Possible dumb question regarding watching fort bill race?

Previously a subscriber to GCN but that’s gone so am I right in thinking I need a subscription to discovery+ at £6.99 a month or Eurosport at £6.99 a month, I watch on my iMac (don’t own a tv/smart tv) so I guess I can watch through the web browser?.

I have Amazon prime video and Apple TV and I see I can sign up on Amazon for Discovery + £6.99, can’t find anything on Apple TV.

No interest in other sports at all except for downhill.

Whats the better service?, or they the same?

I have no idea which is best but they really have made it extremely difficult to watch it even if you’re willing to pay.

I’ve subscribed to Discovery+ and downloaded the app on Chromecast but it seems they’re only broadcasting the finals. No idea how I’m supposed to watch the semi or quali.

@droplinked doesn’t look like they’re being broadcast at all. I suppose the best anyone can hope for is a live text feed on PB, but not sure we’ll even get that.

So no freebie content on yt this year?

Only the Junior men’s and women’s finals by the looks of it. Nothing else showing as upcoming on the Whoop UCI YouTube live page. Gutted.

So we have the junior races broadcast live on YouTube on Sunday but no broadcast of elite semi finals on Saturday , and the elite finals on Sunday broadcast on Eurosport or discovery plus

I guess I shouldn’t expect much from the UCI as they’re a shower of **** but even with their incompetence I thought they would have got their shit together for this year

The 2024 WHOOP UCI Mountain Bike World Series round in Fort William, Scotland starts with qualifying for the Women’s Elite UCI Downhill World Cup at 12:00 (UTC+1) on Saturday, May 4 and concludes with the Men’s Elite UCI Downhill World Cup at 14:00 (UTC+1) on Sunday, May 5.
Below are the key timings for race weekend. All times are UTC+1 (EST+5/BST/CET-1):

Saturday, May 4
12:00 – UCI Downhill World Cup | Qualification Women Elite
12:30 – UCI Downhill World Cup | Qualification Men Elite
14:00 – UCI Downhill World Cup | Qualification Women Junior
14:15 – UCI Downhill World Cup | Qualification Men Junior
15:00 – UCI Downhill World Cup | Semi Finals Women Elite
15:30 – UCI Downhill World Cup | Semi Finals Men Elite

Sunday, May 5
11:30 – UCI Downhill World Cup | Finals Women Junior
12:00 – UCI Downhill World Cup | Finals Men Junior
13:15 – UCI Downhill World Cup | Finals Women Elite
14:00 – UCI Downhill World Cup | Finals Men Elite

WHERE CAN I WATCH?
You can watch the action from the WHOOP UCI Mountain Bike World Series Downhill season opener in Fort William, Scotland wherever you are in the world. Both the men’s and women’s UCI Downhill World Cup Junior races will be broadcast live on the WHOOP UCI Mountain Bike World Series YouTube channel, while the Elite finals will be shown on one of the below channels or streaming services:

North America
Canada – Flosports
USA  – Max
South & Central America
Argentina – Staylive
Brazil – Staylive
Chile – Staylive
Colombia – Staylive
Mexico: Staylive
Peru – Claro
Oceania/Asia
Australia – Stan
China – Zhibo.tv
New Zealand – Staylive
Africa
South Africa – Staylive
Europe
Austria – Eurosport, discovery+
Belgium – Eurosport
Czech Republic – Eurosport, CT Sport Plus
Denmark – Eurosport
France – Eurosport, L’Équipe
Germany – Eurosport, discovery+
Hungary – Eurosport
Ireland – Eurosport, discovery+
Italy – Eurosport, discovery+
Netherlands – discovery+
Norway – Eurosport
Poland – Eurosport
Portugal – Eurosport
Romania – Eurosport
Spain – Eurosport
Sweden – Eurosport
Switzerland – Eurosport
United Kingdom – Eurosport, discovery+
Rest of world – Staylive

Glad I didn’t pay for Discovery + last season

Its almost as though they are trying their best to kill the sport

Seems bonkers that they’re not streaming the semis for the first race of the season, surely would make sense to get interest up and subscribers in

What is the point of the semis now if they are not being televised? Why bother after the qualifiers?  Doesn’t this now mean that only the top 30 men and top 10 women get airtime?

Perhaps it was something technical that caused them to pull the semis broadcast. They were saying they would be showing it a few days ago…

Anyway, qualis just finishing now. In the Womens, looks like Miriam Nicole just missed out coming 16th, Blewitt out too with a dnf.

