Up next in 10
On this action packed episode of the pod, George apologises to the fastest woman in the world right now, Camille Balanche for not making her the favourite in Leogang; we catch up with Florent Payet who recently announced his retirement at the end of the 2022 season and we preview the Lenzerheide World Cup!
#downhill #mtbpodcast #dhworldcup #downhillmtb #mtbracing #dh #mtb
Show More Show Less View Video Transcript
0:01
[Music]
0:14
welcome to the making of the numbers
0:17
podcast
0:18
the making of the numbers podcast is
0:21
sponsored by hope technology jtech
0:24
suspension revolution bike park ride
0:27
southern spain
0:28
schwall on the world's finest
0:31
independent mountain bike magazine
0:34
single track
0:37
hello everyone and welcome to episode
0:40
five of season four of the pod i'm
0:42
george thompson and in this episode i'm
0:45
going to be apologizing to camille
0:46
balanch not making her the favorite in
0:49
leia gang
0:50
and then we'll be chatting with the
0:51
legend that is flo payee as he announces
0:53
his retirement at the end of this season
0:55
then we'll be previewing the lens i had
0:57
world cup and joining me for all of that
0:59
at jack and emmy how you doing guys
1:02
good good good good i think it's a
1:04
question for jack how are you doing jack
1:08
yeah we just got out to the mega
1:10
avalanche so
1:11
i think we're traveling for 21 hours and
1:13
just the way it's worked this time i had
1:15
to do all the driving so i've had i
1:17
think i had two hours sleep in that 21
1:19
hours so
1:20
yeah i feel a little bit jet-lagged so
1:23
you're looking at as well to be honest
1:27
i agree
1:29
you're like you propped up there with
1:30
your pillow like you know like a bit
1:32
like a granddad i'm in a little you know
1:34
those beds you get over here that fold
1:36
out of the wall yeah yeah i'm in one of
1:38
them in the lounge in the apartment
1:40
right and sam walked over to me earlier
1:43
and he was like you look like you know
1:44
them little old men who like can't
1:46
really move anymore
1:48
live in their lap he wasn't like tucked
1:50
up under the door with me with me
1:53
frail so yeah i've been better but
1:56
so you've got the mega this week
1:59
you led at one stage last year are you
2:01
confident
2:03
yeah i mean last year was the first year
2:04
i did it and i came out the first corner
2:06
i was in front and i was like [ __ ]
2:08
hell i wasn't expecting that so
2:11
yeah i mean i wouldn't go as far as
2:12
saying confident it's a pretty
2:13
intimidating race um
2:16
like standing on that glacier knowing
2:18
you're about to
2:19
launch yourself down there with all
2:21
those people behind you is uh
2:23
yeah it's definitely intimidating but
2:25
it's also a bit of like a look at the
2:27
draw thing like so many different
2:29
variables can happen like there's enough
2:30
variables in downhill but then when you
2:32
do a mass start there's even more so i'm
2:35
just looking forward to it it's honestly
2:36
my favorite week of the season like
2:38
there's way less production in the world
2:39
cups and there's a really good vibe and
2:41
we're with us until so yeah just just
2:43
looking forward to the week and
2:45
we love that bit of your helmet cam from
2:47
last year when you went [ __ ] hell i'm
2:49
leading the mega yeah
2:52
first time i'd done it
2:54
i'd knackered my shoulder at leo gang i
2:56
was just here to hang out with sasunto
2:58
we were booked in for the uws we only
3:00
decided to come to do the mega like on
3:03
the monday when we changed venues
3:06
england were doing well in the euros if
3:08
you remember so we were on the piss
3:11
every night until like four in the
3:12
morning so i was hung over at the top of
3:15
that glacier
3:16
next minute i'm leading the mega and i
3:18
was like what the [ __ ] is going on
3:22
awesome cool so emmy where in the world
3:24
are you
3:25
i'm at home in switzerland for once and
3:29
uh yeah enjoying a few days at home
3:31
before we go to london heights soon
3:34
cool
3:35
so she's here with us from the start
3:37
camille belange how are you doing hello
3:40
very good thank you
3:41
excellent so we best get this over with
3:43
aren't we
3:46
i must sincerely apologize for not
3:48
making you the favorite in leogang i was
3:51
made to eat my words
3:53
could you understand my reasoning behind
3:56
picking valley
3:58
yeah yeah i think you were not the only
3:59
one
4:00
uh considering that she ended up third
4:02
gun last year was a crash so that's okay
4:06
so last time you were on the show was
4:08
the middle of last season you ended the
4:10
season third in the overall just 15
4:13
points off miriam in second you podiumed
4:15
every round you won in lee gang you must
4:18
have been happy with it
4:19
oh yeah for sure i was super happy i
4:21
mean my goal was just to be consistent
4:24
and have fun and i couldn't be more up
4:26
here to be on the podium every round so
4:29
that's sick
4:30
cool and you've started this season with
4:32
a bang for anyone who hasn't been
4:34
listening to your your podcast it's
4:37
called in and out so check
4:39
um cami or emmy's instagram for links
4:42
let's rewind a little bit
4:45
actually before we do that can i just
4:46
say you guys are pretty brutal with your
4:49
uh
4:51
i listen i'm listening to the one with
4:53
valet and it's like hey valerie you're
4:55
great at seeding but why are you so [ __ ]
4:57
at restaurants
5:00
are you guys like good friends or is
5:02
that just yeah that's that's why we can
5:04
ask this question you know we're super
5:06
good friend and we're just being honest
5:08
and yeah we just ask it what we want to
5:11
what what we want to know
5:13
but i think that was valley's own um
5:16
words as well
5:17
