Frenchman Loïc Bruni pushed Irish rival Ronan Dunne all the way at Bielsko-Biala in Poland on Sunday to keep a healthy overall UCI Mountain Bike World Cup downhill lead as Kiwi Jess Blewitt and American Richie Rude also shone at the stop.
Bruni was unlucky not to add yet another UCI Mountain Bike World Cup victory to his name on Sunday as he finished just 0.064s behind winner Dunne with Frenchman Loris Vergier in third.
The result means Bruni’s lead over Dunne in the 2024 men’s overall downhill standings is now 160 points after the first two stops with the next DH stop at Leogang in Austria across June 7-9.
In the women’s elite downhill race, New Zealand’s Blewitt put down a strong run to finish in fourth 2.425s back from the winner with Briton Tahnée Seagrave fifth and Austrian Vali Höll sixth.
Reigning two-time world champion Höll now holds a 10-point advantage over Seagrave in the 2024 women’s overall DH standings with Blewitt up to eighth ahead of the Leogang stop next time out.
Former junior downhill world champion Rude finished third in the Enduro World Cup men’s elite race at the same venue 2.798s behind Kiwi winner Charles Murray with Poland’s Slawomir Lukasik in second.
Header image: Loic Bruni performs at UCI DH World Cup in Bielsko-Biala, Poland on May 19, 2024. Credit: Bartek Wolinski / Red Bull Content Pool