SCOTT Sports unveils the all-new Spark RC: built for the demands of modern Cross-country racing

Finn Iles (Specialized Gravity) and Valentina Höll (Commencal Schwalbe by Les Orres) conquered an unpredictable track at Saalfelden Leogang – Salzburgerland to take hard-fought victories in vastly different circumstances in the UCI Downhill World Cup.After Friday’s UCI Cross-country Short Track (XCC) World Cup round took place in apocalyptic conditions, the sun was out in Austria for the downhill action but that produced its own challenges with the track still drying out run-to-run following such heavy rain.Höll and Iles’ eyes and brains were rewarded as much as their legs at the legendary WHOOP UCI Mountain Bike World Series venue, with the Canadian edging out Amaury Pierron (COMMENCAL / MUC OFF by Riding Addiction) by a fraction of a second while the women’s UCI World Champion delivered a peerless performance to win by a street.Höll becomes just the third woman to start the UCI Downhill World Cup with three consecutive victories, while a tearful Iles celebrated perseverance paying off as he claimed his second ever win in the series from 68 starts.Meanwhile Lina Frener (Norco x adidas Race Division) and Jonty Williamson (Yeti/Fox Factory Race Team) won the women’s and men’s Junior races to continue their strong starts to the season.HISTORIC HÖLL A CLASS ABOVEIt was a historic day for the WHOOP UCI Mountain Bike World Series as for the first time, the women’s race was the grand finale of the UCI Downhill World Cup round as the last action of the day - providing both a unique opportunity and challenge with such a long gap between the final and their last practice run.The women’s leaderboard was much more dynamic than the men’s, with Gracey Hemstreet (Norco x adidas Race Division) setting the early benchmark as the fifth rider out of the gate. Her hair-raising run put her firmly in contention, looking set for an extended stay in the hot seat. But Lisa Bouladou (Santa Cruz Burgtec by Goodman) deposed her immediately with an incredibly fast finish through the wooded section, as the course effectively evolved into a run of two halves with the exposed start drying out much more quickly than the bottom of the hill.Frida Helena Rønning (Crestline Speed Shop) and Valentina Roa Sánchez (MS-Racing) each spent time in the green then faded in the trees with the Colombian ejected from her saddle by a root, but her teammate Gloria Scarsi did take the lead from Bouladou with a hectic ride.Myriam Nicole (COMMENCAL / MUC OFF by Riding Addiction) was three seconds ahead at the second split, but struggled through the technical wooded section, terrain that would typically play to her strengths. Yet the moment Höll dropped out of the gate, there was little doubt as to who would claim victory in Saalfelden Leogang – Salzburgerland.Höll produced one of the most dominant performances in recent WHOOP UCI Mountain Bike World Series history, going quickest in every single section and beating Scarsi’s time by a monstrous nine seconds.Neither Anna Newkirk (Frameworks Racing / TRP) nor Marine Cabirou (Canyon DH Racing) did anything visibly wrong on their runs and the Frenchwoman even went faster than Höll in one time split, but they never ever looked likely to upset the home favourite who launched herself straight into the crowd after Cabirou crossed the line.“It was so nice, so quiet on track. I was really enjoying it, no one was disturbing me, so we can repeat that for sure. Pretty epic. I know how hard you need to push to be able to win World Cups nowadays. It took me so much energy to do this.“I just wanted to give back and seeing all my family, all my friends, all the little shredders from Austria, it’s the most important thing I can give back.“A lot of haters said they [the crowd] will all leave when we’re racing but look, the crowd is still there, it’s pretty epic, women’s sport is amazing.”Höll looks unstoppable in the overall race, sitting almost 300 points ahead of Nicole.ILES CELEBRATES EMOTIONAL RETURN TO THE TOPIn stark contrast to Höll’s supremacy in the women’s final, the elite men’s UCI Downhill World Cup round was decided by less than two tenths of a second between Iles and Pierron.Both riders needed two rounds of qualifying to make the final, but with the weather much improved on Saturday they flipped the script, locking out the top two positions early and holding that advantage all the way to the end.Pierron produced a strong finish to enter the hotseat as just the seventh rider down the ramp, but he was quickly pushed