she always said yeah she was said to me
5:19
like
5:20
i'm so good at quality i suck at
5:22
richmond so we kind of like
5:24
kind of be a little joked on that a
5:26
little bit i don't i don't think you
5:27
actually said those words but it was no
5:29
you guys are pretty you're pretty blunt
5:31
with it aren't you there's no there's no
5:33
kind of pussyfooting around
5:35
around well well yeah kami's pretty
5:37
blunt with everything
5:41
no but it's like i think it's a good
5:43
thing
5:44
um
5:45
but yeah i'm sometimes here to tame it
5:47
down a little bit yeah for sure
5:51
nice so cammy and lords you seated
5:54
fourth and then took the win talk us
5:56
through that weekend
5:58
honestly yeah it's a long it feels like
6:00
ages ago but um
6:02
i never been to to um
6:07
so
6:08
i just heard uh how it was and everyone
6:10
was like oh it's so early in the wet and
6:13
yeah it's so slippery and march can be
6:15
so gnarly like maybe we will have snow
6:18
and
6:19
um yeah i was a bit scared honestly
6:22
because i just didn't know what to
6:23
expect so i watched like tons of videos
6:26
and yeah i tried to be as prepared i
6:29
could be and then
6:30
yeah i went
6:32
we were super lucky uh it was just sunny
6:35
and warm it was a bit tricky with uh
6:37
like you said earlier in the podcast as
6:39
well like with the lift because it took
6:42
just ages to do a lap so it was like two
6:44
hours of wait for one lap and that was
6:47
super special to to start with
6:49
uh but no honestly i felt
6:52
pretty good the whole weekend didn't
6:54
have any crush and i just tried to find
6:56
my pace or struggling with the bottom
6:58
part
6:59
and luckily and funny
7:02
um
7:03
it is that uh it's where i made the most
7:05
time in my restaurant because uh it's
7:07
where i thought um i thought so yeah
7:10
that was a bit surprising for me but um
7:13
no otherwise like
7:14
with a good wipe this is the team and we
7:16
were just doing the job like trying
7:18
lines and watching my group row and
7:20
everything went pretty much according to
7:22
plan and then um after quality first i
7:25
was like yeah that's where i need to be
7:27
and
7:28
when i won i was yeah i mean i had a
7:31
super great run but i was a bit
7:32
surprised that uh it was enough and yeah
7:35
i was super pleased with it
7:37
after qualifying did you
7:39
go up that hill
7:41
thinking
7:42
i can win this was that the goal given
7:44
you the way your practice had gone or
7:47
or was that not the the main goal that
7:49
day did you think more there was a third
7:51
or
7:53
yeah no honestly no i don't think uh i
7:56
don't really remember honestly but um i
7:58
don't think i was like i can win it it
8:00
was more like i did a couple of mistakes
8:02
and i knew i could go faster but
8:05
um yeah i mean you never know how fast
8:07
at the other end
8:09
i was just happy to
8:11
to make my to don't do those mistake
8:13
again and just have a better run and
8:15
then you can just wait and
8:17
and see what happens yeah for sure
8:20
so you're now riding the new common cell
8:22
v5 frame um
8:24
when did you get your frame did you
8:26
start the season on it or did you have
8:28
some time on the v4 and then switch to
8:30
it close to loads talk us through that
8:32
yeah that was a bit chaotic honestly we
8:35
got it just uh two weeks before lord
8:38
and just the day before the little i
8:41
mean the mini world cup racing bread
8:44
yeah and uh luckily we could race on it
8:46
but um yeah pre-wood is not really
8:49
close to a world cup track is like super
8:51
super short and flat and not so
8:53
technical so it was super hard to know
8:55
if the bike will work also in lord which
8:58
is quite steep and rough and
9:01
fast
9:02
so there was yeah a lot of unknown with
9:04
the new bike and it gave me
9:06
for sure a bit of company confident
9:08
winning
9:09
brewed because i didn't think i could do
9:12
well there and valley was there and
9:14
quite a lot of fast girls so i was like
9:16
okay the bike must be working because
9:19
i was still fast but still you don't
9:21
know if it's gonna work on a world cup
9:23
track and
9:24
yeah we still
9:25
haven't
9:26
find all the tune up and the setup there
9:29
but i mean it was it was quite okay and
9:32
i felt good i didn't change a lot of
9:34
stuff and
9:35
yeah i mean at the end after the race
9:37
obviously
9:38
then you can say that it was working
9:40
super well and the bike is probably
9:42
super fast but it was a bit yeah it was
9:44
a bit of a stress and we spent so much
9:46
time during the off-season riding the v4
9:49
and like doing a lot of training camps
9:51
and tuning things like super in details
9:54
and i felt like i was like one and one
9:56
with my before and then you changed just
9:59
two weeks before a world cup and you ask
10:01
yourself if it's a good idea or if you
10:03
should just stick with the v4 which you
10:05
know super well and well i'm happy now
10:08
that i i took it but yeah it was a bit
10:11
scary going into learn for sure were you
10:13
given the the opportunity to make that
10:15
decision yourself whether to stay on the
10:17
v4 or switch to the v5 or was that more
10:19
of a sponsor-led decision where the new
10:22
bike is available so you will race the
10:24
new bike no honestly um
10:27
i haven't asked but i'm pretty sure if i
10:29
i would have said i want to stick with
10:31
the v4 i could have i mean they didn't
10:33
tell us like no you have to ride a new
10:35
bike but obviously it's a new bike and
10:38
you know it should be better so you want
10:40
to ride it
10:41
sure nice
10:43
okay so moving on to sunday or race day
10:46
at the world cups um
10:49
for anyone who isn't aware of this elite
10:50
women get a chance to practice early on
10:52
the morning
