[Closed] Lourdes WC

Northwind
What are the odds he made 5 seconds on some super line? Commentators (and probably us too) are obsessed with single sections, I bet you 10 scottish pence he mostly took 1/10ths off everyone else in the bits that don't grab headlines.

Whilst i agree to some degree, at this level, no one, not even Gwin, bests the rest of the worlds bests in the corners in one split to take 5sec out of them! I suspect he did have a good line in one corner that allowed him to carry speed through the next long section, and hence the time gain.

More talented than the likes of Bryceland and Hill even.

Go team english
Go team welsh
oh dear team scotland

If you also do the math and look at the actual sector times rather than just the split times you'll see that Fairclough is only 1.5sec back from Gwin in Sector 2 as was Hart and Bryceland.

Good point, time gaps are cumulative not particular to each sector.

Gwin's just back in full-on Terminator mode and I just hope Bryceland can get back to top form and the easy speed he had last season so there's someone consistent to give him a run for his money.

It's almost as if they're scared that if they do put in as much training as the really top guys and still don't win

To be fair we don't know how much training each rider is putting in and winning in WC DH appears to be more of a mental than physical thing anyway. Hence Brendan's sudden improvement now he's got a very talented teammate, I suspect.

😆 @ Stuart Hall

Wee Fraser McGlone did no too shabby today TBF

I'm Scottish. Not GBish

Sam Blenkinsop is another from a similar mould. It's almost as if they're scared that if they do put in as much training as the really top guys and still don't win, then they're exposed.

Have you seen Blenkinsop's results in the enduro races he's tried? He is a beast. Won the Garbanzo DH at Crankworks and has been on the podium for the EWS.

No doubt he is supremely fit, but is also talented at a longer race format and racing blind. If he switched to enduro my guess is he'd be up there with Graves and Clementz.

Brendog on the other hand is probably not as fit as some of the others. Every year people say the same thing and every year he doesn't live up to his god given 'talent'

Can't say i've ever seen any videos of him training his arse off like Gee or Gwin Etc. Still when you can ride rampage and make it look easy and have that much style, it's not like he is going begging for sponsors or money.

I think it's probably fair to say that if your qualifying top 20 in men's elite DH you're probably going to be pretty bloody fit 😆

FFS! Read what I wrote Wrecker.
and incase you can't work it out for yourself, I hate blind Patriotism. It's nothing more than a retarded, inbred and outdated way of fooling plebs.
The DH World Cup is not a Nation Vs. Nation competition, One of the reasons I love following it so much.

Brendan's Rampage run wasn't stylish. It was almost as if no one told him style and tricks add to your overall score. He rode nice lines well tho.

The DH World Cup is not a Nation Vs. Nation competition, One of the reasons I love following it so much.

No nationalism in DH?

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Well done for confusing the one off event of the WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS for year long battle for the THE WORLD CUP SERIES.

Brendan's Rampage run wasn't stylish.

I didn't say it was 🙄 He rode a line that half of the field would have struggled to make it down and made it look easy.

Does [b]anyone[/b] read his posts anymore?

You seem to love xx

Well done for confusing the one off event of the WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS for year long battle for the THE WORLD CUP SERIES.

Biscuits anyone?

Biscuits anyone?

I think disco biscuits might be required here.

I think you'll find they are racing under British cycling licences hence GB. So get over your daft Scottish nationalism. We can all support our own local riders without petty moaning.

made it look easy.

Isn't that style though?

Style isn't just kick outs and roost, i thought nice style was just simply doing stuff really well, effortless and casual (coming from a BMXer who ain't happy until a trick looks/feels a certain way). Style can also be that persons unique way of doing stuff. Basically just doing stuff really well.

I love watching most elite level DH races but hate the patriotism of the World Champs.

is this really so difficult to understand?

I wrote the go team GB comment, and I stand by iT.

Yes I do understand World Cup vs World Champs.

I root for 'our' gang. Our riders, from these islands. The locals. The ones I see out riding our trails. The ones that inspire my kids. Yes they race for a team (or themselves). But that does not take away from the fact that they are Brits. And for that reason, I cheer 'them on and celebrate with them.

And today, our gang of men and women did us proud. Whooooooo!

See you on the trail someday.

I love watching most elite level DH races but hate the patriotism of the World Champs.

is this really so difficult to understand?

No, but your vehemence and rudeness is.

Isn't that style though?

I thought it rather stylish of Tracey Hannah to get back on following that faceplant.

No, but your vehemence and rudeness is.

Not actually that difficult to understand on a basic level, really. The deeper needs involved may be, though.

If you see what I mean.

Does anyone have a link to the overall standings please? Can't find it on UCI's site. Enjoyed watching this today, only caught the tail end of last seasons racing but might fellow this one a bit more.

Fair point dannyh.

If you can understand someone being passionate about their chosen patriotism it's surely not all that difficult to understand someone who dislikes patriotism just as passionately?

I don't have any [i]"daft Scottish nationalism"[/i] dragon. it's just the country were I was born.

Maybe you'd feel differently if you worn your countrys colours at a world level event.
I hate the whole tribal "we was robbed" bullshite that comes with certain games but it's great to see UK riders doing well and also nice you see national champs displaying their countrys colours.
They've earned them and should be proud of it.

