Mountain biking

Loic Bruni and Myriam Nicole Crowned Fastest Riders of Les 2 Alpes

After last year’s success, the iXS European Downhill Cup took everybody once again to beautiful Les Deux Alpes. As a part of the European version of the Crankworx Festival the race clearly was one of the season’s highlights, calling for the best athletes of the scene. This was more than obvious already during registration, including some real big names that rather reminded of a World Cup race. The track has definitely taken its toll and pushed the riders to their limits So let's look back at an incredible weekend in Les Deux Alpes!

19. 7. 2015

The track walk proved what everyone still seemed to remember: not only is it a rather long track, but it is also an extremely fast one with 700 meters of descending. The dry conditions added to the picture by providing nearly no grip at all, making it extremely hard to stay on the bike. As usual, the training sessions were rather relaxed and there was more than enough time left to stroll around and enjoy the festival.

Saturday included some more training sessions before the first timed runs in qualifying began. Throughout the weekend, the overall conditions still seemed to have grown worse after hundreds of runs each day. It was either keeping your distance or breathing the dust of the rider in front. Fresh mountain air seemed to be replaced by a Sahara sandstorm and all that somehow reminded of racing in the mud of a very rainy weekend just without getting wet…

The Elite Women Finals definitely were a highlight of the day guaranteeing maximum excitement. Anneke Beerten was the first one down the hill and had some time to relax in the Red Bull Hot Seat until Emilie Siegenthaler finished faster. When Casey Brown crossed the finish line, she did it with a ripped tricot and tape on her handle, making it impossible to reach the podium this time. After that, all eyes were on Nicole and Hannah. Myriam Nicole finished with a huge 8-second gap which set the bar high for Tracey Hannah.

Myriam Nicole

But Hannah was also extremely fast. When she crossed the finish line she only missed the title by split seconds, once again crowning Myriam Nicole the champ of Les Deux Alpes. Tracey Hannah went second, followed by Emilie Siegenthaler in third place. But even if Hannah did not win, she still secured her lead in both the rankings of Crankworx Downhill and the iXS EDC.

After that, it was time for the Super Final! George Brannigan opened the race, after having some problems on Saturday. But both Atherton and Brannigan still reached the Super Final due to their ‘protected’ status. However, Brannigan simply seemed to have a bad weekend: he came down hard again and had to leave the track without finishing his run.

Gee Atherton already took the title three years in a row and finished with a time of 3:52.529 minutes.

While Atherton relaxed in the Red Bull Hot Seat, the others tried to take over the lead. Ferran Jorba really seemed to have a chance at first, but did not reach his time in the end. When Bernhard Kerr finally managed to beat Atherton’s time, he didn’t even have the time to celebrate when Guillaume Cauvin already finished even faster. Loic Bruni one hell of a performance and set a new best time under the massive applause of the crowd with only 3:44.759 minutes and 5 seconds faster than Cauvin.

Loic Bruni sealed the French double and now dominates the iXS EDC rankings, as well as the Crankworx Downhill rankings.