"I wish I was a little more fearless." With these words, the reigning downhill world champion and overall World Cup winner Valentina Höll withdrew from the Red Bull Hardline in Tasmania. This alone makes it clear how extreme the course in the Maydena Bike Park is, where the second edition of the Hardline Down Under will take place next Saturday. Höll is by no means alone in her decision. Loic Bruni, Tahnée Seagrave and Nina Hoffmann have also turned down the invitation to take part. Nevertheless, there will be plenty of intrepid youngsters, stars and legends taking on the fearsome course this weekend. The online live broadcast will start at 4 a.m. our time. Red Bull will also be offering a replay for late risers. 

With the Hardline, which celebrated its premiere in Wales in 2014, the Austrian beverage company seems to want to create a new racing series. Since the Universal Cycling Union (UCI) found a new partner in Warner Brothers to broadcast the World Cup races in 2023, Red Bull has been pushing ahead with the Hardline series. Initially, a race was only held once a year in Wales. Since 2024, there have been two stops with Tasmania. And apparently number three is already being planned in Canada, as Red Bull athlete and Hardline winner Jackson Goldstone revealed in an interview. For the professional circus, which criticizes too few races on the World Cup calendar, this is a welcome opportunity to present themselves and their sponsors to a global audience via the free Red Bull TV livestream.

Husarenritt am Mountainbike

The Hardline combines downhill and freeride into a unique, daredevil concept. While professional downhillers struggle with the huge jumps, which are tackled at almost 80 kilometers per hour and sometimes go over 30 meters, freeriders struggle with the sheer length of the course and the rough downhill passages. For the spectators, this mix is a spectacle. Even the video blogs from training of the past few days show unusual images: a whole bunch of mountain bike pros stand nervously at the edge of the course and watch how daredevils jump the features. "Fear!" is one of the most frequently used words among the observers.

The respect is no accident. Conquering the Hardline route is like riding a hussar. And this risk takes its toll. Last year, Jackson Goldstone ended his 2024 racing season in Tasmania before it had even begun. During the race, he crashed into a tree at full speed and tore his cruciate ligament. This year, training was already taking its toll. British freerider Kaos Seagrave landed a little too short on the finish jump, which resulted in a nasty fall, but he apparently survived with a few bruises. Frenchman Edgar Briole, on the other hand, had to be transported away by rescue services. What exactly happened remained unclear at first. There is no official information from the organizer, only a brief mention in Matt Jones' video blog that Briole left his bike in mid-air on the huge jump over the wooded canyon. Apparently, people don't want to show such pictures. However, more transparency, also in terms of the risks, would be desirable in view of the young fan community.

Young savages, legends and girl power

The starting field for Saturday will therefore be somewhat thinned out before the race even begins. Unlike the World Cup, the Hardline is a so-called invitational, i.e. a race in which you can only take part if invited by the organizer. In order to appeal to as wide an audience as possible, established racers from the Downhill World Cup, such as Troy Brosnan and Charlie Hatton, as well as some true legends of the sport, have been invited alongside the young guns of the freeride scene, such as Godziek and Théo Erlangsen. The fact that 39-year-old Gee Atherton [Note.: the age was subsequently corrected] and Sam Hill still do this daring thing deserves respect. And with Josh "Ratboy" Bryceland, a very special crowd favorite can be seen in action again after a long break from racing

In addition to the men, there will once again be a handful of women at the start. In 2024, Gracey Hemstreet and Louise Ferguson were the first women to complete a full hardline race. Inspired by this, the field of female starters grew in 2025. Although Höll, Seagrave and Hoffmann have already withdrawn, Cami Nogueira, Veae Veerbeck, Erice van Leuven and Elise Empsey are still willing to conquer the course this year alongside last year's two finishers. Whether they will all actually start on Saturday remains to be seen. The riders still have to test the new lower section with the biggest jumps. The men's start list could also thin out by Saturday.

Among the big favorites are the three hardline dominators of recent years: Ronan Dunne, Bernard Kerr and Jackson Goldstone. Gracey Hemstreet looks set to take on this role again in the women's competition. Fans can expect a spectacle that can be watched online for free. Rob Warner and Elliot Jackson will provide the atmosphere in the livestream. They will be supported by Valentina Höll in the men's race and Ronan Dunne in the women's race. So entertainment is guaranteed. Let's just hope that there are no more injuries.

Links:

Here Saturday at 4am the livestream start.

Bernard Kerr's video blog from the training.

Matt Jones video blog from the training.

Jack Moir's video blog from the training.