Pal Arinsal, Andorra, welcomed the final World Cup round before a much-deserved midseason break.

Andorra hosted the 2024 World Championships, so it’s a venue the riders are familiar with. Nestled high in the Pyrenees, the track is less steep and technical than previous rounds but demands unwavering focus from riders to maintain the speeds needed to win.

As is often the case in the high mountains, weather conditions shook up the competition. Extreme electrical storms ripped through the paddock damaging tents and equipment after qualifications. With more storms in the forecast for the day of finals, the UCI made the decision to cancel the Junior races and use the results from qualifying.

This meant that fastest Junior Women’s qualifier Aletha Ostgaard (Canyon CLLCTV) would earn her second World Cup win in as many weeks.  In the Junior Men’s division, Tyler Waite (Yeti/Fox Factory) continued his impressive streak with a third place finish. Both Ostgaard and Waite head into the summer break sitting in 2nd place in the overall standings. Ellie Hulsebosch (Santa Cruz Syndicate) secured 4th in Andorra and 3rd in the overall.

With the shortened schedule, anticipation built around the Elite racers come Saturday. Something clicked for the Intense Factory racing team this weekend as they put four riders into finals including Juan Fernando Munoz as the fastest male qualifier.

Riders had excellent conditions for racing as the trail crew worked tirelessly tuning things up. And without Juniors racing in finals, the track wasn’t as beat up as usual.

Nina Hoffman (Santa Cruz Syndicate) had a wild run, coming into a turn a little too hot and then launching off a jump one-footed. Thankfully, Hoffman wasn’t injured and cruised the rest of the way down, even stopping for a selfie with a course marshal.

Mille Johnset (Axess Intense) backed up her 3^rd place qualifying run with another 3^rd place in finals. Johnset turned it up finals, shaving over 4 seconds off her qualifying time.

Gracey Hemstreet (Norco Race Division) was the fastest qualifier and delivered a blistering performance in finals. By the final split, Hemstreet had pulled ahead of Tahnee Seagrave and appeared on track for her third win of the season. Unfortunately, just before the final jump, Gracey got slightly offline sending her to the ground. She was quick to remount, but with margins so tight, the win was out of reach. Impressively, even with the crash, Hemstreet finished in 5th.

The elite men put on another wild show. Jackson Goldstone had a chance to make history as the only rider to ever win five-straight races. He blazed through the course in finals taking the hot seat with only two riders to drop after him. Loic “Super” Bruni was on a mission and charged down the course and moved into first place by 1.2 seconds. Fastest qualifier Juan Munoz came next, but he overcooked a turn at the top of the track slid out, dashing his hopes of victory.

Goldstone still leads the overall standings as the riders and teams get a few weeks off before the second half of the season.

The High Roller III was once again the go-to weapon of choice amongst Maxxis teams. Its open tread pattern digs in with authority and the side knobs deliver confidence in high-speed turns.

Racing returns in Haute-Savoie, France, August 22-24.