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I watched it on Tiz this morning and the stream didn't have any hicups. The commentary hasn't improved on last year though.
Went to Krakow for a week and watched it live. Conditions were terrible! We had packed shorts/t-shirts for the whole week....so multiple layers were needed to survive the snow at the top of the gondola.
Public transport to the event was terrible. 1 regular bus route, every 1hr. Standard bus, with the normal locals going about their business. Event finished at 3.40 approx, bus was at 3.20 and 4.20. the que for the bus was large come 4.20, and it took forever to get to the bus stop and away from the bus stop because of traffic. 1 single bus, every hour. Poor.
The site was also free on entry and all the tickets we had bought were good for was access to a 'fanzone' (a gated pen, with a large screen which you could see from outside the area, and a grandstand that you had to go the next level ticket again to make use of), and gondola access which we had chose as our level of ticket.
The paddock was poor also. It was split into about 3x locations and 95% of the teams had the tents closed up so you couldn't see anything because of the weather.
The q1 and q2 thing is great....people going for it more, as no protection etc
Ran into bruni couple of times on saturday as he took his ebike up among the crowd making their way down the track, to check a few lines
Atmosphere for the final 10 riders was electric at the finish, and glad an Irish man managed to nearly best them all! Bruni is too good! Was convinced it would be him or Pierron
Last season I could watch the DH via Discovery+, but now its behind the TNT paywall so I cant. It's a shame as last year watched with the child how was semi interested. I've not seen a single race run, I saw who won on Insta and now dont feel the need to watch the highlights.
This whole TNT thing is killing cycle for me, usually I'd watch the Giro highlights on ITV4 but that's gone, I've tried the YT highlights but they're too short, too light on any detail and not a fan of the commenter.
I can really see myself not watching any DH this season now and will enjoy one last TDF via ITV4 before I probably dont watch that again.
I watched it on the new version of the stay live app , in NZ so no need for VPN .
Watched the replay because of the time difference, the big issue being right below the link for the replay was the links for the winning run replays which told you who had won , very annoying. I seem to remember red bull doing something similar once so it's not just WBD .
Ric's understanding of the splits and what they mean needs some work but I think he's getting better. Neko seems a good bet as some one who could do a good job on Co comms .
I'm sure he's a lovely bloke and all but I don't want Ric commentating. It's a trope or whatever these days but he's no (Rob) Warner and he's ruining the broadcast. AND that's only on the YT hatchet job not the full broadcast - there's no way I could put up with that for hours.
From what I've seen on the YT, there's no way I'd spend £30 for a years subs to the DH, let alone £30/month. They're in cloud cuckoo land if they think they're adding anything to the sport with this treatment. No bike riding viewers = no industry support. Dropping ratings = no interested external sponsors.
This is not "build it and they will come" territory.
Shame as the racing is great.
Oh and Sunday showed why 30 in finals isn't enough. F*** the TV - not having multiple World Champs in the final sucked bigtime.
I saw Thibaut Daprela getting interviewed on WynTV. So what the **** happened there? Was the whole thing just a big misunderstanding and he's actually a totally safe guy for women to be alone with?
Or is it just the case that it's been a long time (a whole two years) and everyone has just moved on?
Maybe it's just me but I don't think this is the kind of thing the mountain biking community should just move on from. There should be some kind of explanation as to why he's getting interviewed as if nothing ever happened. Even if that explanation is that nothing happened.
I watched it on Tiz this morning and the stream didn't have any hicups. The commentary hasn't improved on last year though.
Tiz didn't have the replay up Sunday night so I succumbed to the YT highlights.
Like Speeder above, even 10 minutes or so of Ric's inane babbling over his co-commentators was starting to trigger me though. He's like the computer commentary on a football or F1 game - all pre-recorded little soundbites delivered in a mock-excited tone. No nuance or genuine insight at all.
Looked like a great race though, from what I could tell.
Bigup Tahnee for that super-confident run - fingers crossed for a strong season from her.
Tiz didn't have the replay up until monday, so avoided the media until then.
Good race, I'm glad that protected riders are gone, there were a few "new" names in the final - ones I may have heard of but wouldn't recognise and certainly wouldnt have put in as top 30.
