UCI World Championships - Mining For Gold

Pompon World Champion, Pierron takes Bronze!

World Championships. One run. One chance to make it happen.
There is always a different atmosphere for this race. The goal isn’t to get just a good result, but to put everything on the line into that one run.

Myriam Nicole, Gold Medal!

Before talking about the race, let us remind you what happened to her this year. As you know, Myriam Nicole crashed in March, braking and dislocating her foot, with the first diagnosis being less than optimistic: her surgeon told her it would be a miracle to see her on the bike by August. But do you know what? She didn’t care. The only thing she kept in mind was that she couldn’t miss the whole season. She was feeling too good before her crash and she wasn't ready to accept that all this work was for nothing.

For the last five months she believed in her dream. She spent hours and hours at the gym training as hard as she could. She went to a special athlete centre for five weeks to increase her chances of coming back in time. She stayed focused and healthy. She doubted herself at times, but never gave up.

She rode for the first time in July, which meant a lot for her. She then flew to Whistler in August to get some time back on the DH bike. She raced the Canadian Open DH during Crankworx and saw she had the race pace even without full confidence.

When she arrived in Mont Saint Anne, she realised she had reached her first goal: being able to compete at the World Championships. She was so happy and relieved to be there, so she decided to have fun. That’s all. She worked hard with the whole staff all week long and when she went fastest in quali's, she knew she’d have to try and carry that form and give it all for finals.

On Sunday, she crossed the line with the fastest current time, but had to wait in the hot-seat for the remaining 15 riders.. It was an intensely long wait. When Tracey Hannah the World Cup leader crossed the line in 4th place, everyone’s hearts and minds exploded! MYRIAM NICOLE IS THE NEW WORLD CHAMPION!

« I can’t believe it happened and you can’t imagine how much it means to me! The last few months haven’t been easy but I’m so proud we did it with the team and my coaches! Now I just want to enjoy riding my bike even more! ».

It’s the first time in our team history that we've won an Elite World Champion title and we can't thank Pompon enough for making it happen!

Amaury Pierron, Bronze Medal

He never hid the fact that he really wanted to win this Championship. After winning three World Cups this year, he knew he had the pace. He was ready and feeling good on the bike but he made a mistake in the first section which probably cost him the race and couldn’t gain those precious seconds back by the finish line, even after an amazing last few splits.: « I’m still happy because it’s my first medal at World Champs but I’m a bit disappointed at the same time because it isn’t the run I wanted to do. But it’s like this, I take it and I’m still proud to be on this podium next to Loïc (Bruni) who killed it once again. The team have done an amazing work during the whole week and I would like to thank them once again! ».

19th for Rémi Thirion

Our young dad was having real fun on his bike all week and was looking fast, but he admitted he didn’t find the pace during his race run! It dried out a lot for finals and : « This isn’t the result and was training for but it’s World Champs and I missed some speed even if I took all my lines! I’m a bit disappointed but I’m really stoked for Myriam and Momo, they killed it! »

Thibaut Daprela, 5th

Everything was there for a great result, his mind, body and bike. But something you can't manage is luck! This is what happened: « After a few meters on track, I realised my chain came off and I couldn’t pedal anymore. I rode the whole track trying to carry speed but it wasn’t enough. After the race, we checked with my mechanic and realised I hit the derailleur somewhere up top and this is why my drivetrain wasn’t working anymore. It’s sad but it’s bad luck and I’m already focused to get my revenge next weekend in Snowshoe! ».


After all these emotions, we head to Snowshoe for the final round of the UCI DH World Cup. It's still all to play for in the Mens Elite overall and the other riders can't wait to push for one last result before the season is out...