I fully accept that's one view Stu.

Personally I don't care where they come from. I'll cheer on Arron because he's so smooth, I'll cheer on Ratboy 'cause he looks like he's having so much fun, and I cheered on the Frenchies as it was a home match, and it must be pretty bloody intense. I'll cheer on Gee 'cause he's so damned pro. I'll cheer on Ragot as she teeny compared to the others, and I'll cheer on Rachel as she makes it look so easy...

I like watching top athletes at the top of their games.

Today was Ace 😀

I fully accept that's one view Stu.

Oh and great to see just how far some people are hanging it all out for a win.
Makes great viewing.

I'm Scottish.

I find patriotism (especially in multination Team sports) all just a bit too inbred.

Ok, I've been selective but 😀

Oh and great to see just how far some people are hanging it all out for a win.
Makes great viewing.

I agree. There were quite a few moments where I flinched just watching it. There was a little gravelly slot on the exit of one corner near the bottom that a few looked like sliding out on. Watching Bryceland jump into that corner was also a bit of an arse-clenching moment, as was Bruni jumping nearly out of the course.

dannyh - Member

I agree. There were quite a few moments where I flinched just watching it.

I was half expecting someone to go off the edge of that last ramp and turn themselves into paste. They seemed a wee bit more laissez faire about catchfences, barriers and the like, quite a lot of people falling off precipices 😆

Great race and really good coverage, seems a step up. Gwin was on fine form. To me he's a guy who rides his luck, on the limit all the time. So he's going to win or fail. No room for mediocrity.

As for Brendog he has to be one of the riders most fans want to see win more than almost any other. He has skill and style to burn, just needs the killer instinct.

Those punctures some of the last 10 guys had. One of them had a bright blue tube. Was that a procore? If so, not very good advertising!

Yup it was Procore on Neko's bike, but i think the wheel being "square" was the [s]wheel[/s] real issue!

Brendog has undisputed skills but it seems it's not just pedalling that holds him back, but the sheer strength endurance to be able to ride at his best in the latter part of a really gnarly steep track. However I can imagine that for some riders it's very hard to build that athletic ability - just as it's hard for others to develop their skills to the level of Hart, Hill, Bryceland, Gwin, Atherton, Brendog, Bruni etc.

When Gwin is on fire it's like he has another gear compared to everyone else - he has a really smooth flow when he's going at everyone else's top speed but then he just steps up another level and manages to ride on the ragged edge for most of the course. I guess growing up manhandling motocross bikes in competition gives you a different perspective on rough terrain and speed!

Greg Williamson from my neck of the woods had a proper nasty crash

View this post on Instagram

**** me. That's it, never getting on a bike again

I saw that earlier and thought he must be a broken mess. Glad to hear it's not as bad as it looks.

I've just rewatched Gwins run and it is bloody amazing. He looks like he is riding a different track to all the other riders.

1:16:45 if you want to watch it: http://www.pinkbike.com/news/replay-world-cup-dh-lourdes-2015-finals.html

Shame it is not the full run.

Gwins run was awesome! Really looking forward to the next one, actually managed to watch most of it at work 🙂

I'd love to se a split screen of Gwinn and Bruni as it somehow doesn't seem a creditable performance. Maybe that's because there was no build up and it was mostly off camera and it just makes little sense for no one to be faster as the time goes on. What we did see of it was pretty impressive and that last corner line was genius. Maybe the relatively less cut track combined with his speed makes the difference.

Such a shame not to se he and Hill go head to head on that course or Gee get a decent run.

Great run by Gwinn, as somebody else said there is the outside possibility of gamesmanship by running off course in qualifying and therefore getting a 'clean' run in before the other top-20 guys and before the track got too blown out....but i really dont think that actually happened, a bit too far out for my liking.

He has form for this kind of riding and this kind of track, we may simply be seeing him back to his best, shame Hill is injured as on last years form from Hill this would've be an epic head to head....truly one for the ages.

Interesting that Gwinn seems to only use the first 50% of the bike's travel on a course as rough as Lourdes, almost goes against conventional wisdom but i can see how it works....his suspension takes just enough of the hammering out for him to skim/skip/glide over the track as opposed to the others who seemed to take the 'plough through it' approach and ended up bottoming out, wallowing in their travel, holding up in holes etc....Warner implied that it is obviously effective (as Gwinn's time demonstrates) but its very difficult to ride like that, he suggested only a few riders could manage it....i'd be interested to see others take that approach on tough tracks and see what their results would be.

An in form and healthy Hill and Bryceland could've taken the fight closer i think but Gwinn was imperious on his race run...just about everyone was excited this year that Hill, Gee, Loic, Jones, Neko, Fairclough, Blenki, Simmonds, Hart, Dale, Bryceland, Minnaar, Brosnan, Smith, Brannigan, MacDonald etc were going to have an incredible fight with some magazines and websites suggesting any one of 10 riders could win at any of the World Cup stops....sadly i dont think this will be the case, the two best hopes for making it interesting this year (Hill and Bryce) are injured or recovering, its maybe a season too soon for jones to mount a consistent challenge...Gee, Hart and Minnaar as good as they are cant live with Gwinn when he's on it like yesterday, this has shades of 2011/12 all over it again.

😐