into second place by Iles just a few minutes later. Iles was only quickest through the final time split but was the most consistent rider on the difficult course and that’s what took him to the top of the timesheets and ultimately victory.Iles’ run wasn’t the most memorable moment of the day though - that honour went to Asa Vermette (Frameworks Racing / TRP) who flew off a jump and was thrown from his bike on landing, with the American somehow escaping the high-speed crash relatively unscathed.Englishman Ethan Craik (Scott Downhill Factory) went closest to deposing Iles, as he lit up the timesheets for three-quarters of the course but slipped in the trees and trailed home in sixth, three seconds behind Iles.Fellow youngster Henri Kiefer (Canyon DH Racing) - the ambassador for the Epic Bikepark Leogang - wasn’t as spectacular and produced a dreadful start yet rebounded to claim the final podium place as the only other rider within a second of Iles, while his teammate Troy Brosnan finished fourth.“That feels really good. Last year was such a struggle with injuries and I just didn’t feel like myself,” Iles said. “This offseason I put in so much work to find my groove back and to get a win in the third race of the season is incredible.“I just can’t say thank you enough to my team, all the people at Specialized for how much work they put into the demo and everybody around me for supporting me through last year because it was such a tough one for me. Now I feel like I’m back to being myself and it means so much.”For Pierron, there’s the consolation that he now leads the Elite Men UCI Downhill World Cup as he jumped from third to first and now leads second-placed Iles by 29 points. Pierron also pushed his COMMENCAL / MUC OFF by Riding Addiction team to the top of the team standings as both they and Canyon DH Racing leapfrogged Commencal Schwalbe by Les Orres.WILLIAMSON AND FRENER PEERLESS IN JUNIORSWilliamson and Frener were a class above in the men’s and women’s junior races in Austria, battling the toughest conditions of the day as the curtain-raisers. The Kiwi eclipsed even Höll’s margin of victory with a massive 7.5-second win from Malik Boatwright (Continental Atherton), continuing his 100% start to the season.After finishing sixth and second to start the season, Frener finally reaches the top step of the podium with a dominant ride. She beat Aletha Odegaard (Canyon DH Racing) by 3.4 seconds, while the American rose to the top of the standings with Rosa Zierl (Cube Factory Racing) absent this weekend.The action is far from over in Saalfelden Leogang – Salzburgerland, as after a dramatic set of XCC races on Friday, those stars return for the Cross-country Olympic showdowns on Sunday.The UCI Enduro World Cup also returns this weekend, taking place in Austria’s largest bike region, Saalbach Hinterglemm Leogang Fieberbrunn. You can find the full schedule and where to watch here.

Simon Andreassen (Orbea Fox Factory Team) and Sina Frei (Specialized Factory Racing) timed their winning moves perfectly to win the Men’s and Women’s Elite categories in the UCI Cross-Country Short Track (XCC) World Cup at Saalfelden Leogang – Salzburgerland.The WHOOP UCI Mountain Bike World Series provided a dramatic round of racing at the Epic Bike Park in Austria. The iconic venue is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year, but provided a fresh challenge for the XCC competitors. A new uphill rock-garden and steep climb proved pivotal in each race. Meanwhile, wet and slippery conditions throughout the day resulted in a pulsating set of races.Andreassen kept himself out of the drama in a chaotic Elite Men’s race before charging clear to win his first UCI XCC World Cup. Meanwhile, Frei won her third race of the WHOOP UCI Mountain Bike World Series this season with a similar last lap move. For Andreassen the win was made more special, as his wife Jenny Rissveds (Canyon XC Racing) was also on the podium after finishing second in the Women’s Elite race.Earlier in the day Monique Halter (Thömus Akros – Youngstars) marked her return from injury to win the Women’s Under-23 UCI XCC World Cup and Paul Schehl (Lexware Mountainbike Team) was the Men’s age category victor.ANDREASSEN WINS DRAMATIC MEN’S ELITE SHOWDOWNSimon Andreassen (Orbea Fox Factory Team) led a last lap charge to clinch victory by six seconds following an action-packed Men’s Elite UCI XCC World Cup. The 28-year-old has been without a UCI World Cup victory in over two years but his powerful attack on last lap was enough to clinch an emotional win.Drama started