Pal Arinsal will experience tomorrow the final day of World Cup action with the Olympic Cross-country events

The downhill never disappoints in Pal Arinsal and this year has been no exception. Once again, the Fontanals area has been buzzing with a spectacular mountain biking atmosphere for the DHI finals of the WHOOP UCI MTB World Series. Thousands of fans gathered at La Massana station and gave it their all to cheer on the world’s best riders in finals that were truly memorable and crowned Valentina Höll and Jordan Williams as the winners. Jonty Williamson and Aletha Ostgaard took victory in the junior races. The UCI MTB World Cup action in Pal Arinsal will conclude tomorrow with the Olympic Cross-country finals.

Jordan Williams scores his second consecutive win in Pal Arinsal

The men’s race was the highlight of the day, with Jordan Williams taking center stage thanks to a flawless run that earned him his second Elite victory in the World Cup, and in consecutive fashion after his win in La Thuile. The Brit achieved it with an impressive gap over the rest of the riders, leaving the podium finishers more than two seconds behind. Williams completed the 1.9 km route from Cubil peak to the Fontanals area with an impressive time of 2:41.666, while his compatriot Reece Wilson finished second (+2.331).

“I don't know what to say right now. Winning two races in a row is crazy. I couldn't be more grateful to my team—we've now won four consecutive races, which is insane. I never thought it was possible to win by more than two and a half seconds on this track. This morning Finn (Iles) and I were talking about how a 2'44'' timing would be incredible, and I beat it—I truly don’t even know how I did it,” Williams said at the end of the race.

American Ryan Pinkerton finished third (+2.500), narrowly edging Asa Vermette—the winner of the season’s opening round—off the podium by just 41 thousandths of a second. Finn Iles rounded out the top five and current world champion Jackson Goldstone was sixth, while Spain’s Andorra-based Ángel Suárez claimed an impressive 9th place.

With his second consecutive win, Williams now leads the DHI overall standings of the WHOOP UCI MTB World Series with 874 points. He overtook Amaury Pierron, who—after a crash in the final meters today—was relegated to 22nd in the race and dropped to fourth in the overall, which remains tight heading into the World Cup’s summer break. Iles is now second with 811 points, and Asa Vermette third with 748.

Höll secures another win in Pal and closes in on her fifth title

Valentina Höll claimed another victory in Pal Arinsal and her fifth of the season, marking a new personal record for wins in a single year. The Austrian delivered as expected with a great run, though Canadian Gracey Hemstreet challenged closely, making the win tighter than anticipated. Höll finished her run with a time of 3:06.717, leaving the Canadian just 485 thousandths behind.

“This win is just crazy. This morning I nearly crashed in training and I didn’t want to take too many risks today, but that thought left my head as soon as I started descending. I’m so happy, even though it was really stressful. The track is fun, balanced between going all out and knowing your limits, which I found this morning in training, so I didn’t have much confidence, but once the race started I forgot everything,” Höll said upon arrival.

Hemstreet delivered a gutsy run to secure second place, while Sacha Earnest took third on the podium with a more significant gap to Höll (+2.869) and Hemstreet.

With her fifth win of the season, Höll has all but locked up her fifth WHOOP UCI MTB World Series title. She currently has 1,265 points, with Lisa Baumann holding on to second despite her crash today that dropped her to 13th. The Swiss rider has 712 points, and Hemstreet rounds out the overall top three with 670 points.

Williamson and Ostgaard, junior finals winners

The junior finals kicked off the downhill show today in Pal, with Jonty Williamson and Aletha Ostgaard taking center stage. Williamson claimed his fifth win of the season, bouncing back from a 17th in Italy with a lightning quick run of 2:47.054. Kasper Hickman (+1.299) and Malik Boatwright (+2.127) completed the junior men’s podium, while French Commencal team rider and Andorra resident since age six, Sacha Gabriel Brizin, finished fifth (+3.279). In the junior men’s overall DHI standings, the New Zealander extends his lead to 309 points, ahead of Brizin’s 198, who remains second overall, and Boatwright’s 195, in third.

In the women’s event, Ostgaard won convincingly with a time of 3:08.156, leaving Lina Frener (+2.831) and Rosa Marie Jensen (+2.833) nearly three seconds behind—they finished second and third, separated by just two thousandths of a second. Ostgaard extended her lead in the junior women’s DHI overall standings with 325 points to Frener’s 300, while Jensen remains third with 250 points.

Olympic Cross-country wraps up the action in Pal tomorrow

The World Cup reaches its last day of action tomorrow with the Olympic Cross-country (XCO) races, which will be held in Caubella. The first final of the day will be the U23 women’s race, starting at 9:00 a.m., followed by the U23 men at 11:00 a.m. The Elite women’s and men’s races will take place at 1:30 p.m. and 3:30 p.m., respectively, followed by the podium ceremonies.

The races will be streamed live through digital platforms HBO Max, Eurosport, and MTBWS TV, and in Andorra via RTVA.