Local Pedro Ferreira realises childhood ambition in UNESCO port city MTB event

Chile’s Pedro Ferreira became the first local MTB rider to win Valparaíso in more than seven years through the UNESCO World Heritage port city.

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2019 Red Bull Valparaíso Cerro Abajo result

1 Pedro Ferreira (Chile) 02:50.084
2 Felipe Agurto (Chile) +0.468
3 Johannes Fischbach (Germany) +0.711
4 Oscar Harnstrom (Sweden) +2.103
5 Remy Metailler (France) +3.051
6 Adrien Loron (France) +3.074
7 Lucas Alves (Brazil) +3.247
8 Gabriel Giovannini (Brazil) +3.495
9 Bernardo Cruz (Brazil) +4.301
10 Beto Nicolas (Chile) +4.844
11 Mauricio Acuna (Chile) +6.705
12 Ian Rojas (Chile) +8.438
13 Jerónimo Paez (Argentina) +27.335
14 Wyn Masters (New Zealand) +30.485
15 Tomáš Slavík (Czech Republic) DNF

Two-time champion Tomáš Slavík achieved first place during the qualifiers in his pursuit of a third title down the narrow 2km urban downhill track.

However the 31-year-old Czech rider could not defend his title as he could not complete his last run after a fall in the first quarter of the track.

It opened the path for someone else to take the spoils with 2018 Downhill Taxco urban downhill winner Ferreira posting a brilliant time of 02:50.084.

Compatriot Felipe Agurto fell agonisingly short by just 468 hundredths of a second to finish runner-up with 2016 champion Johannes Fischbach of Germany back in third, 711 hundredths of a second behind Ferreira.

Ferreira, who descended from 254.59m (835.26ft) at speeds of up to 60km/h, said: “I am very happy. Since I was a child, I have dreamed of winning this race and it fills me with pride to be able to do it. I have won competitions abroad, but it definitely feels much better in my country. I always felt the support of the crowd and I was hearing my name through the whole run.”