UCI Downhill Mountain Bike World Championships on the BBC [contains spoilers p4]

Myriam now second not Tracey in the women’s?! What changed that?

Well that’s that , would of liked to seen mick hang on . Never noticed before but impressive eye brows from Bruni 😀

UCI just announced it was a timing issue with Tissot for Miriam. WTF i thought when she was 40 sec down without falling but as the coverage was poor who knows what was going on at the top section off camera.

Hill finished 6th in the Elite mens, as a newcomer to watching DH WC how did that happen? Does it say more about the track not being very DH? The bike difference between DH and Enduro? Or the ability of riders in the “elite” mens at the moment? Or is Hill still that good even though it isn’t his main discipline and the rest didn’t matter?

TBH shit timing with splits not shown all the time, how can a UCI championship based on timing be off? Poor online viewing issues from RB dropping and the BBC was painful.

Still great to watch though 😀

Really pleased for Miranda, great to see her finally getting a result this year, and where it counted most! Hopefully that will give the boost for 2018 she needs. What happened to Tanhee? saw a reply of Tracey’s crash, but she still managed 3rd?!?

Great to see Sam in the mix, what a rider. Shame for Greg though, that rear tyre again? Loic deserved the win, Mick’s got to be gutted though…

To be fair to RedBull they had no control over the feed and they had to cobble this all together at very short notice.

As for the timing being wrong, that is unbelievable. They should have a double backup that correlates automatically. Having to rely on the rider saying it was wrong doesn’t show well for Tissot.

I understand and you are correct they cobbled it together and the feed wasn’t theirs, but to play devils advocate, the championship date and contracts could/should have been sorted long ago, is that really a reasonable excuse? Not technical with these things, but it seems to drop out more with the Mens, is that to do with online bandwidth or something? Not sure how it works but the BBC from the same feed didn’t have the same issue?

As for the timing being wrong, that is unbelievable…

There’s a triple back-up system, and it’s the riders responsibility to raise a query if they think it’s wrong.

Hill finished 6th in the Elite mens, as a newcomer to watching DH WC how did that happen? Does it say more about the track not being very DH? The bike difference between DH and Enduro? Or the ability of riders in the “elite” mens at the moment? Or is Hill still that good even though it isn’t his main discipline and the rest didn’t matter?

A lot of folk will say it’s because it’s not a real DH track and there is something in that though I don’t think that much. I think it really boils down to Sam Hill being really good at riding a bike and being more used to his enduro bike – also enduro bikes are really very capable these days. He’s on a confidence streak from the EWS and that counts for a lot as well.

Looking at the splits he didn’t really make any time up on the pedally flat bit at the end.

Well that was all very disappointing

Yeah good point which is why it was even more special in the technical bits to be that quick i guess. So is the Enduro that capable or the factory DH bikes not that much better than a single crown Enduro? Could we see more Enduro single crown bikes putting riders in the top ten of the mens?

Loved that. Didn’t love the RB feed switching to a **** episode of the Atherton Project from about 5 years ago just before Gwin’s run… anyone else catch that? (I know they weren’t responsible for the feed but it seemed like a RB fail to me) Stoked for Loic though, if it wasn’t Gwin to take it- I’d want Loic to. Not patriotic I know but who gives AF.

Could we see more Enduro single crown bikes…

The Cairns track has a lot to with that TBH. If would be a different story at Vallnord or Ft William for instance

There’s a triple back-up system, and it’s the riders responsibility to raise a query if they think it’s wrong.

Fair, but seems reasonable to expect the organisers or organisation involved to get the timing correct?

The Cairns track has a lot to with that TBH. If would be a different story at Vallnord or Ft William for instance

A question experts on here can help with though as i am still very new to this.
Wasn’t SH quick in the very rocky stuff though and lost it on the flat climb or at least didn’t pull away on the peddling bit? wouldn’t that mean the bike was good at DH stuff or the DH bikes aren’t that much better?

The commisiere’s answer as to the SNAFU with the women’s race was laughable. “There was an issue” great, solid insight there when we needed it most.

Wasn’t SH quick in the very rocky stuff though and lost it on the flat climb or at least didn’t pull away on the peddling bit? wouldn’t that mean the bike was good at DH stuff or the DH bikes aren’t that much better?

In my experience with DH rigs vs Enduro (with the caveat that I rarely ride a DH bike) is that they let you get away with stuff -if you ride precisely then the difference isn’t huge. With tracks like Val Di Sole it’s so steep that speeds get silly very quickly and it’s full of blown out holes so the ability to plough straight down the rocks/holes is a big advantage. I’d recommend hiring a DH bike for a day – great fun and you can just smash it into stuff then pop out of the other side.

Today, SH went round the ‘straight line’ rock garden thing (only real ‘rough looking’ feature) but carried great speed into the next turn (interestingly the frenchies were doing the same) so made up for it. The course looked relatively hard packed other than the dust as well so the extra travel of a DH rig wasn’t that necessary. But in general as i said – he’s very good at riding a bike quickly.

With regards to hill it’s a bit of both . Jared graves did the same thing in south africa a few years ago when he rode his enduro bike to bronze on a pedal heavy course .there is part of me that thinks if you can do that then the course isn’t tough enough but that might be just me .
The whole thing felt a bit flat to me , not sure if it’s just the bits that were shown but the course didn’t make for the most exciting viewing or allow balls out sketchy runs from the likes of Greenland or brayton that make the harder world cups more exciting to watch , for me anyway.

£10 says Minaar retires.

where is it?

