Finn Iles rides out wild weather to take World Cup lead in Andorra
Highs and lows for Canucks in Pal Arinsal
Finn Iles walked away from a very wild day of racing in Andorra with a podium finish. The fantastic result, earned after a roller coaster of a day on the mountain, preserves the Whistler racer’s chances of capturing the World Cup overall title. In fact, it moves the Specialized Gravity Racer ahead of fellow Canuck, Jackson Goldstone, and into the leader’s jersey. But, with the threat of weather delays cancelling semi-finals, Vallnord race weekend almost had the opposite effect for Iles.
Canceled semis and delayed finals
The Andorra venue sits high up in the mountains and with extreme elevation, comes extreme weather. After hot sun and hail during training, racers finished qualifying on Friday only to be greeted by a forecast of extreme winds approaching 90 km/h and possible lightning. Not ideal for downhill’s combination of gondolas and big air jumps on course. Example: past world champion Camille Balanche was blown off track as she flew over a road gap during practice on Friday taking her out of the race.
The new World Cup format sees downhill semi-finals and finals both run on Saturday. With weather looming, Saturday racing was initially moved forward with a modified course, then postponed, then semi-finals were cancelled. Finals were postponed for about six hours and, with the forecast not looking great, likely to be cancelled. That would have pushed Iles, who qualified 10th, further behind Goldstone (who qualified third).
The UCI and organizers eventually made the call to run finals in the afternoon, with semi-finals remaining cancelled.
Iles finds speed at the perfect time
While Iles’ qualification run may have been a little shaky, his finals run was anything but. The Specialized racer absolutely flew down the brutally rough Andorra track to take third. French powerhouse Thibault Daprela (Commencal Muc-Off) was unstoppable, though, putting down a 2:46.455 to take the win. Iles would finish 2.316 seconds back, with veteran Syndicate racer Greg Minnaar narrowly losing out to Daprela, by just 0.121 seconds, to take silver.
Mark Wallace (Norco Factory Team) was the next across the line in 13th, his best result of the 2023 season.
Jackson Goldstone (Syndicate) had the opposite luck to Iles, with his third place in qualifying falling off to 57th in finals. The Canadian was among top 10 to race under sudden and heavy rain, with a flat tire adding to his bad-luck run. Goldstone moves from the World Cup leader to second overall, 53 points behind Iles and just nine points ahead of Daprela in third.
Antoine Vidal (Commencal Les Orres) and Bernard Kerr (Pivot Factory Racing) round out the podium in fourth and fifth.
Hoffman hauls through finals
On the women’s side it was Nina Hoffmann, Goldstone’s Syndicate teammate, reversing her result from qualifiers to take a win in Andorra. The German finished 2.836 ahead of Austria’s Vali Höll (RockShox Trek) on her path to victory. That pushes Hoffmann up into third overall. Höll overhauls Camille Blanche, absent in Andorra after a crash in practice, to move into the women’s overall lead.
Tahnee Seagrave (Canyon CLLCTV FMD) bounced back from an awkward crash at world championships to take third place in Andorra. Marine Cabirou (Scott) and Eleonora Fahrina (MS Mondraker) round out the podium in fourth and fifth.
Gracey Hemstreet (Norco Factory Team) continued her impressive debut season in the elite category with an eighth in the elite women’s downhill finals.
All in, a dramatic weekend of racing in Andorra. Cross country racers take over again on Sunday with under-23 and elite XCO racing. Then enduro joins downhill next weekend in Loudenvielle, France for a weekend before the first combined super-World Cup in the Haute Savoie region in France, running from Sept. 7-17.
