Fifteenth World Cup win for Vergier, whose perfect run on the Black Snake track in Val di Sole helped him past Austria’s Kold. USA’s Norton was a surprising third ahead of Gwin. Pierron celebrates the World Cup’s overall in spite of a crash in the last run
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France confirmed itself as the leading Nation in the Men’s Downhill world at the moment: on Saturday, September 3rd at the World Cup Grand Finale in Val di Sole, it was Loris Vergier’s time to celebrate his fifteenth career success in the World Cup.
Thanks to a bold but flawless run, the 26-year-old Frenchman of the Trek Factory Racing DH Team left behind the European Champion, Austria’s Andreas Kolb (Continental Atherton, +3.008). In great shape from official qualification round, the Austrian drew very personal trajectories on the Black Snake on the way to a prestigious result.
Third place for the surprising Dakotah Norton (Intense Factory Racing +3.129), who enjoyed his best World Cup weekend of his career, right in front of his compatriot and teammate Aaron Gwin (+4.491) who rediscovered his personal feeling for the Black Snake, where he has won four times in his career.
Brit Bernard Kerr (Pivot Factory Racing +5.032) rounded out the top 5. World Champion Loic Bruni (Specialized Gravity) couldn’t do better than eighth on the day. Fellow Frenchman Amaury Pierron (Commencal) crashed to an anonymous 54th place in the final despite a crash and an anonymous 54th place, was still able to celebrate the second overall World Cup title in his career.
"Honestly, when I don’t do mistakes and I link everything I always manage big margins, but that’s so hard to do”, said Loris Vergier afterwards, “and I am really stoked that I have made it twice this year. Hopefully I can do it again next year. The track was so hard, we have spent so much time to try to figure out where to put the wheels, and in the end it’s a gamble: that’s why we sometimes crash and sometimes do great runs. This season did wonders in giving me confidence back, now I can’t wait for the next season to start.”
Even the slide on the Black Snake wouldn’t hold new World Cup Champion Amaury Pierron from smiling: "I didn’t actually have a plan coming into this one. I assumed if I felt well I would push and try to go for a win. Today in the morning I had good feelings, so that’s what I have tried to do. Then at the top we had a little bit of rain, I hit some rocks and eventually slid down. That’s not the way I wanted to end the season, but still I have won the overall World Cup so I am happy."
