no spoilers from me but - shitting hell !!
could come down to tire choice!
im only seeing highlights of WSL football on red button?
bloody squeaky brakes should be force to use rim brakes
oops
ah, now on......but 2 laps in
Wish the TV would show everyone, it does concentrate far too much on the front end. I'd prefer something like Formula 1 which has contractual obligations to show the whole field.
tojv - should be on iplayer too
the speed through the sand is amazing
MVP talking to himself
that's a bummer
Lad's under pressure, for sure
I feel sorry for the mechanics who need to sort these bikes once they've been through the sand and seawater! 😳
Shaping up to be a classic this.
I only did a few CX races many years ago but 'get your heart rate back under control' is not a memory I have of them?
MVP really struggling in the 2 sand sections before the bridge, brutal every where else though!
better this time
now WVA is struggling in the sand
this looks ominous
Are we allowed full-on spoilers - names/positions etc ??
Not sure what happened to Piddles at the start but he's looking strong now💪
think it has to be done now.
Not sure what happened to Piddles at the start but he’s looking strong now💪
He kind of bounced off WvA a bit then got a bit swamped. Good ride to claw back the time he has.
yeah - went into the red though, by the looks
Not sure what happened to Piddles at the start but he’s looking strong now
yeah thanks to the ****ing bbc running late
Not sure what happened to Piddles at the start but he’s looking strong now💪
now going back again, too big an effort to catch Aerts?
it's amazing these two are so much better than everyone else team tactics don't even come into equation
Will he stop going on about WVAs time at the Tour... he says that like MvDP was sitting at home relaxing instead of winning his own races.
^^ oh the commentary is shite on pretty much every stream.
I love bikes and I love the beach but I can't see the attraction in mixing them. Ever. Brutal course but it's given the right result with the strongest rider likely to win.
real shame about the puncture - could've been a classic race
twas a spoiler. 🙁
Great race!!
Yeah it wasn't a course i thought worthy of a world champs, it was basically just a power monster course, i'd rather have seen a bit more of a tech course..
Can't argue with it for entertainment though, but not a course i enjoyed viewing.
Did the UCI contract the trophy out to the Year 4 Art class at Oostende primary
Awesome viewing..think mvp would of had it either way he was really flying on the grass sections.
Wasn't a fan of the course - but Worlds courses don't tend to be super technical, or have lots of climbs/descents. Think this is the third in a row which has been mainly flat, with a few bridges thrown in - and very little technical sections.
Agree about an earlier post about the commentary; makes you realise how good the Red Bull TV MTB coverage is, and Rob's enthusiastic commentary.
I get fed up of them going on about how great CX is for road racing.....
I thought the course was quite good, but I love sand riding, it’s a unique sensation and watching people do it well is so impressive. I thought they could have made some of the grass sections a bit wider, quite a bit seemed bang on 3m; reducing line choice and over-taking.
Whoever didn’t carpet the stairs before Saturday needs a bollocking. I don’t think that would get past a local league course inspection!
I love the regs. Carpet the stair for safety, but headlong down a 20% slope straight into deep sand - crack on! Not so much in the elites but in some of the other races if you looked beyond the camera subject into the background there were some mighty OTB moments!
Actually, I am sure that uci regs say you have to enter a sand section on the flat... although I guess there was a couple of metres Of compacted sand before the loose stuff 😂
Flat entry to sand is for artificial sand sections. Natural? Knock yourself out 🙂
Literally in some cases I suspect
I feel sorry for the mechanics who need to sort these bikes once they’ve been through the sand and seawater! 😳
Jet wash the hell out of them, throw away BB and jockey wheels after the race, sorted. Plus the vast majority of the SRAM riders seemed to be on AXS and the Shimano ones Di2 so at least there's no cables to bother about.
I thought the course was pretty good, yeah it played into the hands of those with mega power, but the way MVdP was riding the sand in the end was amazing, and the bridge at 21% was frankly brutal.
If you're brutally honest the overtaking opportunities are so few and far between the narrow course doesn't really matter as it gets so strung out by the disparity in ability between the top few and the rest of the field is amazing.
Slightly off topic, but for all the 'rivalry' between MvdP & WvA, I think he's got a 70% win record v Wout. However, there is a cyclist that he has a losing record against.....
A few years ago on the BBC Bespoke podcast he was called "the best cyclist you've never heard of; the one and only N1no.
Slightly off topic, but for all the ‘rivalry’ between MvdP & WvA, I think he’s got a 70% win record v Wout.
Yeah, although historically I think it's more even, WvA won three world champs in a row before MvdP started his current run?
Also arguably WvA still more succesful on road?
Unfortunate when a championship was decided by a puncture
