Thirion And Atherton Win iXS Season Opener

The first race of the iXS European Downhill Cup is now history, dominated by bad weather on race day Sunday after the final had to be cancelled. The results from the seeding run were used, with Remi Thirion and Rachel Atherton as winners at Monte Tamaro, Switzerland.

After the weather conditions had been perfect for the official training on Friday and the seeding run on Saturday, things changed on Sunday as thick fog and rain made it impossible to secure the course. As a consequence the race had to be cancelled, as any attempts to rescue riders with the help of a helicopter would have been impossible. Therefore the results of the seeding run were declared as final results.

The podium in the elite men class was shared by three French riders. Remi Thirion won with a time of 4:43.245. He was three seconds faster than MS Mondraker’s Damien Spagnolo and almost seven seconds faster than Mickael Pascal. Nick Beer, now riding for Devinci Global Racing took fourth spot in ahead of Bernat Guardia and Ben Reid.

Rachel Atherton took the title in the women’s elite class, finishing almost 12 seconds in front of the current World Champion Emmeline Ragot. The course seemed to suit her well, although she joked that she wouldn’t have made the journey if she had known how long and demanding the course would be! Emilie Siegenthaler finished third having already showed off her skills at the GoPro course check on Friday.

So the season was off to an unplanned start, but the safety of the participants was more important, and due to their nature downhill races cannot be ridden inside, so the decision to cancel the final run is more than understandable. The next stop of the series is on 26/27 May in Leogang in Austria.

Sit back and enjoy highlights from Friday’s practice and Saturday’s qualifying runs.