Farina was the only rider in the women's field to put in a clean run on the fifth lap. "Wow, that was a crazy race. When it started raining at the start, I said to myself, 'Stay on your bike and ride a clean run'. Now, after ten years in the Elite World Cup, I can say that I've taken my first victory," said the delighted Italian from the MS Intense Racing Team, who completed the course in a time of 4:19.168 minutes.

Bad weather had made for difficult conditions and an extremely slippery course. As an unmistakable sign of this, Norwegian Frida Helena Ronning (Union-Forded by Steel City Media) was the first rider to slip and fall on the first corner and later fell into the safety net. Britain's Phoebe Gail (Canyon CLLCTV Factory Team), Louise-Anna Ferguson (Intense Factory Racing) and Germany's Nina Hoffmann (Santa Cruz Syndicate) were among the other riders whose races were not ideal due to crashes.

Farina was nervous as Johnset performed admirably and set a very respectable time, but in the end Farina was 6.768 seconds faster. Tahnee Seagrave had put together an excellent and patient plan of attack, but just when it looked like she might challenge Farina's time, an agonizing late crash dashed her hopes. At least it was still enough for the Brit to finish third.

With the course becoming more difficult with each run, overall leader Valentina Höll (YT Mob) took an aggressive approach to try and overtake Farina, but despite a spirited effort she lost her rear wheel in a sharp corner and rode to the fifth fastest time of the day. As the result was confirmed, an emotional Farina celebrated her unforgettable and long awaited victory.

Results

When you think there's nothing left, Pierron is coming from somewhere

Experienced rider Greg Minnaar (Norco Factory Racing) held the lead after his run. His best time of 3:40.687 minutes outlasted many riders until Canadian Finn Iles (Specialized Gravity) threw caution to the wind and mastered the wet terrain impressively at first. However, he too paid the price in the end for his offensive riding style on a deteriorating course.

Then Andreas Kolb (Continental Atherton) entered the race. It looked like it was going to be the Austrian's day as he took the lead with a phenomenal run. In these conditions, things could hardly get any better, but then Amaury Pierron (Commencal/MUC-Off by Riding Addiction) started as the penultimate rider. The Frenchman treated the fans to one of the most impressive descents ever seen. It seemed as if he was riding on a dry track and mastered even the key section, which resembled a barely controllable slide, with aplomb. In the end, he left his rivals behind him with a time of 3:43.976 minutes.¨

This time could not be beaten by Dakotah Norton (USA) as the last starter. The Mondraker rider was within striking distance until the first intermediate time, but then more and more mistakes crept in, which brought him ninth place.

Pierron at the finish: "It was crazy! Nobody could really ride a good time, but the rain just came and gave us a really good track," he said, saying that the layers of dust that made a sneaky mess with the mud at the start were gone thanks to the rain towards the end of the final. "It was so much fun, I was so excited to get out on the track and the fans were awesome."

Results