This weekend was supposed to see the Worlds fastest downhill racers take to our local mountains for the Les Gets 2020 World Cup Finals. Unfortunately the Covid-19 pandemic put a complete stop to the 2020 World Cup season, however it couldn't stop a team of Les Gets local rippers (P2V) from putting together a top secret, super exclusive event. With a stacked Elite field, a World class track but zero crowd, is this the future of DH racing?
The P2V invitational invited less than 50 of the Worlds fastest downhill racers to Les Gets. Due to Corona Virus restrictions, this exclusive event was strictly invite only and on a need-to-know basis, there were no crowds, barely any media and not even a visible finish line. All teams were required to keep this information quiet until the weekend was over.
The track was on Mt.Chery mountain in Les gets, the same mountain which has previously hosted classic World Cup and Crankworx DH events, but on a completely new line & mostly brand new trail. The racetrack was fresh, loamy, off camber and boasted some large step downs. There is little doubt that this event served as a pre-cursor to the Les Gets 2021 World Cup Finals and great way to bed in the race track and figure out any teething problems. Hopefully by 2021 the track will once again be lined with slightly intoxicated, probably sunburnt, screaming downhill fans.
Judging from the live feed & information from riders at the event, everything went smoothly. Racers were absolutely loving cutting as many laps of the course as their arms could handle. Despite the best of 2-runs format being noticeably different to the usual World cup set-up, many participants welcomed the change and a couple of runs to get back up to race pace after a long off season. As we are starting to become accustom to, the field was completely dominated by French riders with Santa Cruz Sydicate rider Loris Vergier taking out the win, closely followed by Benoit Coulanges then Loic Bruni. It's worth noting, a lot of teams/races choose to sit this race out, due to quarantines/travel restrictions & the EWS in Italy. With the UCI MTB World champs happening in Leogang from 5th - 11th October, it'll be interesting to see how these results stack up.