seconds into the race, as overall leader Dario Lillo (Giant Factory Off-Road Team XC) saw his race ended due to a snapped chain. Separately Mathis Azzaro (Origine Racing Division) missed his pedal away from the line and was forced to power back through to the leading pack. The slippery course resulted in Jordan Sarrou (BMC Factory Racing) crashing, ending his hopes of a top 10 finish.Luca Martin (Cannondale Factory Racing) was not content with a large leading group gathering and pulled out a slender advantage with Filippo Colombo (Scott-SRAM MTB Racing Team). However, Martin also crashed on a descent before getting up and charging back through as the leaders re-grouped.Taking the last lap bell, 10 riders still had a chance of clinching victory with minutes remaining. Simone Avondetto (Wilier-Vittoria Factory Team) split the pack with a surge up the first climb and took Andreassen clear. However, approaching the rock garden Avondetto’s chain came off, ending his chances of victory. Andreassen took full advantage and pulled out an unassailable six-second victory.The drama was not over as Martín Vidaurre (Specialized Factory Racing) crashed on the final corner to concede second place to Colombo. Meanwhile, Martin recovered from his mid-race crash to finish on the podium in third. A 10th place finish for Azzaro was enough to secure the Frenchman’s top spot of the overall standings after three rounds.“I’m really happy,” said Andreassen. “It’s quite a cruel sport. I had a tough start to the World Cup season and then suddenly I’m winning. It’s super difficult to suffer week in and week out. When you finally win it’s all worth it.“I didn’t really have a plan, just tried to survive. With two or three laps to go I moved to the front. I was struggling to see, my glasses were so full of mud, and I just wanted to have clear vision. Nobody came past me after that; it was a good tactic.”FREI POWERS TO VICTORY WITH LAST LAP ATTACKSina Frei (Specialized Factory Racing) powered through the final rock garden and climb to clinch a slender victory in the Women’s Elite UCI XCC World Cup. The 28-year-old was part of a leading trio who broke away during the grueling race, before battling out the victory.Noticeably absent from the third round was former UCI XCC World Champion Evie Richards (Trek - Unbroken XC), who is recovering from concussion suffered in Nové Město Na Moravě.The wet conditions had an early impact as Puck Pieterse (Alpecin-Premier Tech) slipped on the first turn and a dab of her foot resulted in losing a host position. The new man-made rock garden, followed by two steep climbs resulted in the leading group naturally breaking up.European Champion Jenny Rissveds (Canyon XC Racing) was joined at the front by Alessandra Keller (Thömus maxon), Sina Frei and Jennifer Jackson (Orbea Fox Factory Team). With three laps to go, UCI XCC World Champion Keller began to ramp up the pressure, forcing Jackson to drop off the pace.Rissveds was determined to ride away and launched a series of blistering attacks during the final two laps. However, Frei matched her efforts, carrying speed through the rock garden and then powered up the last lap climb. The Swiss rider mastered the descent down to the finish to clinch victory with the fastest lap of the race.Frei extended her overall lead in the UCI XCC World Cup and will look for her second double of the season in the UCI Cross-country Olympic World Cup on Sunday.“From lap to lap it got hard and harder, because I couldn’t see any more,” said Frei. “In the end it was trying to hit the perfect line. In the last lap I knew I had to go all in. When I crossed the finish, I didn’t know that I had won, I was so exhausted and just tried to go full gas until the line.”HALTER AND SCHEHL SHOW COMMANDING FORM IN UNDER-23 CATEGORIESMonique Halter (Thömus Akros – Youngstars) returned from injury with a show of technical riding in the Women’s Under-23 race. The Swiss rider showed her skills on the slippery descent to clinch her maiden UCI XCC World Cup victory.After winning the opening round in MONA YongPyong (South Korea), Valentina Corvi (Canyon XC Racing) looked comfortable in the leading group. However, the muddy conditions left visibility difficult for the Italian, resulting in a slip and a 10th placed finish. Meanwhile, overall leader Makena Kellerman paid for early efforts, recovering from a poor start, and dropped back in the latter stages to place 14th.At the front, Halter took control to finish eight seconds clear of Bloeme Kalis in second, while Katrin Embacher (KTM Factory MTB Team) finished third. Kellerman was rewarded with her efforts by maintaining her lead in the overall standings.