iXS European Downhill Cup #3 Val Di Sole

Last weekend, 345 riders from 26 nations made their way to the third round of the iXS European Downhill Cup in Val di Sole, Italy. In the end, David Trummer and Jana Bartova went fastest in their respective categories.

Another chapter of this year's iXS European Downhill Cup is in the books and, again, this has been a weekend that will be remembered for a long time. The third venue of the series has been Val di Sole, after we already visited Maribor and Schladming. The Italian village in Trentino is a former and future host of the Mountain Bike World Cup and also an important part of the European Cup. Again the track caused a lot of excitement and enthusiasm: as a former World Cup track it definitely belongs to the hardest ones in the world. After some slight changes, the track now offers 2200 meters in length with a 520-meter-difference in altitude. The extreme level of difficulty is due to both the ground conditions and the track's steepness. And yet an additional factor became clear already on Saturday: After some first training sessions under perfect conditions on Friday, the weather changed and in the end, the riders were completely covered in mud by the time of Sunday's race.

During Saturday's Seeding Run the conditions were, however, still dry and nearly perfect. In the Elite Women category Jana Bartova (CZE - Bikeplac Racing Team) set a best time of 4:54.494 minutes. Zarja Cernilogar (SLO - Blackthorn GT), who is the current leader of the overall rankings finished in fourth after having some serious problems in the lower parts of the course. The Elite Men category was dominated by Rupert Chapman (NZL) with a time of 3:58.260 minutes. So far so good, but the weather forecast showed that the conditions would have completely changed by Sunday. It was clear that it would be difficult to keep up this speed in the final runs.

In the evening, the fourth round of the 4X Pro Tour was scheduled and lured numerous cheering fans to its final run. After that, the evening was completed by an Open Air Concert - all in all the perfect Saturday for a perfect weekend full of racing action.

On Sunday, the weather forecast proved to have been right: The riders woke up to a grey sky with clouds full of raindrops. Around midday the track was completely wet and extremely slippery at some sections and the level of difficulty still increased more and more.

As the first category, the Masters came down the hill and they all agreed that it was far from easy to tide under these conditions. Fabrizio Dragoni (ITA - Alessi Racing Team) finished first, followed by his strongest competitors Rostislav Stencel (CZE - Bikeplac Racing Team) and Rhys Evans (GBR - Maxim Bikes) in second and third place. Thus, Stencel again was able to extend his lead in the overall rankings.

In the U17 category, Remy Morton (AUS - NS Dynamics) finished first with a solid 11-second-lead. But he was not only the leader of today's race, but also currently holds the top position in the rankings. Federico Monzoni (ITA - Smile Bike) finished in second place, while Andrea Bianciotto (ITA - ASD Sestriere Bike Club) who had been on top of the rankings before, ended up in third place.

Zarja Cernilogar was not able to edge out the Seeding Run fastest Jana Bartova in the Elite Women category due to problems in the lower parts of the course again. After a re-start, Bartova confidently took the first place with a time of 5:21.126 minutes and a gap of 1,183 seconds. After the third round of the series Cernilogar still sit atop the overall rankings, but Bartova only needs two more points to catch up. Carina Cappellari (SUI - Suspension Center) completed the podium.

After a huge crash and a DNF in the seeding David Trummer (AUT - RRP Ghost) - current leader of the rankings - was the first rider who came down the hill. With a time of 4:10.432 minutes he occupied the Red Bull Hot Seat for the whole race. Compared to the best time in the seeding, it became clear that the track definitely lost some of its speed. Due to the changing weather conditions, it could have been an advantage to start early. But also Slawomir Lukasik (POL - NSbikes FroPro) and Alex Bond (GBR - Ti springs.com) started early in the race, but still did not reach Trummer's time. The first rider who nearly succeeded in edging him out was Nick Beer (SUI - Devinci Global Racing) who set a new best time in his split time. But when he crossed the finish line after having some problems near the finish area, Trummer's time was still the fastest. More and more riders failed to edge out Trummer during the race, but Rupert Chapman came closest. He also was faster in his split time, but was too slow in the lower parts of the track to take over the lead. After two hours, Trummer finally was crowned the winner of the EDC in Val di Sole, followed by Manuel Gruber (AUT - Radon Factory Team) and his team mate Phil Atwill (GBR - RRP Ghost). Mark Wallace (CAN - Devinci Global Racing) and James Swinden (GBR - This is Sheffield) completed the podium with the places 4 and 5.

The third round of the EDC is in the books and next week, we'll make it four at the Crankworx Europe in Les Deux Alpes!

For more information, visit www.ixsdownhillcup.com