BACK FROM THE BREAK: LES GETS IS THIS WEEKEND
Well, that was a long six weeks!
The World Cup went quiet after Andorra and now it's back, and it's back in one of the best places it goes. Les Gets. Saturday. Get your team sorted, because a lot has changed while we've all been off riding.
FINN IS OUT
Start here, because this one hurts. Finn Iles fractured his ankle a couple of weeks ago and is sidelined from riding. He announced it on Saturday, on his 27th birthday of all days, saying he's gutted and working to be back on the bike as soon as possible. He's off the bike completely, so don't go looking for him on the Les Gets start list.
He sits 2nd overall after winning back-to-back races in the first half of the season. Gone, just like that. Get well soon Finn, and take your time with it.
WHERE WE LEFT OFF: THE MEN
Jordan WILLIAMSJordan Williams goes into round seven wearing the leader's plate for the first time in his career, and he earned it the hard way. La Thuile ended a 1,107-day wait for a win, then Andorra made it back-to-back. Reece Wilson was sat in the hot seat on that belt-driven Gamux with the Gates €100k purse in his hands until Jordan came down 2.331 quicker. Ryan Pinkerton took his first elite podium in third, and Asa Vermette was fourth despite dropping his chain near the bottom.
Behind them it got messy. Amaury Pierron arrived in Andorra leading the overall, crashed hard, finished 27th and dropped to fourth. Brutal. Finn was 63 points back in second and that gap is now frozen where it stands. Three rounds left including this one, and the overall has quietly become Jordan's to lose.
AND THE WOMEN
Valentina HÖLLVali. Five wins from six rounds. What else is there to say? Gracey Hemstreet got within 0.485 of her in Andorra, redemption for the crash that ended her race on that same course last year, and Sacha Earnest took third with a hand injury she'd picked up at La Thuile the week before. Tough as anything, that. Lisa Baumann is holding second overall.
The field is thinner than it should be though. Myriam Nicole needed surgery on a broken and dislocated finger, and Tahnee Seagrave stepped away from World Cup racing to keep working on her recovery with World Champs as the target.
BRUNI WATCH
Loic BRUNILoic's initial X-rays at Loudenvielle came back clean, but it felt wrong to him, and further scans found a dislocated wrist bone needing emergency surgery. Doctors put a minimum three month recovery on it. He said at the time he was aiming for Les Gets and Val di Sole. Whether his name is on that Friday start list, nobody outside the Specialized truck knows yet. Don't burn a transfer on a hunch.
RONAN IS BACK
Best news of the break. Ronan Dunne is racing again. A broken tibia in pre-season training, from a simple dab of the foot as he put it, wiped out the start of his year, and that was after a 2025 where he won at Les Gets by a commanding margin, took World Champs bronze by fractions, and still finished 9th overall through a run of huge crashes. Four months of watching from the sofa. Now he's back, at the exact track where he won last year in the mud in front of that hillside.
Will he have race pace after that long out? Probably not straight away. Does that matter to us when we've seen what he does on this hill? Not really.
WHAT ELSE WE MISSED: CRANKWORX
Whistler happened, and Jackson Goldstone reminded everyone what he can do. He won the Canadian Open DH on the 1199 track by nearly four seconds over Troy Brosnan, with Luke Meier-Smith third. Worth saying it wasn't a full World Cup field, plenty of riders were there to learn the track before September rather than to race it. Even so, that was vintage Jackson.
Aletha Ostgaard won the women's race by over four seconds having only seeded eighth, and Gracey was fastest in seeding before a heavy crash into a tree dropped her to 11th. Troy also won the OG Canadian Open DH and stays undefeated there.
AND THERE'S A JERSEY ON THE LINE NEXT WEEK
Don't forget what comes after this one. World Champs are at Val di Sole, with the downhill titles decided on the Black Snake on Saturday 29 August. Seven days after Les Gets. Does anyone ride within themselves on Saturday to protect a rainbow jersey shot? Some will. We'd love to know who.
THE TRACK
Les Gets is Les Gets. Roots, rock, huge speed, and a crowd that turns the hillside into a wall of noise. Last year it was Gracey Hemstreet and Ronan Dunne winning late in the mud, which tells you everything about how much the weather matters here. Find out more about the track here.
WHO WE'RE BACKING
First things first, if Finn is still in your team, he needs to come out. That's one of your two free transfers gone before you've made a single decision. Sorry.
Men: we're going Jackson for the win. The Crankworx run was too convincing to ignore and he's been building all year without the result to show for it. Jordan stays in the team regardless, he's too hot to drop. And we're putting Ronan in. Four months off a broken leg, no race rust burned off, coming back at the venue he owns. That's either the best differential of the season or a wasted slot, and we're finding out on Saturday.
Women: Vali is not droppable and we're not pretending otherwise. But we think Gracey wins this one. She won here in 2025, she's been the fastest woman on track more often than the results suggest, and she owes herself a weekend. Sacha Earnest is the value pick for the last podium slot.
We might regret the Ronan call. We're making it anyway.
THE WEEKEND
Qualifying is Friday 21 August, Elite Q1 at 12:30 France time (11:30 UK, 6:30am US Eastern, 3:30am US Pacific). Elite finals are Saturday 22 August:
Elite Women: 13:00 France / 12:00 UK / 7:00am US Eastern / 4:00am US Pacific
Elite Men: 14:10 France / 13:10 UK / 8:10am US Eastern / 5:10am US Pacific
Juniors: 11:30 France / 10:30 UK / 5:30am US Eastern / 2:30am US Pacific
Our Live Timing page is the place to be all weekend. Splits, positions and your team's points moving in real time.
GET YOUR TEAM SORTED
Head over to the website, click on My Team and then Edit My Team. Remember you have two free transfers each round, and don't forget to hit the Update Team button to save your changes!
Six weeks is a long time. Riders have healed, riders have got quicker, and some have done neither. Pick wisely.
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Bring on Les Gets!
Good luck,
Jon and Tim, MTB Fantasy