Rachel Atherton wins Hafjell downhill World Cup
British star continues to lead World Cup overall
Rachel Atherton (GT Factory Racing) raced to victory in the Hafjell, Norway round of the UCI World Cup downhill on Sunday, with a time of 4:09.900. Her nearest competition was 7.631 seconds back: Manon Carpenter (Madison Saracen Downhill Team). Myriam Nicole (Commencal / Riding Addiction), Morgane Charre (MS Mondraker Team) and Emmeline Ragot (Lapierre Gravity Republic) completed the podium.
Favorites Emilie Siegenthaler (Gstaad-Scott) and Jill Kintner (Norco) both crashed on a rocky corner that caused many of the women trouble in the final. With rain, the rocky course was extremely slippery.
Eventual second place finisher Carpenter set a time that looked like it might hold up, but fastest qualifier Atherton, a fellow Brit, blew past it. French woman Nicole put up a good run, but could not beat Carpenter.
Ragot blazed the top part of the course, but made a mistake up top and would end up fifth.
Atherton set the tone for her run by being six seconds up after the first split. She increased her margin by a bit by the end.
"I was so nervous before the race. We had two runs before the race and it was wet," said Atherton. "It rained, and it was lethal - so slippery. I had a few wild moments and thought I was going down. I didn't know how fast I could and I just held on."
"I was struggling with the place the other girls crashed, even in the dry. I didn't slow down enough and had a massive slide, but I held it upright. The crowd went crazy and I thought maybe I was doing well."
Atherton leads the World Cup with one round remaining. Her nearest rival, Ragot, could still overtake her.
"Emmeline is right behind me and she gets faster and faster as the year goes on," said Atherton. "It's amazing. The girls are all pushing so hard. I don't know if I've gotten it sewn up. The last round, everyone wants to win and it's going to be fast."
Race note
Floriane Pugin (Gstaad-Scott) did not compete after crashing in training and separating her A-C joint in her shoulder.
Full Results
# | Rider Name (Country) Team | Result |
---|---|---|
1 | Rachel Atherton (GBr) GT Factory Racing | 0:04:09.900 |
2 | Manon Carpenter (GBr) Madison Saracen Downhill Team | 0:00:07.631 |
3 | Myriam Nicole (Fra) Commencal / Riding Addiction | 0:00:08.081 |
4 | Morgane Charre (Fra) Ms Mondraker Team | 0:00:08.436 |
5 | Emmeline Ragot (Fra) Lapierre Gravity Republic | 0:00:09.778 |
6 | Anita Ager-Wick (Nor) | 0:00:17.473 |
7 | Tracey Hannah (Aus) Hutchinson UR | 0:00:19.584 |
8 | Casey Brown (Can) Dirt Norco Race Team | 0:00:21.451 |
9 | Miranda Miller (Can) | 0:00:22.542 |
10 | Emilie Siegenthaler (Swi) Gstaad-Scott | 0:00:22.887 |
11 | Zarja Cernilogar (Slo) Blackthorn GT | 0:00:32.500 |
12 | Tahnee Seagrave° (GBr) Fmd Racing / Intense Cycles | 0:00:36.047 |
13 | Claire Buchar (Can) | 0:00:39.768 |
14 | Alanna Columb (NZl) | 0:00:44.150 |
15 | Martina Bruehlmann (Swi) | 0:00:49.867 |
