Hello,

Mont-Sainte-Anne (MSA), Canada, has been on the downhill World Cup calendar for decades – it’s a true classic of the series.

Despite (or perhaps thanks to) its lengthy history, MSA remains a rider and fan favourite. Its course follows a similar route to the original 1990s tracks (I mean, it goes from the top to the bottom of the hill really quickly), yet it’s as modern and fierce as ever.

Flat out fast, then into winding woods full of rocks and roots and loam, back into some of the fastest sections on the World Cup circuit and then a few final kicks with the brutal lower rock garden and massive jumps into the finish arena.

It’s a rounded, brilliant course and no surprise it’s lined with spectators.

We’ve put together a few pre-race notes below (qualifying is today, Friday 4 Oct and racing tomorrow) and photos by Boris and Sven.

Hope you enjoy looking through.

Cheers,

James
+the Misspent Summers team

PS: Our new Super Supporter bundle is available to pre-order now. Details below. Thank you for considering supporting Misspent Summers.

PRODUCT: CHOOSE MTB PRINT

GOLDEN: notes from a stunning Mont-Sainte-Anne, Canada, DH World Cup finals 2024

Essentials:

Start lists
Race book
Schedule
Live timing

Pre-race notes:

• Qualifying starts today, Friday 4 October, at 12 local time. That’s 5pm British or 6pm European time
• Finals racing starts tomorrow, Saturday 5 October, at 11:30 local time
• Refresher: remind yourself what went down last year in MSA in our 2023 notes here
• Where to watch: junior finals will be broadcast live on the MTB World Series YouTube free to watch here. Elite finals highlights are posted on the MTB WS ‘Toob after the race. Find out how to watch the live elite action here
• Elite standings: Loic Bruni and Vali Höll wrapped up the elite series overall titles with a round to go at the last race in Loudenvielle, France, so they’re both racing MSA with no series pressure – will they cruise it or go for big wins? Our money’s on the latter. Amaury Pierron and Rónán Dunne sit second and third in that order in the men’s standings. Tahnée Seagrave is second in the women’s, followed by Marine Cabirou in third
• News flash: having said that, news just in from trackside that Pierron won’t be racing after smashing his hand into a tree in practice. Heal up soon, Amaury
• Junior standings: Max Alran leads junior men rankings coming into MSA but his closest rival, Asa Vermette, is sitting out the race with a T6 vertebra fracture from his Loudenvielle race run crash. Still, with 60 points up for grabs, third-placed Luke Wayman could still take the title from Alran. Erice van Leuven leads the junior women’s standings, but Heather Wilson is only 15 points behind in second and Eliana Hulsebosch is just five points further back in third
• Full standings after round six here
• If you like what we do: we’ve just launched a Super Supporter bundle. It’s packed full of Misspent Summers stuff, including our 2024 DH and EDR yearbooks. If you like what we do and want to help ensure we keep recording the history of the sport, this one’s for you. As a thank you, anyone buying the Super Supporter pack has their name inked in the front of both books. Read about it here
• Fantasy: finals of the Race Companion fantasy league here
• Raw action: check out a selection of videos from this week in MSA here. Video title of the week: ‘SO. FREAKING. CRAZY’ by Vital MTB. Just about sums it up! What a track
• Word: Fearon
• Legend status: MSA has been hosting MTB World Cup and World Championship races since 1991. The only years since then that it hasn’t had a race were 2020 and 2021 due to Covid-19 travel restrictions. Recent elite winners include Jackson Goldstone and Vali Höll in 2023, Finn Iles and Vali Höll in 2022, Loic Bruni and Myriam Nicole in 2019
• Vibe: riders are absolutely loving the course. The local trail crew has clearly put a lot of effort into it (again). Bravo. The beautiful autumn colours make for a mean photo too, so everyone’s happy
• Pro racers’ holidays: as is now tradition (since at least 2023), many Enduro World Cup racers, who finished their seasons a few weeks ago in Val fi Fassa, Italy, are in MSA turning their hand to downhill racing. The likes of Martin Maes, Richie Rude, Isabeau Courdurier, Morgane Charre and Harriet Harnden – all who won EDR World Cups in 2024 – are on the start list. There are numerous other enduro specialists racing. One rider who unfortunately won’t be lining up for qualifying is Jesse Melamed – the 2022 Enduro World Series winner crashed out in practice and broke his elbow. Heal up soon, Jesse
• Real history: Greg Minnaar has announced that Mont-Sainte-Anne will be his last World Cup as a full-time professional racer (will he be back at select races though?). Minnaar first raced in MSA in the junior World Championships in 1998; in 2001, he won the elite World Cup series here, fending off legendary Nico Vouilloz to take the title at just 19 years old. Minnaar has raced every MSA since. How nuts is that? From 2025 he’ll be running the Norco Race Division team and, we suspect, still tearing it up on a bike anyway. Thanks for inspiring so many of us, Greg. Listen to Sven’s interview with Minnaar here
• Leaky launch: Pivot unveiled their new production two-chain downhill bike for MSA week. The bike’s been kicking about for a few weeks already, though – if you were at the US Open race you’d have seen it there
• MTB futures: the 2025 MTB World Cup race calendar launched this week, with 10 scheduled DH races, 10 XC races and 7 enduro (EDR) races, plus World Championships events for each discipline. (E-Enduro and XC Marathon aren’t on the World Cup schedule.) We like the sound of the La Thuile, Italy, DH and EDR combined event – we were riding there recently and had a sneak peek at the new downhill course. It looks nuts. Lake Placid, USA, will also host a DH round (it held an XC World Cup last week) and we’ve got an inkling the Haute-Savoie, France, race might be at a new venue (instead of its usual Les Gets). Whistler isn’t on the lineup as many people thought it would be, and most of the racing is in Europe, but there are fresh venues and a bunch of classics (DH and XC go back to Lenzerheide, Switzerland; enduro is back in La Thuile for the first time since 2021). Read the schedule here
• We’ll be back after the race with our full MSA 2024 notes. We’re currently working hard to finalise our 2024 DH and EDR yearbooks and they’ll be on sale later this month (pre-order Super Supporter bundle here). We’d just like to say thank you to everyone who makes this possible: the riders, media, contributors, brands and fans. Thank you. Can’t wait to show you the new books

 

Further reading:
XC stuff and things update by World Cup racer Zoe Cuthbert
Mud-stained notes from Loudenvielle 2024 Downhill World Cup

Notes newsletters are compiled with the help of many contributors. Thank you to everyone who chips in – we love doing this stuff and you make it possible.