Well it’s looking pretty interesting already.
Track looks pretty blown up. Sure I heard Oisin say there is rain forecast too.
Can the Irish lads back it up or will they blow up?
Regardless of the new format and tv coverage it’s been a belter of a season and should be an interesting final round.
I’m going for (to be controversial):
Troy Brosnan
Richie Rude
Big Greg
Tahnee
Nina
Hattie
Bernard mentioned he was practicing wet lines due to the forecast.
I think Kolb will have this one
The forecast I've seen has a fair bit of rain in spells overnight and tomorrow. Could make things quite spicy.
I know Oisin, Ronan and Bernard were all quite keen for a wet one. I just hope conditions are the same for the whole field.
Norton for the win. He's been right on the brink all year.
The problem is there's 10 or 15 riders who could win it and another 10 you've never heard of just about to pop off.
Absolute belter of a season so I'm looking forward to this one. Signed up for a monthly GCN+ sub to watch Snowshoe and this combined. Mrs a11y was away last weekend so I had plenty of time to watch my fill of DH, not sure how I'll manage this weekend. No chance of watching the semis so it'll be Junior and Elite DH finals only for me, if I'm lucky.
Coverage seemed to step up at Snowshoe - I thought even the drone shot was watchable unlike other rounds. Gwin's a great addition to the commentary team for DH too. Still think semis are a waste of time.
Looking forward to the finals tomorrow. It’s too close to predict
Semis are even more of a waste of time for this round I think because there are no points allocated...all the points are on the final run so why are we asking the riders to risk a crash for no benefit?
Coverage seemed to step up at Snowshoe – I thought even the drone shot was watchable unlike other rounds. Gwin’s a great addition to the commentary team for DH too. Still think semis are a waste of time.
Sums it up for me. Coverage was much better, and you're right about Gwin 👍
I reckon Finn could take the win here again, and I'll back Vali for the women's.
Really hoping to see someone who hasn't got a win this year on top of the men's podium - just so there's a different winner for every round.
Dak or Ronan would be my preferred winners. Bernard would be tolerable.
Should be good, it’s been such a good season this year despite the shenanigans. Realistically a two horse race for the men’s overall, Goldstone is over 150pts back from Bruni in third. <br />Would love to see Vergier take it here but he’s going to have to be very lucky to come out the overall winner. Looking forward to it.
Its looking wild already, the dust looks incredible, and with the right amount of rain it could be an improvement. The worry is it rains right through that 'better' stage and into 'much, much harder!'
Its going to be really interesting how riders approach the semis - in interviews so far you can tell they are all wondering about it - saying 'oh yeah ill just ride as normal' but actually... I bet there are people who are considering just rolling through the gate.
It may depend on the weather, and finally, what about the off chance where finals gets canned due to a storm and the UCI decide to take times from the previous session...?
Oh and - winners? It would be great for someone new again. Finn Isles would be a fairytale though.
Can you have 2 fairytales in a row? Last year was pretty perfect.
I'd like to see another new face on the box just to continue the theme of the season. Hopefully someone from way outside the podium regulars to strengthen the argument for not thinning the field to a handful of big names.
I'm home alone I'll be watching everything I can get. Might even have a shandy.
Watching the juniors, young French guy Pontvianne has absolutely smashed it, be interesting to see how his time stands up.
Track looks ideal conditions now, looking like that’s going to change. Beautiful colours on the trees from the drone shots, it’s unusual to see these autumn conditions but very pretty.
Im going to say Kolb ftw.
It was interesting listening to Marine Cabirou on wyntv. Her take seemed to be that she'll ride semis the same as any other semi, as it's a part of her building to finals process.
This looks exciting...
I concur that it's been an incredible season. Overall winner is going to be a matter of consistency rather than domination but we've had 3 first time winners this season and it shows what a depth of talent there is and how competitive it is at the front end.
Just wish I could get a day pass for GCN or Disco - I'd like to watch the final.