16 | Fiona Ourdouillie° (Fra) US Cagnes VTT | 0:00:50.459 |
17 | Miriam Ruchti (Swi) SC Intense | 0:00:51.003 |
18 | Josefine Björkman (Swe) | 0:00:54.368 |
DNF | Jill Kintner (USA) Team Norco International | Row 18 - Cell 2 |
DNS | Vaea Verbeeck (Can) | Row 19 - Cell 2 |
# | Rider Name (Country) Team | Result | Header Cell - Column 3 |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Giant Factory Off-Road Team | 91 | pts |
2 | GT Factory Racing | 72 | Row 1 - Cell 3 |
3 | Santa Cruz Syndicate | 71 | Row 2 - Cell 3 |
4 | Devinci Global Racing | 58 | Row 3 - Cell 3 |
5 | Lapierre Gravity Republic | 52 | Row 4 - Cell 3 |
6 | Madison Saracen Downhill Team | 40 | Row 5 - Cell 3 |
7 | Chain Reaction Cycles.Com / Nukeproof | 39 | Row 6 - Cell 3 |
8 | Commencal / Riding Addiction | 38 | Row 7 - Cell 3 |
9 | Specialized Racing DH | 33 | Row 8 - Cell 3 |
10 | Gstaad-Scott | 32 | Row 9 - Cell 3 |
11 | MS Mondraker Team | 26 | Row 10 - Cell 3 |
12 | Pivot Factory Team | 22 | Row 11 - Cell 3 |
13 | Team W-Racing | 22 | Row 12 - Cell 3 |
14 | Hutchinson UR | 21 | Row 13 - Cell 3 |
15 | Trek World Racing | 20 | Row 14 - Cell 3 |
16 | Dirt Norco Race Team | 16 | Row 15 - Cell 3 |
17 | RRP Ghost | 14 | Row 16 - Cell 3 |
18 | Evil Vengeance Tour | 14 | Row 17 - Cell 3 |
19 | Blackthorn GT | 10 | Row 18 - Cell 3 |
20 | Fmd Racing / Intense Cycles | 9 | Row 19 - Cell 3 |
21 | Unior Tools Team | 6 | Row 20 - Cell 3 |
22 | US Cagnes VTT | 5 | Row 21 - Cell 3 |
23 | SC Intense | 4 | Row 22 - Cell 3 |
24 | Yeti Fox Shox Factory Race Team | 2 | Row 23 - Cell 3 |
25 | Evil Ck Racing Evian | 1 | Row 24 - Cell 3 |
# | Rider Name (Country) Team | Result | Header Cell - Column 3 |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Rachel Atherton (GBr) GT Factory Racing | 1085 | pts |
2 | Emmeline Ragot (Fra) Lapierre Gravity Republic | 925 | Row 1 - Cell 3 |
3 | Manon Carpenter (GBr) Madison Saracen Downhill Team | 880 | Row 2 - Cell 3 |
4 | Myriam Nicole (Fra) Commencal / Riding Addiction | 683 | Row 3 - Cell 3 |
5 | Morgane Charre (Fra) Ms Mondraker Team | 636 | Row 4 - Cell 3 |
6 | Floriane Pugin (Fra) Gstaad-Scott | 580 | Row 5 - Cell 3 |
7 | Emilie Siegenthaler (Swi) Gstaad-Scott | 451 | Row 6 - Cell 3 |
8 | Tahnee Seagrave° (GBr) Fmd Racing / Intense Cycles | 291 | Row 7 - Cell 3 |
9 | Jill Kintner (USA) Team Norco International | 241 | Row 8 - Cell 3 |
10 | Tracey Hannah (Aus) Hutchinson UR | 236 | Row 9 - Cell 3 |
11 | Fionn Griffiths (GBr) | 205 | Row 10 - Cell 3 |
12 | Anita Ager-Wick (Nor) | 195 | Row 11 - Cell 3 |
13 | Zarja Cernilogar (Slo) Blackthorn GT | 195 | Row 12 - Cell 3 |
14 | Casey Brown (Can) Dirt Norco Race Team | 175 | Row 13 - Cell 3 |
15 | Micayla Gatto (Can) | 175 | Row 14 - Cell 3 |
16 | Jessica Stone (GBr) Unior Tools Team | 100 | Row 15 - Cell 3 |
17 | Alanna Columb (NZl) | 85 | Row 16 - Cell 3 |
18 | Miriam Ruchti (Swi) SC Intense | 85 | Row 17 - Cell 3 |
19 | Vaea Verbeeck (Can) | 75 | Row 18 - Cell 3 |