Just because someone is a former race winner or even former world champ doesnt mean they deserve to be in the finals if they can't show up on the (qualifying) day and beat these new up and comers in two attempts.
Didnt like that despite the reduced field we still get a restricted/shortened view of the earlier riders - cant it be 3 minute gaps for finals for everyone?
One it does them a disservice,
two it means when we do get to see the first persons (nearly) full run we dont know if they are doing well or not
and three, its really jarring jumping about and having to watch the clock. when you watch every rider through the same sequence of 20? camera frames, you know whats coming and it mentally flows.
What's the story of the guy on course for Hattie's run? Hattie had already crashed higher up so if she had managed to hit him deliberately would she have got a re-run?
I don't know what to think about Daprela. Ruining a career over unproven allegations I don't agree with, but on the other hand there is likely more than we public know - if a sponsor doesnt want to associate themselves with bad rumours that is entirely up to them.
What's the story of the guy on course for Hattie's run? Hattie had already crashed higher up so if she had managed to hit him deliberately would she have got a re-run?
Hatties issue is that she's honestly THAT nice that hitting someone to get a re-run would never ever enter her mind, not for a second. She'd rather crash than hit someone. Personally, yeah she should have hit him 😀
@BruceWee the glaring fact that the French DH champion couldn't get a ride with a French team or one with any female riders speaks volumes, as does Neko Mulally's "won't take no for an answer" commentary snippet.
Some people won't ever let this go, some already have.
Maybe it's just me but I don't think this is the kind of thing the mountain biking community should just move on from. There should be some kind of explanation as to why he's getting interviewed
Do you think the MTB media have a meeting where they decide what their policy on alleged sex offenders is?
Do you really think everyone has "moved on" and TD's career is back to normal?
Do you expect Wyn to start talking about the allegations (with zero legal training) to justify his editorial policy?
Your expectations don't really align with the way things work in the real world, and I'm sure your frustration reflects that experienced by the alleged victim. Nobody is happy about this, but there's no point getting all righteous about it on the internet.
Your expectations don't really align with the way things work in the real world,
I agree. Hence the fact a sex offender is currently the President of the USA as one example of thousands upon thousands of injustices.
However, not talking about it, as I assume you'd rather I and others don't given the tone of your post, doesn't really help in changing how the 'real world' works now, does it?
However, not talking about it, as I assume you'd rather I and others don't given the tone of your post, doesn't really help in changing how the 'real world' works now, does it?
Well I'm quite happy for everyone to know TD is an alleged sex offender (and they already do), and I'd prefer not to see him racing at all. Him not making the podium was the only benefit of 3-person podums so far.
I'm just trying to help you understand why the MTB media and industry can't behave exactly the way you'd like them to. Not sure why I thought that was a good idea TBH.
I'm just trying to help you understand why the MTB media and industry can't behave exactly the way you'd like them to. Not sure why I thought that was a good idea TBH.
I'm not sure what is so difficult about just not interviewing him?
If you can't ask the question (and given his family is supposedly very rich I can understand why none of the mtb media could even consider asking him the question) then don't give him (or his sponsors) any oxygen.
I had no idea nor knowledge of the accusations against TD 😮
I had no idea nor knowledge of the accusations against TD 😮
The main thing that gives me thoughts of "mmmmm maybe" is looking at his Insta account. You look at Loris's, Brunis, JAcksons, Williams, etc, all their posts have a tonne of other riders commenting..
Daprelas is a wasteland ....
Maybe this has changed since i last looked about 6 months ago, but his was just tumbleweed.
I had no idea nor knowledge of the accusations against TD 😮
The main thing that gives me thoughts of "mmmmm maybe" is looking at his Insta account. You look at Loris's, Brunis, JAcksons, Williams, etc, all their posts have a tonne of other riders commenting..
Daprelas is a wasteland ....
Maybe this has changed since i last looked about 6 months ago, but his was just tumbleweed.
Ahh, I don’t have any social media apart from on this site….but on googling I now see the issue with TD leaving canyon collective team was reported on by stw and others last year……
Christ……..that’s ****ing hellish……
That's not TD, the enduro community has had their own problems.