“I feel super happy,” said Halter following her win. “I have had some difficult months because I had a foot injury, so I’m really pleased with how well my recovery has gone and to be performing at this level now. I really liked the technical downhill in the wet conditions and that was one place where I could make a gap to the others and move in front.”Paul Schehl made his decisive move on the final lap, breaking clear after controlling the front of the Men’s Under-23 UCI XCC World Cup race. The Lexware Mountainbike Team rider, buoyed by his recent win at the UCI XCC World Cup in Nové Město Na Moravě, rode with confidence throughout, patrolling the lead group before launching his late attack to secure victory by six seconds. Meanwhile, Thibaut François Baudry (Canyon XC Racing) edged out Benjamin Krüger in the sprint for second. After three rounds, Schehl leads the overall standings ahead of François Baudry.“It feels really great,” said Schehl. “I was always in control, I felt really good on the course and the physical nature played into my hands. It wasn’t too technical and I could ride a high pace all the time and controlled the front. I wasn’t wasting too much energy and felt really good.”The WHOOP UCI Mountain Bike World Series continues at Saalfelden Leogang – Salzburgerland on Saturday with the UCI Downhill World Cup finals, following a dramatic qualifying session in challenging wet conditions, where Dylan Maples (Pivot Factory Racing) and Marine Cabirou (Canyon DH Racing) claimed top spot to earn last-start advantage. The UCI Enduro World Cup and UCI Cross-Country Olympic World Cup follow on Sunday. Discover the full schedule and where to watch here.

Dylan Maples (Pivot Factory Racing) and Marine Cabirou (Canyon DH Racing) mastered slippery terrain to win the qualifying session and will start last for tomorrow’s UCI Downhill World Cup finals, as the WHOOP UCI Mountain Bike World Series descended into Saalfelden Leogang – Salzburgerland.The wet course at the Epic Bike Park resulted in a number of top names failing to qualify, including the previous round’s Men’s Elite winner Luca Shaw (Canyon DH Racing). The Austrian venue is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year and the conditions provided downhill riders with a qualification session which will last long in the memory.Considered a classic course for the discipline the steep slopes usually encourage fast speeds in the top section before descending down into the tight and technical trees, where line choice is key to coming out on top. The 2.6-kilometres long ‘Speedster’ trail contains 468 metres of descent. However, wet and slippery conditions throughout the course meant that bike handling and line choice was key to qualifying success.American rider Dylan Maples is bidding to improve on his fourth position from Val di Sole – Trentino (Italy) last year and topped the Men’s Elite first qualifying standings by over a second with 3:21.2. However, it was Finn Iles (Specialized Gravity) who posted the quickest time of the day, holding his nerve in the second qualifying session to stop the clock in 3:17.7Meanwhile, Marine Cabirou will bid for her 10th UCI Downhill World Cup victory in tomorrow’s finals after enjoying the difficult conditions and finishing nine tenths quicker than Anna Newkirk (Frameworks Racing/TRP) in the first qualifying session.The Junior categories also provided drama as Jonty Williamson (Yeti / Fox Factory Race Team) and Lina Frener (Norco X Adidas Race Division) went quickest.MAPLES THRIVES IN SLIPPERY CONDITIONS AS RIVALS FAULTERTesting conditions greeted the Men’s Elite riders for the first qualifying session with low visibility out of the starting hut before taking on a wet and muddy course.Dylan Maples built speed throughout his run and conquered the technical section to set the quickest time in the first qualifying session.Ethan Craik (SCOTT Downhill Factory) is another rider looking for his first Men’s Elite World Cup win. The Briton showed his fearless descending ability to set the quickest times in each sector, only to lose 1.6 seconds in the final run to the line - finishing second in Q1. Meanwhile, Henri Kiefer (Canyon DH Racing) completed a surprise top three as the German rider was rewarded for his consistent run with a third-place finish, just 3.5 seconds behind.Austrian competitor Andreas Kolb (Santa Cruz Syndicate) was the fastest of the pre-race favourites in fourth and he will be looking for