I'd like to see Bernard win, I think what he's doing is pretty awesome and I'd love to see him get that tiger.
Can't imagine how hard he has to work, running the team, doing frequent edits, building a clothing brand, travelling,training and racing. When does he sleep?
In his van, with the man by the looks of it😁
But yes. Would be awesome to see BK get it too. If it turns nasty weather wise, after seeing his hardline stuff this year, he could do it.
I'm not so sure about BK, however I can see Ethan Craik getting on the podium tomorrow. He's getting closer to a big result every race.
Juniors was pretty spectacular to watch, the track looks utterly brutal!!!
Craik in 4th in Qually is brilliant to see.
Vergier for the win and overall
Vergier for the win and overall
Yep I'm revising my previous post to agree with this.
I'd still rather see Dak or Ronan get a first win, but it's more important for loris to beat loic to the overall 🤞
Goldstone and Kolb top 3 and then maybe/hope a wildcard or two to round of the podiums. I kind of want Minnear to do well as he had such a crap season and he can't be too far from retirement.
I'm hoping for a Ronan Dinner or BK win with vergier doing whatever is needed to win the overall.
Heavy rain just started 5 mins before semi finals, this is gonna be a good race
Yes it’s looking pretty wet and wild. Going to be an interesting afternoon.
Wild racing. That rock slab where Tahnnee crashed looks like absolute death.
Vali's gap there almost surpassed Kovarik's from 2002!
Err... what did I just see? Ethan Craik beats Bruni by 2 then Jackson Goldstone comes down and smashes another 4 into the time? The guard has changed for sure. Next year will be wild.
amazing race finishing an amazing season
Another fantastic race. Where does Goldstone find that speed? Gonna go on to be one of the best ever, that kid.
Jackson just seems like he's out for a play on his bike almost like he's not trying while others are obviously pushing yet he still thumped them!
That was nuts. Big fan of all the new faces in the mix.
Jackson is on another level. Considering what he's gone through this year with sickness, surgery, weight loss etc. When he's fit he could just repeatedly smash everyone.
Bruni could have done more if he wasn't riding safe. Interesting to see the pressure get to him this year though. He's usually got the strongest head in the game but now the threat's are coming from everyone and he's had a few shaky runs.
the way Bruni had to unclip I'm not convinced he was playing it safe
Another race another edge of seat session.
Amazing, coverage has been piss poor, but the racing has been incredibly good. Such a shame for craik and kerr though. Really thought Craik had it after that run.
Just mind blowing racing this season, for me on Disco Plus the coverage has been really good apart from last week for some reason . There's a great opportunity for whoever gets the rights next year to broaden the sports appeal but hopefully not too much, nice it's still unsung ?
Ethan Craik comes from Portsmouth! How do you get to be a world class downhiller coming from Portsmouth?! Amazing.
Ethan Craik comes from Portsmouth! How do you get to be a world class downhiller coming from Portsmouth?! Amazing.
I blame his suspension engineer 🤣🤣🤣
BMX background?
Rogate, the best DH training in UK?
Super Bruni has sniffed the barmaids apron ! 😂😂😂💪💪💪
Rogate, the best DH training in UK? 👍👍 😄
Ethan Craik comes from Portsmouth! How do you get to be a world class downhiller coming from Portsmouth?! Amazing.<br /><br />
I heard he spent most of his formative years training at a little know location in… Swindon!
If you can ride greasy wet green chalk you can ride anything fast? Great race that, some of the crashes look gnarly. Jackson's run was nuts though, 4 seconds in that field is madness.
Fantastic racing, some of men's final runs were absolutely wild and loose, the very best type of racing. Loic's interview at the end was great, he's really likable and humble.
Jackson getting mobbed at the end was a little bit worrying! Perhaps so double barriers round the arenas on the cards for next year from the UCI maybe....!
What a great race and a great end to the season. Loved it I was really hoping Ethan could hang on in there and give us another winner for the last race.
Oh and Bruni chugged the entire bottle of fizz in one shot on the podium - respect!
