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Pierron and Seagrave reign supreme in Fort William

First win for French rider as Seagrave surprises on home turf

2018 Fort William World Cup DH Downhill
Amaury Pierron at 2018 Fort William World Cup. Image: Nathan Huges / Red Bull Content Pool

A notoriously long and punishing track, Fort William delivers the drama every time World Cup downhill racing drops by for a weekend in the Scottish Highlands. Stop number two in the 2018 UCI World Cup series would be no different, with big names crashing, and new riders rising to take their crowns on the legendary track.

Amaury Pierron (Commencal Valnord) and Tahnée Seagrave were the fastest riders left standing at the end of the day, both claiming their first Fort William title. For Pierron, it would be his first World Cup win after coming close several times in the past.

2018 Fort William World Cup Downhill: Canadians in Fort William & Junior results

After finishing 4th in his World Cup debut in LoÅ¡inj, Croatia, Pemberton’s Lucas Cruz was looking to continue his strong start to his first season in the competitive junior ranks. Cruz was close in Fort William, finishing 6th, less than two tenths of a second away from a second straight podium finish. Ben Wallace and Kendal McLean of Kovarik Racing finished 13th and 14th, behind race winner Kye A’Hern of Canyon Factory Racing. Valentina Holl, the promising young Austrian racer, stomped her authority on the Junior Women’s race, a new event for 2018, beating her closest competitor by 29 seconds.

Miranda Miller (Specialized Factory Racing) took a step toward putting a long history of bad luck in Fort William behind her. Squamish’s world champion finished 14th in Fort William, a course that has left her injured a number of times in the past.

Canyon Factory Racing’s Mark Wallace was the top Canadian finisher in the elite Men’s race, finishing 17th after a consistent run. Two spots behind Wallace, Finn Iles (Specialized Factory Racing) slid to 19th after qualifying 6th in Scotland. Iles somehow saved a near crash in a tight corner, preserving enough speed to clear the big road gap just metres later.

Magnus Manson was the next fastest Canuck, finishing 45th, with Norco Factory Racing’s Henry Fitzgerald not far behind in 49th. Forrest Riesco narrowly missed the cutoff for Sunday’s final, ending Saturday’s qualifying run 0.241 seconds off a start in Sunday’s big show.

2018 Fort William World Cup DH Downhill
Tahnée Seagrave sends it into the stadium in Fort William Image: Nathan Huges / Red Bull Content Pool

2018 Fort William World Cup Downhill: Elite Women

Tahnée Seagrave (Transition Muc-Off) had a breakthrough year in 2017, winning her first elite World Cup ever, then claiming topping the podium twice more before the season was over. Still, the young British rider has never had much luck at Fort William and a rough week leading up to the race didn’t make it look like 2018 would be her year.

Seagrave was third last to start, and immediately looked like she had found a way to put her rough week behind her. Looking calm and in control the whole way down the rough track all the way to the finish, Seagrave crossed the line with a huge, 10.822 second advantage over current hot seat Mariane Cabirou (VoulVoul Racing).

2018 Fort William World Cup downhill Dh
Myriam Nicole flies through the Scotland arch at 2018 Fort William World Cup. Image: Nathan Huges / Red Bull Content Pool

Only two Women remained in the start hut to potentially unseat Seagrave. Up next: World Cup leader after round one, Myriam Nicole (Commencal Vallnord). The French rider set a fast time at the first split and Seagrave, sitting in the hot seat, was too nervous to watch. Sitting with her head down Seagrave didn’t see when Nicole slid out entering the woods, at the same place where Loic Bruni (Specialized Factory Racing) fell in qualifying, until she heard the noise of the crowds reaction around her. Nicole recovered, but could only gain back enough time to save second.

Rachel Atherton (Trek Factory Racing) was the last woman remaining at the top of the mountain, but snapped her chain as she exited the start hut. Despite not being able to pedal, Atherton was carrying speed well up until the point where she crashed in the woods. With no chain, she was at odds to get back up to speed on a slow section of track. Atherton somehow still managed to pull off third, even getting up to pace to hit all the big motorway jumps on the finishing straight. The victory, though, went to Seagrave.

