La Thuile DH
One of the most anticipated races in the season! La Thuile was introduced to the UCI MTB World Series calendar last year, this time around it hosts triple event! On the DH venue it was another good weekend for AON Racing, with two riders finishing in top-10.
There are lots of things to like in La Thuile, but for the gravity scene the highlight is of course the DH track. It’s challenging, rough, steep, loose and much more, but for sure one of the riders’ favourites. After track walk the excitement only grew and everyone was eager to jump on their bikes. But finding the right flow was harder than it looks. All of our four riders love the track, but couldn’t quite make it to their perfect runs. Reece & Henry of course had the hardest week, ending the race in qualies despite their best efforts. Henry was even fastest in the first sector of Q1, which tells a lot, but both men need to focus on Andorra now.
Both Hattie and Stan quailifed in the first go, showing a very solid level of riding. Far from perfect, but fast enough. Final day was nervous, with lots of things on the line.
Stan went down first, showing his best of the weekend. He took the lead crossing the finish line, his time and run were very good. But other juniors found more seconds out there in the dust and Stan had to settle with 7th place. Good, but not what he/we want at this point.
Heat continued to build up on Saturday when it was time for Hattie to go on the track. Ambitions with this Brit are also high, but the final run was not up to it. It was good enough for 9th place, which gets the same comments as Stan – good, but not what she/we want at this point.
Two top-10 results are still very nice and keep us in the contention on team rankings as well. We learned a lot over the weekend, and go to Andorra with same motivation as ever! See you on the Pyrenees dust in just couple of days!
Results DH – qualies / finals / overall:
Hattie – 9th / 8th / 5th
Stan (juniors) – 15th / 7th / 5th
Reece & Henry – did not qualify for the finals
Team rankings – 13th overall
Photos: Grega Stopar