The legendary Fort William track in Scotland makes its return to the UCI World Cup Downhill series for the first time in three years. Historically difficult and consistently challenging weather conditions, the world's fastest weathered the storm and put on a show for the fans. At the end of the day, three TLD women stood on the elite podium - Camille Balanche in second, Eleonora Farina in fourth and Vali Höll in fifth.
Camille Balanche - 2nd Elite Women
Coming off of the win at round one, which Cami has done for the last three consecutive years, Balanche went into round two as the overall series points leader and owner of the elite women's leader jersey. A perfect start to the week, Cami clocked the fastest time in qualifying. Believe it or not, this was her career-first qualifying win which have her honors for the last run of the day. Playing it smart, her run was mistake free and was good enough to bring home second place silver and to keep the overall series points lead and number one plate. If that wasn't enough, Camille was also voted Rider of the Day by the fans at home.
Eleonora Farina - 4th Elite Women
The solo female of the first-year Troy Lee Designs backed MS Mondraker Team, Eleonora rode consistently solid all week. Besting her fifth place qualifying results, Farina battled through the wet and slick conditions to earn fourth overall in the final and put her Sprint Ultra kit and matching D4 Helmet on the podium. The podium marked Eleonora's first since August of 2021 in Maribor.
Benoît Coulanges - 4th Elite Men
The big fella and the reigning French National Downhill Champion, Coulanges saved his fastest run of the week for the final. After qualifying eight, Benoît was riding like a man on a mission in the final. The Dorval AM Commencal rider pulled out all the stops to cross the line with the second fastest time and get some seat time at the bottom. When it was all said and done, Coulanges would finish fourth for the day in elite men's and now holds the third overall position in the series heading into round three in Leogang, Austria.
Vali Höll - 5th Elite Women
Rounding out the elite women's podium is defending overall series champion, Vali Höll. Even after a bobble at the top of the mountain, Vali was able to regroup and salvage valuable points for the season long race. After the race, the impressive youngster commented, "today I tried. Still happy with the weekend. Can’t wait for Leogang."
Full Results:
Elite Women
Elite Men
Junior Women
Junior Men
