It just seems that the rain can't stay away for the downhill finals day. We had a major downpour here last night for the 4 cross, which caused a delay. Then, first thing this morning, my optimism paid off that it was just sea mist making its way to the Alps. Another soaking early this morning might have affected the track a little and had everyone reaching for their spikes again, but by 9:30am and two pain au chocolat later, the warm sunshine was back in Champery - much to everyones relief. The track managed to remain pretty dry with the sun on it this morning - had it been seriously wet, this track would have been a nightmare! The chairlift was still broken this morning, yesterday after being stuck on it with smoke coming out of the top gondola station I guessed there wasn't much hope, so the riders have to ride down the road back into Champery to get the cable car to the top. There was one rider riding a Big Hit this weekend, the weight of it probably pushed the chairlift to something it just couldn't cope with.

Qualifying, with this being the first timed runs of the weekend, it was becoming very clear that if you made a mistake on this course you weren't going to survive. The fastest time in qualifying went to Sam Hill with a 4.01. No one was near him, and some people were even finishing in double his time. Pascal qualified 15 seconds behind him in second.

Sam Hill - Fastest all weekend by far the rain stopped him embarrasing the rest, his finals run will go down in legend

Brendan qualified 6th, 19 seconds behind and anyone who would have been writing Nico off a podium spot this weekend would have been walking around slightly quieter when he qualified 5th. Peaty qualified 56th, Nathan Rennie and Matti Lehikonen finishing in the 40's. Minnaar was saved by his top 20 status after coming down covered in dirt, but his bravery is showing through, even attempting this course after his crash on Friday.  Everyone is struggling with this track, no matter how far they place in the worlds elite. Sabrinna qualified first this morning, four seconds ahead of Mio Suemasa who has been one of the women who has looked most comfortable all weekend, Tracey Moseley was a whole 36 seconds behind Jonnier. Everything seemed to be completely on its head it; was impossible to see how the finals would pan out. The British juniors are lacing it right now too. Gump qualified in the top 20 and Ancillotti UK Joe Smith absolutely pinned his qualifying run. Adam Brayton managed to qualify in 80th place after having a few offs, but in this game, that'll do donkey, that'll do.

Joe Smith - Ancillotti UK - Flat out in qualifying fell victim to the weather for the finals

After a bit of a break the finals got underway, no real way of telling what was going to happen... The sun continued to shine and dry the track out even further. The women's finals happened first, and the first real contender Tracy Moseley set a time close to Jonnier's qualifying time but Helen Gaskell came down to knock Tracy out of the hot seat on the course she claimed was the hardest thing she had ever ridden. Then Merielle Saner came down and was the first woman to come down the hill with a sub five minute time, riding a 4:51. Celine Gros and Fionn Griffith's were unable to better the time set by the Swiss rider. Tracey Hannah came down in 5:16 and the French national Champion Emeline Ragot  set the second fastest time coming over the line in 5.01. Sabrinna Jonnier could only managed 3rd place on the podium despite taking 15 seconds off of her qualifying run. Marielle Saner claimed her third World Cup win by nearly ten seconds, local knowledge paying dividends.

Marielle Saner - Local Knowledge Paying Off? 1st Place in the Womens Finals

In the mens, Adam Brayton was the first man down the hill for the UK and Mtb-Direct.co.uk, setting a time of 4.22, a time that was going to make sure he was going to stay in the hot seat for sometime. He held back a bit, kept a clean run  and fortunately for him a clean run is also a pretty fast run, so for 15 minutes or so the nutty strawberry blonde boy from the Lakes was leading the second round of the UCI World Cup, not bad eh? It took Steve Peat to knock him out of the hot seat. Duncan Riffle, Dan Stanbridge, Nico Vink and a whole host of other riders failed to move him. Peaty notched up a time of 4:11 as the rain drops started to fall, but nothing significant to change things. Josh Bryceland as ever was going huge off everything into the finish and recorded a time of 4.23 to end up 7th.

Bryceland - 7th Place and Pinned and Flat out

Matti Lehikoinen then came in with a 4.10 to knock Peaty out of the Hot Seat. Then we had Vigo take two, cracks of thunder and what can only be described as a Monsoon. Vasquez Lopez hit the open section just as the rain fell and went flying off the bike as everyone dived for EZ-Up cover. The downpour probably wasn't enough to penetrate the wooded sections, but Bryn Atikinson came down covered in sprayed on Mud and no-where near a winning time.

Vasquez - Pinned in practice but this corner in the rain sent him off. Blame it on the weather man.

Adam Brayton was starting to get scared that he wouldn't know how to open a bottle of bubbly on the podium; luckily there is less money in downhill than formula one and I think only the winner gets a bottle to open. But the rain didn't stop and the woods got slippier and pretty much everyone coming down was having an off and the times were getting bigger and bigger. Joe Smith, storming in practice had the worst of the weather, his front tyre came off in the last woods. He still managed to cross the line though. Gump also hit the weather and lost nearly two minutes from his qualifying time. No one could come near the top times, until Sam Hill came down the course in what possibly is the greatest downhill ride we have ever seen. He ended up third, in the worst conditions, twenty seconds faster than anyone in the mud, the whole field surrounded him in utter shock at what he had achieved. The records will say that Matti won this race, but this track was owned totally by Sam Hill. Sam saved Adam Brayton's bacon by knocking him off the podium at the last moment. Still everyone is in total shock, he could have won this, even in the rain. In the dry, the rest of the field would have been embarrassed.

Adam Brayton - 6th Place in the hot seat in the sunshiiiiiiiiine. Pinned his run well deserved.

Bryn Atkinson - In the rain and past caring.

Gee and Dan - Got hit the worst !

Champery? Well its been amazing, a crazy qualifying session and then the weather taking its toll on the mens finals once again. Basically, this year it seems to pay at a World Cup to have a shit qualifying run to avoid the weather. To ride this track would be hard, to race this track requires the best bike handling skills on the planet. To race this track in a downpour? Well I think its probably impossible. Andrew Neethling said that he thought he could ride a bike before he came here.  Marielle Saner showed her local knowledge off by topping the podium. Its looking like the British Juniors are going to run riot at Fort William in September now the the BCF are filling all seven places. They really are setting things alight! Sam Hill though put himself into mountain bike legend, he will be the talk of the town tonight. Ironic that the sun came out brightly for the podium.

For the full results check out the Nissan World Cup Site here.

We're off now to buy a hangover, hopefully I'll remember past midnight this time.

Keep it on the wheels. Yid.