aaron Gwin said in the live commentary was "hers". The 22-year-old came out of the starting gate with incredible power, but her run was over as quickly as it had begun - a crash in the first sector sent her down hard. Last year's overall series winner is no quitter and was quickly back on the bike, but it was damage limitation rather than a miraculous recovery - the Austrian finished sixth.

Her win in Poland was Cabirou's eighth UCI Downhill World Cup in her career, and after the race she said: "I'm super happy to win here on this new track in Poland. It's crazy because the course has changed a lot throughout the week. It was difficult to manage the race because it was raining heavily at the beginning of the afternoon so I didn't know if I could push or not, so I just tried to do my best. At the start of the race I saw that the track was reasonably dry, so I tried to push. I made a mistake, but I think everyone made a mistake, so I just had a good run."

Results women

Dunne wins first UCI Downhill World Cup

Ronan Dunne (Mondraker Factory Racing) took his first UCI Downhill World Cup win in Poland with a confident and controlled performance. The 21-year-old Irishman steered his Mondraker prototype around the course in his trademark razor-sharp style.

In the men's final, another Irishman was the favorite for most of the time - Oisin O'Callaghan (YT Mob), who took to the track in fourth place and set a mark that would be enough for 10th place on the day.

Benoît Coulanges (Dorval AM Commencal) finally shattered the 21-year-old's dreams of a second UCI World Cup victory. The Frenchman's run was the first under the 2:57 mark and was enough to land him on the podium in fourth place - an improvement on his sixth place in Fort William.

Coulanges' time in the hot seat was short-lived, however. In came Loïc Bruni (Specialized Gravity). The overall winner of the 2023 UCI Downhill World Cup had started his season with a victory in Scotland and seemed to have overcome a crash in yesterday's semi-final. He already had a 1.2-second lead over Coulanges in the first section and was able to break the 2:55 mark. But would it be enough for his 10th UCI Downhill World Cup win?

Saturday's surprise qualifier, Lachlan Stevens-McNab (Union - Forged by Steel City Media), looked set to build on his strong semi-final run and overtook Bruni well into the fourth intermediate split until he was brought back down to earth by front wheel damage on an innocuous section.

The 20-year-old New Zealand national champion had shown that he could make up time on Bruni, which Dunne took advantage of. The Irishman put in a final run in which he was the fastest in three of the four intermediate splits (and second fastest in the other), narrowly beating Bruni by 0.64 seconds.

The three riders remaining on the mountain had no answer to Dunne's dominant run - Luca Shaw (Canyon CLLCTV Factory Team) finished sixth, Loris Vergier (Trek Factory Racing Gravity) salvaged third place despite dabbing his foot, and teammate Dakotah Norton (Mondraker Factory Racing) was 31st. after slipping on a wet patch at the top of the first sector.

After his victory, Ronan Dunne said: "I loved the track in Poland. The spectators were amazing. It's the second [UCI Downhill World Cup] with the new team. It was perfect and I had my sights set on either taking a helicopter ride or finishing first. We didn't do the helicopter ride, but we got the win. I don't normally look at the times, but this time I did. I saw the time Bruni put down and thought, 'OK, we'll do it, we're not messing around'. I was ready to fight someone. That paid off."

The overall series leader, Loïc Bruni, said: "I'm pretty happy with the result. I don't think I deserved more because my weekend wasn't that good. Some of the guys rode better than me. I'm happy with second place. I didn't think it was possible to finish in the top three. The run was good, the bike was good and everything fits really well, so hopefully we can take the momentum with us. And I'm really happy for Ronan, it's nice to see him on the top step of the podium for the first time.

Results men