10:54
um which
10:55
girls can you tell me what time that is
10:57
is it eight till nine is that right yeah
10:59
8 15 to 9 15. oh yeah really early in
11:02
the morning um
11:04
and then they get a chance to do one
11:05
more run at 10 50. um
11:08
and as far as we understand it you're
11:10
making the decision not to go up for
11:13
that hours practice between 8 15 and 9
11:16
15 and you're you're doing your one run
11:19
um in the 10 50 slot is is that correct
11:21
yeah it's correct i think i'm doing that
11:23
since a year like okay i don't know i
11:26
don't remember exactly if i've been
11:28
doing that the whole season last year
11:29
but for sure pretty much everywhere
11:32
and especially in lourdes where we had
11:35
that team time changing i mean uh
11:38
in the morning of the race we like
11:41
changed time and it was even earlier
11:43
and he was like well it will be seven in
11:45
the morning and it was still dark and
11:48
especially in load when the track in the
11:50
morning is still a bit wet it's like so
11:52
slippery so
11:54
yeah everything was against
11:57
for me to go at eight to nine i don't
12:01
yeah for me it's not necessary like i
12:03
just go at 10 50 to see the track as
12:05
close like it it is to the
12:07
race run and kind of to warm up a little
12:10
bit too
12:11
but um
12:12
normally i don't need to try new thing
12:15
or like change something so i just try
12:17
to go as late as possible to see the
12:19
track it's gonna be for race run and if
12:21
you go at eight it's gonna change so
12:23
much until 11. so for me it's more like
12:26
energy wasting than anything else like
12:28
also taking risks
12:30
yeah and you can structure your morning
12:31
a little bit better with your warm up
12:33
and your sleep and your breakfast so
12:35
yeah it certainly makes sense i i didn't
12:37
know you did that and it was funny i was
12:39
having a conversation with someone about
12:40
that in leo game about i wonder how many
12:42
of the girls choose to do that and then
12:44
george pointed that out to me so yeah i
12:46
think even
12:48
even
12:49
always more girl are doing i know valley
12:51
did the same in logan
12:53
and
12:54
i think more and more girl are doing it
12:56
because yeah it's just [ __ ] to have so
12:59
early practice it doesn't make sense for
13:01
us for sure
13:02
so you then left lords with the number
13:05
one play was is that the first time
13:07
you've had the leader's jersey and the
13:08
number one board no
13:10
um i won the first opening round
13:14
last year as well and then um i keep it
13:17
for two
13:18
until leisure sold for three world cup
13:20
yeah so you're getting getting used to
13:22
having it now
13:24
yeah it wasn't the first time but it's
13:25
always nice to have it
13:27
cool
13:28
okay so um moving on to fort william
13:32
it was very wet and grey this year um
13:35
and it was only your second time racing
13:37
there
13:37
um
13:38
we'll be happy to go back for world
13:41
champs next year
13:43
um
13:44
i mean
13:45
kind of like the track the condition is
13:47
always terrible like it's always raining
13:49
and cold it was 12 degrees every day
13:52
and the truck is brutal you're like you
13:54
never prepared enough for this truck
13:57
even though you train as much as you can
13:59
you're always gonna be like why i'm not
14:01
fitter
14:02
but um
14:04
i wouldn't say i'm not happy to go like
14:06
i hate the travel to go there like i
14:09
hate like all the stuff around like we
14:11
are always pretty far from
14:13
from the venue uh with the apartment and
14:16
like yeah it's wet and you need to
14:18
change like everything is pretty bad but
14:20
the course itself is pretty cool i kind
14:22
of like it to ride and also the
14:24
spectators and the fans so it's like
14:26
half half like i'm excited to go again
14:29
and sometimes like i don't really yeah
14:31
i'm not excited to have all this stuff
14:33
but i think it's pretty cool yeah i have
14:36
that for the same thing with for my life
14:38
back like the crowd everything else
14:42
but we we have some dried for strive for
14:45
william in the past so maybe you would
14:47
get lucky this time yeah and world
14:49
champs is in in august yeah
14:52
i think so it should be
14:54
better yeah we'll see
14:56
yeah it is
14:58
um so there you see it first for the
15:01
first time
15:03
um and i've seen you today or finals and
15:06
i remember that so i i'm interested in
15:08
what you gotta say so how did it feel
15:10
being the last woman down the hill
15:13
um
15:14
for sure
15:15
probably like i was more stressed than
15:18
when you do like fourth or fifth
15:21
uh because obviously just it was a dream
15:24
to qualify first and then win the final
15:26
because that's like the best feeling you
15:28
can have like win both because when you
15:30
cross your line then you can just
15:32
um explode and be like happy because you
15:34
won
15:35
and
15:36
so yeah i was i was more stressed for
15:39
sure but um i don't think i losed it or
15:42
like
15:43
i don't think it was a big problem in my
15:45
run or but yeah
15:47
i think you were with me in the
15:48
container yeah that's right so you went
15:50
up with me and i probably tell mob
15:54
yeah he was i was for sure probably more
15:56
stressed but i don't think he was then a
15:59
problem in my restaurant like that i was
16:01
stressing too much or losing it so so
16:04
emmy did you notice she was different in
16:06
any way did you notice um
16:09
that's why i'm saying that i didn't
16:11
notice she was more stressed going up
16:12
for a run but in the morning so at that
16:15
10 50 slot
16:17
when i'm still up there um after jenna
16:20
our junior dropped for a race run
16:23
um i mostly like kind of see her waiting
