[Closed] Lourdes DH

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 😉

I didn't used to think that Gwin was a very stylish rider as most of the stuff you see of him is clipped in and route one but there's a video on Redbull TV I watched after the race yesterday that completely changed my mind. It's called something like "Aaron Gwin's off season is better than yours" and it's pretty cool. Shows he's every bit as much a flair rider as Ratboy or Fairclough.

I do think YT are going to try and pull some personality out of him by getting some edits out regularly but I think he'll always be hard to warm to as he's very much all business. This is after all a job to him and he's taking it as seriously as he thinks he needs to.

moving teams for cash thing never sits that well.

Always amazed when people say this, are you saying if you had the option of doing the same job at several different companies you would purposefully not take the highest paying one you could for some weird reason? Some kind of martyrdom? Especially when you only have a few years the career is viable.

he's very much all business.

Agreed and this shows in his race style absolutely.

Some of you might enjoy watching this blast from the past from when Gwin was a newbie in MTB...
http://www.pinkbike.com/news/mojo-diaries-ep2-part2-2010.html

Seems quite a nice, normal lad and lots of style on his trail bike. Saw this years ago and I've only just got the hang of the scandi flick myself.

mikewsmith - Member

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...

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bigjim - Member
Always amazed when people say this, are you saying if you had the option of doing the same job at several different companies you would purposefully not take the highest paying one you could for some weird reason? Some kind of martyrdom? Especially when you only have a few years the career is viable.

I think it was the manner it was done tbh - iirc he had signed a letter of intent or at least shook hands on a deal and then f'ed off to Spesh for a suitcase full of cash at the last minute. I may be wrong but I think he did one to Bell at the same time. I think the'd just come out with a line of Gwin replica lids and he switched to TLD.

While "just business" it doesn't sit well with most people and is slightly counter to his godly persona.

what happened to sam dale? all the results say is DNS (assuming did not start) but not read/seen any reasoning?

While "just business" it doesn't sit well with most people and is slightly counter to his godly persona.

I think he's every right to go wherever he wants to be honest, it's his body on the line after all and compared to other sports like football which are much lower risk with longer careers he does right to milk it for every penny he can. He could easily break his neck tomorrow.

bomberman - Member
I think he's every right to go wherever he wants to be honest, it's his body on the line after all and compared to other sports like football which are much lower risk with longer careers he does right to milk it for every penny he can. He could easily break his neck tomorrow.

If you'd ever been on the other end of a business deal where the other party, a long time collaborator or friend has gone "absolutely, yes, yeah, err, no". you may think differently.

Specialized got a good rider and Gwin proved that he's probably the most complete rider by taking a "budget" brand bike and winning on it the first time out.

Maybe it's because I'm 40-odd but I find his approach to racing far more appealing to the throwing horns, poking tongue, uber-gnar approach of some riders/teams.

The Gwin moving for money argument is boring.

what happened to sam dale? all the results say is DNS (assuming did not start) but not read/seen any reasoning?

I was thinking the same thing. Also what happened to bryceland in the top section to lose 3 seconds? Would have been a good finish if it wasn't for that section.