Jackson Goldstone had his crack at an unprecedented fifth straight UCI World Cup downhill triumph on Saturday in Pal Arinsal, Andorra, but ended up 1.2 seconds shy of the mark.
Instead the Squamolian was forced to accept silver (2:35.646) as Loic Bruni emerged victorious on his local course (2:34.637). Bruni's compatriot, Loris Vergier, earned bronze (2:36.534).
"Second best on the day. Ready for a break now," Goldstone quipped on his Instagram account.
Disappointment also struck Gracey Hemstreet, who went down late in her run and squandered a promising lead to finish fifth (3:02.083). Tahnee Seagrave clinched gold for Great Britain (2:56.835) ahead of Austrian Valentina Höll (2:58.651) and Norwegian Mille Johnset (2:58.825) in that order.
'Battling with Jackson this season...pushed me to come here'
Pal Arinsal's 2.1-kilometre venue enables riders to gain speed in its top section before a difficult rock garden and a technical wooded section. Goldstone navigated the track better than most despite his relatively slight frame, but could only look on as Bruni bested his time from pillar to post.
Bruni took the first of five World Championship titles in Andorra almost a decade ago, but hasn't won a World Cup since mid-May in Bielsko-Biala, Poland.
“It means a lot. Battling with Jackson [Goldstone] this season and having to let him be better pushed me to come here with so much motivation," said the Frenchman in a press release about his 12th career victory. "I had a lot of redemption and big feelings from last year, crashing at the UCI World Championships. I really wanted this one. The track was difficult and fully flat out, not much to do but open the gas.
"A lot of guys were incredibly fast today, and I’m so happy I could be a bit looser and crazier than everybody. Jackson was on fire again, so it’s really cool to beat him fair and square. It’s been a cool season, and I’m happy to be back on top. One hell of a day. I looked at Loris [Vergier]’s time, and it was insane—2:36 was the fastest time of the whole weekend by far. I wasn’t sure I could beat that, but I gave everything I had, and in my head I thought: ‘it’s time, enough messing around.’ I’m really happy I avoided mistakes and took a risk in one section, which paid off."
Goldstone does stay the overall men's downhill leader with 1406 points, 137 more than Bruni (1269) while Vergier lies further back (926).
'She was so pinned at the bottom'
Things were unfolding smoothly for Hemstreet...until they weren't.
Hemstreet entered the women's final as fastest qualifier and erased an early deficit on her way to what could have been a golden run. Unfortunately, an ill-timed crash coming out of the bottom section dashed the Sunshine Coast native's hopes.
Reigning world champ Höll was the first athlete to break the two-minute barrier. She's won twice in Pal Arinsal before, but her explosive start wasn't quite enough to outperform a surging Seagrave.
The Brit told reporters: "I knew Gracey [Hemstreet] was going to win. She was so pinned at the bottom, I’m kind of gutted that she crashed so close to the end. I’m happy with my performance today. I wasn’t committed as some of the other girls [in the rock garden] so I knew I had to do as much damage as I could where I was good.
"Gracey was a bit further back than me yesterday [on the top section], so when I saw that she was within a second I knew she was going to do something special. This season has been a bit frustrating, but I feel like during such a long season you have to sacrifice a few races here and there. Hopefully mine are done."
Höll remains atop the ladies' overall (1344) with Hemstreet in striking distance (1225). Seagrave's latest breakthrough augments her third-place position (1152).
Click here for more results from Pal Arinsal.
