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Jackson Goldstone was less than a second away from bronze this Sunday (3:33.141), but ended up fourth at the UCI Downhill World Cup in Loudenvielle.
The Squamish native found himself on the outside looking in as Frenchman Loic Bruni proved to be unstoppable on home soil (3:31.785) and Dakotah Norton of the United States locked up silver (3:32.562). Laurie Greenland, Goldstone's Santa Cruz Syndicate teammate, edged him out for bronze (3:32.664).
Santa Cruz Syndicate were awarded team of the day and lead the overall standings as well.
"So stoked on a P4 finish yesterday," said Goldstone on his Instagram account. "Was a difficult race run for me with the changing conditions. Stoked to move onto Les Gets!"
Having said that, Finn Iles caused the biggest shock of the race by being disqualified after an uncharacteristic mistake saw him leave the course. The Whistlerite hasn't exactly had a banner summer, being held out of the Canadian Open DH in late July due to an ill-timed thumb injury. Iles now relinquishes top spot in the overall rankings to Bruni, but remains five points ahead of third-place Goldstone.
No such upsets took place in the women's race as reigning Champion Valentina Höll remained unfazed by the conditions to take her third World Cup win of the year (4:00.593). The Austrian also won the Canadian Open DH at Crankworx Whistler and now finds herself 400 points clear of overall runner-up Nina Hoffmann from Germany.
Hoffmann managed a solid performance for silver (4:03.433) and Marine Cabirou of France rounded out the podium by equalling her season's best effort (4:05.945).
Full results from Loudenvielle are available here. World Cup action returns this weekend for the UCI Mountain Bike World Series Festival in Les Gets, France.
