The 2018 World Cup season drew to a close here in La Bresse over the weekend. And what a closing scence it was.
The conditions were, let’s say ‚poor‘  on Downhill raceday. It was literally pouring down most of the time and temperatures hovered under 10 degrees.

In the elite men’s race, Mick Hannah showed he´s back on track, turning in, arguably, his best performance of the season, finishing in 12th place. Overall SR SUNTOUR pilots were well accounted for in the finals, with no fewer than 6 riders going for the podiums.

Marine Cabirou chrashed unkuckily on the sticky, treacherous track but nevertheless fought her way into the top 10, finishing 9th overall.  
Tracey Hannah set off on her final run, full of intention and made a blistering start. Carrying speed through both the steep and technical sections, Tracey showed us the discipline which she has had all season by finishing in amongst the podium places yet again. Her 3rd place in the final overall World Cup standings, underlines her consistancy as well as her talent.

The rain which had taughnted and played havoc with the downhill racing luckily disappeared as the Elite Women and Elite Men took to their start-grids on Sunday. The course had suffered and the roots and rocks were waiting for the slightest inattention not only on the descents but also the climbs were aggravatingly slippy.

Characteristically, Victor Koretzky gave everything he had. Following a tecnical problem right at the beginning of the race he fought his way back from 30th place onto the podium, finishing 5th, relieved and muddy.

It wasn´t meant to be for Jordan Sarrou (20.) and Jens Schuermans (24.) who were both missing the strong legs needed for such a grueling course. Schuermans, having ridden so well on Friday in the short-track racing, was rewarded with a front row gridding for Sunday’s XCO race. With more of the same, it won’t be long before he’s pushing for the podiums.