The Rachel Atherton comeback story will continue in Leogang
The G.O.A.T. will race again in Austria this weekend
Photo by:
Bartek Wolinski / Red Bull Content Pool
When Rachel Atherton won her first World Cup since 2019 on Saturday, she immediately tried to calm expectations that she was making a full-time comeback to downhill racing. Still a new mom and, by her own elevated standard, claiming not to be fully in race shape, the Atherton initially stated her plan was to return home to Wales and get back to training instead of continuing on to Leogang for this weekend’s second DH World Cup round.
Well, that plan seems to have changed.
On Tuesday, Atherton Racing announced that the iconic Welsh rider would be back on the start line this weekend in Austria. Seems like the appeal of defending her leader’s jersey, and the experience of being back racing, we’re too much to turn down.
“The last few days have been completely surreal, I still don’t think it has completely sunk in – it’s like I’m dreaming,” Atherton explained. “I’m loving my time with the team, being a racer again and riding the Atherton bike, showing the world just how great this thing is, I’m just having too much fun.”
While Atherton is adding Leogang to her calendar, she’s still not committing to a full World Cup season. It sounds like, as she stated on Saturday, racing world championships on her home course at Fort William in August is still the focus.
“I’m not racing a full season so it’s not like I’m chasing the overall title,” Atherton added to temper expectations, “But it just feels so cool to be doing this again and if I went home right now I’d probably get really down, so I’m prolonging the inevitable.”
Despite Atherton finessing the new semi-final/final race format to perfection (and a 40th World Cup win) on Saturday, gaining speed with every run, the team is still hedging its bets and tempering expectations for what Rachel will accomplish this weekend.
“Rachel acknowledges that she isn’t yet racing on top form and that two weekends back-to-back racing will be tough.”
If you want to tune in to follow Atherton’s incredible comeback live, there are a few ways to watch from here in Canada.
