October 7/23 19:36 pm - Jackson Goldstone Takes Home Win at Mont-Ste-Anne

Posted by Editoress on 10/7/23
 

On Saturday, Jackson Goldstone (Santa Cruz Syndicate) became the second Canadian man in as many years to win the Elite men's Downhill World Cup at Mont-Ste-Anne. His win moved him into second place in the final overall standings. In Elite women, Gracey Hemstreet (Norco Factory) was the top Canadian women in the Series, finishing seventh overall. Canada's Bodhi Kuhn (Trek Factory) finished third overall in Junior men, despite not being able to race in the Final after breaking his wrist in training.

Elite
Valentina Höll (Rockshox Trek Race Team) and Loic Bruni (Specialized Gravity) clinched the overall UCI Downhill World Cup series titles in Canada after a thrilling season finale in Mont-Sainte-Anne.

Austrian Höll cemented her claim to the championship with a masterclass of a win on a tricky course left slick by earlier rain. The World Champion's victory in Canada was her fourth of the 2023 World Cup season and saw her underlining her dominance by finishing first in qualifying, first in the semi-final and then first by more than 13 seconds in the final.

Nina Hoffmann (Santa Cruz Syndicate) secured second place in the overall by finishing runner up in the race despite crashing towards the bottom of the course and blowing her front tyre off on the final jump. The German's second place meant that France's Marine Cabirou (Scott Downhill Factory) ended up third in the overall after finishing ninth in Canada following a huge crash. Third in the race, it was a first podium of the season for Italian Veronika Widmann (Continental Nukeproof Factory).

In the men's competition, France's Loic Bruni claimed his third overall World Cup series title with a run good enough to put him into the hot seat with three riders to go.

But it was the last man down the hill at Mont-Sainte-Anne who really set the huge crowd alight. Debut elite Jackson Goldstone took a spectacular win to the delight of the passionate home fans, crossing the line more than four seconds up on second-placed Briton Ethan Craik (GT Continental Factory Racing). Bruni himself ended up third in the season's final race.

Finn Iles (Specialized Gravity), the Canadian who was the defending champion at Mont-Ste-Anne, had the fastest first split and was second fastest after splits two and three (behind Goldstone), before crashing hard and eventually finishing 22nd. Lucas Cruz (Norco Factory) was the only other Canadian to make the Final, finishing 18th.

Goldstone's blistering win meant he leapfrogged Loris Vergier (Trek Factory Racing Gravity) in the overall standings to take second place and relegate the Frenchman to third in the series. Finn Iles managed to hold on to fourth in the final overall standings, putting two Canadians on the podium.

Junior
In the Junior women's Downhill in drier conditions on Friday, Colombian Valentina Roa Sanchez (Transition Factory Racing) clinched the overall UCI World Cup Downhill championship with a blistering run to take the final win in Mont-Sainte-Anne. Roa Sanchez was some three seconds faster than Kiwi Sascha Earnest (KiwiDH) with France's Lisa Bouladou in third. The only Canadian Junior woman, Sophi Lawrence, finished ninth. On the overall podium, it was second place for Bouladou and third for New Zealand's Junior World Champion Erice Van Leuven (Commencal Les Orres).

In the Junior men's downhill, the American Ryan Pinkerton (GT Continental Factory Racing) had secured the overall title in Snowshoe but was unfortunately sidelined at Mont-Sainte-Anne by a crash in practice. The man who went into the finals weekend in second position in the title race, Canada's Bodhi Kuhn, was also injured in practice and forced to sit out the race. In the end it was France's Nathan Pontvianne (Pinkbike Racing) who capitalized, taking the win on the day by nearly four seconds and leapfrogging Kuhn in the overall battle to take second spot relegating the injured Canadian into third. Pontvianne's teammate Mylann Falquet was second in Mont-Sainte-Anne and Kimi Viardot (K Bike) was third. Two Canadian men made the top-10 - Brock Hawes in seventh and Wyatt Harrington (Pinkbike) in eighth. Dane Jewett (Pivot Factory), finishing 12th in the final round, was 13th overall.

Mont-Sainte-Anne World Cup: Elite DH SemiFinals and Finals results

Mont-Sainte-Anne World Cup: Junior DH Final results