Finn Iles is in Europe for the last French Cup DH
Whistler racer in France ahead of 2020 mountain bike world championships in Lenzerheide
Photo by:
Bartek Wolinski / Red Bull Content Pool
If you’ve been waiting to see Canadians take on the world in international downhill racing, the wait is almost over. Finn Iles is over in France for the last of that country’s national downhill series.
It’s part of Iles and his Specialized Gravity Racing team’s preparation for the DH calendar’s otherwise-abrupt resumption of racing this fall. The 2020 downhill season starts with UCI mountain bike world championships in Lenzerheide, Switzerland. The big show is followed by two doubleheader World Cup rounds.
Iles will join teammates Loïc Bruni, the defending elite men’s world champion, and new-signee Christopher Grice in France.
With no practice races leading up to worlds, there are only national-level races for riders to tune up their racing for the new year.
Iles did have some warm-up races. The Whistler rider dominated the three-week, invite-only Crankworx Summer Series. He not only won most of the downhills, but was also at the front for several enduro and dual slalom rounds.
Racing against an international field of exclusively downhill specialists is different, though. The French Cup should help Iles hone his race pact before Lenzerheide world championships.
The final French Cup DH takes place on September 13.