16:26
to go on the track and there i
16:29
i noticed the difference for sure i
16:31
guess it's because also
16:33
again that decision of doing one run
16:35
before you race run you kind of like
16:38
you don't doubt yourself but like the
16:39
pressure
16:40
builds until you go for the first time
16:42
on track and then when that's done i
16:45
guess
16:47
you felt better and
16:49
you kind of could prepare for your
16:50
restaurant so there was a little bit of
16:52
more pressure and it was the same in leo
16:54
gang
16:55
but it's even it's before your first
16:57
practice in the day and not before the
16:59
race run so now the layer gang was
17:01
terrible in quality but not in the
17:03
finals i felt great in final
17:06
i felt [ __ ] in qualia i was so stressed
17:09
i was for sure
17:11
distressed i was the whole year it was
17:13
but it was in quality nothing final
17:16
so fort william
17:18
he's finished second with a 5 17 which
17:21
is a hell of a time
17:22
and i wanted to ask emmy something here
17:24
when when you were at the bottom and you
17:26
saw nina's time
17:28
in your heart
17:29
did you think
17:30
comes
17:32
so what did you think cam's chances of
17:33
being it were
17:35
no
17:36
you should have seen my face when i walk
17:38
into the area and i saw because i i
17:40
missed in his run
17:42
because i was still like kind of trying
17:43
to take care of the boys after practice
17:46
and i arrived and i saw that time and i
17:48
was like oh god
17:50
because cam told me oh if i can do the
17:52
same time as in qualia i'll be happy
17:54
and i remember what it was like
17:57
well something like that and i was like
17:58
so 4 5 14 and i was like oh god this is
18:02
gonna be hard so
18:04
in my heart the change was very high but
18:06
in reality i was like oh this is gonna
18:07
be like so hard to actually do it and
18:12
i think second place was
18:14
already like kind of a success as well
18:16
because you can cut close to it as well
18:19
yeah were you happy with it
18:21
yeah yeah honestly yes for sure i mean
18:24
when i crossed the line i was super
18:26
happy with my run and i said like
18:28
directly i'm happy i couldn't like i
18:31
would have to take way too many risks to
18:32
do better so i was super happy uh just
18:35
afterwards i need to admit that that
18:38
feeling of like the dream of winning
18:40
crowley and winning the race
18:42
went quite a lot of time in my head and
18:45
because i picture myself like so many
18:48
times before the race like crossing that
18:50
line and having the best time and like
18:52
how the crowd will be and because i mean
18:55
foreign is like the famous race you can
18:58
you can win so i was i was like really
19:01
seeing myself winning one day there and
19:03
that was my first opportunity to take it
19:05
and
19:06
yeah it took me quite a long
19:09
long time to go
19:11
like to forget about it and
19:13
really be happy about my second place
19:16
um
19:17
so yeah i will say when i crossed the
19:19
finish line i was super happy and maybe
19:21
a day or two later i was like yeah but
19:23
if i you know like
19:26
was was that just i made a comment on
19:28
the last pod that it felt a bit like
19:30
some of the top women were kind of just
19:32
happy to get out of fort william with
19:33
some decent points still in one piece
19:36
because of the weather because of it's
19:38
such a brutal track emmy corrected me
19:40
and said that's how the majority of the
19:41
men felt too
19:43
is that pretty
19:44
accurate when you were going when you
19:46
were going home
19:49
yeah i mean
19:50
the track is super
19:51
not dangerous but like you know if you
19:53
crash is gonna end pretty badly because
19:55
there was just rocks everywhere and
19:57
we're going pretty fast and also the
19:59
wind was super tricky you you just want
20:01
to hit your lines but the wind was super
20:03
strong especially in quality and then it
20:04
was just super hard to to to write it so
20:07
that was super scary as well and you're
20:08
just happy when you make it down
20:11
um
20:12
and but yeah for me it's
20:14
it's a bit like how i feel like the
20:16
whole year i'm like just happy to make
20:19
it true and i always think about like oh
20:21
yeah you've been uh you stayed on the
20:23
bike you feel uh
20:25
your feet and you can go to the next one
20:27
and i'm always happy if i can continue
20:29
the season
20:30
cool so leo gang i think before the race
20:35
we'd all pretty much agree that you're a
20:37
consistent
20:38
rather than spectacular rider you know
20:40
you're always on the podium but not
20:41
winning by huge margins
20:44
when you always do [ __ ] in the first
20:46
sector i don't remember rightly um you
20:49
qualified first again you smoked
20:51
everyone by 11 seconds and went fastest
20:53
in the first sector where did that come
20:55
from
20:56
you changed [ __ ] podcast you pissed her
20:58
off
21:00
when you started apologizing at the
21:02
start of this episode i was like
21:04
i know he has to apologize for something
21:06
else but i can't remember what it is
21:08
and yeah it was that stuff yeah i i've
21:10
got to pull you off actually i was going
21:12
to leave it
21:13
do you think do you think danny hart was
21:15
uh felt the same about your comments
21:17
about him not winning fort william
21:19
he didn't say anything to me about it in
21:22
but then went second where did you see
21:24
him
21:25
leo again you didn't say it to me i did
21:27
think about that actually
21:30
hey i i i said some lovely things about
21:32
him at the same time
21:34
you did
21:35
so where did it come from
21:37
yeah well some so i'm gonna still say
21:40
that it's because everyone else crashed
21:42
so we heard it on some other podcast
21:46
