UCI Downhill World Cup 2023: 'Woah!' - Rachel Atherton takes sensational comeback victory in Lenzerheide

Rachel Atherton (Continental Atherton) landed a sensational victory on her latest comeback to the UCI Downhill World Cup in Lenzerheide to bring up 40 wins in the competition. The five-time world champion had raced just once since 2019 – also in Lenzerheide, last year – but produced a blistering run of 3:07.514 to deny semi-final winner Camille Balanche (Dorval AM Commencal). Ad Atherton, 35, has been in the mountain bike wilderness after snapping her Achilles four years ago before having daughter Arna in 2021, admitting she was unsure if she would even make it through qualification in Switzerland.

She did that, and then some. UCI Mountain Bike World Series'Wonder Woman!' – Atherton rolls back years to win in LenzerheideAN HOUR AGO “I just actually can’t believe it. It hasn’t really sunk in.

You get so fired up and then it’s three minutes and it’s over,” she said. “Coming into this I didn’t know if I would qualify, yesterday [qualification] was mind-blowing. I was like ‘woah!’ And this new format is so hard, doing semi-finals, you’ve got to save some energy.

It’s mental, oh my gosh!” Marine Cabirou (Scott DH Factory) was the first rider to drop a statement run as the Frenchwoman blew away the early runners, setting a target time of 3:11.118 for the favourites. World champion Vali Holl (RockShox Trek Race Team) was next to go fastest, flying through the rock section where she had flipped over her handlebars in the semi-finals en route to clocking 3:09.270. British sensation Williams, 18, wins on debut in Lenzerheide UCI Mountain Bike World Series explained: Schedule, disciplines and more With three riders remaining, Holl’s time looked good enough for a podium… at least.