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39 Nations Head to Meribel & the 3 Valleys This Weekend

How will the French athletes perform on home soil?

featured in News & reviews Author Pam Williamson, Val Thorens Editor Updated

The last Downhill World Cup to be held in France was in 2012 in the resort of Val d’Isere.

Men’s winner on the day Brook MacDonald, from New Zealand, was closely followed by Gee Atherton and Josh Bryceland, both British, with Aaron Gwin from the USA taking the overall title that year. French men were noticeably absent from the winning line up and from the overall podium. In fact there have been no French men on the overall Downhill World Cup Series podium since 2003 when Cedric Gracia and Mickael Pascal came 2nd and 3rd respectively. And none on the top step since the end of Nicolas Vouilloz’s domination of the sport in 2000.

Luckily the French women are holding up the National flag in the World Cup standings with Emmeline Ragot having come 2nd to Rachel Atherton both in the Val d’Isere event in 2012 and the overall standings for 2012 and 2013. Other names at the top include Myriam Nicole, Sabrina Jonnier and Floriane Pugin, and interestingly there has barely been a year without one or more of them finishing on the overall series podium!

This year (and this weekend) sees the return to France and the first ever DH World Cup event in Meribel which also happens to be the series final. With Emmeline Ragot in great form at the top of the sport and the young French man Loic Bruni showing that he is in contention, the French may well take top position on the day…or even in the overall World Cup Series.

The Men’s and Women’s Elite Cross Country tells a different story however with the French men holding the top spot and the women not even showing in the top 20. Will Meribel bring that much needed boost and help the French to take a victory on home soil?

With 735 riders from 39 nations taking part his coming weekend in the UCI Mountain Bike World Cup Series we are not going to be short of people or nations to support. I have my own favourites, those characters that are exciting to watch or endearing to listen to, but I can't help but hope that the French athletes will pull out something special this weekend and that we will see some top podium finishes in both individual races and the overall standings.

Stay tuned for our updates throughout the weekend (yes we will be there!) and watch the racing live on Redbull TV.

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