Rachel Atherton continued her domination of the women’s Downhill Mountain Bike season by taking the top spot at the UCI World Championships in Vallnord, Andorra.

Atherton was 3 seconds ahead of fellow British rider Manon Carpenter, who took the Silver medal ahead of Australia’s Hannah Tracey, nine seconds back.

Tahnee Seagrave was the third British rider, and a medal hopeful having taken Bronze last year. Unfortunately after a good start to her run, she crashed and had to make do with fifth place.

Atherton has been a clear leader all year, winning six of seven rounds of the UCI Downhill Mountain Bike World Cup, too.

The new World Champ told British Cycling: “I can’t believe it really, I’m pretty happy. I knew it was going to be hard today and the track is just crazy – so dry now compared to earlier in the week. It’s fast, you have to hang on.”

This is the Atherton Racing rider’s third World title, previous wins being in 2008 and 2013 – whilst Carpenter held the honour in 2014. She said: “It’s what I wanted this year, to have both titles back. I’m pretty stoked to be honest.”

You can see her run here, thanks to GoPro and the UCI:

Ferrand-Prevot Becomes Treble Champion in Road, CX and XC MTB

We’re proud of our British domination in the Downhill class, but it would be wrong not to mention the incredible achievements of French rider Pauline Ferrand-Prevot.

Also riding in Vallnord, Andorrd, Ferrand-Prevot was perusing the Cross Country Mountain Bike World Title.

She took the win by almost a minute – crossing the line in 1.52.44 ahead of Russia’s Irina Kalentyeva in 1.53.42.

The Rabo-Liv rider is already the UCI Cyclocross and Road Race World Champion.

Ferrand-Prevot is the first woman to hold all three titles – and said: “I gave it everything. With the altitude, the climb and the slippery downhill, it was so hard. I really gave it everything because I wanted this title. I want to say a big thank you to French staff and the French Federation because they really believed in me.”