Be a brave man to bet against Gwinn, but can Danny throw down another winning run like last year? Is Minnaar on an unstoppable wining streak?
Looks like the overall is coming down to either Minnaar, Gwinn or Brosnan with quite a big gap between Minnaar and the others so maybe he’ll ease of the gas a little? But I doubt it, from what I’ve seen of Minnaar (and the rest I guess) he’s a racer through and through so I guess easing off isn’t in his vocabulary. OTOH he does ride with his head more than some others at times so maybe…?
I’m going for Gwinn for the Win, Brosnan close second, Minnaar third

Wondering whether with not much to lose Hart will go balls to the wall again and crash out. But maybe he’ll save himself to defend his world champs jersey?

Looking forward to it a lot.

I will be rooting for Danny to bring it home, though he will have to keep a very cool head with the big 3 performing the way they are.

I think the women’s race is equally exciting with 3 Brits at or near the top. I will be rooting for Tahnee on the new TR11. It would be great to see her win with Rachel back to strength. Tahnee and Manon hav been chipping away at Rachels margin this year with the shoulder issue, which should only help their confidence.

P.S. Is it me or is the new TR11 the best looking bike ever! They do know how to make lovely looking bikes those guys.

In the Mens they say it’s a “29er track” (ffs) which helps Minnar over Gwin I guess, but it’s still WC DH, anyone could win!

In the Women’s it’s not so open, I have a feeling Rachel is back to almost full strength and she’ll probably win it – my local hero Manon Carpeter seems to have found her place in 4th or 5th, I’m not sure it’s the new bike, starting Uni and putting some focus there, the other girls have got faster or anything else – but she doesn’t seem to be a contender at the moment.

Agree about Manon sadly, she seemed to lose her mojo after that crash at Ft. William.
Think that Tracey Hannah will be in contention, she seems to be winding it up in preparation for the world champs in her home country.

Track looks savage, Shirley there will be more wheels and tyres exploding than normal but hopefully not gwins. Troy has the speed and confidence and rides light and could do well. Minaar may play safer for the overall.

Claudio course preview

Note it’s on Saturday evening, 6pm women and 8pm men.

It’s been too tight to call most of the season but I reckon Greg is the hot favourite here (on form, long track, 29in wheels). Though I’d love to see Danny hit his stride again.

Rachel back to dominant position in the women’s.

Note it’s on Saturday evening, 6pm women and 8pm men

Thanks for the heads up – that’s actually perfect for me.

Thanks for the heads up – that’s actually perfect for me.

Not me 🙁

Is it acceptable to miss a 30th birthday celebration to watch the DH?

I just love that rock garden in the lower woods, everything about it is gnarly!

Digging this from VitalMTB. Track is full on. Fast, rocky, Mick Hannah blowing a crank clean off his bike, etc.

[video]https://youtu.be/Nh26YZwOvvE[/video]

Is it acceptable to miss a 30th birthday celebration to watch the DH?

I’d come up with a better excuse than that. Perhaps you’re starting to feel a bit peaky now? Could get worse by tomorrow PM.

Note it’s on Saturday evening, 6pm women and 8pm men.

That sounds like a good way to spend the last evening on my own before the wife and kids come back from holiday!

Just need to decide where to ride to during the day.

Had Minnaar’s name all over it I reckon, raw tracks always reward the thinking racer over the balls-out rider. If Gwin can get down without a puncture then he’s going to take it but I have a feeling his luck is on the negative side at the moment.

my local hero Manon Carpeter seems to have found her place in 4th or 5th, I’m not sure it’s the new bike, starting Uni and putting some focus there.

Have noticed the same thing, think it’s to do with the team as they don’t have much experience to find those little bits that make the final seconds unlockable. She seems very tentative on the bike too, she doesn’t seem to have that little bit extra on a race run compared to qualy. Maybe having her own home has changed the amount of focus she can give too, no parents to do the washing etc. Really want her to do well so hopefully this is a building season with Radon ready to hit next year full-on but she needs to show signs of improvement by the time Worlds come along for that to be the case. It’s great to see Tracey and Tahnee step up a level but they seem to have left Manon behind in doing do.

Hadn’t twigged it was on in the evening 😀

Plus her crash at the worlds was absolutely horrific. That has to dent the confidence

Huge respect for Manon, but I suspect her heart’s not really in it any more.

I’d come up with a better excuse than that. Perhaps you’re starting to feel a bit peaky now? Could get worse by tomorrow PM.

This is a good shout, however I cannot engage this plan too early as I’m off down Grace Road tonight for the T20 cricket and some beers 😛

Plus her crash at the worlds was absolutely horrific. That has to dent the confidence.

While that would be true for the first races of the season it should be dealt with by now. Look how quickly Rachel has come back after a nasty shoulder dislocation. Manon did have laser eye surgery done over the winter too though, maybe that’s making a subtle difference?

chakaping – Member

Huge respect for Manon, but I suspect her heart’s not really in it any more.

Agreed she’s still very, very fast but I think that last 1% that means the different between 5th and 1st is missing at the moment. I get the feeling she wants more from life than ‘just’ world cup racing and mountain biking but you can’t really tell from SM.

She’ll probably win tomorrow now, my sporting predictions are usually way off.

Sam Hill was never the same (in DH) after a couple of big crashes

So much for 5th?! What happened to Manon? Fail to qualify?

Manon fell ill on thursday

That was rather exciting wasn’t it! What a save by Rach too!