{"id":486442,"date":"2026-02-17T20:26:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-17T20:26:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/486442\/"},"modified":"2026-02-17T20:26:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-17T20:26:08","slug":"urban-downhill-becomes-a-crash-reel-as-valparaiso-bites-back","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/486442\/","title":{"rendered":"Urban downhill becomes a crash reel as Valpara\u00edso bites back"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Red Bull Valpara\u00edso Cerro Abajo has always been a gnarly one to watch. This weekend\u2019s edition was no different. Riders hit the start gate knowing the first seconds were \u201csuper tech\u201d and that the long Moto GP-style tarmac section would punish even tiny mistakes. Then the course started proving the point in real time, with crashes stacking up as the day heated up and the surface got shinier and looser.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou will see riders crash\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The broadcast crew called it early: the bottom pavement looked dirty, the off-camber turns were sketchy and the wind had blown dust onto key corners. Sure enough, riders began sliding out in the same spots, sometimes in back-to-back runs. Chris Hauser went down, Sam Blenkinsop slid out and even clean runs looked like riders were tiptoeing on the brakes, trying not to wake the traction gods.<\/p>\n<p>A roof blows, the race stops<\/p>\n<p>The final was briefly halted when debris reportedly blew off a roof and onto the course, triggering a red flag. After <a href=\"https:\/\/cyclingmagazine.ca\/sections\/news\/red-bull-hardline-canceled\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">the recent cancellation at Hardline<\/a>, this felt ominous. Thankully officials cleared the street quickly.<\/p>\n<p>Big names bruised before it even started<\/p>\n<p>The carnage began earlier. New Zealander Brook Macdonald was sidelined after a crash in practice. Four-time winner Tom\u00e1\u0161 Slav\u00edk also hit the deck in training, sliding his ribs along a guard rail. It looked painful.<\/p>\n<p>Holgu\u00edn keeps it together<\/p>\n<p>In the end, the weekend belonged to Colombia\u2019s Sebasti\u00e1n Holgu\u00edn, who put down a 2:15.432 to win ahead of France\u2019s Adrien Loron and Chile\u2019s Felipe Agurto. The next stop on the tour has yet to be announced, but you can be sure there will be carnage.<\/p>\n<p>Results<\/p>\n<p>Red Bull Valpara\u00edso Cerro Abajo 2026 results<br \/>1. Sebastian Holgu\u00edn (COL) 2:15.432<br \/>2. Adrien Loron (FRA) +0.789<br \/>3. Felipe Agurto (CHI) +2.290<br \/>4. Gabriel Giovannini (BRA) +2.849<br \/>5. Tom\u00e1\u0161 Slav\u00edk (CZE) +2.876<\/p>\n<p>Red Bull Cerro Abajo 25-26 Championship standings<br \/>1. Sebastian Holgu\u00edn (COL) 95 points<br \/>2. Roger Vieira (BRA) 79<br \/>3. Adrien Loron (FRA) 78<br \/>4. Johannes Fischbach (GER) 46<br \/>5. Felipe Agurto (CHI) 33<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Red Bull Valpara\u00edso Cerro Abajo has always been a gnarly one to watch. This weekend\u2019s edition was no&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":486443,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[569],"tags":[64,63,784,43062,85],"class_list":["post-486442","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-cycling","tag-mtb-features","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/486442","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=486442"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/486442\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/486443"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=486442"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=486442"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=486442"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}