The whole field of 114 elite men is covered by 18.5 seconds.

That is nuts!

Yep, the race is going to be chaos, the difference between podium and no where is going to come down to who can hold their nerve and hang it all out.

I’d bet on one of the ‘win it or bin it’ crowd managing to hold on till the end and beating all the consistent guys like Minnar and Brosnan.

Not at all impressed with the track, far too much of it is wide fast slaloms on alpine meadows, there has got to be better course options in that area.

Not at all impressed with the track, far too much of it is wide fast slaloms on alpine meadows, there has got to be better course options in that area.

There almost certainly is but, personally I think it makes a refreshing change to see everyone balls-to-the-wall flat out on open piste. The World’s fastest riders are fast everywhere as shown by the timing results – no surprises there that I saw.

I just wish I was out there.

There almost certainly is but, personally I think it makes a refreshing change to see everyone balls-to-the-wall flat out on open piste.

The trouble is those sections of the course are just flat out for everybody, and there is no real difference in line choice, so the race is decided on about 1/4 of the course, which is why the whole field is so close together. The open piste sections just feel like padding the race out, but will make no difference to the outcome.

That is literally the first negative comment I’ve seen regarding the track.

All the riders are buzzing on it, the footage so far is amazing and the race is going to be mint.

Edit….

The open piste sections just feel like padding the race out, but will make no difference to the outcome.

Are you joking? Have you seen any of the action yet? Do you think your flat out would be just the same as everyone elses flat out? You better get out there and enter next year.

but will make no difference to the outcome.

Last week at Andorra, both the men’s and women’s races were decided in the first sector…The flattest, and most open part of the whole course. Almost no-one made any significant gains on each other on the rest of the super steep sections, or the huge house sized jumps.  Les Gets is all about how big your balls are on those open grassy turns, and how willing you are to trust your tyres. The middle sector will make no difference there is pretty much one line through it. The bottom will be all about trying not to crash.

It’s going to be blinking ace. 🙂   just as Les Gets has always been

I just wish I was there to make some noise!

Having ridden the track, I’ll just say that those grassy pistes are nowhere near as smooth as they look. I guarantee more than a few people will bin it, searching for grip while getting buckarooed on ‘the easy bit’.

That looks brilliant, much better than wooded rubbish you normally get. That’s one amazing jump too

MSP

Member
Not at all impressed with the track, far too much of it is wide fast slaloms on alpine meadows, there has got to be better course options in that area.

I like it, complete contrast to valnord. It’s good to mix it up.

The open piste sections just feel like padding the race out, but will make no difference to the outcome.

It’s always worth watching the cathrovision vids to get a better idea about lines and their actual benefits/drawbacks

There are still plenty of places to gain/lose time, plus the whole field inside 20seconds will make for interesting and close racing with the potential for some upsets rather than the same few names reshuffling in the top 20 spots…

MSP, don’t take my word for it either, look at the sector times from qualis below, see how there’s a second on offer at the 1st sector, between 1st place and 5th. the “padding” as you called it. and look how close the rest of the sectors are, there’s a 10th in sectors 4 and 5  between 1st place and 5th.

Those opening slopes are going to be the deciding factor.

Men
Sector 1
1. Amaury Pierron – 37.567
2. Danny Hart +0.713
3. Mike Jones +1.071
4. Bernard Kerr +1.077
5. Thibaut Ruffin +1.108

Sector 2
1. Amaury Pierron – 45.907
2. Loic Bruni +0.059
3. Troy Brosnan +0.484
4. Danny Hart +0.653
5. Greg Minnaar +0.981

Sector 3
1. Troy Brosnan – 37.515
2. Amaury Pierron +0.211
3. Loic Bruni +0.354
4. Finn Iles +0.741
5. Dakotah Norton +0.761

Sector 4
1. Davide Palazzari – 38.411
2. Amaury Pierron +0.003
3. Connor Fearon +0.085
4. Loic Bruni +0.101
5. Noel Niederberger +0.144

Sector 5
1. Hugo Frixtalon – 19.365
2= Finn Iles +0.059
2= Loris Vergier +0.059
4. Troy Brosnan +0.094
5. Luca Shaw +0.101

Should make for a great race.
Gee’s preview was wild too!

