Loudenvielle DH: Deep into Top-10 for Hattie & Stan
Round 2 of the 2026 Whoop UCI MTB World Series delivered even more drama than opening round in South Korea, with AON Racing again battling for the very top. Hattie and Stan are our heroes of the week, both showing superb performance on the Sunday finals. Hattie was 6th on the women elite race, Stan was 7th on the junior race.
The race week in Loudenvielle was not just about bike settings and focusing on your race lines. The heat with temperatures above 30 degrees and strong sun effected all riders, meanwhile the track was also suffering from lack of rain. The deterioration was bigger than ever in the last season, which created very unpredictable conditions on the track. That in combination with the race profile is not to the likes of our riders, but they still went strong into the race week and progressed with each of the days.
But first things first, we had to build our race home first. Thanks to Pro-Tent we have a brand-new paddock setup that provide us with all the space that we need and protects us from the elements. It’s also bright and easy to set, ideal for our team!
After that it was time to focus on the hard race ahead. All of our riders progressed over the three days of riding, driven by great results from South Korea and Fort William. Section times were faster and faster, despite the track blowing up. Turning point in the race were of course the qualies, with Stan being the only one of the quartet to go to the finals smoothly. Hattie missed it by 0.2 seconds, but then fully determined won the Q2 session. Reece and Henry didn’t qualify, Henry was off his pace after the big morning crash and didn’t have enough flow. Reece meanwhile heavily improved on his time in Q2, but it still wasn’t enough. But they are both going strong and we’re confident great results are not far away.
Hattie and Stan did their best runs of the week where it counts the most – in the big Sunday finals! Both took the lead when crossing the finish line and stayed in the chair for a long time. Their runs were solid, aggressive and fast, and the final results are well deserved!
Hattie Harnden: “After a slow qualifying I was glad to turn it up a notch to deliver a solid run in finals. Times were super tight so to finish 6th only 1.5s off 2nd felt great. The track changed so much it was hard to know how hard you could push. Looking forward to carrying this momentum into Leogang in two weeks.”
Stan Nisbet: “Really happy with 7th today. Felt like my riding was strong and consistent. Made a few mistakes on my race run, but with the track in the condition that it was I was happy to stay on my bike. By race run the track was super blown, hardly any corners left so you had to fight up the inside of pretty much every corner which made it really technical at speed. Another top-10 in the books happy with that.”
Overall another great World Cup weekend for AON Racing, with the whole team working as a big family!
Results DH – qualies / finals / overall:
Hattie – 11th / 6th / 5th
Stan (juniors) – 11th / 7th / 6th
Reece & Henry – did not qualify for the finals
Team rankings – 14th
Photos: Grega Stopar