He was absolutely pinned down that course clatter, clatter, bang, hop, scuff, bang, bang, hup………… bang, clatter etc. Re-build the bike, then off to the next race!
I love to watch him when he’s on form, so low yet active on the bike and absolutely hanging it out there.
in contrast Red Bull app seems fine here in Oz so could well be UK bandwidth problems rather than the app itself.
Great to see Rachel get the overall, would be nice to see her take a clean sweep, looks like the only challenge for her is boredom. Ladies results after that were close though which is good.
For the men interesting, I’d back Bruni for the next race. Looking further ahead warner said that Shaw had modelled himself on Minnaar approach and would be the logical next Syndicate rider. As much as hope are great wondering who will be picking up Adam Brayton next year for a team and also wondering what will become of the Spec Factory/Troy Brosnan team!
Fantastic run by Hart, I really thought Gwin had MSA wrapped up.
My Redbull app worked fine on iPad and Apple TV, I couldn’t get on via the website on my laptop though. I guess the silver lining with the access issues is it demonstrates how popular the Redbull coverage is.
So what’s happened to Ratboy this year? He started well enough, 5th in first race, but has been way back ever since? Haven’t really seen anything mentioned or discussed.
we were asking ourselves that today, he just doesn’t seem on it, the roost vest that he is wearing seems new, not sure if he is carrying an injury. Had a hell of a bad run in qualifying but always seems top 10 in the sectors he is running in. Races just seem to fall away.
I don’t think anything in particular TBH. It’s just so damned hard to win. Men’s DH is so close these days that 10sec is enough to cover the top 20 on most tracks. At Lenzerheide for instance the top 20 were separated by about 7 seconds, but the top 10-20 places was there was less than 2 seconds covering them all. Given the quality of the competitors, it’s not a massive surprise.
I’d agree about it being hard to win but this seems more. He’s been consistent top 10 or better for a few years now but this year, apart from race one, he’s finding it hard to break top 20. He’ll be out of the protected list soon if results carry on that way. Lingering injury or illness sounds possible.
I personally think (massive speculation content) it’s a combination of…
1. New riders coming in behind who are hungry for wins: Luca Shaw, Loic, Loris, etc etc. rejunvinated Danny
2. The change in the the team might be unsettling, his mentor is/has more or less left, there’s pressure from Santa Cruz (emails flying about lack of race wins). There’s a place/s up for grabs
3. The V10 is not a consistently winning bike anymore, see Greg Minnaar’s struggle to find one that fits.
4. Everyone else has picked up their games, the training regimes are now punishing.
is my take on it
Plus, Ratboy “looks” so slow…it’s just his style but he’s always ridden like he needs a rocket up his arse. 😆
Hasn’t Josh just slipped back to where he was in the 2 seasons before his Championship / broken ankle year ? Maybe that was his standout year ? I too think Peaty’s stepping back from the team has clearly affected him
I think it is probably the broken ankle and the few incidents at the start of the next season that has broken his confidence and belief, the roost vest could be a symptom of that, showing a bit of fear that he didn’t used to have.
I think Josh is really struggling to get back to his pre-injury form as well as dealing with the weight and pressure of expectation. He’s proven that he’s capable so sponsors etc will expect him to repeat it. With Peaty finally retiring, Josh will now be seen as a senior rider.
It seems to me to win you have to be right on the edge at all times , Hart took some lines that gwin didn’t and it paid off . Ratboy looks to be riding within himself for some reason , he has that laid back style but the year he won the overall you could see the pace he had over others
With Peaty finally retiring, Josh will now be seen as a senior rider.
This.
The ankle has healed, may be some lingering psychological effects but the Peaty factor is by far larger…..he could hide in his shadow so to speak and just quietly develop and become a winning rider…..now Josh is where Peat would have found himself mentally when he was younger and signed decent contacts with big teams in the 90s and early 00s…did Peaty have a mentor like Josh?…..this is something Josh is going to have to figure out himself, he can’t have Peat holding his hand forever.
Shame as others have said, he can look settled on the bike like no other and yet still win, his win at MSA a year or so ago was great and the infamous ankle break run he was fast and barely pedaled to that almost certain gold.
Yeah, and even Gwin had that season or two people put down to the new bike/team.
Last year he seemed to have gotten over the injury. Top 5s and even a win, pretty damn good coming back from destroying your foot/ankle. And first race this year he seemed to have, in the short clips we saw, that smoothness and speed thing the top guys all seem to have when on it. I could see it being a vicious circle, loss of confidence, putting too much pressure on himself thing. Massive head game at those levels for sure.
and you can bet Gee is getting frustrated at not being able to win for ages.
Just joking yesterday about weather Gee and Mickelson Hannah would be out the back having a beer after getting beaten by their sister’s for the entire season 🙂 got to be hard to be just off the pace but have to help pack the trophy box for the way home 😉