it was a [ __ ] race because it was not
21:48
interesting because i had such a big
21:50
margin from the top and everyone crashed
21:52
so
21:53
it was not a good show but um no i think
21:55
honestly it was a super good
21:58
good run and i really tried to push as
22:00
well at the top this time and i'm super
22:02
stoked that i took that first plate and
22:04
i was faster than valley not for much
22:06
but for me it was a big
22:08
big win there
22:10
and then obviously i knew i could win
22:12
the race in the wood that's where i can
22:15
ride this faster and
22:17
i did and yeah it was just the perfect
22:19
run like how i planned it in my head and
22:22
it was just cheaper stock and then for
22:23
sure
22:24
i would have been cooler to have the
22:26
other girls also
22:27
um
22:28
[Music]
22:29
like having a good run and see uh if i
22:32
still would have win but um i mean if if
22:35
if
22:37
it's always easy to say after that um
22:40
without the crash without that that it's
22:43
part of the it's part of the race and if
22:44
you push hard and you you're gonna who
22:47
said it was a [ __ ]
22:49
um
22:54
yeah well they didn't say it like that
22:56
but um
22:58
yeah a little bit needles and ala milway
23:01
i am doing moving the needles
23:04
ahead
23:05
yeah and he was the last rider down in
23:07
the men's and he was up and he crashed
23:09
so
23:10
yeah but that was just a closer but i
23:12
mean if chris kobach wins with 11 second
23:15
he's the greatest man alive and the
23:16
woman wins with 11 seconds the other
23:19
would just [ __ ] so we're kind of used to
23:21
it
23:22
but uh yeah just uh i'll have a little
23:25
chat with alan um in
23:27
the next race
23:28
[Laughter]
23:29
i'm gonna say this as diplomatically as
23:31
i as i can bothered but
23:34
it's like
23:35
there was another podcast
23:37
that one of my staff told me about where
23:40
it said a similar thing about the junior
23:42
race between jordan and jackson and leo
23:44
gang
23:45
and they were
23:46
basically just saying that how amazing
23:49
it was that jackson came second with a
23:51
crash and
23:52
making out oh he would have won without
23:54
the crash
23:56
these people don't seem to understand
23:57
that that is part of racing like
24:00
they've pushed the line too far
24:03
in their race run
24:05
and crashed and made a mistake the rider
24:07
that didn't do that has put a good race
24:09
run together
24:11
and it does make me laugh when these
24:12
people who don't race sit behind their
24:15
their microphones and make these grand
24:17
statements about things like that and i
24:19
just think it's so disrespectful but as
24:21
you say cami's put down an amazing time
24:24
an amazing run and the same thing
24:25
happened with jordan and instead of the
24:27
focus being on that achievement
24:30
they're saying oh yeah these riders
24:31
didn't crash
24:32
shut up
24:35
like
24:36
i agree
24:37
we're doing an extreme sport if you
24:39
can't control a crash
24:41
then you've not done a good race run so
24:43
yeah if i didn't crash be great
24:46
yeah you'd be mim george power to weight
24:48
like
24:51
six foot seven like
24:53
missile coming down the hill
24:55
like a cannonball oh my god
24:57
yeah like i don't listen to him jesus
25:00
christ
25:01
we're with you jack yeah
25:04
and that was my diplomatic way of saying
25:05
it imagine if i hadn't
25:11
your next question matt
25:17
all right
25:18
okay so can we tell us a little bit
25:20
about your tire choice because do we
25:22
understand that you raced on full spikes
25:24
at least yes exactly a full dirty den
25:26
okay so i was on
25:28
before you explained to the viewers i
25:30
was on full dirty dams
25:31
throughout thursday all through practice
25:34
loved them and then i practiced on them
25:36
on friday morning before quali and then
25:38
obviously it stopped raining the track
25:40
started drying out i spoke to my junior
25:43
i was on full spikes at the top before
25:46
qualifying and then i looked at the
25:47
track and thought right i'll switch to
25:49
cuts because the track is drying out a
25:51
lot
25:52
i'm still going to want some kind of
25:53
spike tire for the woods and i decided
25:55
to go on the cuts
25:56
talk us through your
25:58
your logic on on staying on the full
26:00
spikes for the whole weekend
26:02
because i i love spike i'm usually one
26:04
of the guys to stay on them so it'd be
26:05
interesting to hear what you think so
26:07
you so basically you put the cat because
26:09
you thought it's gonna roll better or
26:11
what was the
26:12
yeah when i run a full spike as well i
26:14
leave the little extra edge you're on
26:16
the dirt yeah yeah yeah yeah
26:18
so because i knew the woods were drying
26:21
out and the roots were drying out a
26:22
little bit i didn't want those little
26:23
nibblers on the side and my cuts would
26:25
have those off as well
26:28
and yeah obviously at the top and
26:30
through the stumps and the motorway
26:34
i went for the cut to get the balance
26:37
so yeah that was my logic
26:39
yeah but um
26:41
so for quality for me that wasn't even
26:45
a thing like um i wanted to stay with
26:47
the full because it wasn't drying as
26:49
much as for sure like as the for final
26:53
so i stared on the on the full like the
26:55
whole
26:56
the whole training the whole crawly and
26:59
then um
27:00
yeah we knew it's gonna dry out a lot
27:02
and we know how it is uh in logang the
27:04
top will be dry if it's sunny and the
27:07
wood will remain wet so
27:09
um
27:10
yeah so
27:12
i was like okay that's the trick with
27:14
the only one practice in 1050 because
27:16
you cannot test many stuff that's a bit
27:18
of the problem but then i was like okay
27:21
i need to test the dirty then cut see if
