Pierron and Hoffman win Fort William DH World Cup
The Downhill MTB World Cup returned to Fort William, and the racing was as brutal as ever.
All photos: Bartek Wolinski/RedBull
Amaury Pierron and Nina Hoffman have won the 2022 Downhill World Cup in Fort William, Scotland. Pierron produced a sensational downhill run in difficult Fort William conditions on Sunday to remain undefeated after two rounds of the 2022 UCI Mountain Bike World Cup season while German Hoffman earned her second World Cup win.
In the women's DH race, Hoffman won by over three seconds from Switzerland's Camille Balanche with France's Myriam Nicole third, Italian Eleonora Farina fourth and Austrian Valentina Höll fifth.
"Legendary, winning at Fort William. It was almost the perfect run," said Hoffman. "The fans are amazing. You just don't have to care about the conditions. Trust your bike."
Frenchman Pierron won the opening 2022 round in Lourdes and he needed to draw on all his speed and guile down the slippery course to hold off compatriot Thibaut Daprela and Briton Laurie Greenland, who was up at the first two splits but lost time on the second half to finish third last man down.
France's Benoit Coulanges came fourth and 2020 UCI MTB World Cup DH champion Matt Walker fifth as Pierron extended his overall lead over Greenland and Coulanges to 166 points with his victory completing a hat-trick at the iconic Scottish course following 2018 and 2019 victories.
Pierron, 26, said, "Winning three in a row here is really difficult. I didn't feel good at the beginning of the weekend. The British were crazy fast this weekend. It has been really tough. It was really windy at the top, but I gave everything over the bridge. A battle to reach the bottom."
Australians at Fort William
Luke Meier-Smith stormed home to 9th, while Australian champ Connor Fearon came in 18th, with Kye A'Hern in 22nd. Dean Lucas score 27th with Dan Booker in the action in 56th. In he Junior Men, Remy Meir-Smith was on the podium in 3rd, with Jackson Connoly in 12th.
