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Agree with Isla.
I would think this course might suit Pidcock pretty well.
Ooof
She was unconscious! ?
Ooh. Lecomte went down hard.
I don't think she was unconscious even after the bike hit her. I think she remained stationary as she wouldn't know which way to go to avoid being hit by another rider?
I am not a doctor.
Are they not allowed to have a spare bike? Rather than changing the wheel.
PFP just riding away with this one, that's a huge margin!
I would of thought that the bike mechanics would have used power tools and a spare axle for wheel changes? Must be a powered torque wrench that'd do the job quicker than an Allen key?
HE DOESN’T STOP TALKING!
Nice win for PFP.
Yup, well ridden by PFP.... just a shame it never really turned into much of a race/
Surprised Candice Lill finished in the top 20.
Is PFP bike running those string spoked wheels?
Great ride from PFP.
I’m always amazed when I see elite athletes looking so fresh at the end. There didn’t appear to have been a single bead of sweat on her!
Loana Lecomte glad it's not to serious but looks like she's going to be pretty sore tomorrow.
Only watched the 15 min highlights on the iPlayer, which wasn't great in terms of showing the narrative of the race.
I'm agnostic on the course, yes at first glance the obvious gravel bike comments came to mind, but the tech features were pretty severe and all that room for overtaking is a good thing IMO.
Preview of the race, the favourites and the start list here:
https://www.cyclingnews.com/races/olympic-games-2024/mountain-bike-men-s-cross-country-xco/preview/
Eurosport was woeful with the ad breaks. Missed PFP's initial breakaway, Puck's puncture, Keller's puncture? or otherwise dropping off the pace.
They only ever showed the top 5 or so racers, which at a one off race, I understand that there's not really any point showing the rest - but thats the French broadcaster's descision, not Eurosports.
Got no issue with Ric and Ollie on the mic (alhough I spotted Batten's falt typre before they did) but they themselves seemed unaware of the commercial breaks - there was no "welcome back, here's what you missed" eather orally from them, or highlights from the broadcast. we just skipped 3 minutes of racing and had to try to work out what happened. Might try BBC tonight, assume I can watch full replay after the fact?
People I think are really downplaying Loana's crash. She was lying there motionless in a really unnatural position for the whole time she was on screen and Rissvets rode past her. That wasn't a "god this hurts" lying on the floor position or even a "I've just blown my medal chance" position; it was a complete ragdoll/sack of spuds face down in a rock garden.
thats the French broadcaster’s descision,
There's an Olympics broadcasting team, it's not led by the French broadcaster.
Everyone takes the same feed and just adds commentary.
But this is just a point of order. I agree the live director seemed hopeless.
There’s an Olympics broadcasting team, it’s not led by the French broadcaster.
Sorry that was what I meant - there's one feed, everyone else just buys it then gets to talk over it, run ads etc as they choose.
We watched the full BBC women's race last night and were pleasantly surprised. Matt Payne was better than when he did the worlds last year and Isla sounded nervous at first but settled into it well. Certainly not Rob and Bart standard, but much better than the old days of BBC trotting out Hugh Porter.
They immediately spotted stuff like Puck's puncture and the filming did a decent job of showing Puck and Evie yo-yoing for 4th and 5th on the final lap.
Well done to Evie on her performance, 5th is a good result, particularly so soon after suffering concussion!
MTB is notoriously difficult to film well and it doesn't help that the speed and technical aspects don't really come through; the camera flattens out a lot of the terrain.
Shame the drone wasn't used more, that's one of the few decent ways of getting up close into the action and with the large time gaps, it would have been possible to drop a drone in behind a fair few of the riders.
Commentary - Matt isn't bad, he's a lot better than many of the alternatives. Having Isla Short there was excellent, hope she's back for today's race. I seem to remember Chris Boardman doing some of the MTB commentary at London 2012 and actually doing a reasonable job. He was on the Time Trial commentary and I imagine he'll be doing the road race as well.
I actually dont mind Ric and Oli but I think ill give BBC a go this afternoon.
Half an hour till broadcast starts.
(I secretly want N1N0 to win...)
where do i watch this??!! i can't find it on iplayer..
DrP
I watch it on Discovery then switch over to BBC when the ads come on then back.
I'd also love Nino to win but doubt he will, hopefully he does medal.
Think BBC2 is showing it.
BBC 2 from 1300.
fab, ta...
The stw thread said 1210..so i panicked!
DrP
I think BBC2 for the men’s at 1pm today, where did 12:10 come from…?
I watch it on Discovery then switch over to BBC when the ads come on then back
How are you seeing it on Discovery? Not showing on mine
(why bother switching back if BBC is showing it too - without ads)
I’m excited, but doing virtual training today! I’ll get the first 5mins, then will be double screening and not paying attention to the training! Come on Tom!
Because I prefer the commentators on Discovery that why.
To see it on discovery I went to the Paris 2024 menu and it was showing Mountain Biking Live.
Er the race has started on Discovery/Eurosport whilst BBC are still chatting rubbish!
BBC2, they got to the start literally as the horn blew.
I had both on, BBC is quite a bit behind.
Big Charlie Aldridge looking good. Pidcock with a soft start as usual, never seems to go all out from the blocks, rather builds into his race pace.
I'm watching on bbc2.
Is anyone on a hardtail that we've seen? Tends to work better for the slighter/smaller women, be surprising to see any today.
Also inteesting that the course designers have made the tech zone option slightly shorter than the course - hence the drama with Haley Batten yesterday... Shouldn't the 'pit lane' always be fractioanlly slower than staying out!
Aldridge got a great start. TP in about 11th at the moment.
Erm throwing a T Bog in the olympics! Wow!
Thank god for iPlayer and being the only one in the office today!
How does anyone go down that big drop-off with a bottle in their mouth, without losing their front teeth?
There’s not a lot of headroom into that tunnel!!!
Because I prefer the commentators on Discovery that why.
Fair enough - neither great for me so the adverts is the casting vote
To see it on discovery I went to the Paris 2024 menu and it was showing Mountain Biking Live
Ah, thanks - I've been looking at their usual road & mtb pages