27:24
i like it
27:25
so for my run at 10 50 i put the cut
27:29
and then i went down and i was like [ __ ]
27:31
this is
27:32
super slippery and i don't know i didn't
27:34
even thought that was the change of the
27:36
of the tire
27:38
and then they get the the boys went for
27:40
practice just after me
27:42
and they also tried the dirty dang cut
27:44
and came down and they were also like
27:45
wow he's so [ __ ] like we sliding
27:47
everywhere and then i don't remember if
27:50
he was first burning our bodies but but
27:52
they were like oh it must be the tire
27:54
because we changed tire it's now uh
27:56
changing the condition and i was like oh
27:58
yeah maybe it's not me and the truck is
28:00
maybe just the tire and then i couldn't
28:04
obviously
28:05
try something else so i had to ask them
28:08
what they what if they could do it for
28:10
me and give me some feedback just before
28:11
i go up
28:12
and uh benoit wanted to test
28:16
i think i'm not sure maybe he wanted to
28:18
test even a magic mary in the front but
28:20
i don't remember and baptist was a kid
28:23
to go back on full dirty dan so i was
28:25
like oh yes please can you do that and
28:27
give me a feedback when you come back so
28:30
i waited i was a bit late for to go up
28:32
for my for my wristband but i waited
28:34
until he came back and he was like i
28:36
don't want to influence you but honestly
28:38
i was sick that i was way better on
28:41
on care on full and i was like okay like
28:44
i
28:45
i wasn't happy i was like i couldn't
28:47
make my my decision and i was asking my
28:50
mechanic okay do whatever you want and
28:52
he put the magic mario in the front and
28:53
the dirty done in the cut and when batis
28:56
came and told me that i was like no i
28:59
know i can win the race in the in the
29:01
wood not at the top so i'll go for the
29:03
best seller in the wood
29:05
so last minute decision i asked i tell
29:07
my mechanic to go back to full and
29:09
honestly it was mint even the top like
29:12
uh
29:13
not one time i was like oh this is a
29:15
shitty or i'm gonna slide because it's
29:17
like too high for like a hard background
29:20
it was like the best grip ever
29:23
and
29:24
don't i didn't feel any difference on
29:26
the on the stamp and the roots and
29:28
for the for the wood obviously it was
29:30
the best choice ever so yeah when i came
29:33
down to the finish line i was like oh
29:34
that was the best decision ever and um
29:37
yeah emily also told me to stay on foot
29:41
but i was like oh but my mechanics say
29:43
yeah you should go and try and i
29:45
couldn't choose so
29:47
thank you batista for
29:49
for your feedback
29:51
with a question there go for it
29:54
you went fastest in the first sector
29:56
faster than valley before she crashed
29:59
did you do anything different because i
30:00
know you've been trying that was one of
30:02
the things you were looking at wasn't it
30:03
trying to get faster in the first sector
30:06
no and it was super weird like when i
30:08
started my run we we start by this off
30:11
camber like in the grass
30:13
and um i practiced to go high but then
30:15
go low at one point in the middle of the
30:18
line and then high again to open the the
30:20
corner and i was doing that the morning
30:22
and it was all good and that that was my
30:24
plan and i don't know what happened to
30:26
me in my my head or like what i did but
30:30
during my restaurant i forgot to go down
30:32
so i stayed up and i was like what are
30:34
you doing and then it was a bit like
30:36
that the whole randomly i was like
30:39
making really like like this last minute
30:41
decision it was super fun like i was
30:43
talking to me the whole
30:45
run and
30:46
then i was like okay then stay stay high
30:48
and
30:54
[Music]
31:05
yeah yeah and then um
31:07
no i did like normal lines just uh where
31:09
valley crash but i was doing that the
31:11
whole practice i choose not to go over
31:14
the stem because it was hitting me
31:16
pretty hard like the when you land it
31:18
was a big hit and it was a marine
31:21
crashed no just when wally crashed the
31:23
one before
31:25
and it was a super big hit and i choose
31:27
to go around and for me it was faster
31:29
and i yeah um it was a suggestion for my
31:32
team manager and first i was like yeah
31:34
no but it's better on the stem and then
31:36
i tried and actually it was way better
31:37
to go around you didn't have any hit and
31:40
then i could took that
31:41
nice inside line afterwards and um yeah
31:44
just think like that i think i had
31:46
pretty
31:47
safe and dialed
31:48
uh line that i could ride pretty fast
31:51
and i took it pretty easy where by the
31:54
second stem section where marlin crashed
31:57
because yeah obviously it's a super high
31:59
step and super hard to to to to ride and
32:02
i was a bit just a bit uh
32:05
yeah
32:06
come on dear and i'll be uh pissed
32:08
in a motorway because that's always my
32:10
goal at every world cup it's my goal to
32:13
have the best time in the motor rail
32:15
which i did in four william so i was
32:16
like i need to be the fastest in the
32:18
motorway as well but i case like two of
32:21
the jump like not super bad but i was
32:23
like pistols like i was doing them super
32:25
well in practice and i cased them and i
32:27
don't know if it's maybe the tire choice
32:29
i i want to say it because of it
32:34
but anyway i cased you of the jump and i
32:36
didn't have the best time in the
32:37
motorway but afterwards after that it
32:39
was just
32:40
i was hitting my lines in in the wood
32:42
and even at the bottom i did some
32:45
some like creative line i never tried
32:47
before but i saw on bonus gopro and he
32:50
was telling me yeah you can cut all
