Schurter’s performance was just beyond belief. 😮

Amazing racing at an insane pace, watching these guys you realise that what you do and what they do, while superficially the “same thing”. It’s entirely not the same thing at all.

I love the commentators “I don’t think Pidcock has got it today”
“oh”

Tour is not until July, which would mean missing Lenzerheide and Vallnord and possibly leaving Snowshoe a bit hpoeful as well. He may be called up for more road specific training in June meaning Leogang would also have to be skipped.

He said last week he’ll do both Euro & World Champs. That maybe the next time we see him. He’s pencilled in for either Tour de Suisse/ Route d’Occitanie as prep for a possible Tour outing; he did recce the cobbles a month ago.

After the MTB Worlds he’ll prep for Road Worlds, which are a month later.

Rob Warner still has it though, somewhere on the last laps

“I’m glad I didn’t pay for a whole seat, I’ve only used the edge of it so far!”

I find Courtney a bit of an offensive self-promoter but I guess trying to hawk sports cars is part of the job nowadays

I follow her on Instagram and don’t recall seeing her hawk any sports cars. Surely self promotion is part of the job, sponsors are less interested in results than they are Instagram followers. I don’t see her as being any different to any of the other top racers.

If she was lucky enough to come from a privileged background the she’s not alone, sadly in this day and age I think it’s really hard to compete in most sports without decent financial support and this starts at home.

You get all sorts of guff on the socials about all sorts of riders, people asking what right Piddock has to just turn up and race when he’s not a MTB’er, people asking why the Giro leaders jersey is Pink, questioning if it’s some kind of inclusivity thing! Not to mention derogatory comments abound both male and female racers. There really are an awful lot of absolute weapons out there armed with a keyboard or a smart phone, yet they seem to gain a lot of traction.

You even get it on the regional and national youth scene in the UK where disgruntled parents aim entitlement / privileged / what ever rants at other kids who happen to have had more success than their off-spring. Money doesn’t buy talent, sure it can help, but it doesn’t make it.

But back to the racing, it was most excellent indeed.

Had a quick search for footage and found some red bull film with a long tarmac sprint finish. Was that the right one?
What an utter joke for a mtb race.

https://www.redbull.com/int-en/videos/uci-mountain-bike-world-cup-2022-xc-short-track-recap-nove-mesto

Surely not…..

@thegeneralist

Had a quick search for footage and found some red bull film with a long tarmac sprint finish. Was that the right one?

No. You wanted https://www.redbull.com/gb-en/live/uci-mountain-bike-world-cup-2022-nove-mesto-xco-men.

For next time, to find Redbull stuff you need to choose ‘Events’ from the home page top menu.

Nothing wrong with the “long tarmac sprint finish” – when there are multiple riders competing for the line, there is space to do so and someone isn’t hampered by a rider deliberately cutting across someone. It also allowed them to have a good sized grandstand to add to the atmosphere at the end.

The full event on Sunday was a good course with much better coverage than the previous race. The short track on Friday wasn’t as interesting/technical but at the pace they’re attacking it, it’s pretty impressive all the same.

Pidcock looked cooked half way round the last lap, but the way he dragged himself back onto Dasculu’s wheel to keep himself in contention was class.

He stated in the interview that he wasn’t sure if they should’ve waited for Nino to fix his puncture as they often do in Le Tour if the Yellow Jersey has an issue.

Perhaps he could have taken Dasculu earlier.

finally had time to watch it. what a race. it remains my favourite XCO track even if the XCC has been changed.

stunning comeback from Nino, even if he couldnt compete for the win with Tom and Vlad, he managed to blow Cooper Hatherly and Fluckinger away after a half hour max effort to catch up.
I got a little laugh from:

He stated in the interview that he wasn’t sure if they should’ve waited for Nino to fix his puncture as they often do in Le Tour if the Yellow Jersey has an issue.

I never really understood it in road racing although punctures there are purely luck.
Definitely not in MTB.

Pidcock seemed to say that his suspension wasnt unlocking. Not good from the yet to be released Suntour, also worthy of note that it seems to default/failsafe to locked, like fox, not open like rockshox? (welcome any corrections if this is untrue).

He was also clutching his shoulder after the race, which Rob pointed out. Didnt mention he broke it last year getting hit by a car and he also I think took quite a high speed crash in a road race only a few weeks ago. If he rode those descents locked out that would have been quite a pounding.

Speaking of descending, they only flashed the graphic up quickly, but as Nino caught the lead group, they compared Dascalu’s lap to Nino. It seemed at a quick glance that he had gained all his time – in that lap at least, so 15-20 seconds – on the descents.

The front few slowed quite a bit on that lap, so some of the 15-20s was likely due to that. You can ease off on descents as well as the ups.

Nothing wrong with the “long tarmac sprint finish”

Mmmm yes, totally agree they have their place, but this is supposed to be a mountain bike race

The front few slowed quite a bit on that lap, so some of the 15-20s was likely due to that. You can ease off on descents as well as the ups.

They weren’t trying their hardest certainly, but it shows that time can be made on the downhills, which the armchair xc detractors often claim to not be the case.
Skill and bravery aside, I wonder how much extra effort it took.

Thanks @sl2000

Enjoyed watching a bit of that.

Well that was a bloody excellent race to watch, start to finish

Mmmm yes, totally agree they have their place, but this is supposed to be a mountain bike race

It’s a World Cup, not a race round a trail centre comparing your times on Strava, the courses are built to pretty strict regulations and inspected before they’re allowed to even race on it, BC do the same here.

The Tarmac start/ finish allows for a good evenly matched fast start and likewise time enough for a sprint to wind up at the end – if required.

Short Track isn’t meant to be a particularly technical challenge; it’s a starter for the weekend, providing close racing for 20 mins – and grid positions for the main course XCO race. It’s almost a ‘gravel crit’.

Saying that, I actually prefer the first Nove Mesto XCC track that ran from 2018-2020.

I follow her on Instagram and don’t recall seeing her hawk any sports cars.

I think it’s Emily Batty who has the Porsche contract, fair play to be honest. I wouldn’t mind.

@nickc

My apologies – I stand corrected – I’m mistaking Courtney for batty who is constantly trying to sell cars!

Saying that, I actually prefer the first Nove Mesto XCC track that ran from 2018-2020.

yes – it used to be the best track by far. They had manufactured obstacles that provided technical challenge, yet, crucially, had multiple equal lines possible through them allowing proper side by side racing and mid obstacle overtaking.
There was a whoop/roller section where people with the skill and a clean run in could double them up could make mid air overtakes.
A couple of crashes though, maybe the UCI decided they had taken it too far.

batty who is constantly trying to sell cars!

You poor thing. If only there was some way you could avoid her. Have you tried a restraining order?

Shock horror, sponsored rider poses with their sponsor’s merchandise.

My apologies – I stand corrected – I’m mistaking Courtney for batty who is constantly trying to sell cars!

I’d be absolutely devastated if I was sponsored by Porsche, got to drive round in a selection of their finest machines and as a result of that I had to post about them, it’s a hard knock life being an highly marketable elite athlete.