So for those about to ask
https://www.redbull.tv/live/AP-1PWUW938H1W11/uci-mountain-bike-world-cup
Starts in an hour
Womens Hannah needs to finish clear of Nicole by a few places to take the overall, I’d pick her for the win on the long track after Winning Garbanzo in Whistler. Atherton was struggling towards the end of the track in Quali
Mens
Best place Minnaar and Gwinn takes it, or Brosnan with a win and the others finishing much lower.

Off we go!!

Tahnee, cos she’s been ace and Gwin, cos 29ers can’t corner round wooden posts.

and we are live!!

Beers in 🙂

Top effort from Ravanel there, very respectable time for a newbie to DH

and the Women’s decided then, great to see so many winners this year. Wonder what happened to Hannah up top, possibly knowing that it wasn’t to play for meant it was save and be right for Cairns. Bring it on for 2 weeks time – I’m starting to look forward to my long weekend up in the jungle 🙂

That was good , wonder if Rachel was holding back for worlds knowing the overall was long gone or she is still feeling the shoulder on the steeper stuff .
Next year should be a good battle with all of them healthy and seagrave getting quicker by the race it seems

Yeah my thought was either holding back or getting tired. Tracy basically said it wasn’t worth risking it all for the win here with worlds coming up.

55 seconds behind Junior men is a respectable time?

😆

Yeah it is for her first ever WC and 2nd time riding that DH bike, though the track probably felt fairly short for the Enduro World Champion…
and given the Finn Iles seems to place fairly high in the mens cat I’m not sure what your comparison is

well first few runs say it’s going to be wild out there today, good to see Brook showboating up there

So is anyone watching??? Brits all on top, quali time just got smashed

Will the rain spoil it?

hopefully not as the top 3 are all close together, not convinced the top 3 will win it, though maybe Brosnam with a devil may care, Gwinn actually looked nervous in the interviews so will be interesting switching from all or nothing to win and last man down

The girl that does the rider interviews at the top of the course is absolutely abysmal. bland questions and no charisma. Give Cathro the job!

Yeah watching, although when I went for my lunch Adam Brayton was in the hotseat and now it’s Greenland.

Glad they’re saying about how steep it is at Schladders, I was there the other week and even the blue runs were beating me up (I was on a trail bike though).

Greenlands run was worth a look, like the WC from last year – all hanging out

dammm no tyre for minnaar, only puncture of the top guys thats crap

Well gutted for Minnaar, he was on splits to make that a win. Also Pirion was so close to winning with a hell of a run. What a race, such a shame that the title didn’t come down to racing in the end.

Gwinny does it the right way. 😯

For the future though the Syndicate kids look like a hell of a talent, good to see Loic coming back too

Gwin is just on a different level entirely. A joy to watch

is he though? Greg was in touch on the split before he lost the rear he isn’t dominating like he did that year.

gwinner is a gwizzard. bad luck for greg, what a course. surprise 2nd place but laurie greenlands run. bad luck for danny also, proper dh course, bit dusty though. gotta love dh .

Ah well not the way anyone wanted it but great to watch , be interesting to see minnaars 2nd split I think which was green compared to gwin but it’s so early in the race you probably couldn’t make any real what ifs from it .
What’s great for me is seeing someone like Greenland come down all wild and totally committed and thinking it’s impossible to ride down that quicker then the top guys come and take a couple of seconds out of him .
Warner mentioned rumours of hart and Macdonald on new teams next year , that GT team has had pretty poor results since it got set up so I can understand Macdonald wanting something new but Hart had the spell of his life last year on that team

on Hart TBH he he is a shit or bust rider a lot of the time, not hit the results and I guess his pay cheque isn’t small. He can’t do media and was piss poor form not to go and congratulate Greenland when he finished so might be time to see what he can get.
World champs should be awesome though with people hitting form and a proper season over event to let it all hang out (please no Bryceland style endings)

IM not sure hart is shit or bust as such but quite a few riders have gone through a season where everything seems to go well for them , gee had a couple of years , Steve smith had the year he had the overall and hart had it last year , the question is can he recapture that . It’s what makes gwin and minnaar so special

It’s what makes gwin and minnaar so special

this in shovel-loads. The men’s race is so insanely tight these days. that these two are consistently on the top shows the level they’re operating at.

and results up
https://www.pinkbike.com/news/final-results-val-di-sole-dh-world-cup-2017.html
Greg was 2/10ths down at split 2 to Gwinn, far too close to call

Enjoyed both those races but was a bit deflated after Minn’s tyre failed so didn’t enjoy it as much as normal but such good run by Gwinn, his bike control is amazing.
AP well deserved 2nd place, put it all out there and got rewarded

Tahnee flatted at the bottom of the hill so could have gone faster still. Fingers crossed for a 1st senior world’s for her in cairns.
Fair play to ravenelle for finishing top 10 in her first ever WC and by the looks of it had some very good split times in the technical sections

I don’t think it’s fair to bring Steve Smith into this as who knows what he could have achieved, if he hadn’t passed away. However, I do agree the consistency of Minaar and Gwinn is extraordinary. The same goes for Rachel.

I didn’t mean it as a slight against Steve Smith at all , if I remember rightly he had injuries after winning the overall and had just started to get back to top form before he passed away . It’s just an example of how a few riders manage to ride the crest of a wave almost for a few months but for what I assume could be a million reasons , injuries being one they don’t carry it on into the next season .
But your totally right , it’s impossible to know what he would of gone onto achieve