CYCLING: Schurter & Atherton claim sixth Mountain Bike World Cup titles

As if there was any doubt, count Switzerland’s Nino Schurter and Britain’s Rachel Atherton as two of the best Mountain Bike riders ever, as they clinched their sixth seasonal World Cup titles in the final event of the 2018 UCI Mountain Bike season at La Bresse (FRA).

Both went out in style, as they both won their races, with Schurter in the men’s Cross Country and Atherton in the women’s Downhill. Same for 2017 World Champion Jolanda Neff, who the women’s Cross Country race and won her third seasonal title.

The surprise of the men’s Downhill season, France’s Amaury Pierron finished only 10th, but he had enough of a lead coming in to finish well ahead of Danny Hart (GBR) for his first World Cup championships. The final points standings:

Men/Cross Country:
1. 1,861 Nino Schurter (SUI)
2. 1,355 Mathieu van der Poel (NED)
3. 1,242 Maxime Marotte (FRA)
4. 1,213 Henrique Avancini (BRA)
5. 1,154 Gerhard Kerschbaumer (ITA)

Women/Cross Country:
1. 1,930 Jolanda Neff (SUI)
2. 1,743 Annika Langvad (DEN)
3. 1,305 Emily Batty (FRA)
4. 1,275 Alessandra Keller (SUI)
5. 1,240 Anne Tauber (GER)

Men/Downhill:
1. 1,178 Amaury Pierron (FRA)
2. 884 Danny Hart (GBR)
3. 860 Troy Brosnan (AUS)
4. 835 Loris Vergier (FRA)
5. 696 Laurie Greenland (GBR)

Women/Downhill:
1. 1,476 Rachel Atherton (GBR)
2. 1,316 Tahnee Seagrave (GBR)
3. 1,055 Tracey Hannah (AUS)
4. 810 Myriam Nicole (FRA)
5. 771 Monika Hrastnik (SLO)

Schurter now owns World Cup seasonal titles in 2010-12-13–15-17-18 and Atherton has won in 2008-12-13-15-16-18, coming back from a bad crash in 2017. Summaries:

UCI Mountain Bike World Cup
La Bresse (FRA) ~ 24-26 August 2018
(Full results here)

Men/Cross Country: 1. Nino Schurter (SUI), 1:26:25; 2. Gerhard Kerschbaumer (ITA), 1:26:37; 3. Maxime Marotte (FRA), 1:27:57; 4. Mathieu van der Poel (NED), 1:28:44; 5. Victor Koretzky (FRA), 1:28:57.

Women/Cross Country: 1. Jolanda Neff (SUI), 1:33:03; 2. Emily Batty (FRA), 1:33:08; 3. Annika Langvad (DEN), 1:33:30; 4. Pauline Ferrand Prevot (FRA), 1:33:36; 5. Alessandra Keller (SUI), 1:34:30. Also in the top 25: 7. Kate Courtney (USA), 1:35:56; … 11. Erin Huck (USA), 1:37:44; 12. Chloe Woodruff (USA), 1:37:51; … 21. Lea Davison (USA), 1:40:18.

Men/Downhill: 1. Martin Maes (BEL), 2:26:841; 2. Gee Atherton (GBR), 2:28.232; 3. Brook Macdonald (NZL), 2:29.966; 4. Remi Thiron (FRA), 2:30.628; 5. Bernard Kerr (GBR), 2:31.009.

Women/Downhill: 1. Rachel Atherton (GBR), 2:51.421; 2. Tahnee Seagrave (GBR), 2:52.059; 3. Myriam Nicole (FRA), 3:03.083; 4. Tracey Hannah (AUS), 3:04.457; 5. Kelly Curd (GBR), 3:06.533.