UCI Mountain Bike World Series: Jackson Goldstone wins Val di Sole downhill thriller as Valentina Holl dominates

Jackson Goldstone (Santa Cruz Syndicate) won his first elite UCI Downhill World Cup after a thrilling and unpredictable race in Val di Sole, while Valentina Holl (Rockshox Trek Race Team) stormed to an imperious victory in the women’s elite race.

The Canadian recovered from an early error to produce a spectacular run on the technically demanding Italian course, with compatriot Finn Iles (Specialized Gravity) and Frenchman Thibaut Daprela (Commencal/Muc-Off by Riding Addiction) completing the podium.

“I don’t have any words, I’m so excited,” Goldstone said. “The run was on the edge the whole time, on the first corner I was pushing really hard.

“I escaped with all the mistakes I made and kept the flow going. I had a good bottom where I made up a whole bunch of time. I’m so stoked!”

Britain’s Bernard Kerr (Pivot Factory Racing) set the leading pace early on under rainy conditions, a benchmark time of 3:40.945 that proved unbeatable until Troy Brosnan (Canyon CLLCTV) knocked him off top with just seven riders left.

One of those unable to match Kerr’s pace was world champion and series leader Loic Bruni (Specialized Gravity), who has never won in Val di Sole and couldn’t maintain a fast start as he lost momentum and time in the mid to lower sectors to eventually finish 14th.

The action heated up late on with a thrilling series of runs, starting with Brosnan putting in a superb run as he flew down at 61 km/h to take the lead by 2.1 seconds, but he was instantly knocked off top spot by a euphoric Daprela, who recovered from a mistake to set a superb time.

Leogang champion Andreas Kolb (Continental Atherton) could only do enough for sixth place.

He was followed by Goldstone, who found some great lines on the technical second sector to make up for an error in the first corner, and gathered pace as his run went on to set an unbeatable time of 3:34.926.

Iles came closest to matching it but could only finish 2.224 seconds behind, but it was Goldstone’s day as Loris Vergier’s (Trek Factory Racing Gravity) final run was only fast enough for fifth.

Kerr eventually came seventh, while fellow Brit Jordan Williams (Specialized Gravity) suffered a big crash at the end of his run, flying into the netting beside the course, but was able to walk away.

In the women’s elite race, Holl followed up her victory on home turf in Leogang by producing a stunning final run to take another victory in the women’s elite race, with Camille Balance (Dorval AM Commencal) and Jess Blewitt (GT-Continental Factory Racing) completing the podium.

The Austrian was fastest in every sector in a dominant performance, cutting the gap to overall Downhill leader Balance to 38 points in the overall standings.

“It’s so hard to keep the momentum and the strength for this track. It’s so tough, so physical, and it was just hard to hold on,” Holl said.

I feel like it was always in me, I just needed to find the right headspace and put it together, get older and more mature to find that mojo.”

Holl stormed to a majestic second downhill World Cup win in a row, piecing together an almost flawless final run.

The Austrian knew she had a strong time from Balanche to beat and stormed out of the blocks to go 2.3 seconds up after a balletic effort in the technical second sector where she glided over the roots at high speed.

That gap grew to 3.7 seconds and although she dropped a second in sector four, Holl powered over the finish line with a lead of 2.913 seconds, leaping off her bike to pump her fists to the crowd in celebration.

Balanche took second, bouncing back from a crash during practice in the morning to set a superb time that was only let down by a slight error in sector three.

Blewitt completed the podium in third, followed by Marine Cabirou (Scott Downhill Factory) and Nina Hoffmann (Santa Cruz Syndicate).

There were a couple of crashes, with Gracey Hemstreet (Norco Factory Team) going down in sector three but recovering impressively to finish seventh.

Great Britain’s Tahnee Seagrave (Canyon CLLCTV) suffered a heavy crash on her run and was left dazed, but she was OK to finish her run in 11th place.

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