32:51
inside and i tried and it was super
32:53
funny because i was like i was talking
32:55
to me and i was like should i try and
32:57
try to do that and then i was just like
32:58
oh okay i'll do that and okay i'll do
33:00
that and it was all like last minute
33:02
decision like
33:03
yeah it was it was super cool
33:05
that's very cool
33:07
yeah going back to the tire choice there
33:09
it's you know it's it's really
33:11
interesting what you said and i think so
33:13
many people get sucked into just doing
33:16
what they see other people doing and
33:18
conforming with a
33:19
decision just because and
33:22
i always find it quite funny that a lot
33:23
of people like
33:25
tend to go out on dry tires when to me
33:27
it's a really obvious thing to go out on
33:29
wet tires and there was quite a split at
33:31
leo gang of people on dries and people
33:33
on wets and i think a lot of it is just
33:35
a psychological thing and that goes down
33:37
to any level not just world cup racing
33:39
but i think for anyone who's racing if
33:41
if it's
33:42
if you're going to feel more comfortable
33:44
on a wet tire or if
33:46
you're going to feel more comfortable on
33:47
a dry tire just because your friend is
33:49
on something else it's definitely worth
33:51
going with what will make you feel
33:53
mentally more
33:54
more kind of able to commit because uh
33:57
there's no way if you've given me dry
33:59
tires at leo gang at any point i would
34:01
not have been able to ride those woods
34:03
oh well i don't know ecological
34:08
um whereas i know i've got friends who
34:11
were up there all weekend on dry tires
34:12
yeah i don't understand that because he
34:14
was pouring down as they were like yeah
34:16
it's still wet and it's like a river so
34:18
your tire doesn't fool but
34:21
it's not about that it's less like you
34:23
have a better grip and breaking with
34:24
full metal so what's the point on
34:26
writing dry you know like i i don't know
34:29
i also didn't understand
34:31
yeah so i think what i think you did the
34:32
right thing you spoke to people you
34:34
trust you went with the decision that
34:35
would mean you would ride properly
34:38
rather than just conform into oh people
34:41
are going on dry tires now so i'll do
34:42
that
34:43
because that definitely wouldn't work
34:45
for me
34:46
nice one okay so moving on from liu gang
34:49
then um second at european champs last
34:52
weekend in maribor teammate monica um
34:55
dove all team it you seem like a pretty
34:57
tight-knit bunch you're all getting on
34:59
really well yeah honestly for sure yeah
35:01
yes it was cool
35:03
cool and a few years ago everyone kind
35:05
of seemed to stop prioritizing european
35:08
champs and for some reason
35:09
it started to see a bit of a resurgence
35:11
in recent times and you guys seem to be
35:13
racing european champs most years is it
35:16
one of the first races to go on the
35:17
dorval calendar after the world cups
35:20
would you say um
35:22
yeah so
35:24
this is uh
35:25
this is an interesting topic for me i'm
35:27
a bit pissed after the last uh the last
35:30
round like the last european champ
35:32
um so yeah for the while uh it's super
35:35
important to have all the title so
35:38
from the beginning the doval team uh was
35:41
always going to the european champ and i
35:43
think we
35:44
there was not one year where we didn't
35:46
had at least in one category the the
35:48
champ like it was monika for two years
35:50
one from one year but he's won it also
35:53
one year and it was
35:55
always super important for dover so we
35:57
went there and we had fun and it was
36:00
super cool but um yeah honestly i feel
36:02
like
36:03
last year because it was the same
36:06
like weekend at the world cup it was a
36:08
lot of people coming and because it was
36:10
the same track it was kind of
36:11
interesting for every team to come and
36:14
ride a track as a training so we've seen
36:16
like loris version winning and i thought
36:18
like it will be maybe
36:20
you will have like the the the title to
36:24
be better and maybe motivated more
36:26
people to
36:27
to have it and win it like in cross
36:28
country i don't yeah i think it's
36:31
really a shame that it's not like in
36:32
cross country and we could have a second
36:35
little world champ i mean every
36:38
all the best writer pretty much are in
36:40
europe so
36:41
that could be a super sick race but um
36:44
it's not and
36:46
yeah this year was especially super
36:48
super bad organized and um
36:52
i honestly think for me um
36:55
that it's gonna be the last time i go
36:56
because it's just
36:58
yeah it was just
37:00
all about the money making money and
37:02
um
37:04
the security was super bad and they
37:06
didn't have martial and she didn't care
37:08
about the medic and it was honestly so
37:10
bad i'm yeah i'm super pissed and
37:13
i really hope i don't have to get there
37:16
again because it was just a joke
37:18
who organizes it because i thought it
37:20
was like did i access do it last year
37:22
when they were because it was in the
37:23
middle of their their run of events
37:26
yeah access did it last year but i don't
37:28
think axes did it this year no no they
37:30
had nothing to do with it ec or whatever
37:32
yeah just in maribor basically just yeah
37:37
they say they wanted to organize it for
37:40
three years in a row and so they did
37:41
last year they did this year and
37:42
normally
37:44
they should do it next year but i hope
37:46
with all the reports from this year
37:48
they're not going to be able to but um
37:50
we will see
37:51
well i mean the title i've never really
37:53
understood why people don't go for it
37:55
you know to be european champions a
37:57
