We are still getting use to some of the new kits getting around, no missing Pom Pom and her Fox/Commencal set up!
Val di Sole is a totally different race/track location/everything, pretty much you name it and it is different from last week’s race at Fort William. One of the biggest changes was the practice time and qualifying times, qualifying occurred on Friday. If you didn’t get a ticket to the big show then you sit out Saturday and Sunday, essentially group B riders got 4.5 hours of practice over 2 days, tough gig on the beast of the track that is Val di Sole! Lighting was tough on the riders as they would change from bright sunny into the shaded dark areas of the track at warp speed (and any one who is trying to get photos of this!). As you can imagine the first couple of runs saw riders trying to get their feet before getting up to pace. This course is very rough, there areA�roots, rocks, no berms and some corners already shot after practice because the ground is very soft and loose in bits.A�With all that in mind the juniors did well and the results looked like so; Luke Ellison 5th, Dean Lucas 9th, Aiden Varley 18th, Peter Knott 23rd, Ben Hill 53rd andA�Thomas Crimmins 55th.
Ben Hill had a nice trip over the bars at Val di Sole it didn’t stop him from riding though, 53rd in qualifying something he can easily improve on come finals.
Fastest Aussie junior during qualifying, Luke Ellison in 5th place!
Braaappp! 9th for Dean Lucas.
Moving our attention onto the females and Tracey Hannah came in 7th, she will be wanting at least a top 5 this weekend! Our junior girls, Danielle Beecroft and Tegan Molloy came in 36th and 37th respectively.
Qualifying yielded 7th for Tracey Hannah.
Finally a huge field of Elite men tried their hand at qualifying, Gee Atherton showed he is the man to beat again this weekend in first, in second place back from the nether regions and with a larger bike, was Aaron Gwin. The next three riders, Smith, MacDonald and HillA�all looked capable of a victory here, it is going to be a good race.
Elite Men:
1. ATHERTON Gee 3:15.475
2. GWIN Aaron 3:16.837 + 1.362
3. SMITH Steve 3:17.482 + 2.007
4. MACDONALD Brook 3:18.741 + 3.266
5. HILL Samuel 3:19.406 + 3.931
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12. HANNAH Michael 3:23.850 + 8.375
19. BROSNAN Troy 3:25.370 + 9.895
36. FEARON Connor 3:29.021 + 13.546
54. MOIR Jack 3:33.139 + 17.664
83. VEJVODA Joe 3:38.046 + 22.571
84. McMILLAN 3:38.233 + 22.758
93. DELFS Mitchell 3:39.859 + 24.384
123. ATKINSON Rhys 3:46.545 + 31.070
143. McKILLOP 3:55.167 + 39.692
148. McCARROLL Sean 3:56.272 + 40.797
152. BARLIN Chris 3:58.731 + 43.256
ATKINSON Bryn DNS
GRAVES Jared DNS
Gee Atherton, he is no stranger to victory here having taken out the World Champs here back in 08, with the fastest qualifying time he increased those credentials to take the win again.
Second and with a point to prove Aaron Gwin.
Sam Hill charged into 5th on a track we know he enjoys!
Mic Hannah will be the first to admit this course isn’t his most successful but after qualifying 12th it looks like a change might be on the way.Connor Fearon felt he was going faster than his 36th position in qualifying indicated but so long as he is going fast for the run that counts!
Mitch Delfs describes this track as his nemesis track.. After 19th last weekend he was relived to think he would be protected come qualifying but the UCI had something to say about that. He missed the cut and continues his battle racing here at VDS!
Bryn Atkinson had a nasty crash in practice, he is okay but decided to sit out this weekend.
Rachel Atherton is the girl to beat, we must admit her colour scheme ties in well with our own here at downhill247.com!
Phil Atwill was the fastest male junior, it is hard to know who is fast when these guys are on track because you are not as familiar with them as the elite riders.
More practice is on the cards before Sunday’s finals, check back soon!
Images: Phunkt.
2 thoughts on “World Cup 2 – Val di Sole – Practice & Qualifying”
Great cover, love the fact you include the Juniors, just missing the girls, Danielle & Tegan.
Thanks Mary-Anne, we would love to cover more of the junior girls, our photographer does what he can! (We do find that the UCI makes it really difficult to get their results…).
Great cover, love the fact you include the Juniors, just missing the girls, Danielle & Tegan.
Thanks Mary-Anne, we would love to cover more of the junior girls, our photographer does what he can! (We do find that the UCI makes it really difficult to get their results…).