The last race of the iXS Downhill Cup has been held in Bellwald since 2007. The race in the Upper Valais is a cult event, and this is reflected in the number of participants: around 320 riders from 16 nations had pre-registered, with around 360 riders having registered on site - not a figure to be taken for granted.

Return to the "birthplace of a career"

Emilie Siegenthaler doesn't miss out on this cult race either. Still a cross-country rider at the time, she made her first foray into downhill racing in 2007. At that time, the Swiss Championships were also held in this race. The best Swiss downhill rider today won the silver medal back then - her downhill career was off to a great start.

Twelve years later, she is competing again in Bellwald - a kind of homecoming after a not-so-easy season. Things were not to get any easier at the birthplace of her second career. Siegenthaler crashes in her timed run on Saturday and is glad that she remains injury-free.
She was still fast in the race on Sunday and rode to the finish with the best time. However, the crash has left its mark and her time is narrowly beaten by Camille Balanche.

The perfect end to the season

It was Janine Hübscher, the winner of the time trial, who then managed to beat Balanche's best time. The newcomer takes her first elite victory by eight seconds ahead of Balanche and Siegenthaler, perfectly rounding off her second season in the top license class.

Hübscher is in second place in the overall Swiss rankings. Victory here goes to Lea Rutz, who finished fifth in the final race. Third place in the overall standings goes to Alexandra Wohlgensinger.

Hat trick prevented

The elite men's race opens with Austria's Andreas Kolb, who was unable to finish the time trial on Saturday. Known as a fast man who needs no introduction on the scene, it comes as no surprise that Kolb's time holds up for a long time. Rider after rider fails to beat the Austrian's time, and that includes the fastest ten riders from the timed run.

Noel Niederberger comes closest, a good four seconds behind and Lutz Weber just under three seconds behind. But then all eyes are on the winner of the timed run. Basil Weber also won the last two editions of the iXS Cup final in Bellwald, and the third was to follow. For a long time, it looked as if the Laax native would complete the hat-trick.
After crossing the finish line, however, the scoreboard tells a different story - Weber misses out on victory by just five tenths of a second. Kolb thus wins the last race, Lutz Weber comes third and takes victory in the overall Swiss standings.

Flying Dutchman

In the Pro U19 class, Tristan from Holland picked up where he left off last weekend. With a time of 3:43.962 minutes and a lead of almost six seconds, he once again took the lead in his last race as a junior.


He will probably make it into the elite class next year without any problems, as he would have regularly ridden into the top ten of the elite class this season - this time even finishing sixth. Swiss rider Elia Saurer and Ian Guionnet from France finished behind him. Saurer also secured the series win ahead of Liam Seydoux and Vitor Büchli.

Full results iXS Downhill Cup

www.ixsdownhillcup.com