Troy Brosnan backed up his qualifying domination yesterday by winning the Vallnord World Cup. It’s his second career win and the first for Canyon Factory Racing.
Photos: Dan Griffiths and Ale DiLullo
In between showers, Alex Marin put in the first big time with a 4:13.966. It looked like Phil Atwill might beat him straight away but the Porpain Dirt Zelvy rider finished 22 thousandths back. Marin hung on until the second wave of protected riders when Mark Wallace put down a hot run to best him by .3.
Wallace saw off Laurie Greenland, Connor Fearon, Amaury Pierron, George Brannigan and Jack Moir, who all went down on their race runs despite being up on the splits, and Luca Shaw, who punctured.
Up stepped Danny Hart, he’s got a history on wet tracks and he’s won here in the past. He drew on all that experience to summon up a run reminiscent of the Hart of 2016 – fast, loose and full of unreal lines.
Bruni was the total opposite, composed, smooth and nearly as fast, just 33 thousandths separated him from the hotseat.
Next up was Gwin hoping to get rid of his bad luck on this track, a bad top section cost him dearly as he ended up 0.1 back, having pulled back a second and a half on Hart’s time.
Vergier also looked smooth but couldn’t find the run he needed to compete as he consistently lost time down the course.
Minnaar was next to go fastest, nearly two seconds up on Hart and taking the race to another level. It was also the first time faster than Brosnan’s qualifying time and put him bang in contention for the win.
Finally to Troy Brosnan, fastest qualifier for the second year in a row. He was green through the first two splits but started to slip back as the run went on. He pulled out a stunning final sector though to claim the win by 0.2 seconds
Vallnord Wold Cup Men’s results
(Provisional results, full results to follow)
- Troy Brosnan – 4:06.236
- Greg Minnaar – 4:06.456
- Danny Hart: 4:08.642
- Loic Bruni – 4:08.675
- Aaron Gwin – 4:08.796
- Loris Vergier – 4:12.731
- Mark Wallace – 4:13.710
- Alex Marin – 4:13.966
- Phil Atwill – 4:13.988
- Gaetan Vige – 4:15.457
