“Super Bruni”, 28, crowned world champion for the fifth time, rode an almost perfect race, after a big scare from the second corner, to finish more than two seconds ahead of his teammates. French team Amaury Pierron and Loris Vergier.
“I started a little too hard and almost fell at the second corner. Then I rode well, fast. The people at the edge of the track helped me to let go of the brakes (…) It was a perfect moment, but afterwards the wait was terrible,” Bruni said.
In a dream scenario for the Blues, Bruni waited at the bottom of the track, with the best time achieved so far, for Vergier then Pierron to start last to try to beat him. In vain, even if the times of the two French allowed them to climb the steps of a historic podium.
“Finding myself with these two on the podium is an immense pride”, rejoiced Amaury Pierron, 26, current leader of the World Cup classification. When he crossed the finish line with the second fastest time, a jubilant crowd invaded the bottom of the Les Gets track, surrounding the three medalists who hugged each other before being quickly evacuated.
– The men’s descent to the summit –
“We came for the performance and we weren’t disappointed,” exulted Mathias, 27, a mountain bike enthusiast, a bladeless chainsaw engine in his hands, turned on to make noise during the descent from Vergier. “In any case, it’s going to be a happy mess,” he added, before joining the chaos a few minutes later triggered by the arrival of Amaury Pierron.
“Usually I have time to think and reflect while I’m riding, there I couldn’t hear myself, it was a crazy thing”, launched Loris Vergier, 3rd, from the Côte d’Azur.
Slaloming between the stones and the roots, in a track reaching up to 30% in altitude, performing peaks at nearly 70km/h and spectacular jumps, the three downhillers reminded the mountain biking planet that France is the dominant nation. of discipline.
Loïc Bruni and Amaury Pierron assumed their status as big favourites, but Benoît Coulanges (10th), first time in qualifying, and Thibaut Dapréla (18th), winner of the World Cup stage in Les Gets last year, would also have could shine.
– Myriam Nicole in bronze –
However, the afternoon had started half-heartedly for the French team, with the third place of Montpellier’s Myriam Nicole, who put her title at stake in the women’s downhill.
Favorite after a crushing qualifying time on Wednesday, Nicole had a lead of more than two seconds halfway through the race, before letting the victory slip away in favor of the young Austrian Valentina Höll.
“I was really good up there. Then I got stuck in two or three places and it lacked fluidity, a little speed,” said the double world champion. “Doing well at home was something that was close to my heart, so I’m very frustrated,” she regretted after the race.
Not enough to spoil the party in the alleys of Les Gets, filled with people and noise on the occasion of these World Mountain Bike Championships back in France after 18 years. On Sunday, Pauline Ferrand-Prévot and Loana Lecomte, aligned with the women’s cross-country, are responsible for ensuring that the festivities continue.
