Loïc Bruni: Downhill world champion again by a hair's breadth

In bright sunshine, the numerous spectators on the Rothorn in Lenzerheide expected an exciting race in the downhill men at the Bike World Cup 2018. The weather and track conditions were almost perfect. Some big names from the downhill scene were set as favorites, be it, for example, the two-time world champion Loïc Bruni from France, be it Aaron Gwin, the American champion who regularly wins World Cup races and won the bronze medal at the 2017 World Championships, but also the young Frenchman Loris Vergier, who shone in the qualification with the second place and who had to be targeted. A British surprise, which led to talking points, was the selection of the British, who had not nominated their legendary Gee Atherton for the World Cup and instead gave other riders the chance.

Legend Greg Minaar sets mark, surprise man Maes from Belgium takes lead
After numerous rather unknown riders entered the race, the South African Greg Minaar was the 26th rider to start. The three-time world champion, who in the last 17 years has brought home 10 world championship medals, three of them gold, and has shone with 75 World Cup victories, is one of the greats of this sport. Of course, he set a clear best time with his run, which seemed untouchable for a long time. It was necessary to wait for another 26 riders until the time was beaten by the almost unknown Belgian Martin Maes. The Belgian, who rides for the GT Factory Racing Team, is actually at home in the Enduro Series and won the last World Cup on August 24, 2018 in La Bresse, otherwise he was not known. Accordingly, one was surprised when he set an absolute best with a lead of almost 2.5 seconds. Now one had to wait until the really big ones came. There were still 28 riders at the start and the last 10 would be the top favorites.

The big countdown
That should not have been it, who was this Martin Maes, never heard of him. Even though the Belgian had put down a strong run, but he seemed like an exotic among all the established downhillers. The final 10 riders were among the absolute best riders and they were to live up to their image. The tenth-last rider to start the race was American champion Aaron Gwin, whose goal was to take gold. And his fans could hope, when the first intermediate time lit up green and on the second intermediate time he even caught up almost half a second, it seemed his dream could finally come true, but he got stuck, seemed to slip, and lost almost half a second on third intermediate time of Maes, which he was not able to catch up until the finish, a big disappointment for him. The current World Champion from France, Loïc Bruni, started the race in fifth-last position and his fans deserved to cheer, because he gained more and more advantage from intermediate time to intermediate time and his time also shone green in the finish area, but only by a very narrow margin of 0.213 seconds. This Belgian had driven the last passage really sensationally fast. The young Frenchman Loris Vergier also impressed with a strong run, he was actually faster than his leading compatriot Bruni at the third intermediate time, but in the end he was to finish in ungrateful fourth place. Almost last to start the race was Briton Danny Hart, whose second intermediate time lit up green. So Bruni's world championship victory was again in jeopardy. And it remained exciting, at the last intermediate time he was only three tenths of a second behind, victory was still possible, but in the end he took the bronze medal. The good results of the British (rank 3, 7 and 10) justify a little the non-participation of Gee Atherton, their luck, otherwise there would have been discussions. A race exciting to the last second found a worthy world champion in Loïc Bruni, who wears the downhill world championship crown for the third time.