20 | Mélanie Pugin (Fra) Team Morzine-Avoriaz/Haute-Savoie | 75 | Row 19 - Cell 3 |
21 | Miranda Miller (Can) | 70 | Row 20 - Cell 3 |
22 | Mio Suemasa (Jpn) Japan | 60 | Row 21 - Cell 3 |
23 | Alia Marcellini* (Ita) Italy | 55 | Row 22 - Cell 3 |
24 | Fiona Ourdouillie° (Fra) US Cagnes VTT | 55 | Row 23 - Cell 3 |
25 | Claire Buchar (Can) | 52 | Row 24 - Cell 3 |
26 | Petra Bernhard (Aut) Rrp Ghost | 50 | Row 25 - Cell 3 |
27 | Jana Bartova (Cze) Czech Republic | 35 | Row 26 - Cell 3 |
28 | Martina Bruehlmann (Swi) | 35 | Row 27 - Cell 3 |
29 | Jaime Hill (Can) | 30 | Row 28 - Cell 3 |
30 | Kristen Courtney (Can) | 25 | Row 29 - Cell 3 |
31 | Rebecca Gardner (USA) | 20 | Row 30 - Cell 3 |
32 | Alison Zimmer (USA) | 15 | Row 31 - Cell 3 |
33 | Jacqueline Harmony (USA) | 15 | Row 32 - Cell 3 |
34 | Marianne Ruud° (Nor) | 15 | Row 33 - Cell 3 |
35 | Josefine Björkman (Swe) | 15 | Row 34 - Cell 3 |
36 | Rachael Walker (GBr) | 10 | Row 35 - Cell 3 |
37 | Severine Cigana (Fra) US Cagnes VTT | 10 | Row 36 - Cell 3 |
38 | Taylor Allison° (USA) | 5 | Row 37 - Cell 3 |
# | Rider Name (Country) Team | Result | Header Cell - Column 3 |
---|---|---|---|
1 | GT Factory Racing | 408 | pts |
2 | Lapierre Gravity Republic | 335 | Row 1 - Cell 3 |
3 | Giant Factory Off-Road Team | 270 | Row 2 - Cell 3 |
4 | Santa Cruz Syndicate | 261 | Row 3 - Cell 3 |
5 | Gstaad-Scott | 255 | Row 4 - Cell 3 |
6 | Commencal / Riding Addiction | 222 | Row 5 - Cell 3 |
7 | Devinci Global Racing | 218 | Row 6 - Cell 3 |
8 | Specialized Racing DH | 214 | Row 7 - Cell 3 |
9 | Madison Saracen Downhill Team | 195 | Row 8 - Cell 3 |
10 | Chain Reaction Cycles.Com / Nukeproof | 184 | Row 9 - Cell 3 |
11 | MS Mondraker Team | 162 | Row 10 - Cell 3 |
12 | Trek World Racing | 135 | Row 11 - Cell 3 |
13 | Hutchinson UR | 115 | Row 12 - Cell 3 |
14 | Evil Vengeance Tour | 81 | Row 13 - Cell 3 |
15 | Fmd Racing / Intense Cycles | 55 | Row 14 - Cell 3 |
16 | Team Norco International | 54 | Row 15 - Cell 3 |
17 | Pivot Factory Team | 51 | Row 16 - Cell 3 |
18 | Evil Ck Racing Evian | 46 | Row 17 - Cell 3 |
19 | GT / 360 Degrees | 40 | Row 18 - Cell 3 |
20 | RRP Ghost | 39 | Row 19 - Cell 3 |
21 | Blackthorn GT | 39 | Row 20 - Cell 3 |
22 | Dirt Norco Race Team | 36 | Row 21 - Cell 3 |
23 | Topcycle By Trek | 34 | Row 22 - Cell 3 |
24 | SC Intense | 29 | Row 23 - Cell 3 |
25 | Unior Tools Team | 27 | Row 24 - Cell 3 |
26 | Team W-Racing | 22 | Row 25 - Cell 3 |
27 | Yeti Fox Shox Factory Race Team | 21 | Row 26 - Cell 3 |
28 | Team Morzine-Avoriaz/Haute-Savoie | 15 | Row 27 - Cell 3 |
29 | US Cagnes VTT | 13 | Row 28 - Cell 3 |
30 | Torpado Surfing Shop | 11 | Row 29 - Cell 3 |
31 | Kona | 10 | Row 30 - Cell 3 |
32 | Team Bulls - DH | 9 | Row 31 - Cell 3 |
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Sue George is an editor at Cyclingnews. She coordinates all of the site's mountain bike race coverage and assists with the road, 'cross and track coverage.
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