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What you may have missed from the downhill finals at Lenzerheide
The racing from the Lenzerheide round of the 2022 Mercedes-Benz UCI Downhill World Cup was super-fast and intense. Find out things you might have missed here.
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Catch up on all the downhill action on a refreshed track at the Lenzerheide Mercedes-Benz UCI Downhill Mountain Bike World Cup. If you missed any of the action from the fourth round of the series, you can watch it all again by clicking the relevant replay links below or alternatively watch shortened highlights below:
15 min
Downhill finals – Lenzerheide
Here’s what went down on the hillside of Lenzerheide for the third DH of 2022.
Get the Downhill results from Lenzerheide and the latest World Cup overall standings by clicking here, and keep scrolling down for things you might have missed from the racing weekend.
01
Rachel Atherton returns to racing
It was a last-minute decision for Rachel Atherton, who has a mammoth 39 World Cup wins to her name, to return to the World Cup circuit after a three-year hiatus. An Achilles injury, followed by pregnancy and motherhood means that we haven't seen Atherton at the races for a long time and the presence of this downhill dominator has been missed.
Rachel Atherton won the World Championships here in 2018
© Bartek Wolinski/@wolisphoto
Not even a year after giving birth, and having recently recovered from illness, Atherton was under no false pretences about her fitness levels, writing on her Instagram: "I have not done enough training to race, but sometimes you just gotta get on with it! I thought this would be the “easiest” World Cup to try but some fresh sections are looking pretty hard! I'm nervous, excited, scared, excited, tired, happy, relaxed all at once!”
What a return to racing, sixth place for Atherton
© Bartek Wolinkski/@wolisphoto
Atherton and Nicole chat during practice
© Bartek Wolinkski/@wolisphoto
Foot out flat out
© Bartek Wolinkski/@wolisphoto
Getting into the zone
© Bartek Wolinkski/@wolisphoto
Despite operating on limited sleep and having been kept up by her baby, Arna, Atherton managed to qualify in seventh place. Race day saw her riding with confidence and finishing just off the podium in sixth place. It was a fantastic return to racing for Atherton, who was using Lenzerheide as a test run to see whether she'll have the inclination to put in the hard training over the winter and come back into 2023 with full fitness levels.
3 min
Rachel Atherton's Lenzerheide run
Watch Rachel Atherton's return to the UCI DH World Cup in Lenzerheide.
02
Myriam Nicole put down the perfect downhill run
Myriam Nicole put in a blisteringly fast run
© Bartek Wolinkski/@wolisphoto
Focusing on the task ahead
© Bartek Wolinkski/@wolisphoto
After qualifying in second place, nearly four seconds slower than Swiss rider Camille Balanche, Myriam Nicole knew she had her work cut out for her in the final. Fierce and flat-out from the very beginning, Nicole was riding on the edge of her limits, with a rear wheel wash-out near the top of the track having commentators Rob and Eliot on the edge of their seats. Nicole didn't let the sketchy section affect her mindset or her run, with her split times increasing as she went down the track, she exemplified the perfect downhill run.
Swiss rider Camille Balanche pushed Nicole to up her game
© Bartek Wolinski/@wolisphoto
Full steam ahead
© Bartek Wolinski/@wolisphoto
Split times that will make you green with envy
© Bartek Wolinski/@wolisphoto
Nicole went on to take the win at Lenzerheide with a staggering winning margin of 4.419 seconds, which is even more impressive considering the short track. In a post-race interview Nicole credited Camille Balanche's fast qualifying time as the competition she needed to really push her riding to the next level.
8 min
Downhill winning runs – Lenzerheide
Check out Myriam Nicole's and Amaury Pierron's winning downhill runs in Lenzerheide, Switzerland.
03
The Amaury Pierron show rolls on
Amaury Pierron could not have asked for more from this weekend’s racing in Lenzerheide. The Frenchman was the fastest qualifier for the men’s race and found even more speed in his finals run to take the win. That’s now three victories out of the four downhill World Cup rounds (Lourdes, Fort William and Lenzerheide) that have taken place this season.
