Former world champion Danny Hart starts early after failing to qualify and initially takes the lead, a good second ahead of his compatriot Matt Walker, who won the iXS Downhill Cup on the same course a week ago. But his lead does not last long. Reigning downhill world champion Loic Bruni completes the course half a second faster than Hart and takes the hotseat.

One after the other of the following favorites fails. Only Australian Troy Brosnan comes close again in third place. All eyes are on the American Aaron Gwin. But he is also unable to get close to his rivals, even missing out on the top 5 podium in sixth place.
And nothing was to change, as qualifying winner Mark Wallace got off to a poor start and was only in 15th place at the first intermediate time. The Canadian then increasingly improved and rapidly made up places. But it wasn't quite enough and he finished in eighth place.

Loic Bruni thus emerges as the winner of the World Cup opener and the first leader. Hart and Brosnan remain in second and third place, Charlie Harrison and Matt Walker complete the first men's podium of the season

The only two Swiss riders in the final of the top 60, Basil and Lutz Weber, did not achieve their desired results. Lutz Weber set the bar very high with 14th place in the qualifying race. In the race, he finished 45th - a solid result to start the season. "I had a good and very clean run. Probably a little too clean, but all in all good," says Lutz Weber.

His team colleague and namesake Basil Weber finished 54th and reported something similar: "Satisfied? Well. I rode some passages well, but mostly too safely, which is why it wasn't enough for more."

Results

www.uci.org/mountain-bike/events/mercedes-benz-uci-mountain-bike-world-cup