Danny Hart couldn’t transform his storming qualification run into race-day glory after finishing fifth in the latest round of the UCI MTB Downhill World Cup.

Hart finished top of the pile when riding against the clock and was the last to ride in Lenzerheide, with Amaury Pierron in his sights as the man in the hotseat.

But the Frenchman’s storming ride proved a step too far on a Swiss track that dried out as the afternoon unfolded, with Britain’s Hart forced to settle for fifth place.

A time of 2:52.644 proved enough to take the last step on the podium for the double world champion, consolidating his top-five spot in the overall World Cup standings with just one round to go.

Consistency has been the order of Hart’s downhill season despite not taking a win, with Pierron and fellow Frenchman Loic Bruni victorious in six of the seven races across the year.

Laurie Greenland has so far proved the only man to halt the French dominance, and the Brit backed up his victory in Val di Sole last week with a sixth-place finish in Lenzerheide.

Greenland had qualified narrowly outside the top ten but continued on his merry way when it came to race day, leaving nothing out on track to stop the clock in 2:53.688.

Just one more round in the UCI MTB Downhill World Cup remains, with the competition heading across the Atlantic to Snowshoe at the start of September.

But before that comes the small matter of the UCI MTB World Championships, with Hart and Greenland looking to add to their collections in Mont-Sainte-Anne, Canada.

This World Cup weekend continues with the cross-country races taking place on Sunday in Switzerland.