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Round 4 of the 2022 UCI Downhill MTB World Cup season took place over the weekend in Lenzerheide, Switzerland. The course saw a fair amount of new sections added into the track, which opened up a variety of line option for the riders to make use of. Adding in the good weather resulted in an exciting and close fought race.
In the Elite Men’s race Finn Illes took the hot-seat with a fast and a smooth run, and held onto the lead for quite some time, as rider after rider failed to beat his time. Having qualified in 18th place, Greg Minnaar put down and incredible run and was up in the splits through the top sections of the track. Minnaar crossed the line just 0.303 behind Illes to slot into 2nd.
Greg Minnaar
Dakotah Norton, who qualified in 2nd place was over a second up on Illes at split three before crashing out, leaving Amaury Pierron as the only rider who could snatch the victory. Pierron, known as one of the wildest riders at World Cups, produced something special and claimed victory by a massive 1.4 seconds.
Amaury Pierron
Rachel Atherton made her return to World Cup racing in the Elite Women’s race and finished in an impressive 6th place. Vali Höll went into the lead, even with a crash in her run, before Eleonora Farina moved into first place. Monika Hrastnik who was clean through the first section but lost some time and was only able to move into second. Myriam Nicole was next up and was simply sensational as she produced a scintillating time, finishing almost nine seconds ahead of Farina. Camille Balanche was the final rider down the hill but was unable to match the speed of Nicole and finished in 2nd.
Myriam Nicole
Men’s Results (Top 10)
1st Amaury Pierron 2:47.153
2nd Finn Iles 2:48.555
3rd Greg Minnaar 2:48.858
4th Andreas Kolb 2:48.865
5th Benoit Coulanges 2:49.907
6th Matt Walker 2:50.001
7th Charlie Hatton 2:50.410
8th Loris Vergier 2:50.435
9th Bernard Kerr 2:50.653
10th Thibaut Daprela 2:50.698
Women’s Results (Top 10)
1st Myriam Nicole 3:11.751
2nd Camille Balanche 3:16.170
3rd Eleonora Farina 3:20.184
4th Monika Hrastnik 3:21.979
5th Vali Höll 3:22.963
6th Rachel Atherton 3:27.460
7th Veronika Widmann 3:29.074
8th Mille Johnset 3:30.310
9th Jess Blewitt 3:31.500
10th Anna Newkirk 3:31.516
Photos by Bartek Wolinski / Red Bull Content Pool.
