Check this preview run from Loris Vergier, oh, my, good, lord…..that’s quick, scary, and….

Loris Vergier VdS

No bantz tho

I don’t think I’ve ever gone that fast on my road bike

I was hoping that when redbull partnered with gopro we would start to see helmet cam/pov live footage mixed in as part of the redbull coverage of race runs. It would take things up a notch and the technology must be there.

I agree the coverage is very shite really, I remember in one of the recent races they had gate coverage and then you next saw the rider 2mins into a run!

Live footage would def help and also mean they could move away from fixed cameras and long straights and make the courses more twisty and techy.

I think the coverage is excellent, don’t forget its free! They’ve made a real effort to package it up as a show this year and I think it’s worked.

I agree the coverage is very shite really, I remember in one of the recent races they had gate coverage and then you next saw the rider 2mins into a run!

The riders set off every 30 seconds or so I think (longer gaps for the final riders) so it’s not possible to watch everyone’s full runs. They show them leaving the gate a minute or two earlier then cut to the live feed as they descend towards the end of the track. Rinse and repeat for 80 or so riders or whatever the UCI have cut it down to now.

I remember in one of the recent races they had gate coverage and then you next saw the rider 2mins into a run!

They do that frequently, because the gaps between riders are less than the time taken to cover the course, the launch out of the gate is a replay then they switch to the live action.

I think the coverage is pretty good, when you look at the logistics and costs of covering what is a minority sport its actually **** excellent.

You could have the redbull stream as is but supplimented by live feed from each riders pov cam allowing you to switch between the 5+ riders that could be on course at any one time.

Tighter than a gnat’s chuff between Gwin and Minnaar!

https://www.pinkbike.com/news/qualifying-results-val-di-sole-dh-world-cup-2017.html

I seem to recall something around not using GoPro for competition runs? UCI rules and all that but my memory / knowledge is hazy to say the least. Coverage is considerably better than it used to be and I think they have a bit of a struggle between pleasing the dedicated watchers (i.e us) and making it accessible to everyone (which will keep advertisers etc happy).

Bruni matched Gwin from split 2 onwards. Interesting. Pressure is off Bruni (for the overall) so he may pinch this one.

I seem to recall something around not using GoPro for competition runs?

it was around for a bit, but must’ve quietly disappeared as there was a go-pro segment of the crash Rachel Atherton nearly had at MSA where she’s shaking her head at herself.

Last 2 men down the hill winner takes all , couldn’t be better for viewers .
Apparently minnaar had a massive off in practice and snapped a frame so pretty impressive from him

Ooo this is going to be good.

Gwin is holdng it back though. Enough to get the qualifying points then a crushing win

Yikes

Blimey that must of been some crash . I assume they would have a spare 29er frame for him

They do that frequently, because the gaps between riders are less than the time taken to cover the course, the launch out of the gate is a replay then they switch to the live action.

I have been wondering how time could jump like that on the apparently ‘live’ coverage for so long. Thanks for explaining.

It’s exactly the same thing they do on DH skiing where it’s rare to see the whole run except for the top few.

km79 – Member
You could have the redbull stream as is but supplimented by live feed from each riders pov cam allowing you to switch between the 5+ riders that could be on course at any one time.

I think people have unrealistic expectations of what can be done! I’m sure these same people would also be upset if the live pov stream wasn’t crystal clear and had no lag…

and what they are willing to pay for that…

sweaman2 – I don’t think that happens in skiing any more (for the top 30 at least) due to course (gate) repairs and crashes. Not sure what the start interval is but you do now usually get to see complete runs.

This is a lot more difficult to do for downhill MTB though as the runs are much longer. They’d be there all day.

I’d happily pay a few quid each race if there was worthwhile extras like that.

Don’t forget complete course TV coverage is difficult anyway. They can’t put cameras in for the whole course, they’d need too many cameras what with the terrain and any undergrowth. It’s why you see the rider start, then 2 mins later in to the run they’re 10 seconds down, with mud down one side – they don’t cut back to see how the crash happened as there aren’t any cameras there and probably not enough people in the production van to organise it.

When you master live beaming from gopro at up to 75KPH through woods and weather along with getting 5x the bandwidth out of there on rotating feeds from up to 30-40 different cameras let us know

I recall Bernie saying he had spent £100m developing the tech for the F1 in car live feeds. Trying to do something similar for bikes going down a forested hillside is far from trivial as @mike says. Also I recall UCi stopped riders wearing GoPros on their race runs so if anyrhing they are going in the other direction