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Round 5 of the 2022 UCI Downhill MTB World Cup season took place over the weekend in Vallnord, Andorra. The new course was a dry and dusty affair that became incredibly rough as the weekend went on. Riders had to be precise and ride a fine line between being fast and crashing out.
In the Elite Men’s race Aaron Gwin looked back to his very best as he snatched the lead by 0.6 seconds and became the first rider of the day to beat Friday’s top qualifying time. Finn Iles was the next rider up and produced a crazy run. Despite a huge mistake, he was able to somehow stay on the bike and take the lead by a massive 0.7 seconds. Loïc Bruni showed his class with a clean run that saw him snatch the lead with just two riders remaining. Following a huge crash in the morning, Amaury Pierron was able to complete the course but found himself down in 12th. The final rider of the day was Loris Vergier who produced a thrilling conclusion to the action as he glided over the dust to take the win by a huge 1.4 seconds.
Loris Vergier
Jess Blewitt who stormed into the lead in the Elite Women’s race with just five riders remaining thanks to a flawless run down the course. Eleonora Farina was next down but couldn’t match the speed of Blewitt and found herself in third behind Blewitt and Mille Johnset. Vali Höll then produced the ride of the day, taming the challenging course and showing incredible speed as she went fastest by more than five seconds. Having won the previous round, Myriam Nicole was full of confidence and was on track to snatch the lead before crashing out. Nina Hoffman then produced a clean run to cross the line in 2nd. Camille Balanche was last out the gate and was looking to deny Höll her first win of the season, but made several mistakes and had to settle for 3rd.
Vali Höll
Men’s Results (Top 10)
1st Loris Vergier 2:44.500
2nd Loïc Bruni 2:45.918
3rd Finn Iles 2:46.197
4th Aaron Gwin 2:46.913
5th Andreas Kolb 2:47.519
6th Luke Meier-Smith 2:47.823
7th Angel Suarez Alonso 2:47.982
8th Oliver Zwar 2:48.344
9th Greg Minnaar 2:48.408
10th Laurie Greenland 2:48.948
Women’s Results (Top 10)
1st Vali Höll 3:09.803
2nd Nina Hoffmann 3:13.341
3rd Camille Balanche 3:13.487
4th Jess Blewitt 3:15.002
5th Mille Johnset 3:15.922
6th Eleonora Farina 3:17.652
7th Myriam Nicole 3:18.357
8th Anna Newkirk 3:19.954
9th Siel van der Velden 3:24.342
10th Stacey Fisher 3:25.673
Photos by Bartek Wolinski / Red Bull Content Pool.