a home victory in the Saturday finals.Amongst the other riders who comfortably went through Q1 were Jordan Williams (Specialized Gravity), Benoît Coulanges (Scott Downhill Factory), Asa Vermette (Frameworks Racing/TRP), Troy Brosnan (Canyon DH Racing) and Loris Vergier (COMMENCAL/MUC-OFF by Riding Addiction).Defending overall champion Jackson Goldstone (Santa Cruz Syndicate) failed to record a qualifying time in the previous round at Loudenvielle-Peyragudes. The Canadian struggled to find speed in the difficult conditions and squeezed through in Q1 after finishing over six seconds behind the leader in 18th.After missing out in Q1, Canadian rider Finn Iles (Specialized Gravity) put a flawless Q2 run together under pressure and posted the fastest time of 3:17.7.Ryan Pinkerton (Mondraker Factory Racing DH) progressed second in Q2 ahead of the COMMENCAL/MUC-OFF by Riding Addiction trio of Max Alran, Till Alran and Amaury Pierron. Despite clocking the fastest speed on the top section mistakes resulted in Luca Shaw finishing 18th and missing out on tomorrow’s finals.CABIROU SHOWS COMPOSURE TO TOP WOMEN ELITE QUALIFYING STANDINGSMarine Cabirou showed all her experience, as the nine-time UCI Downhill World Cup winner held everything together during a commanding qualifying performance. The 29-year-old overcame the slippery conditions and will look to repeat her success from Mont-Sainte-Anne last year in tomorrow’s finals.The earlier fog lifted on the top section for the Women’s Elite’s first qualification, but the lower technical slopes remained wet and challenging. Cabirou was an early starter and her time of 4:00.5 which was left unbeaten for all the finishers to come.Anna Newkirk (Frameworks Racing/TRP) carried her speed through the technical sections and gained in momentum to place second just nine tenths of a second behind.After dominating the opening two UCI Downhill World Cup rounds Valentina Höll (Commencal Schwalbe by Les Orres) is looking for a home victory this weekend. The reigning UCI World Champion was in contention with the leading times throughout her run to finish comfortably in third just two seconds back.Myriam Nicole (COMMENCAL/MUC-OFF by Riding Addiction) and Harriet Harnden (AON Racing) were amongst those who also booked their finals spot through Q1. However, Phoebe Gale (Orbea FMD Racing), Nina Hoffmann (Santa Cruz Syndicate) and Gracey Hemstreet (Norco X adidas Race Division) all had difficulties in their runs, resulting in a Q2 ride.The returning Tahnée Seagrave (Orbea FMD Racing) and Sacha Earnest (Trek -Unbroken DH) also had trouble in the conditions and failed to finish their Q1 runs.Hemstreet responded from her Q1 disappointment and mastered the tough conditions to post the best time in Q2 of 4:05.17.Jenna Hastings (Pivot Factory Racing) was less than two seconds behind in runner-up and Seagrave placed third, while Hoffmann also booked her finals spot. However, the course conditions continued to cause problems with Gale and Earnest failing to progress.FRENER AND WILLIAMSON TOP JUNIOR STANDINGSLina Frener (Norco X Adidas Race Division) continued her pursuit of a first Women’s Junior UCI Downhill World Cup by qualifying quickest on the tough ‘Speedster’ trail. The Austrian rider held her composure to post a time of 4:04.2 and will start last in her category in search of a maiden win in front of her home supporters tomorrow.Opening round winner Aletha Ostgaard (Canyon DH Racing) will be in contention again after leading qualification at the third sector split. However, mistakes further down the course cost the American and she settled for fifth in qualification.Rosa Marie Jensen (Specialized Gravity) finished second in qualification six seconds behind Frener and overall leader Rosa Zierl (Cube Factory Racing) was third.Meanwhile, Jonty Williamson (Yeti / Fox Factory Race Team) was superior again in the Men’s Junior category as the overall leader led at every sector to set an unassailable time of 3:29.1. Behind, German youngster Lois Eller led the battle behind losing just two seconds to the fastest time. He will be hoping to repeat his form in tomorrow’s finals and clinch a first UCI Downhill World Cup podium of his career.The podium battle is set to be a close one as third placed Noé Forlin was just two hundredths of a second ahead of British rider Felix Griffiths.The WHOOP UCI Mountain Bike World Series continues at Saalfelden Leogang – Salzburgerland on Saturday with the UCI Downhill World Cup finals. The UCI Enduro World Cup and UCI Cross-Country Olympic World Cup follow on Sunday.