Wasn’t SH quick in the very rocky stuff though…

Yes he was, but Cairns has only a few rocky sections and not much in the way of drops of big hits. If you’ve the leg and upper body strength, you can probably carry enough speed through one or two rough sections and muscle your bike to keep it on line. On a decent DH track though eventually you’re going to run out of strength, which is where the added rigidity and that extra 20-30mm of travel on a DH bike is enough to help you hold the fast line, or compensate for arm pump, or save you on the heavy compression off the drop or road gap or big jump.

Thanks all, its difficult to see the whole track when they only place a few cameras, I just went back to watch practice head cam with Minaar and there isn’t a great deal of rocky stuff. They said Hill had said he was tired at the end and had arm pump, was this probably a direct result of the Enduro not soaking it up like bloodsexmagik said?

I’m a bit conflicted on the Mick Hannah tactic of binning off World Cup rounds to practice on one track that is local to you to try to grab the win.

About 10% of me is glad this didn’t pay off, however he always comes across as such a good bloke that in his case I don’t mind. He did look sour towards the end, though – as you’d expect having gone so singlemindedly for the one specific win.

Just finished watching,gutted for Mick and Tracey! Almost started shouting at the TV for Tracey to get back on her bike until i realised i was the only one awake in the house.
During the commentary Rob said that Danny might be leaving Mondraker any idea where he might be headed?

Looking forward to another episode of Wyn TV now.

Watching highlights on Eurosport. Apparently Hannah Tracey is pretty good 🙄

I’m a bit conflicted on the Mick Hannah tactic of binning off World Cup rounds to practice on one track that is local to you to try to grab the win.

About 10% of me is glad this didn’t pay off, however he always comes across as such a good bloke that in his case I don’t mind. He did look sour towards the end, though – as you’d expect having gone so singlemindedly for the one specific win.

I did say the same to my wife as we watched it live, All the riders come across as decent people, but i did think he could have gone to the last round (if fit) and competed and perhaps got a podium?

A few downhillers have been criticizing of enduro riders turning up to venues and getting in unofficial practice but it happens in downhill to .
I see the point but a world champs in sight of where you grew up your going to try and give yourself the best chance

Enjoyed watching it, heart breaking for Minnar, I fancied him for the win.

I guess the top Women all wanted it a bit too much, another wrencher.

I’m not sure if it was the 11th hour involvement from RB but they didn’t seem to have many cameras, Rob and Claudio had lots of time to fill, I know the track isn’t the most exciting, but looked crap today. A Non-MTBer might want what all the fuss is about.

Possibly the camera positions, but I always think Cairns looks a bit uninspiring.

Today was no different.

I think ‘cos it’s all enclosed by the rainforest, there’s no opportunity for long tracking shots as we get at some of the rounds. So it all feels a bit disconnected to me.

Not a bad race at all though. Aside from Minnaar’s rear tyre.

Bruni a deserving winner, but Hill was run of the day for me – felt like a bit like his 2007 Worlds run as he was pinning it through the upper sections.

Bad luck Tahnee & Tracey.

A bit gutted about that result: I feel for Mick.

On Sam Hill: I think another advantage of running his Mega was it was almost certainly faster to accelerate than a DH bike, and on a relatively flat track, that would have made a difference. On a steeper track, this advantage would have been lessened.

Those of you that thought the BBC commentary was bad. You should have heard the eurosport attempt. “ooh look, a bit of air” “he’s going well he’s done a bit of a tail whip” “he’s pedalling now to get some power down”
The commentator obviously had no idea what was going on.

Mick Hannah taking time off to session the hell out of the track obviously gave him a massive advantage and I’m kinda glad to see that he didn’t get the win.

It would have been quite a hollow victory, imo.

A brillant exposure for Nukeproof, no so great for Cairns. Obviously there is an element of Sam Hill being incredibly gifted, but the track obviously doesn’t warrant a big bike to be competitive at the top level.

That Nukeproof has (I believe) a 180mm Lyrik so it’s not like it’s an XC bike. If anything I think it just proves that modern Enduro bikes are great, and can mix it with DH bikes. And 29ers still suck 😛

Watching the red bull feed, it felt like a bit of an anticlimax. I agree, the footage wasn’t as interesting as WC rounds and there wasn’t really anything to discuss either. The winner won because he was slightly faster the whole way down the track.

Feel a bit sorry for Slick Mick though.

Superficial – 29er worked pretty well in Juniors. 😉

Anyone know what happened to Finn in the juniors?

Really didn’t expect Bruno to pull that out of the bag. But kudos to him.

Was so hoping for SH to stay within the top 3. But still a real legend. Here’s to the final leg of the EWS.

His first race on a 29er so not bad Matt

Gutted for Mick. Really wanted him to take it. 😥

Gutted for Greg too. The man should look into solid tyres…

The point being a 160mm rear 27.5 enduro bike was still competitive against 190mm 29er downhill bikes.

After being told by loads of punters at the start of the season that 29ers would dominate the field.

What was the mechanism of gregs flat? Could the 29er wheels be giving Greg more grief? Extra leverage on the sidewalls during hard cornering?

More likely Enve’s new rims that they claim to almost eliminate pinch flats… not affecting others on the big wheels?

Not surprised by Sam’s result as a) he’s a beast b) he’s comfortable on that bike – arguably more than a few who have chopped and changed bikes, and c) it’s not the gnarliest of tracks. Doubt he would have chosen that bike for other courses. Delighted to see him back on a DH course, if not a DH bike.

Hill is just an amazing bike rider! He kinda made it for me, a lot of the rest of the day was a bit underwhelming as a spectacle. Having a pedally section influence the results of a show race seems a bit of a farce.

Apparently minaars spoke punched through his rim and that did for the tyre.

Wow – that’s a lot of radial distortion for that to be possible!