Straight after the historic racing in Lezerheide, there was no break before things kicked off again as riders faced some wild weather conditions for Junior finals and Elite Qualifying. Luckily things dried up for Elite finals and for the first time since it was introduced the lower woods were dry and flat out.
The first race of the week saw the Junior Women.put down some rapid runs with French racer Lisa Bouladou taking her first World Cup win after an impressive run. The young French racer laid down a storming run and was the only rider to beat the fastest qualifier as she bested the field by over five seconds. Pinkbike Racing’s Aimi Kenyon also had a great run to secure 2nd place. Riley Miller wrapped up the top three as she piloted her bike to a top position. Top qualifier Erice Van Leuven sadly crashed out at the top of the course.
The Junior Men’s racing saw Léo Abella take the win as he managed to get down before high winds picked up and caused a weather delay on the course. While the live broadcast ended early the racing definitely didn’t as Henri Kiefer and Bodhi Kuhn smashed out some wild runs despite worse conditions compared to the top times. Bodhi Kuhn did what was thought impossible as despite worse conditions he managed to get himself a 2nd place place. Henri Kiefer also mastered the tricky conditions as he went home with fourth.
A day later and it was the turn of the Elite Women to go against the clock on a now mostly dry and dusty course. Vali Höll stamped her dominance in Leogang winning qualifying, semi-finals and finals. From top to bottom Vali Höll led the race building her lead at every split the Austrian rider crossed the line in first and 4.303 seconds ahead of Camille Balanche. Camille had to settle for second place once again in 2023 as for the first time since 2019 she was not the winner in Leogang. Rachel Atherton backed up her win in Lenzerheide with another great performance as she ended the week in third place.
Andreas Kolb fought back from disappointment at round one to make it a double Austrian win in Leogang. The Atherton team rider remained untouched on the hot seat throughout the top riders. Riders tried and failed to topple the Austrian but none could master the final sector and all lost time into the finish arena. Loic Bruni was the closest rider as he crossed the line 0.680 back and just behind the three-minute barrier. Jackson Goldstone continued to impress in his first year of Elite racing taking home third place after a small mistake in the final turn.
The World Cup now takes a short break before returning to Val di Sole at the end of the month.
