The Downhill World Cup ground to a sticky slithering finale at Leysin last weekend. Garcia and Chausson revelled in the slurry to take clear victories for Cannondale and France.

Leigh Donovan (USA, Schwinn/Toyota) was over 40 seconds behind but managed to stay with her bike for most of the sodden course to take second, though she admitted she was so bruised from crashes in qualifying the previous day that she almost hadn’t bothered to start.

Both Nicolas Vouilloz (FRA, Vouilloz Racing Team) and Mickael Pascal (FRA, Be-One) had problems on their runs after posting 2nd and 3rd fastest qualifying times, leaving Gracia to slime surf over the line 9 seconds clear – his first World Cup victory since a similarly deluged course in Nevegal two years ago.

“I rode safe, and only had a couple problems on my run,” Gracia said. “Once I almost flipped over the handlebars, but I didn’t crash. You can ride safe, but you can’t win that way; but you can’t ride crazy either. Do that and you’re out.”

Final positions as soon as we have them.