Today’s race in Lourdes was as crazy as it can get – afternoon storm brought unexpected winner, but also helped our guys to top results. But it’s not just that, both Rudy and Jure had a great race run and deserve to be where they are.

No such luck for Taylor Vernon and Žiga Pandur – they both finished the competition yesterday, first with a crash, second with a puncture.

Rudy Cabirou, 16th place: “I’m really happy with my first World Cup race with the new team. Organization is good, atmosphere is relaxed and I felt no pressure. Bike and all components are fast, I’m really happy with everything and this makes racing easier. I’m also in a great form, I was working hard over the weekend and my coach Tom helped me a lot. I also studied different methods to improve on my concentration and this helps also. I’m really happy with the progress I made.

Result is very good, and I got it with a problem with my rear tire. I’m kind of sad for all the guys that were fastest in the qualifications, this is not a good way to finish the race. It’s better to take good result if the conditions are the same for everybody, but our sports take place out in the nature and this sometimes happen.

I was a little bit sad after my run, I know I could be faster if everything would be perfect. But at the same time there were other guys that had much bigger problems. I had to ride smart, smooth over the technical parts, but I was still fast enough. Thanks to the team and Tom, it was a good weekend.”

Jure Žabjek, 34rd place: “I already did better in the World Cup, but I’m still very happy with the race and the start of the season. I felt good throughout the weekend, still I didn’t want to push too much in the qualies. I just wanted a clean run and the finals. I gave everything I had in the finals and showed a very good run – with the exception of small mistake in the last part of the track that cost me some time. Without that I would be even higher, since times were very close to each other. We definitely have an interesting season ahead of us and I already look forward to next events!”

Rudy is now 19th overall, which gives him protection for the next round of the UCI MTB World Cup that will take place in Fort William.

Alexandre Fayolle won the men’s race, meanwhile Rachel Atherton continues her unbelivable streak of World Cup victories.

Results

Photos by Klemen Humar and Keith Valentine