[Closed] Lourdes DH

Can't wait, got fibre broadband this year so I can watch it on the telly. Conditions are going to make it a tough one to call. PB is the go-to site for all the pre-race day news. Got a funny feeling Sam Hill could bring it home.

Those PB photos are awesome, can't wait till tomorrow!

Watching on TV - do you just need to download the redbull app on your 'smart' device'? In my case an Xbox one . then are you good to go?

Pinkbike coverage is really good, particularly liked the tyre tech part . What have I become

http://m.pinkbike.com/news/tire-tech-lourdes-dh-world-cup-2016.html

Bryceland and Carpenter for me !

Can't wait either...best do something productive in the meantime.

No idea why but I want Connor Fearon to make it this year, he is fun to watch.

Download the result app if you have a way to out it on tv, chromecast worked well last year. In nz for this one so will be on replay cairns in 2 weeks will be good.
Mens no idea, too open. Women? Maybe a cheeky fiver on little miss Hannah

Women? Maybe a cheeky fiver on little miss Hannah

Surely that's your local prejudice talking?

Rachel or possibly Ragot. Manon if they both fall off. Tahnee if she does too.

Tracey's better on dry & fast tracks isn't she?

Tracey's better on dry & fast tracks isn't she?

Now I'm aware it was just practise and you can't really read too much into it but did Rachel really put an entire minute on the rest of the field in the women's?!

I have red bull tv on my Apple TV but it just says they are showing the finals tomorrow . No Menton of qualifiers...?

They don't show the qualifying.

She just about won last year before a crash, steep and tech is her thing really. Just needs to handle the pressure and not brake 4 bones...

Will watch her with interest then. It'd be good to see her get a win again.

what do we think about Stevie Smith? He looked amazing in '14 but since then injury deffo left him on the back foot. Could this be is year??

He's one of the big unknown quantities this year.

With the field leveling off a bit at the top it seems like focus and the ability to deal with the pressure are more important than ever - and we know Stevie can do that from 2013!

Everyone loves a comeback, so fingers crossed for him anyway (OK, he is in my Fantasy DH team).

Can someone clear my confusion?...I thought Peaty needed 30 (or something) UCI points to race the World Cup this year, otherwise race in a Team GB jersey (or something), but didn't think he had it? If so, how come he's racing?

Not complaining obvs, it's great to see him racing but I've not seen anything about him getting or not getting the points and yet, thankfully, he's there? What's the situation?

From Bikeradar site:

[i]The legend that is Steve Peat is returning to World Cup racing for his final season after an injury-plagued 2015. He was unable to get the required 30 UCI points to race Lourdes in his team kit. Luckily, British Cycling can enter a number of riders from the UK so long as they wear a British Cycling jersey. Keep an eye out for Peaty on track.[/i]

Rachel or possibly Ragot. Manon if they both fall off. Tahnee if she does too.

Ragot isn't racing this year. And Tahnee just qualified first 🙂

Thanks wayniac. I think the photos I've seen this weekend Peaty's wearing Syndicate kit and not a GB jersey hence my confusion...

...ah, just checked [url=

View this post on Instagram

and he was wearing Team GB kit for qualy.

Question answered.

Well Smith has answered that one now - 4th in quali.

Fairclough 6th!

And Tahnee just qualified first

And by a good margin. It'd be awesome if she can repeat that tomorrow.

Matt Walker first world cup race Mens Juinor and 2nd. One to Watch

Drying track, should make things faster.

Wow Rachel won by a long way. Who can catch her this season? Real marker laid down.

Oj big stack in the men's !

The YT is running OK then!!!!!!!!

That Gwin chap wants to put a bit more effort in.

Looks that way! Top 3 women wintered in Wales? Something in the water?

That background music on the slow mo segments is quite annoying, more suitable to riding an elevator than a downhill bike.

I hope Gwinn doesn't win, not because I am a Gwinn hater, but I want to see a close season and if he wins today I can just see him walking the series, much like Rachel will probably do in the women's.

Moon! Fairclough should have realised he wasn't going to win and parked his bike there.

COME ON JOSH!

BRUNI!!!! NOOOOOOO

Oh nooooooo!

NOOOOOOO

Gutted!

Ooh

Well at least he looks like he could beat Gwinn, so it shouldn't be a one horse race over the season.

Cool finish . Unlucky Loic! Nice to see Hart on the podium

Loic!!!! No!!!!!

Talk about the ragged edge.

It will be a great season if he continues to be fast but dangerous and Gwin keeps on keeping on. Throw Smith into the mix as well and it could be a classic.

Spoilers 😉

Rachel won by a long way. Who can catch her this season? Real marker laid down

I reckon Seagrave will be there by the end of the season

Shame about Bruni. What a great run he was putting together.

Great racing. Loic/Arron battle all season. YT must be chuffed, first outing at this level, and a win! That can't have happened many time before!

great to see Danny on the podium!

Gutted for Bruni, love seeing someone riding that loose!