Mens upsets were Greenland and Dak Norton both either with problems or crashes. And Reece Wilson too, by the looks of it.

They were saying they would be showing it a few days ago…

I was sure I’d seen the same but then thought I must have imagined it.

I’ve just signed up and the only thing in their schedule is an hour of Jnr men’s tomorrow?

Looks like it might be red flagged, no move in timings for a while

The women’s quali got red flagged too. Not sure who it affected, but some riders are getting another run after the completion of the men’s.

I’ve just signed up and the only thing in their schedule is an hour of Jnr men’s tomorrow?

It’s on live for about 5 hours on Eurosport tomorrow.

Seems to be moving now, looks like there were about five riders on course with a 20 min delay

Hmmm maybe Wilson’s ok? Just seen that him and a bunch of other consecutive riders all came down with 25 minute times, and PB saying the course was red flagged for a bunch of riders. Maybe he’ll get a second shot? Would love to see him back racing.

I’ve just signed up and the only thing in their schedule is an hour of Jnr men’s tomorrow?

It’s definitely on the schedule on the website.

  Doesn’t this now mean that only the top 30 men and top 10 women get airtime?

yeah pretty much. But that’s no different to how it was when 60 were in the final

Yay Wilson makes it on his second run

Yay Wilson makes it on his second run

where are you watching it?

I’m “watching” the UCI live timing feed, PB have been running it all afternoon.

So what your “watching” is the 2024 equivalence of a teletext feed?

No qualis or semi finals being broadcast? This is such a backwards move… I was going to tune in and make a decision on whether or not to stump up for the finals tomorrow…

I’m not sure how anyone involved in this thinks this has been positive for the sport…

They seem to have killed Enduro in twelve months reducing it to a Euro series and it looks like they want to kill DH with a lack of coverage…..

Grrrrrr….

Well I did stump up, and so far the xc from Brazil was not bad. Thought I would get some chores done then sit down for the dh semis …. Naff all. Might as well watch the snooker.

Looks like BK is DNF, does he get a finals spot as protected rider?

With BK I’m guessing not, if I’ve read this right. Protected riders just down to top five going into the finals. BK is number 6.

From PB/UCI :

”Once riders get to the semi-finals the protected rules change slightly to include a smaller pool of riders. For the newly added semi-finals riders ranked in the top five Elite Men and three Elite Women of the past season will be protected”

He might be okay , it says this at the bottom of the semi results

Qualification rule: Riders ranked 1-30 and the protected riders who started qualify for the final

just hope it was mechanical not crash. Must check Ceefax for the latest…..

I’ve just signed up and the only thing in their schedule is an hour of Jnr men’s tomorrow?

Dont worry I had the discovery app last year, took ages to navigate to the mtb section, then all the timings were wrong, almost as though they don’t want you to watch

What a crock of shit. There’s flipping racing happening today, we all pay £s, and nothing. Nada, zilch, naff all except the ceefax on pinkbike.

It’s crazy, it looks like it’s all being filmed and broadcast at the finish from IG stories, so why not stream it? Plenty of drama already. Surely the teams and sponsors putting money into the sport must be pissed at the lack of eyeballs

Will we even get a summary yt 10 min video to sum up the days racing?

It’s utter rubbish.

Will we even get a summary yt 10 min video to sum up the days racing?

More like a YouTube short with 3 adverts.

So what your “watching” is the 2024 equivalence of a teletext feed?

‘Look at the time’ means something very different in 2024.

BK had a heavy OTB and taco’d his wheel near the top from his Insta

Does Discovery or Eurosport do a replay? I’ll be out when it’s on. Also don’t have a TV licence so can’t watch live 😉

Interesting to see how many riders tipped to do well didn’t make the cut.

No Louferg or Gracey, Hatton, Brannigan, Greenland, Craik. Kerr only in as protected.

No Santa Cruz Syndicate in the men’s final.  Can’t see them be happy about that.

I think not getting to see the current World Champion race after he qualified 6th and then missed out on the final due to a mechanical pretty much sums up DH in the Discovery era.

Let’s see if they actually manage to broadcast something today.

But a shitshow in person too. Yes, filming the semis etc but cutting away to an interview with a rider while showing one of the top qualifiers is on their run? FFS.

Also heavy handed marshalling and mega wide tapping to keep spectators away from the course. It’s lost the feel of the previous events.

mega wide tapping to keep spectators away

Yeah noticed this on Friday and it wasn’t good.

The whole thing feels as though it’s been taken over by people who have no idea about the sport, which isnt the case, but I can’t think of a single positive change they’ve made