Race Wrap: 2025 DH World Cup Rd2, Loudenvielle France
Canadian riders swept to the top of both classes at the second round of the 2025 UCI Downhill Mountain Bike World Cup in Loudenvielle, France, on Sunday.
The drama began on Saturday as the double qualifying system eliminated many big-name riders from Sunday’s final. Amongst those that never made the final cut of the Men’s Race were former World Champion Reece Wilson, Laurie Greenland, Lachie Stevens-McNab, Matt Walker, Ronan Dunne, Richie Rude and more.
These days the fields are stacked with talent and as we saw in the opening round in Poland, being slightly off pace in the two qualifying sessions is all it takes to be eliminated from Sunday’s race.
Elite Women
A protégé of our own Greg Minnaar, 20-year-old Gracey Hemstreet took her maiden World Cup win today. After qualifying in third place on Saturday, Hemstreet delivered a masterclass of riding on the more technical lower half of the course. None of her rivals could match Hemstreet’s split times on the second half of the track and she finished over 3 seconds faster than next best.
Reigning world champion Vali Höll lost significant time to Hemstreet in sectors four and five before the finish, but did enough to claim second place and her first podium finish of the season after finishing fifth in Poland. Opening round victor Tahnée Seagrave qualified second on Saturday and started directly after Hemstreet, but was unbale to match her winning performance in France. The British rider also lost large chunks of time to Hemstreet on the course’s lower sections, but did enough to come home in third, 8.9s behind the winner.
Fastest qualifier Myriam Nicole was up on Hemstreet’s time before a big crash saw her drop out of contention and down to 12th place, denying the French fans of a home victory. Courtesy of her back-to-back podium finishes, Seagrave now leads the overall Elite Women’s points standings on 510 points ahead of Höll on 394 and Hemstreet on 370.
Results
1st. Gracey Hemstreet: 3:39.179
2nd. Vali Höll: 3:42.348 (+3.169)
3rd. Tahnee Seagrave: 3:48.081 (+8.902)
4th. Camille Balanche: 3:48.776 (+9.597)
5th. Anna Newkirk: 3:48.865 (9.686)
Elite Men
In the Elite Men’s race, Jackson Goldstone celebrated a return to the top step of the podium for the first time since the final race of the 2023 season in Mont-Sainte-Anne. The young Canadian missed the entire 2024 season with a knee injury, but showed he’s back to his best in Loudenvielle with a brilliant ride to take the win by an impressive 1.537 seconds over fastest qualifier Amaury Pierron.
After qualifying 12th for finals, the 21-year-old was also blazing fast on the steep and technical lower half of the course and no rider following him could match his time. After a nervous wait for last man down the mountain, Pierron, to cross the line, Goldstone could finally celebrate a long-awaited return to World Cup victory.
Pierron did enough to secure second and follow up his opening round third place with another podium result, while British rider Jordan Williams claimed third, 2.971s behind Goldstone. Pierron left Loudenvielle at the top of the Elite Men’s overall World Cup ranking on 440 points, leading round one winner Loïc Bruni (400 points) and Goldstone (313 points).
Results
1st. Jackson Goldstone: 3:13.192
2nd. Amaury Pierron: 3:14.729 (+1.537)
3rd. Jordan Williams: 3:16.163 (+2.971)
4th. Nathan Pontvianne: 3:16.352 (+3.160)
5th. Luca Shaw: 3:16.776 (+3.584)