Scorcher. Lourdes brought us one of the most exciting and memorable events of recent times, with thousands upon thousands of excited fans, blazing sunshine all weekend and a course that took no prisoners.

While many injury victims were carted off over the weekend, no one could argue against the course design and it was fairly well agreed to be a brilliant opener to the 2015 World Cup season.

With such a change from recent seasons and tracks that have often been seen as a tad too tame for the wild world of downhill racing, this one took us right back to the sport’s technical side and away from any lung-busting sprints. A beast that produced some memorable racing and imagery of the sort that inspires. Check out Seb Schieck’s superb shots below and relive the dream.

All we can say is that we are glad that a return to Lourdes is on the cards and that the rest of the 2015 season includes several beastly tracks that are sure to play into the hands of the true kings of bike handling.