YT must be very very pleased with their outlay, Gwinn didn't seem to have had any problems settling in this time

Dang, missed it. Anybody seen a replay up yet? Redbull's is audio only atm.

Ratboy went from 20th at the first split to 4th (ended 6th) so he's got some pace. With a good first section, where would he have finished? Hopefully pinkbike will do the analysis.

Whoop, Redbull replay is all picturey now.

Spoilers ahead...

Just watched the replay. Shame the commentators couldn't get really excited about Rachel Atherton's time - I know she had done it a lot, but it makes it no less remarkable. The attack she has is amazing.
They were about as excited with 20th place mens riders.

Great to see Danny Hart on the podium again - also Chainsaw.
So many different lines in and around things - lots to enjoy.

Another amazing race - now to watch a replay of Paris Roubaix!

My broadband supplier changed on Thursday and I'm currently getting dial-up speeds. I've been looking forward to this for ages and it looks like I've missed a corker....gutted.

Not really a Gwin fan but quite nice to hear him say the Bruni was the better rider all weekend.

That was a great race - bodes well for the season! Gwin & YT came out firing on all cylinders but he's clearly not unassailable. I thought it was a real test of skill and experience to spend a week riding a wet track and then have to race a dry track where the quickest lines are often completely different - only Bruni and Gwin seemed to make that mental leap fully, hence the huge time gaps.

Ratboy went from 20th at the first split

Yeah, he looked super fast at the top, the commentators thought he was smashing it, then his time was well down, something must have happened off camera.

Dirt fantasy league is a bit slow to show the results, wonder if anyone had Pierron as a random cheap pick.

Had the live feed from pinkbike on, it showed all the split times as they happened.

Arse! think I forgot to click 'submit team' on the fantasy leqgue

Ah well, id gone for bruni anyway!

Bad luck for Bruni, he's a nice feller too... Some folks talking about "throwing it away" but he was seriously hanging it out there to get that pace, always a gamble...

Gwin ever the pro and gentleman,hats off to him for that too. Haven't seen the whole race yet but what a track. Would have liked to see a wet race but it'd probably have been pretty ugly, some of hte best in the world were looking like knobbers in qualis.

Did he pray to baby Jesus and thank him for the new bike?

The Bruni run was just immense. Its good to see someone really pushing Gwin as up until Bruni's run he looked untouchable! I Don't want to like Gwin, but I kind of do. I agree that Ratboy was looking fast, fast like only Gwin and Bruni looked on their filmed bits so he must have had a bobble or something!

I hope this will lead to a good season. I want ratboy to win as he is in my fantasy team but would be not disappointed to see Bruni do well to...

Whoa! I've just watched the replay (cos RB live TV went off after Gee's run for some reason). Go Loic! I'm not a fan of Gwin at all, dunno why, probably because he's a god-bothering American 😆

Another corker of a race, great start to the season. Bryceland looking very composed and stylish hope he gets the results later in the season when everyone else is focusing on Gwinn and Loic.

Arse! think I forgot to click 'submit team' on the fantasy leqgue

Usually Gwin's runs look faster than the others, but I couldn't work out how he did it yesterday.

Great start to the season anyway. Not surprised to see Rachel dominant again. And nice to see Smith and Hart both back up at the sharp end.

It is quite funny how Gwinn is disliked, I don't think he has bashed on about his god bothering, it is just a standard cliche that all Americans say when they win something.

I think he is just normally a quiet guy who gets on with business, I think he is probably one of the good guys, but just doesn't have the party animal image, which is (maybe unfortunately) the way DH is frequently portrayed.

It is kind of a shame, that you can see with the YT mob setup, they are trying to polish his public persona, which leads him to say things like "yeah were the 2 amigos we have lots of fun" in their latest vid. Rather than just letting him be himself, he has been told to be more fun, but doesn't quite know how to do it in the way it is wanted.

late to the party and just watched it...
Shame so many seemed off the pace, the Frenchies have been practicing this track a lot!!!
As for not wanting Gwinn to win, he just seems like a personality vacuum and the moving teams for cash thing never sits that well.
awaits the next round, Cairns could be anything, still hoping to get up for work but looking less likely now 🙁

moving teams for cash thing never sits that well.

Moved from Whitely (who got massively butthurt) now back to Whitely 😕 Limited time to earn a good living in this game though, don't blame him for that at all

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3:25.239PEAT Steve
SANTA CRUZ SYNDICATE+16.10839

Limited time to earn a good living in this game though, don't blame him for that at all

Nothing against Gwin myself, just want to see closer racing and I feel the frustrations of the other guys.

I think Brosnan, Bruni and Bryceland can all be faster, but nobody seems to be able to deliver a perfectly balanced run as well as Gwin.

PS. I've moved jobs for more money in the past, so I'm not gonna be any throwing stones - to use a biblical metaphor.

This is sport - the reasons for liking people/teams don't have to be totally rational - it's just for your personal entertainment.

I think Brosnan, Bruni and Bryceland can all be faster, but nobody seems to be able to deliver a perfectly balanced run as well as Gwin.

