Rotorua rider Lachlan Stevens-McNab has finished within seven tenths of a second of a world title, taking silver in the elite men’s downhill at the UCI Mountain Bike World Championships at Val di Sole in Italy.
The 22-year-old, who rides for the Trek Unbroken team, was beaten by Canada’s Jackson Goldstone by 0.695 seconds on the last run of the day. Cycling New Zealand says he is only the second New Zealand elite men’s rider to reach a world championship downhill podium, after Sam Blenkinsop finished third at Champéry in Switzerland 15 years ago.
“It is pretty special. World champs are the most important race of the year. It is a one-off and who can do it on the day. We came pretty close today so it is a little bitter-sweet but I am chuffed,” Stevens-McNab said.
“It has been a hard year with injuries. I’m chuffed to put a good one down today on a ruthless track and be right up there and hang that silver medal in my home.”
The track was as hard as it has been all season. Clear weather had been forecast, but rain fell overnight in the Dolomites and left the exposed roots and rocks slick through the morning warm-ups. Val di Sole is already the most feared course on the circuit, a steep, rooted plunge through the trees that riders talk about the way surfers talk about a heavy reef break.
Stevens-McNab had gone fastest in qualifying the day before in 3 minutes 34.010 seconds, and he was open about the discipline it took not to try to improve on that in the final. He had led qualifying at the Andorra World Cup round earlier in the season and then crashed at the first corner of his race run.
“What I got most out of today was learning from the World Cup in Andorra where I qualified first and then crashed at the first turn. I took a step back and ride like I know I can ride, instead of pushing too hard. Pushing too hard today could have caught you out,” he told RNZ.
“I was happy to qualify first yesterday and still be on form today when it was trickier. All-around it was a good weekend, as bitter-sweet as it was coming so close to winning, but I have many more years to get after those rainbow stripes.”
Goldstone, also 22, was defending the elite title he won at Champéry last year, and he has history at this venue. He took the junior world championship at Val di Sole in 2021. Two riders still in their early twenties are now the two fastest downhill racers in the world, which is a reminder of how quickly the top of this sport has turned over.
The silver caps a season that started badly. Stevens-McNab spent months out with a head injury and only returned to racing in June, when he qualified second fastest at the Lenzerheide World Cup in Switzerland, four tenths behind American Ryan Pinkerton. Cycling New Zealand described him at the time as outstanding for a rider straight back off the sidelines.
He was not the only New Zealander going well at Val di Sole. Christchurch rider Luke Wayman produced a career-best 11th in the elite men’s final, with Oli Clark from Kaikoura 20th, Rotorua’s Tuhoto-Ariki Pene 23rd and Hamilton’s James Macdermid 36th.
In the elite women’s race, Kate Hastings of Rotorua set an early benchmark before Tauranga’s Eliana Hulsebosch went quicker still. Hulsebosch had qualified fifth fastest and knows the hill well, having won a World Cup there as a junior. She held the hot seat until the last four riders came down. Austria’s Valentina Holl took the title, Hulsebosch finished fifth and Hastings eighth. Sacha Earnest was on a podium pace before she fell, recovering to finish 14th, and Jess Blewitt did not finish.
The best New Zealand result outside the elite men came from Queenstown’s Indy Deavoll, who turned 18 this week and took third in the junior women’s downhill. She sits fifth in the overall World Cup standings with the North American rounds still to run. Capella Martin from Martinborough was eighth. Cycling New Zealand points out that Deavoll follows Jenna Hastings, Erice van Leuven, Poppy Lane, Sacha Earnest and Eliana Hulsebosch onto world championship podiums in the age group women’s ranks over the past five years, which is a remarkable run for a country this size.
The junior men’s race was the disappointment of the weekend. Jonty Williamson, from Palmerston North, had won the UCI World Series title across the season and was the fastest qualifier, but he crashed in morning practice, hurt his wrist and could not start. Malik Boatwright was up with the leaders before a mistake mid-run dropped him to 13th, with Dexter Lock from Taranaki 15th, Seppy Binsbergen 49th and Sterling Stevens-McNab 53rd.
The depth is the real story here. Sixteen New Zealand riders qualified for the downhill finals across the four categories, from a country of five million that has to fly every one of them to the other side of the world to race. The riders came from Rotorua, Christchurch, Kaikoura, Hamilton, Tauranga, Queenstown, Martinborough, Palmerston North and New Plymouth, and the results at Val di Sole show the pipeline now runs all the way to the elite podium rather than stopping at junior level.
The rainbow jersey is the one prize that has never come home in elite downhill. On this evidence it is not far away. The championships finish with the cross-country races.
Did you watch the downhill finals, or ride any of the tracks that produced this squad? Tell us what you think in the comments below.
This article was written by AI, briefed to report the facts, hopefully without some of the bias people bring to the job 🙂
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