Britain’s Tahnée Seagrave is homing in on her debut overall title. The only thing standing in her way? The reigning overall title holder.
There is no doubt that when it comes to the few talents to have defined the sport of elite women’s UCI Downhill World Cup racing, Austria’s Valentina Höll is one of the first names out of most fans’ mouths. But she is not yet a monolith of the type the sport hasn’t seen since Rachel Atherton and before her Anne-Caroline Chausson ruled supreme.
The winning done by both still skews the numbers of any facts born conversation. The Brit and the Frenchwoman have won 40 apiece whereas Höll currently sits on 10. She is, of course still, a relative newcomer at just 22 years of age. On this trajectory, barring disaster, the YT MOB’s signing from the last off-season will be right up there by the time she’s reached full stride.
Given her list of accolades (two UCI World Championships elite titles and a pair of overall UCI World Cup titles to her name), it’s all too easy to see Höll as all-dominant when in fact she will be under very real pressure from a very experienced rival as we approach the final two rounds of the season.
Tahnée Seagrave’s similarities with Höll are more common than you would perhaps be forgiven for thinking. Both grew up in bike parks, both were surrounded by pro’s from an early age and both currently sit in big teams largely built around them.
Seagrave burst into elites back in 2014 and from 2017 onwards really made a name for herself, alongside Manon Carpenter, as one of the few riders to have an answer for the all-conquering Atherton. Nine wins have followed, but she’s yet to chalk a title.
There have been harrowing battles with injuries. The most recent of which being when a potentially life changing concussion forced Seagrave into the kind of mental struggle that few amongst of us will ever appreciate. It is now, at long last, fully behind her and a turbulence-free off-season seems to have re-galvanised her substantial reserves of raw speed.
The difference is just 224 points with 800 left on the table across the three session of each of the last two rounds. Marine Cabirou (Scott DH Factory) is mathematically in contention too being 409 behind the leader Höll, but it’s a longer shot.
When Höll has faltered this season (finals in Bielsko-Biala – Poland, and then Val di Sole, Trentino - Italy) it has been on relatively innocuous sections of track leading the prevailing wisdom to maintain that only Vali can really beat Vali. But that is doing Seagrave a disservice. The British rider is staring an incredible opportunity in the face, an overall title is there for the taking. Yes, the lead belongs to someone else, but Downhill has never been straight forward and in finding the kind of form that has seen her back on the top step this season, Tahnée Seagrave looks set to push Valentina Höll every inch of the way.
Catch all the action from the penultimate round of the UCI Downhill World Cup at Loudenvielle-Peyragudes on Max, Eurosport, discovery+, and a variety of international broadcast partners from September 6-8, bringing the sport to countless screens worldwide.
