The writing was on the wall from Lourdes. As the rain washed away the wheels of the title favourites we know we were in for a ding dong battle around the world for the World Cup overall title.

Sure there are a couple of stand out riders who look like strong favourites but anything can happen in downhill and a disastrous race run turns things completely on their heads.

Let’s take a look at where things stand and who needs what in Val di Sole.

Junior Men

Finn had already wrapped up the series in Lenzerheide, but now he’s just showing off. He currently sits on 340 points – more than double Sylvain Cougoureux’s total in second place.

The battle for second is now the most interesting with Sylvain Cougoureux just 15 points ahead of Walker in fourth. A late season surge has seen the Frenchie as the favourite but Joe Breeden has been deadly accurate and there’s no doubt that Walker has the raw pace to score big next week.

Kade Edwards holds steady in fifth – an amazing achievement for the first year junior.