The qualification runs didn’t exactly set the world alight, but we consoled ourselves with the reality that the season was literally only hours old. Tracey Hannah was the only one with a top 10 place. The men had scraped their way into the final with luck and the luxury of "protected" status.
In hindsight, it was in our favour to be off early on race day as these riders enjoyed the best of the conditions. As the top twenty qualifiers pulled on their goggles and set off down the start ramp, visibility was awful and the rain was hammering down. The track quickly became treacherously unpredictable.
Alexandre Fayolle clocked a fabulous time, which meant he would be sitting in the hot seat for quite a while. Forty riders who all set off after him in the dry, could not better his time.
A hugely deserved win for Alexandre Fayolle. Florent Payet came home in 4th place and was also on the podium. Tracey Hannah earned a magnificent 2nd in the women’s elite with a totally sick run. Benoit Coulanges bagged his best result so far with a 9th place in the elite. Marine Cabirou secured the 7th place with the top 10 status in the 2nd women’s elite year.
The Polygon UR Team won the title "Best Team" with the first and second place in the elite category.
Having got our winter training absolutely spot on, we were chomping at the bit for the World Cup opener. Our preparation and planning started way back in November, in the USA, with Mick Hannah and the suspension set up for his Polygon DH rig.
By February everyone was raring to go and looking forward to the WERX Camp in Finale Ligure Italy. As recently as March, Stéphane Guillaume, our suspension experts, spent 2 weeks in New Zealand and Australia working solely on set ups for the whole Polygon team. In particular, the focus was on the demands we can expect from the World Champs course in Cairns.
The DH World Cup curtain raiser in Lourdes, France, gave us all the pointers we needed in terms of progress and development with our suspension.
We would like to thank all of you who have made this dream start possible.
Ride on!
