Over the past few days, the mountain bike racing elite travelled to the final of the Mercedes-Benz UCI MTB World Cup 2021 to the USA. The Venue Snowshoe in West Virginia was already the venue for an exciting final in 2019, both in the Olympic cross-country and downhill events. The downhillers had to compete for the first time on Wednesday. The cancelled Downhill World Cup in Fort William was made up for in Snowshoe. In the men's race, British rider Reece Wilson - the 2020 World Champion - took his first World Cup victory by a wafer-thin margin ahead of Loic Bruni (FRA). The two were separated by just 0.032 seconds in the end! Bruni's compatriot Loris Vergier came third ahead of Canadian Finn Iles. In the women's event, 19-year-old Vali Höll took her first World Cup victory in the elite category on the challenging course in Snowshoe. She beat the Austrian Camile Balanche (SUI) by 4.6 seconds. Third and fourth place went to two Frenchwomen, Marine Cabirou and World Champion Myriam Nicole. A crash on a tree slowed down the German Nina Hoffmann. However, she did not suffer any serious injuries and will be able to compete in the final downhill event on Saturday. Max Hartenstern was also unlucky. The Cube rider did not make it past 53rd place after a flat rear tyre.
The winning runs of Vali Höll and Reece Wilson at the first Downhill World Cup 2021 in Snowshoe in the video.
Who will win the overall World Cup standings?
In the women's event, the young Frenchwoman Loana Lecomte has already won the overall World Cup early with fourth place in Lenzerheide. But only 130 points separate places two to five: Hot on the heels of Jenny Rissveds are Pauline Ferrand-Prévot (FRA), Rebecca McConnell (AUS) and the in-form Brit Evie Richards, who her World Cup title with the World Cup victory in Lenzerheide underpinned. Ferrand-Prévot will not be at the start, however, as she has already finished her season. In the men's race, on the other hand, the decision will be made in Snowshoe. After five stages, two-time winner Mathias Flückiger (SUI) is clearly in the lead with 1429 points. He can only be overtaken by Ondrej Cink (CZE) with 1089 points or the other two-time World Cup winner Victor Koretzky (FRA), who has 1075 points to his name - but not by both. The second and third-placed riders can each be caught by Nino Schurter (SUI) with 1004 points or Jordan Sarrou (FRA) with 935 points. Review: Lars Forster (SUI) won the 2019 cross-country race in Snowshoe ahead of Schurter, who won the short track event at the time. The fastest German XC racer Max Brandl did not make the trip to the USA and will miss the World Cup final. Manuel Fumic is missing due to injury.
Live broadcast on Red Bull TV
The races of the UCI MTB World Cup in Snowshoe 2021 will all be broadcast via livestream by Red Bull TV. The short track races will take place on Friday 17 September from 23:20. The women's (18:30) and men's (19:45) downhill races will follow on Saturday. Red Bull TV will broadcast the Olympic cross-country races on Sunday 19 September at 18:00 and 20:30 respectively. >> Click here for the livestreams
