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Everything you need to know about the Vallnord World Cup
Here's the essential info and what to look out for as the DH and XCO teams take to World Cup racing in the mountains above Andorra.
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Where are we?
Vallnord's in Andorra, one of Europe's smaller states, wedged between France and Spain in the Pyrenees. Andorra is the 16th smallest country in the world by land and the 11th smallest by population. There's almost a zero crime rate in Andorra, so there's little chance of expensive bikes being stolen, which is welcome news to many of the MTB teams and their riders.
More than 90 percent of Andorra's made up of mountains, forests and meadows
© Bartek Woliński
Like most venues and locations on the Mercedes Benz UCI MTB World Cup, Vallnord is an year-round tourist hotspot doubling as a place to bike in the summer and ski in winter. MTB World Cup racing takes place at the Pal-Arinsal ski resort with the nearest town being La Massana, which sits in the valley below it. The town hosts the finish area of the downhill race.
Unique to Vallnord, a finish line in the town of La Massana
© Alex and Arnau Tarradas – Mediaevo
What are the courses like?
This will be the sixth time the Vallnord Bike Park has played host to a UCI World Cup downhill round and the third consecutive year since 2016 for both downhill and cross-country disciplines. Like many World Cup venues modifications are made every year and both the downhill and cross-country tracks have undergone some work.
The DH track is one that requires full-on focus. Now 2.5km in length, the track's steep and drops 626m vertically. Many technical challenges lie in wait for the riders with hidden roots, sharp rocks, high-speed drops, berms and off-camber sections all featuring. The track in the dry can be a real dust-bowl.
Watch Claudio Caluori tackle the Vallnord track in 2017:
8 мин.
Claudio Caluori Vallnord 2017 course preview
Claudio and Brook Macdonald take on the La Massana Bike Park track.
The XCO races take place on a 3.8km track that's set on the area around the Pal-Arinsal ski station and so is set at high altitude. The altitude can be a very real factor is deciding who wins here, with athletes who regularly train at high altitude levels having a distinct advantage. The course itself is a mix of steep, rocky, punchy climbs and loose switchback descents. For 2018, the start and finish area has been changed from the previous World Cup cross-country races on the circuit.
Push hard too early at altitude and you'll pay for it later in the race
© Bartek Woliński
Val di Sole recap
The weather threatened to turn Val di Sole into a mudfest this past weekend, but thankfully the thunderstorms and the rain held off on race days. A drying course in the downhill presented its own problems with many a rider finding their bike slipping out underneath them.
Tahnée Seagrave managed to narrowly overhaul Rachel Atherton's time to take the women's title, her second at Val di Sole. Third place went to Monika Hrastnik. The Slovenian had a magnificent meet at the Italian circuit having won qualifying and then coming close to beating Seagrave's time.
The men's race saw Amaury Pierron takes his third World Cup win in a row. This was a measured run from the Frenchman that saw him take time at the bottom of the course from Laurie Greenland, who had until then been sitting in the hot seat. In third was Danny Hart.
Watch the 2018 Val di Sole DH Finals highlights below:
7 мин.
Val di Sole DH final highlights
Watch the downhill highlights from Val di Sole.
Hard fought, but Schurter imperious as ever
© Bartek Woliński
Who's going to win in Vallnord?
Downhill
Elite Men: At the moment Amaury Pierron is hot to trot when it comes to racing downhill. He's got a hat-trick of consecutive wins on the World Cup, so who'd bet against the Frenchman making it four wins when he's on such rich vein of form and confidence? There's another thing in his favour in Vallnord. This is the home track of his team Commencal, and Pierron would have tested here several times in the past six months. Whatever happens, he's expected to beat his previous best-placed finish of 13th in Vallnord.
YEAR
ELITE MEN
ELITE WOMEN
2017
Troy Brosnan
Myriam Nicole
2016
Danny Hart
Rachel Atherton
2015 (Worlds)
Loïc Bruni
Rachel Atherton
2013
Rémi Thirion
Rachel Atherton
2009
Steve Peat
Sabrina Jonnier
Aaron Gwin won't be racing in Vallnord after deciding to give his injured thumb some proper time to heal, so if it isn't Pierron then we're in for quite an open race. Luca Shaw has probably been the most consistently fast racer this season outside Pierron, but has had some bad luck in a couple of races. He still has a second-place in Lošinj and a fourth-place in Val di Sole to his name, though.
Elite women: It's been a topsy-turvy season so far with three different winners of the four World Cup races so far. No one appears to be dominating, though Tahnée Seagrave has won at Fort William and Val di Sole this year. Rachel Atherton has won here twice in the World Cup and once in the Worlds, and with Myriam Nicole, last year's winner at Vallnord, nursing a back injury the Brit is the favourite to win in Andorra.
Recap the 2017 Vallnord DH race here:
XCO
Elite Men: Racing at altitude doesn't seem to be a problem for Nino Schurter. He's won three times here, including the Worlds in 2015. Picking a likely challenger to Schurter isn't easy this season as he's been pushed in each of his race wins by a different competitor. Maxime Marotte had a miserable race in Val di Sole, but outside Schurter has done consistently well on this Vallnord circuit the times he's raced on it.
Marotte has done well in previous Vallnord races
© Bartek Woliński
Recap the 2017 Vallnord XCO race here:
Watch all the action from Vallnord right here:
Be sure to download the free Red Bull TV app and catch the MTB action on all your devices! Get the app here
Red Bull TV and RedBull.com will be broadcasting live coverage of the Mercedes-Benz UCI DH World Cup live from Vallnord at these times around the world:
DH Women – July 14
- Vallnord, Andorra: 12.30pm
- Vancouver, Canada: 3.30am
- New York, USA: 6.30am
- London, UK: 11.30am
- Sydney, Australia: 8.30pm
- Auckland, New Zealand: 10.30pm
DH Men - July 14
- Vallnord, Andorra: 2pm
- Vancouver, Canada: 5am
- New York, USA: 8am
- London, UK: 1pm
- Sydney, Australia: 10pm
- Auckland, New Zealand: 00.00am (July 15)
XCO Women - July 15
- Vallnord, Andorra: 12pm
- Vancouver, Canada: 3am
- New York, USA: 6am
- London, UK: 11am
- Sydney, Australia: 8pm
- Auckland, New Zealand: 10pm
XCO Men - July 15
- Vallnord, Andorra: 2.30pm
- Vancouver, Canada: 5.30am
- New York, USA: 8.30am
- London, UK: 1.30pm
- Sydney, Australia: 10.30pm
- Auckland, New Zealand: 12.30am (July 16)
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