2018 Fort William World Cup Downhill DH
A broken chain meant it would not be Rachel Atherton’s day in Fort William. Image: Nathan Huges / Red Bull Content Pool

2018 Fort William World Cup Downhill: Elite Men

Privateer racer Reece Wallace, racing on home turf, spend much of the day in the hot seat after laying down a blistering run early in the day. Wallace would remain in the top position as some of the biggest names in downhill made their way down the track, largely due to one of the fastest times through the tricky third split that was confounding most racers after him.

Aaron Gwin (YT Mob) looked on pace to finally unseat Wallace, setting a fast time on the wide open top section. Though never slow, Gwin was an unknown coming into Sunday’s finals after puncturing less than two minutes into his qualifying run. Gwin’s bad luck would linger, and the American went over the bars in the wood section, crashing hard on to the boulder sized rocks the organizers had “paved” the course with through the trees. Last year Gwin finished third after crashing in Fort William, but the heavy fall seemed to take the urgency out of the World Cup leaders pace and he finished way back in 20th.

2018 Fort William World Cup Downhill DH
Amaury Pierron on course in Fort William. Image: Nathan Huges / Red Bull Content Pool

Amaury Pierron (Commencal Vallnord) was the next, and the seventh last rider out of the start gate would finally be the one to bump Wallace out of the hot seat. Pierron was blazing fast from top to bottom, carrying speed through the woods that caused most other riders such grief. Pierron, though, didn’t look out of shape at all until the final few jumps down the motorway into the finish. It was enough to take the lead by 1.323 seconds over Wallace, putting the 22 year old French rider into the hot seat.

After a great first round in LoÅ¡inj, Croatia, Dakotah Norton (Unior Devinic0 was looking on pace in qualifying for another top placing at Fort William. That fell through just seconds into the young American’s run when, like Rachel Atherton, he snapped his chain out of the start gate. Norton couldn’t repeat Atherton’s chainless podium run, and finished back in 31st.

2018 Fort William World Cup Downhill DH
Loic Bruni could only find fifth in Fort William. Image: Nathan Hughes / Red Bull Content Pool

Canyon Factory Racing’s Troy Brosnan was next and lay down a burner of a run, staying within a second of Pierron’s time at every split. Mashing down the motorway Brosnan pedaled hard to pass through the speed trap at 57 kph, pulling within 0.311 seconds of the Commencal Vallnord rider’s time. It was enough for second, but not the lead. Three riders remained at the top.

Loris Vergier (Santa Cruz Syndicate) set the fastest time of the day through the top section but, after getting hung up on teh same section that sent Gwin over the bars, Vergier fell back of the lead. Still in touch, the Syndicate rider was 0.500 seconds behind after the second split. Flying through the bottom section, the French rider made up time where Pierron had faded, but still crossed 0.270 seconds behind his fellow countryman to move into second ahead of Brosnan.

2018 Fort William World Cup Downhill DH
Privateer racer Reece Wallace hit the podium at home in Scotland, finishing 4th. Image: Nathan Hughes / Red Bull Content Pool

The last two riders remaining were Danny Hart (Madison Saracen) and Luca Shaw (Santa Cruz Syndicate). Hart looked motivated to finally end his quest for the Fort William crown, taking creative lines and pushing hard, but was still losing time to Pierron the whole way down the course. The Red Car Rocket’s reign at Fort William would have to wait for another year.

Shaw was the Syndicate’s last hope of retaining the crown within the team after pre-race favourite Greg Minnaar crashed hard in practice and broke his arm. Part of a rising crew of young American downhillers, Shaw was a huge 1.3 seconds up at the first split. The lead was short lived though, as he rolled through the second check point with a flat back tire. The deflated Shaw’s day was over, and the win went to Pierron, who was ecstatic on the finish line.