Watched qualifying and practice yesterday and walked course. Riders live it, good mix of balls out and technical riding. Line choices in a few sections. Some epic stacks today esp in women’s race.
Short course XC epic as well, Htf do they ride uphill that fast

haha, great humblebrag! 🙂

enjoy the race tomorrow, you lucky bugger

Was just about to post the latest Cathro video, you can really see how you could lose the race anywhere from the big open bits to the wrong choice in the woods. The open bit should get easier as lines are worn into it. Would like to see brosnan get the win but think one of the two leading frenchies will get the win with the other washing out.

When’s the race sat or Sunday?

Saturday

Cheers, will watch when I get back.

I think the main thing wrong with WC DH is there isn’t enough races in the series.

Looking forward to Snowshoe. It’s a bike park but it’s got classic written all over it. Nothing wrong with bike parks when they’re like Schladming, Windrock, Blue Derby, Snowshoe and the like, just wish they were closer!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-rkPlij59CY

Snowshoe looks awesome.
Les Gets track looks great too, gonna be a super close race.
I do wonder how whether the pro’s take any guidance from BC’s info?

Gonna want some ankle protection at snowshoe. That’s gonna be horrible at race pace.

Have they scrapped the “skinsuit” rule now?

Thought Tracey was gonna burst out of that top or split a seam in the pants.

Am I right in thinking that that junior winner actually beat the elite winning time?

Yeah Vali Holl went about 1.4 faster than Tracey. She moves up to elite next year.

I think you are right, but the track is degrading with every run, that could explain most of that time. Could be a big advantage in the mens to be an early runner.

God I hope Greenland hangs on for the win.

Oh well, I think I cursed him.

Couldn’t compete with Pierron’s on the edge riding!
Greenland’s run was the best to watch though. Stunning. He’s my new dh hero 😁

I like a bit of Pierron – for a consistently top-rank rider he’s definitely the most nuts IMO

Didn’t think Brendan would hold on but was hoping he would, still 6th must be his best result for years.

He’s not had a podium in 9 years so I’d say so.

He’s seems interested in results again for the first time in years too, don’t know if it’s the pressure of a factory team, the fact you need to be faster these days to get on the live feed (thus getting the exposure) or anything else, but it’s go to seem him at it again.

He might even qualify for Worlds again.

He’s seems interested in results again for the first time in years too, don’t know if it’s the pressure of a factory team, the fact you need to be faster these days to get on the live feed (thus getting the exposure) or anything else, but it’s go to seem him at it again.

He isn’t on a factory team this year 🙂

Dont know if hes doing anything any different, but he’s still a good working example of you dont have to be winning races (and the associated pressures of doing so) to get a bucket load of exposure for your sponsors.

Sounds way more preferable to be honest!

wow, what a finish! Mon the Frenchies!

@Hob Nob

I’m pretty sure he is.

The old Scott velosolutions team was a non-factory team, but they’re a factory team now.

https://www.scott-sports.com/gb/en/news/bike/scott-sports-annonces-new-downhill-team-the-scott-dh-factory

Just finished watching this, Pierrons run was amazeballs. 2.35 seconds faster than Super Bruni on a course that was very tight, incredible.

@Hob Nob

I’m pretty sure he is.

The old Scott velosolutions team was a non-factory team, but they’re a factory team now.

https://www.scott-sports.com/gb/en/news/bike/scott-sports-annonces-new-downhill-team-the-scott-dh-factory

He’s not – he’s doing his own thing – he’s spoken about it in a couple of interviews, hence why he has different sponsors to the rest of the team. They are helping ‘support’ at the races as, well, Scott are still sponsoring him & they have a race truck there.

“Interestingly, Brendan’s place on the team isn’t quite the same as it has been in previous years. Brendan will race alongside the team and will share their pits at World Cups but won’t strictly be part of the team.

For 2019, he’s chosen to more of his own thing and will have his own mechanics at World Cups and his own line up of sponsors. The change of set up, we’re told, to allow Brendan to work on more of his own projects and create more collaborations with sponsors.”

Forgot to ask – what happened to Hart? He seemed to give up?
Commentary said he had gone outside the tapes near the top but as he wasn’t dq’d then it seems odd? maybe he thought he was going to be DQ’d?

It was a great race, great to see Fairclough’s time in the hotseat last so long, and Greenland’s run was great to watch. Pierron was, though, absolutely on fire – what a run and on a track that was seemed distinctly to be not getting easier to ride fast. Cracking course, cracking race and a nice change from some of the other venues.