Downhill World Cup: How is it for you?

I Watch the highlights on YouTube. I like them a lot. I tend to also watch the Enduro highlights, which I also like.

unlike many folks, I like the commentary this year at least as much, and maybe more than previously.

the YT highlights are obviously much, much shorter than watching it all day on telly previously. But I probably wasn’t going to do that for every location anyway. If I could tape the whole event and fast forward to the finals, if be interested, but not enough to pay for it.

Gwinn is an even bigger asset in the commentary booth than on the track

I do wonder if best of two runs, Rampage style, would be a way of evening the odds when it comes to weather and stoppages and Minnaar’s exploding bicycles.

Yes it can, but it can also absolutely ruin the spectacle. Eg run 1 is dry, then it starts raining. No point in even racing, so you’ll now be compelling people to ride in poorer conditions for no reason

Even though people say about ‘paywall’ a LOT of people get to see DH now through Eurosport and Discovery which comes as part of an overall package, they wouldn’t have seen it or found it via Redbull TV as that doesn’t exist to most…

i know this is a uk based website with mainly uk participants, but i’m pretty sure eurosport isn’t available in north america as part of a regular tv package, but tv’s come with a red bull app installed.

does discovery broadcast any DH outside of discovery+?

i don’t think there is any greater chance of punters stumbling across DH on discovery+/eurosport and becoming fans than there was when it was on redbull tv.

i also don’t see how the sport can grow if the rules make it difficult for competitors to get a foothold. unless the plan is to attract so many sponsors that it becomes viable for more elite/factory teams to operate. don’t know the correct term, but i mean the teams with the riders that don’t need UCI points to enter

the only highlights i’ve found on youtube have been very short.

I get Discovery + ‘for free’ with my sky sub

If I had to pay for it I would be well and truly peed off as the interface is crap. <span style=”font-size: 0.8rem;”>If it wasn’t for this forum I would have missed most races as their schedules are always wrong.</span>

The commentary in the semis is awful, as is the camera work. It improves slightly in the final, at times I used to find RW a bit ott but boy he does show how bad these guys are.

The whole organisation just appears a bit amateurish with scheduling later in the year, last minute cancellations

Im actually getting bored with the courses, they are all getting bike park esk. Why not do the full race series at Dyfi and stop all the travelling?

If I had to pay for it, I wouldn’t be paying again and certainly if it’s not in my Sky subscription going forward I won’t pay for it

But that Ric guy, sorry but it’s just awful

Really? I’m all for bring back RW but yer man is working hard holding shit together. Far, far better than anyone other than the guy who should be commentating on these spectacular events.

But, as I cannot now watch finals in full, the experience is virtually non-existent.

Why ?

DH is rapidly heading towards a battle of outright courage/stupidity. Or, putting it slightly less emotively, the winning edge is defined too much by willingness to accept risk. The media men think da kidz want big air and big crashes, but this view is distorting the sport and making it more dangerous.

Welcome to the world of 2020+ That’s how the kids roll… You see 16-17 year olds at Vanta Jam, you’ve got Harry Schofield hitting jumps bigger than double decker buses and 8 year olds hitting A Line in Whistler…. The kids do want big air, thats what they thrive upon. You only need to go to any home built woods and see what trails the kids build, they don’t build tech, curves, gnar…. they build jumps and gaps… That’s the world.
Whether that’s a deliberate thing in terms of course, choices etc i’m not sure. But it’s the world in which we find ourselves.

Overall, I think it’s fine for the first season under WBD. I already subscribe to Eurosport for road racing, so the DH isn’t costing me any more than previous. The Eurosport is loads better (for me) than Redbull was, just works.

The commentary isn’t that bad, was improved immensely with Gwin on board, loved the detail he brought to the race. Would love to see Reece, Miriam, others in the booth each week. Hoping they need a season to find their feet, wouldn’t be mad if Cedric was moved out the booth. I think he’d be great as an after race interviewer, imagine the hype at the finish line with Cedric congratulating Bruni after a win.

Filming is definitely a small improvement, I like the closer drone shots and it feels like we see more of the racing.

Haven’t watched any of the semi’s, I just treat them like qualifying. Look at the semi results on PB and then watch the final. Think it should go back to quali and final.

The most important thing is the racing is still awesome. I love watching Vali, Loic, Loris, Nina, Danny, Greg, all absolute magicians on a bike and come across as ace people too. I think amongst all the complaining, people are missing the fact that the racing has been damn good so far this year (weather excepted).

Are you asking why not being able to watch finals live makes the experience virtually non-existent? Seriously?

No, i’m asking why you can’t watch the finals in full ?

I used to fit watching the races in around family life, almost always on my phone with one headphone in, cooking etc. I can’t just sit in front of the TV/computer for hours when I need to be a useful parent at the weekends. So this is the first year in over a decade that I haven’t watched the races. I’ve watched some of the highlights and I’m pretty like, blah, whatev’s about the whole thing. A shame.

