Finn Iles denied win in Val di Sole downhill

Finn Iles racked up another World Cup podium finish on Saturday in Val di Sole, though perhaps not the one he was chasing. After ranking second in qualifying and in semi finals on Saturday, Specialized Gravity Racing’s Canadian was clearly hunting for the win.

That’s not what ended up happening. Early in Saturday’s elite men’s race. While Val di Sole didn’t produce the result Iles wanted, it did deliver two heartwarming story lines as both men’s and women’ winners celebrated ending a long road back from serious injuries.

Elite Men: A king’s comeback

Dakotah Norton (Mondraker) put in an absolutely massive run to take the lead. With this year’s hottest rider, Loic Bruni, up one rider after Norton and entirely unable to match the U.S. racer’s time, Norton looked set for a solid run.

Rider after rider failed to come even close to Norton’s impressive time on the treacherously slippery Val di Sole track. In fact, Norton was waiting in the hot seat for most of an hour. That left just two riders at the top of the mountain. Finn Iles and a resurgent Amaury Pierron.

Iles was second in Val do Sole last year behind fellow Canadian Jackson Goldstone. With Goldstone out with an injury, and Iles looking fast all week in Italy, the Specialized racer was hunting for his second elite win.

Iles was on pace for much of his run but a slip in the lower half of the course left him chasing to make up time. He did, but not quite enough to match Norton.

Then came Pierron. The Commencal Muc-Off racer is on a long road back to form after breaking his back in 2023. That put him on the sidelines for the rest of that season and with plenty of work to do to get back up to race pace. From the first split, Pierron looked unstoppable. In fact, the Frenchman was fastest at every split on his way to the finish.

That gave Pierron a staggering 4.893-second margin to Norton’s previously untouchable time.

Pierron returns to reign in Italy

Amaury Pierron wins the Val di Sole World Cup. Crossing the finish line, he was clearly emotional about his long journey back to his winning ways.

“It’s insane,” Pierron said after his win. “This week marks the one year since surgery on my broken neck. I’ve been through so much this year. It was really bad, but I never gave up, kept dreaming… To win a World Cup on the toughest track is insane… This track was super technical – it was not much full gas, flat-out, it was more of a smart race with good lines. It was really hard mentally and physically. I couldn’t be more stoked.”

Norton finishes second, still chasing a World Cup win. Finn Iles takes third, with Troy Brosnan (Canyon Cllctv) and Loic Bruni (Specialized Gravity Racing) rounding out the podium in fourth and fifth. Pierron’s run was so dominant that Ronnan Dunne (Mondraker) in sixth was the only other rider within 10 seconds of the winning time.

Bodhi Kuhn (Trek Factory Racing) and Jakob Jewett (Pivot Factory Racing) were the other two Canadians in the elite men’s final.

Jewett had a sensational race, finishing 13th. It’s among the Pivot racer’s best World Cup finishes. Kuhn had a huge crash near the top of his run but was still able to finish in 31st.

Elite Women: Seagrave sensational in Val di Sole

The elite women’s race was a tumultuous one even before the first rider dropped in. Semi final winner Jess Blewett (Cube Factory Racing) injured her hand during her last practice run on Saturday, forcing her to withdraw from finals.

That left the win wide open for the rest of the field. It was Tahnée Seagrave (Canyon Cllctv) who would take advantage. The British rider is also on a long road back from injury, struggling for the past few seasons with concussion and other problems. On Saturday, Seagrave put all of that behind her to take the win.

“I didn’t think it was possible today,” Seagrave said after the race. “I was so far behind yesterday. I had so much work to do and I haven’t turned something like that around in a long time. I think today we saw Tahnée who used to race like this. I’m stoked.”

A crowded podium

Unlike the men’s race, the top three women were within one second at the finish line. Marine Cabirou (Scott Factory Racing) rode to second, 0.320 seconds behind Seagrave. Monika Hrastnik made her return to a World Cup podium in third, 0.941 seconds off the win.

Myriam Nicole (Commencal Muc-Off) continued her own impressive comback from injury with another podium, finishing fourth. Vali Höll, World Cup leader and world champion, salvaged fifth after a hard crash in the rocks near the top of the Val di Sole track.

There were no Canadians in the elite women’s final, though enduro racer Emmy Lan (Forbidden Synthesis) was fast enough in her cross-over effort to make it into the semi final on Friday. Gracey Hemstreet (Norco Race Division) is currently out with an injured hand.