What we learnt: Downhill Lenzerheide

The travelling circus that is the massed ranks of the UCI Mountain Bike Downhill World Cup may have left Bike Kingdom Lenzerheide for Leogang but it leaves behind it a race that will be talked about, dissected and referenced for years to come. 

Established and new-found greatness boldly dominated the results but there was plenty of nuance and surprise lurking just behind it. Here’s what we learnt:

1. Rachel Atherton hits 40

When it was announced early in the race week that the six time UCI World Champion, Rachel Atherton (Continental Atherton), would take the start line in the elite women’s race there was a communal scratching of heads. How would she stack up against the contemporary establishment? Would the sport have moved beyond her? A sixth place finish at the same venue 12 months later was the only useful yardstick.  

What followed was an onslaught of the timesheets. Atherton was just one place behind the 2022 overall title winner Camille Balanche (Dorval AM Commencal) in both qualifying and the semi-final before pushing her way past her come the finals. The winning margin was 0.5secs but the look was vintage Atherton - flowing, in control and devastatingly fast. She is racing again at round two in Leogang, this weekend.

2. Jordan Williams wrote history 

Britain’s Jordan Williams (Specialized Gravity) made history by becoming the first rider to take the win in his first elite level race having moved up from Juniors for 2023. The 18 year-old seemed floored by what he had achieved - flabbergasted that what he had done had been enough. It had been, by just 0.495secs. 

It remains to be underlined that Williams is a first year junior on a team with an elite rider in his tenth year at the top of the big time, Loïc Bruni. The metronomic master of race runs talked excitedly pre-season about working alongside Williams as a mentor. Those thoughts have been dispelled and all eyes will now be on the rider with the UCI World Champion’s stripes (his sixth set) to see what his response will be in Austria. 

3. Vergier (and possibly Kolb) could have upset the applecart 

Much of the post-race debate has evolved around Williams and Bruni’s internal sparring but had two other race runs gone fault-free the headlines could have been much different. Loris Vergier (Trek Factory Racing) finished second and looked for all the world that he had the beating of the young Brit for the majority of his 2:39.717 run. He misjudged the landing of one of Lenzerheide’s several road gaps by a matter of inches and was left scrambling to scrub off speed for the following right hander. Vergier on song dances on the very edge of control, perhaps more so than anyone else. But for the aforementioned bobble he may well have done enough. 

Andreas Kolb (Atherton Racing) showed his trademark physical strength and meteoric (one of those big, dinosaur-destroying meteors) speed. A mechanical scuppered the semi final run and a crash in the first split stymied the finals effort - but it was there. If the Austrian can connect the dots at his home round this weekend then he could well add to his wins tally. 

4. Gracey Hemstreet turned heads

Jordan Williams may have redefined what can be expected of a first year elite but that shouldn’t take anything away from just how impressive Gracey Hemstreet (Norco Factory Racing) was. The 18 year-old from British Columbia bossed her way to fourth in the semi final and then sixth in the finals on her debut to the big stage. Since Miranda Miller departed for enduro back in 2019 Canada has been in need of a new female downhill heroine. In Hemstreet it may have found her.  

For the full schedule and more information on this week’s races click here.

This weekend’s action will be available to view live on GCN+ globally, on the Eurosport App and discovery+ across Europe.