Pierron was more calm and measured in his run today
© Bartek Wolinski/@wolisphoto
Canadian boy wonder Finn Iles had been in the hot seat for a considerable amount of time and had probably thought this would be the moment where he claimed his first elite World Cup win. Dakota Norton had been inside Iles's time, but slipped out of contention with a fall. Then came peerless Pierron’s run. Pierron finals runs can often be wild and on the limit, but this run was relatively smooth, almost comfortable. A bunny hop over a pole into the chicane into the bridge just before the finish was probably the only time he deviated from the script. His winning margin over Iles in the end was huge – 1.4s.
On another day, Iles would be celebrating a first elite World Cup win
© Bartek Wolinski/@wolisphoto
This victory in Lenzerheide was Pierron's ninth World Cup win
© Bartek Wolinski/@wolisphoto
04
This is the best Lenzerheide track we've seen
At 2.2km, the Lenzerheide track is the shortest of the season. However, it's packing all the punches this year. A revised freshly-cut top section is technical, rooty and loose, keeping riders on their toes from the beginning. Wider and creative taping has opened up many more line choices. The 'Shimano too Steep to Plunge' section with its blown-out deep ruts and exposed roots was a key section where the various line choices either made or broke a rider's chances of success. Race day saw the track running super-dry and fast, with riders getting loose in the Swiss dust.
3 min
DH track explanation – Lenzerheide
Andreas Kolb lets us know what to expect from the Swiss Alps downhill track at Lenzerheide.
05
Downhill's elder statesmen showed that they can still mix it with the young ones
Greg Minnaar and Aaron Gwin showed that there's still life in the old warhorses of the World Cup scene here in Lenzerheide. Minnaar may have not had the best of seasons so far, but was on the money on the Swiss slopes, with a time that would be the third best after Amaury Pierron finished racing with his run. As he showed at the World Championships in Val di Sole in 2021 the South African can, on his day, put in the perfect run when he feels everything is right with the bike.
Minnaar never stops working in a bid to improve
© Bartek Wolinski/@wolisphoto
Gwin last won a World Cup in Lošinj in Croatia back in 2018. Back then he was on a YT bike. He moved to Intense in 2019 and has been busy developing a couple of new downhill bikes since then. Results have not been entirely there for Gwin, with development of the bike taking focus, but at this round and the one in Leogang, we’re slowly seeing the Gwin of old. Two 11th places may not be something to write home about, but Gwin is now happier with this new prototype bike that Intense are running and is much more comfortable putting a bit more into his race runs as a result.
Gwin is slowly getting back to his best
© Bartek Wolinski/@wolisphoto
06
Andreas Kolb has had a month to remember
Austrian racer Andreas Kolb is currently in the form of his life, with a series of results in the last month that have seen him become the European Champion, win the downhill race at Crankworx Innsbruck and record two top-five finishes in the World Cups in Leogang (fifth) and Lenzerheide (fourth). The Continental Atherton Bikes rider's previous best finish at a World Cup was 10th at race two of last season’s round in Snowshoe in the United States.
Kolb is in a rich vein of form at the moment
© Bartek Wolinski/@wolisphoto
The form he’s in is right now is all the more remarkable given that he broke an elbow just before the Fort William race in May, and since then he's not had much time to just ride, as he’s travelled to competitions. Kolb, who cuts a dashing figure in the pits with his distinctive moustache, is not the only one prospering on an ever-improving Atherton Bike. It's also producing results for his team-mate Charlie Hatton. Hatton finished seventh here to follow up his eighth in Leogang.
Kolb's team-mate Hatton is also doing Continental Atherton proud
© Bartek Wolinski/@wolisphoto
Another top-five placing for Benoît Coulanges
© Bartek Wolinski/@wolisphoto
Leogang winner Matt Walker put in another solid run on his way to sixth
© Bartek Wolinski/@wolisphoto
Ninth for Bernard Kerr
© Bartek Wolinski/@wolisphoto
Loïc Bruni had a sore shoulder but decided to do a race run
© Bartek Wolinski/@wolisphoto
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