Finals Photo Epic: Les Gets DH World Cup 2024 – Pinkbike

After the exhilarating spectacle of peak downhill racing in Val di Sole, the carnage-filled racing in Les Gets offered an even better showing in the deluge of rain. We said World Cup racing doesn’t get better after Val di Sole, but the wet weather showdown this weekend proved us wrong.

Sadly, not everyone got to have fun in the mud, as a tight schedule to avoid the worst of the storm left junior racing cancelled. With no finals, the results were decided by qualifying, handing Heather Wilson and Asa Vermette their third win in 2024.

First up to take on the slop, the elite women had the toughest job of the day as the conditions were a big unknown after days of practising on a drying track. One of the first riders down the hill, Eleonora Farina, managed to master the mix of roots, mud and greasy off-cambers to go fastest with a time no one could come within six seconds of. Mille Johnset had the next best showing as she managed a clean run to take 2nd place. After leading the race through the first three splits, a crash in the lower part of the course put Seagrave way off the lead. Seagrave fought back and salvaged the weekend with third place, a little over 20 seconds off the winning time.

The elite men’s racing brought another storm to the valley as Amaury Pierron followed up a legendary run in Val di Sole with another mind-blowing performance. Pierron is no stranger to all-or-nothing runs in Les Gets, but the skill on show this week was on another level to his competitors as he went across the line nearly six and a half seconds faster than anyone else. Andreas Kolb beat Greg Minnaar to the second-place spot after it looked like we could get another record-breaking win from the South African. The podium was filled with more French racers as Rémi Thirion and Thomas Estaque made the French fans proud.

Luckily, after a dramatic weekend in Les Gets, we have a few weeks to calm down ahead of what could be one of the best World Championships we have seen as the World’s best reach their pinnacle for the season in Andorra.

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