No doubt Finn Iles was gunning for gold earlier on Saturday at the UCI Mountain Bike World Championships. He was unable to manage that, but did lock up a bronze medal for his efforts.
Instead the race belonged to Loris Vergier (2:38.661), who took his inaugural elite downhill gold a decade after winning the junior category. Another Frenchman, Benoit Coulanges (2:38.809), snuck into silver medal position less than three one-hundredths of a second quicker than Iles (2:38.830).
Jakob Jewett was unable to replicate his Canadian Open DH magic in Pal Arinsal, Andorra and settled for 15th.
Mountain bike fans are impressed, but perhaps not surprised by Valentina Höll triumphing at Worlds for a third consecutive year. The Austrian phenom (3:00.212) needed every bit of speed and skill to edge out runner-up Nicole Myriam (3:00.732), while Tahnee Seagrave rode to third for Great Britain (3:01.424).
Gracey Hemstreet was tantalizingly close to the podium, but fell just short in fourth (3:01.813).
Click here for more results from Andorra.
