French double up in wild Les Gets World Cup weekend

Les Gets, quickly cementing its reputation as an iconic World Cup venue, played host to another thrilling day of downhill racing on Saturday. The French riders delivered for the home crowd, with Marine Cabirou and Benoit Coulanges taking the elite women’s and men’s wins.

Elite Women: Cabirou takes control

The elite women’s race started as a battle for the overall between Nina Hoffmann, who was trying to keep her hopes alive, and Vali Höll, who was trying to lock in the overall title with two rounds remaining. Hoffmann did her part, laying down a strong run in the dust despite reportedly battling through a lingering illness. Next was Marine Cabirou, intent on stealing the win for the French home crowd. The Scott DH racer put in an absolute heater of a run to take the lead.

Only world champion Vali Höll remained at the top of the mountain. The Austrian’s challenge was short-lived, as she washed out in the deep dust on the second corner out of the start hut and went down. Uninjured, Höll finished out her run but was unable to challenge Cabirou’s time.

Marine Cabirou takes her first win of the 2023 season. Monika Hrastnik (Dorval AM) earns a big result in second place with Nina Hoffmann, Mille Johnset and Italian Gloria Scarsi joining her on the podium.

Höll’s crash means she will have to wait until racing resumes in Snowshoe, W.Va to try lock down the overall title. But she still leads by a substantial margin, with 1842 points to Hoffmann’s 1418. Cabirou closes slightly on the German, now with 1328 points of her own.

B.C.’s Gracey Hemstreet and Emmy Lan both qualified for Saturday’s semi-finals, but didn’t make UCI’s strict 10-rider cut-off for women’s finals. Hemstreet was 11th in semi-finals, just one spot outside of making the final round. Lan, in a still-impressive show for her first elite World Cup appearance, was 16th.

Elite Men: A perfect weekend

Mark Wallace was the first of three Canadians in the 30-rider final. The Norco Factory Racing rider went into the hot seat early, only to be unseated by the U.S.A.’s Luca Shaw. Wallace would end up 16th by the end of the day.

After a crash in semi-finals, Loic Bruni dropped in early in the start order. Super Bruni looked like he was riding on the edge, driving in the deep Les Gets dust, but set the fastest time. Up right after him was Specialized Gravity teammate and rival for the World Cup overall, Finn Iles. Looking like he was feeling the pressure of the title fight, especially after a DQ last week in Loudenvielle, the Canadian couldn’t match his teammate’s place. Nearly drifting through a very loose right-hander out of the gate and continuing to lose slivers of time the whole way down the course, Iles slotted into third with 10 riders left at the top of the mountain. The Whistler racer would end the day in ninth.

Andreas Kolb (Continental Atherton) launched out of the start hut clearly intent on a second World Cup win this season. The Austrian excels on steep and loose tracks and built a big advantage through the hardest parts of the Les Gets course. Kolb smashed Bruni’s time by 0.495-seconds to move into the hot seat.

Jackson Goldstone (Syndicate) was next out of the start gate and just floated down the course. The small shredder looked like he barely cut into the deep dust, on the rare occasions when his tires were on the ground, cutting a huge chunk out of time in the steeps to slot into second behind Kolb. That puts Goldstone higher on the Les Gets results than both rivals in the overall standings, Bruni and Iles.

The last man remaining at the top of the mountain was Benoit Coulanges. The Dorval AM rider was fastest in qualifying, fastest in the semi-finals and looking to be the first rider to win all three starts in one weekend.  There was next to nothing, less than a tenth of a second, between Coulanges and Kolb through the first two splits. Pushed on by the massive Les Gets crowd, the Frenchman started to pull time on the bottom of the course. Sprinting through the entire final stretch, Benoit Coulanges crossed the line fastest, 0.160 seconds ahead of Andreas Kolb.

Benoit Coulanges takes his first elite World Cup win at home in Les Gets, a long time coming for the Dorval AM racer. He was immediately swarmed by throngs of raucous French fans and would eventually crowd-surf his way to the podium celebration. Andreas Kolb holds on for second. Loris Vergier (Trek Factory Racing) is third, Jackson Goldstone fourth and, making it three French racers on the extended podium, Loic Bruni in fifth.

With that result, Loic Bruni moves further into the overall lead with 1330 points. Jackson Goldstone (1273) and Loris Vergier (1208) both jump ahead of Iles, who is now fourth with 1181 points. With two rounds left to go,  and Coulanges (1112) and Kolb (1093) both within touch, it’s now a five-way race for the men’s World Cup title.