I don’t think it was the surface that was the problem it was just that Flueckiger was sending it big time, was all over his front wheel and grabbed a handful of brake. Rush of blood to the head for sure. (I do wonder if that top corner was where van der Poel went down too?)
Cooper is a really impressive rider. Strong, fantastc bike skills and a smart rider too. Seeing how Anton and Sam dominated in U23 I’m not that surprised to see them mixing it with the top riders.
The calibre of NZ’s teen XC riders is super impressive. The next few years will be fun to watch—hopefully we can give the NH a run for their money. Not sure the kids coming through will be able to match Anton’s level though. He’s pretty special. (He won the 2011 Karapoti Classic as a 16yo).
I think that might have been when I first saw him, carrying his bike through a river, this short kid in an epic, long, tough race, that ground everyone down.
Shit… I love Loic, but I don’t like this. It seems bizarre that he has drawn a line at 29" wheels for “it makes it too easy/takes out the roughness and looseness”. Of all the things… Look at his bike FFS! its totally incomparable to anything 5 years ago, he’s been feeling the improvement in bikes for ages, and must know that its never going to stop. If he wants to make a stand about tracks being too smooth/straight/bermed, fine, but ride whatever you’ve got at your disposal to go as fast as possible. Keen to see if people switch back for any course this year.
Will be interesting in Val di Sole and Vallnord to see if people are sticking with big wheels.
It’s funny how he is seemingly ok with a bike that gets slacker, longer and all the R&D that goes into suspension to smooth tracks out but draws the line at a wheel size.
I just think dudes should ride whatever they want to. Steve Peat did an interview on GMBN and wrote his comments off and said if he wants to make is loose and gnarly ride a 26" again.
No big deal here. The guy is not ready to race DH on a 29er yet as he feels the bike is not ready to be raced. He’s not against 29er wheels either as he makes the point that this size has totally its place in XC. The interviewer sounds like a dick though, not letting Luc express his ideas properly and putting his opinion out there. We all have opinions about the gear we want to use, and for a guy at that level you’d think that he’d have thought carefully about his gear choices.
Great racing overnight. So close between the first 2 again. Won’t spoil in case some haven’t seen the race yet. Women’s racing has continued to be the best in years. On a different note Neko Mullaly was dq’d at the start gate for wearing a cardboard back protector instead of the mandatory plastic. Dick head.
whoa! didnt hear that about Neko…thats pretty funny, and good thry nabbed him. The whole round was super, XC and DH, men and women. The next few weeks are really going to drag…
When I heard that Last had won the womens race I was quite keen to read the report. Great to hear that she is hitting her straps. I do think that Evie is the dominant UK XC riders right now
Good to see the M vd Poel found his legs again. Seems like the UCI needs to organise a CX race at altiude to put him off his game too
Wow, MSA best d/h racing this year. Women’s racing was truely excellent. Rach Athertons save was spectacular.
Mens racing had the potential to be a disappointment, but was completely the opposite.
yeah, that was good racing indeed. Tracey with a flat holding onto the pace of Tahnee in the lower section was superb, and I thought the best bit of Seagrave’s run was the open section before the wall, she was visibly quicker than everyone through there, staying off the brakes and popping over the worst of the chatter. The men’s yeah, far out, I was thinking it was Lourdes all over again, but so good to see the top few blokes (cept the syndicate…) keep on crushing. I wonder if Loris in particular was thinking later that day “maybe I could’ve actually given it a bit more?”. Some big moments for quite a few of them, it was great to watch… so much front wheel slippage on the rock section, and the footage seemed to be able to show it better than I can remember anywhere else.
Haven’t watched the XC yet, but its another good course, looking forward to it!
Another great race, ladies continues to be excellent. Fantastic racing and mutual respect amongst all the racers. Rach’s injury has evened out the field.
Mens was again terrific, first there were 4 Brits leading, then 3 frenchmen, before the usual cream came to the top. Enjoyed Perron’s run, felt for GOAT, happy for Troy and respect for Gwin, not my fav racer, but clearly on top of his game.
Bring on Cairns, 21 years since the last worlds. Word has Mick Hannah didn’t race, preferring to concentrate on Cairns.
Starting to put ideas together for a melb World Champs viewing party. Get my XC nerd and DH hoon friends together and share the knowledge and amateur hour calls.