I used to fit watching the races in around family life, almost always on my phone with one headphone in, cooking etc. I can’t just sit in front of the TV/computer for hours when I need to be a useful parent at the weekends. So this is the first year in over a decade that I haven’t watched the races. I’ve watched some of the highlights and I’m pretty like, blah, whatev’s about the whole thing. A shame.

That closely describes my situation too. Young kids and aging parents leaves me with little time to dedicate/sit on my arse to watch through hours of coverage. RBTV coverage before was spot on – long enough to cover the race, short enough to relaistically be able to watch it. RB app was perfect to watch while multi-tasking, but equally I could sit back once kids were in bed and watch it back properly.

Coverage: I ain’t subscribed/paid as I can’t commit to watching that amount of less-exciting coverage. RBTV was shorter, sharper, much more exciting, and a realistic amount to watch IMO.

Semi-finals: no need. Sack them off. Back to qually and final only.

Commentary: awful, a big step down from previous years. Rick and Cedric just talk without giving much meaningful insight – they don’t add anything and I’d mute them if I could. Gwin though – GREAT addition at the weekend there, showed to me just what we’re missing (the technical insight and real-time analysis of the runs) by not having Rob, Elliot, Tracey and Claudio.

The racing/tracks: still f**king amazing which IMO makes the coverage and format changes even more frustrating – that I can’t easily follow the racing like I have the past decade and more.

Young kids and aging parents leaves me with little time to dedicate/sit on my arse to watch through hours of coverage

Don’t then, you can watch exactly the same amount of time on just the the top30 men’s finals.

scrap protected riders

iirc this came in because of top riders missing out due to things beyond their control in quali’s – e.g. weather

If it was a more mature sport you’d just have the same 15/30 riders doing all the races with (maybe) an occasional local wildcard. This would mix a lot of course issues (massively decreased traffic), but OTOH people would absolutely flip out that the 100th ranked rider in the world wouldn’t have a chance to try and qualify

I used to watch every race when it was on red bull, either live or catch up when I got home from a ride.

I haven’t subscribed for the new broadcasters for two reasons.  Firstly if I’m paying for it then I will feel like I need to watch it, and with the new format of quali, semi then finals, I simply can’t invest that much time.

Secondly, Ive watched a couple of semis on YouTube and the coverage has seemed very poor.  Poor camera work and poor commentary.  I’m not paying for something that is substandard compared to the free version last year.

It’s a shame, as I feel like this is a really great sport to watch online, it has such a climatic build through the finals race.  But the new format will not encourage new people to the sport.  Downhill seems to be getting ruined by the new broadcaster.

You end up watching the best* 30 men and 15 women, which is pretty much what happened in previous years.

Yeah but riders 30-50 was where the absolute mid-field carnage used to happen 😉

*Ok very occasionally, someone will slip through the cracks like Brayton. Which sucks if you are him, or if he is your most favouritest rider ever.

Which even he has admitted is his own fault for not paying attention to the rules

peter1979 nails it for me.

I’m not paying for something that is less good than what I had before.

If that means the sport dies then it is the UCI whatdunnit by selling out.

🤷‍♂️

But the new format will not encourage new people to the sport.

Eurosport had 157 million subscribers in 2019,  it’s probably going to open DH to a much much wider audience that RB could ever have managed.

Going from a platform that’s free but has 100,000 users

or Paywall with 200,000,000 worldwide

yeah i can see why that would fail 😀

You’re aware of no doubt, the Premiership, T20 cricket, Tennis, F1..The Superbowl, etc etc?

Yes. And how many viewers would those have free to air?

It seems the point is moot (and the thread title too, for that matter) because for every person that won’t now watch it, there will be 2000 new viewers.

It appears the UCI have hit upon a positive feedback loop of amazingness.

I’ve not seen anything in the semi-finals that makes me want to subscribe to Discovery+ or any of the other options that could gain me access.  I cannot stand the G**N channels and I don’t want access to anything else D+ do so I’m not interested in taking out another sub. I’d consider a PAYG for the events or the series but I’m not impressed with what they’ve done so far, especially the way they’re treating the riders. I guess I’m conscientiously objecting,

I was never necessarily pro or anti Redbull, I can’t stand the drink and consider them a pushy and somewhat tacky brand but do love that  the owner had a massive passion for sport, especially the more extreme stuff and put a hell of a lot of money into it. Being the recipient of an RB helmet is a hell of an accolade in whatever sport you’re doing and I understand they treat their athletes very well, especially when injured.  I don’t for one minute think that Redbull’s custody of MTB sport was 100% altruistic but they did right by it for 10 years and they, at this point, are sorely missed.

D+ and the UCI need to pull their fingers out to create a show worthy of the performers, pay those performers accordingly and treat them right. These guys are risking their health for the sport, it’s spectacular and D+ are benefitting from it in some way or they wouldn’t be doing it. It’s time to bring in a (real) title sponsor and up the prize money.  I wonder what could/will happen when DH subscriber/viewing figures bomb? I’m assuming that D+ are contractually obliged to put on and broadcast the events.