Valentina Holl hits out at 'haters' after historic UCI Downhill World Cup victory in Austria as tearful Finn Iles wins men's race
Updated 13/06/2026 at 19:51 GMT+1
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Valentina Holl hit out at the "haters" after the Commencal Schwalbe by Les Orres rider claimed an historic women's UCI Downhill World Cup victory at Saalfelden Leogang-Salzburgerland on Saturday.
Highlights: Iles secures second World Cup win in Leogang
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For the first time in the programme's history, the women’s race was the final race of the event in Austria. And Holl lived up to the billing, producing one of the fastest times seen in the competition recently.
The 24-year-old clocked the quickest times in every section and finished more than nine seconds ahead of her nearest competitor.
When the final competitor, Marine Cabirou (Canyon DH Racing), crossed the line and Holl's victory was wrapped up, the Austrian jumped into the crowd to celebrate with her home fans and later took aim at the "haters" for doubting that the women's race could headline a UCI Downhill World Cup event.
"It was so nice, so quiet on track. I was really enjoying it, no one was disturbing me, so we can repeat that for sure," Holl said, tongue firmly in cheek.
"Pretty epic. I know how hard you need to push to be able to win World Cups nowadays. It took me so much energy to do this.
"I just wanted to give back and seeing all my family, all my friends, all the little shredders from Austria -it’s the most important thing I can give back.
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Highlights: Frei clinches first-ever World Series victory after late surge in Leogang
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"A lot of haters said [the crowd] will all leave when we’re racing but look, the crowd is still there, it’s pretty epic. Women’s sport is amazing."
Holl became the third woman to begin the UCI Downhill World Cup with three consecutive victories and remains the clear favourite for the overall crown, now sitting almost 300 points clear of Myriam Nicole (COMMENCAL/MUC OFF by Riding Addiction).
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The men's race, by contrast, was much tighter, with Finn Iles (Specialized Gravity) finishing less than two tenths of a second ahead of Amaury Pierron (COMMENCAL / MUC OFF by Riding Addiction).
Pierron had produced a strong ride to take the lead but Iles pipped him just a few minutes later, his consistency the difference over the whole course.
Iles could not hold back the tears when his win was confirmed, just his second in the series from 68 starts.
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'Last year was such a struggle' - Iles reacts to win in Leogang after difficult 12 months
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”That feels really good. Last year was such a struggle with injuries and I just didn’t feel like myself,” Iles said. ”This off-season I put in so much work to find my groove back and to get a win in the third race of the season is incredible.
”I just can’t say thank you enough to my team, all the people at Specialized for how much work they put into the demo and everybody around me for supporting me through last year because it was such a tough one for me. Now I feel like I’m back to being myself and it means so much.”
With his second-placed finish, Pierron moves up from third to first in the overall standings, 29 points ahead of Iles.
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