With the likes of Bryceland he was throwing whips over some of the jumps. Fun to watch but I have to wonder if it's the best approach in a race.

I used to dislike Gwin simply because he dominated that 2013(?) season so much that the racing wasn't as exciting as it could have been. Ever since his winning chainless run I've had to admire the guy though and now I LOVE watching him race. So smooth, so fast. He makes [s]some[/s] many of the others in the top 10 look ordinary. Still gutted to see Loic crash though. Fantastic race!

Were Claudio and Warner a bit hungover? They seemed to run out of commentating-steam on several occasions.

mikewsmith - Member

he just seems like a personality vacuum

Half his critics don't like his personality, the other half think he doesn't have one...

I feel the frustrations of the other guys.

yep. must be tough not being quick enough...

hard luck for loic but it doesn't matter how fast you at the splits if you don't cross the finish line fastest.

Money's got nowt to do with it, no hate here for getting paid to do a job at all. It's a good thing that there's that sort of money about to pay people (even if it has come from pushing Kool-Aid 😆 ). It's nothing personal, and probably not even Aaron-specific, but the whole American 'thanking god' or 'god's got my back' for a win instead of the hours of training they've put in to have got the results that earned them a good ride (bike I mean, not salary) gets right on my last nerve. It just makes me think the sportsperson in question is a moron.

With the likes of Bryceland he was throwing whips over some of the jumps. Fun to watch but I have to wonder if it's the best approach in a race.

I'll hazard a guess they know better than you... the whip isn't always going slow it's also about controlling the jump.

Were Claudio and Warner a bit hungover? They seemed to run out of commentating-steam on several occasions.

Northwind - Member

Gwin ever the pro and gentleman,hats off to him for that too.

He was full of praise and admiration for Bruni afterwards. Was a nice touch.

old freecaster days

I do miss them. Warner's definitely not quite as much fun in the commentary booth since Red Bull took the reins.

Rachel A - points off

Really? Wow! I must admit I was surprised to hear that come out of her mouth, with her being the ultimate professional.

I wasn't sure who to root for. Gwin and Bruni were super slick on the rocks up top. I think Gwin just seems to know when and where to pace his attack.

Hope Smith maintains his streak as well.

in case I was unclear she didn't drop points but language - from a woman too disgraceful.

Arse! think I forgot to click 'submit team' on the fantasy leqgue

Ditto, dunno how I missed it - could you only submit in the last few days?

Same here, bit annoyed about that. Had Gwin and Rachel too, grr. 😐

Really annoyed for Bruni, must be kicking himself, he was flying but that's no good if you can't stay on the damn bike. That's two races I saw yesterday when the win was determined by a stupid crash (Alise Post crashed out of 1st place on the last rollers at the BMX Supercross in Manchester) - and I've not even watched Paris Roubaix yet...

Nice to see Danny Hart and Steve Smith back on it though, and it's not like Gwin was all that far ahead of the fast boys, so it should be an interesting and entertaining season.

Were Claudio and Warner a bit hungover? They seemed to run out of commentating-steam on several occasions.

At one point you could hear him bollocking someone in the background, sounded like something was making lots of noise near them and interfering with the broadcast maybe.

in case I was unclear she didn't drop points but language - from a woman too disgraceful.

Ah understood. I thought you were saying she'd be dropped some points because of her language! 😆

kayla1 - Member

the whole American 'thanking god' or 'god's got my back' for a win instead of the hours of training they've put in to have got the results that earned them a good ride (bike I mean, not salary) gets right on my last nerve. It just makes me think the sportsperson in question is a moron.

That's not really fair I think. AFAIK never said that he's won due to divine intervention or purely because of his faith but everyone draws their inspiration and commitment from their own places and a chunk of his comes from faith, just like some of say Hart's comes from throwing big mental whips in the middle of race runs. And you don't complain when someone thanks their coach or their parents.

His tyreless run was definitely sent directly from Satan tbh.

AFAIK never said that he's won due to divine intervention or purely because of his faith but everyone draws their inspiration and commitment from their own places and a chunk of his comes from faith.

His RB rider profile listed his greatest strength as "Father God and brother Jesus" yesterday - as opposed to his mental focus, physical strength, razor-sharp reactions and creative line choices, which may possibly have slightly more to do with the actual task in hand, y'know...

If his wins actually [i]are[/i] down to divine intervention then surely that's an unfair performance enhancement and he should be DQed? 😉

I don't mind Gwinn, a recent interview presented him as very chilled bloke and happy to laugh at jokes pointed at him (gingers have no soul etc). He is VERY american though, not that it's a bad thing but it's all personal financial management, gleaming white teeth and jesus christ stuff. Compare with Ratboy....
Good to have a mix though, gives everyone options regarding who to support.

mental focus, physical strength, razor-sharp reactions and creative line choices

With other top riders also having those strengths, is it really that hard a leap of faith (see what I did there?) for Gwin to believe that "Father God and brother Jesus" are his competitive advantage? It's not like he hasn't got the results to back it up 😉