FINAL RESULTS - 2024 UCI Mountain Bike Elite World Cup Downhill Bielsko-Biała 4

Poland delivered exciting racing as the World Cup came to town for the first time.

With a track that had cut in nicely by race day, a little rain earlier in the day added some spice to the equation as the world's fastest racers made their bid for glory in the second World Cup race of the season. Marine Cabirou laid down a clean run to displace Nina Hoffmann from the hot seat, leaving the fastest qualifiers to try and beat her. Tahnee Seagrave was well ahead of the pace in the top part of the track, but she faded visibly through the flatter sections to finish the race in 5th place. Vali Höll set out with her trademark aggression but overcooked a greasy corner and washed out early in her race run. She got back up in time to secure 6th place and salvage some important points in the overall race, but it was definitely a case of what could have been for the Austrian.

In the Elite Men's category, Oisin O'Callaghan found his pace again as he was the first rider of the day to go under the 3-minute mark and book himself a lengthy stay in the hotseat. His 2:58 was a second faster than Dak Norton's semi-final winning time from yesterday, and it would be enough to see off quite a few of his rivals as the race unfolded. Ethan Craik got to within 26 hundredths of a second of Oisin, but it was Benoit Coulanges who made the next statement with a clean and fast 2:57. The writing was on the wall though, and a few moments later Loic Bruni put all the pieces together to deliver a 2:55 and take the lead with 10 riders to go. It would take until the top five to see Loic's time really come under threat though. Lachlan Stevens-McNabb was on for the performance of his career so far, up by over a second through three splits when he lost the front in a tricky little off-camber section - heartbreak but surely nothing but a raincheck for the second-year elite rider from New Zealand. The action didn't let up though, as Ronan Dunne delivered another fantastic run to lay claim to the lead by 64 hundredths of a second and confirm that his speed is well and truly up there with the best in the world now. All eyes on Dak, could he ride his recent good form to his first ever World Cup win? It was not to be as he laid it down in a muddy corner, but we still got a first-time winner on the day as Ronan took the top step, joining his fellow countryman Oisin O'Callaghan in the very select group of Irish World Cup winners. Congratulations!

2024 World Cup Downhill Bielsko-Biała Results - Elite Women

photo by Jack Rice

2024 World Cup Downhill Bielsko-Biała Results - Elite Men

photo by Jack Rice
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