Tahnee Seagrave's title battle with fellow Brit Rachel Atherton took another turn in round five of the UCI Mountain Bike World Cup as Seagrave claimed a stunning victory.
Atherton had led in qualifying, with a run time more than 13 seconds faster than Seagrave, but came off track in the final and had to settle for second in Andorra.
In the elite men’s race British riders Laurie Greenland and Danny Hart took fourth and sixth respectively.
Former world champion Atherton was leading the world cup standings ahead of the race in Vallnord, by 100 points, but Seagrave delivered with a lightning-fast run to make it back-to-back World Cup wins after her triumph in Italy a week previous.
That gap is now down to 80 points after Seagrave finished in a time of 4:49.84, with Atherton more than four seconds behind.
When asked if she could make it three wins in a row in Canada next month, Seagrave responded positively: “I hope so, I’ll try my best as always but this one is mind-blowing enough.
“I’ve never done well in Andorra, it’s always been pretty unlucky for me so I’m just over the moon.
“It was real difficult, I’ve never had that much time to make up (from qualifying).
“I like to give myself a good challenge and I’ve said that before but that was a hell of a challenge to give myself, I didn’t think it was going to happen to be honest.”
The British men’s downhill riders were also in excellent form in Val di Sole last week, with both Laurie Greenland and Danny Hart taking top-three finishes, and they continued that good form at Vallnord.
Greenland was fastest on the steep sections in qualifying and as one of the last riders down the hill finished up in fourth place.
Hart went just after Greenland but could only finish sixth as all the riders had to tip their hat to the brilliance of the French riders on the day.
Canada’s Finn Iles set the early running, with Loic Bruni holding second just behind him, but France’s Loris Vergier stormed down to smash Iles’ lead by four seconds, taking his first World Cup win.
Vergier’s fellow countryman Amaury Pierron was in the hunt for a historic fourth win in a row but couldn’t trump Vergier’s blistering ride and had to settle for second. Sportsbeat 2018