pretty big thing you know like yeah
37:59
champion of the continent it's like
38:02
this has been that this is since i
38:04
started and i don't know why i mean i'm
38:06
pretty new to the sport so i don't
38:08
really understand and when i started i
38:10
was super stoked but now i kind of see
38:12
it another way and i don't well i still
38:14
don't understand why it's so s
38:17
so [ __ ] but i think back in the day was
38:19
more like the news like it was also
38:21
sometimes like almost in october and
38:24
really far away in bulgaria or whatever
38:27
but um
38:28
yeah but i don't know like sometimes
38:32
this year it got better like you were in
38:34
portugal and you had fun and it was
38:36
pretty good track and can a lot of
38:38
people and it's an opportunity for so
38:39
all the writers to do points
38:42
um but yeah
38:44
from what you said it looked
38:46
horrible this year so here's something
38:48
sorry george
38:50
you know you just said
38:52
european champ is like you know
38:54
something to be proud of and you know a
38:56
title missed that liver i was just
38:58
thinking when you said it this weekend i
39:01
was at home chilling and training
39:03
obviously keeping up to date with like
39:05
ews and european champs and
39:08
i when you started talking i was like i
39:09
don't think pink bike even no they
39:11
didn't i looked and we all looked and we
39:13
were like you checked no they didn't so
39:16
european championships pink bike didn't
39:19
even post the results no that's how much
39:22
the event
39:24
isn't an event like the biggest mountain
39:27
bike website in the world can't be
39:29
bothered
39:30
to publicize it that's exactly what i
39:32
said to my team manager i was like look
39:34
they didn't even say anything in pinback
39:36
i'm not going to go again
39:39
oh tons of motors
39:45
it's a busy season like in the next
39:47
seven weeks i'm home for five days
39:49
like yeah and it's super fun two days of
39:52
travel to get there you will be the same
39:54
kind of busy if not busier and
39:57
it's a lot of risk it's a lot of travel
40:00
and if you get absolutely [ __ ] all from
40:02
it in terms of promotion and advertising
40:04
what's the point
40:06
yeah exactly unless you're going there
40:07
on holidays like just a rider or
40:09
whatever maybe you have a 300 euros
40:11
prize bunnies yeah 600.
40:16
yeah if you go win
40:18
no but like it's there's there's yeah so
40:21
there's two things here the first thing
40:23
is i have to give a shout out to our
40:24
team rider neil white um who finished
40:27
sixth in men's 40 to 44.
40:30
um
40:31
he he really enjoyed himself i know that
40:33
i was supposed to go with him but a
40:34
couple of work things came up so i
40:36
couldn't go but the second thing is and
40:37
i can't remember maybe i haven't put
40:39
this into the into the script so when i
40:42
was researching this
40:44
um it was flow that i was researching
40:48
weren't you european junior
40:51
champion
40:52
emmy for crosstalk yes yes i was
40:55
yeah you've kept this quiet so you were
40:57
the european junior champion
41:00
yeah
41:02
i was supposed to be world champion as
41:03
well but i blew it
41:06
so how good were you at xc because i
41:08
didn't you know you said oh i did a bit
41:10
of xc
41:11
in the past you know they did a bit more
41:13
than just doing a bit like say how good
41:15
were you
41:16
no i
41:17
i think i was just training like a
41:19
maniac and um
41:21
that was a little bit that became the
41:23
problem
41:24
after that but um
41:26
yeah i was just
41:28
enjoying being fast on the bike and i
41:31
was always better
41:33
like
41:34
on the descent than a long up hills
41:37
so i enjoyed like um
41:40
more technical tracks for sure
41:42
but yeah it was it was good until it
41:44
wasn't so
41:46
it must be quite a tough decision though
41:48
when you've reached that level too
41:50
it's pretty easy when you like actually
41:53
suffering so much for a mid-pack result
41:56
it's pretty easy to decide to stop it's
41:58
on cross-country is only fun when you
42:00
fast in in front to me okay
42:03
so back to cam
42:06
i think
42:08
i'll try to write this and i'll try to
42:10
work out the words but
42:12
i think we're all kind of a bit sweared
42:13
by the media you're in your 30s you so
42:16
you're an older rider it's becoming more
42:19
and more a younger person sport
42:21
you've you've come to the spotlight
42:23
you're not on a factory team but you're
42:25
undoubtedly the number one rider in the
42:27
world at the moment tell me how that
42:28
feels because it's kind of been a
42:30
meteoric rise really hasn't it
42:32
yeah but for me like i think elliot
42:35
asked me the same question in leogang
42:36
and
42:37
for me
42:39
i'm still
42:40
underdog and i i don't know for me even
42:43
though i'm leading the overall i don't
42:44
feel like i'm the
42:46
like i'm the number one
42:48
and uh i think it's gonna stay this way
42:52
until
42:54
i don't know until i think that i'm
42:55
better than the other because when i
42:57
watch
42:58
popo or valley or all those girls like
43:01
their skills and how they're right i'm
43:03
just amazed and
43:05
as long as i don't see myself
43:07
being better than them i always gonna
43:09
see myself as underdog it just sometimes
43:12
it would be nice to be at least in the
43:13
top tree or
43:15
like you know when people in the media
43:17
say yeah that's the top tree that would
43:18
be nice to be on it a bit more often
43:20
because i've been in the top tree for
43:23
a year and a half now that's the only
43:25
thing sometimes like he hurt myself a
43:28
little bit like i'm like yeah when i'm
43:30
gonna be also in that top three what's
43:32
what's it's gonna take that i'm in the
43:35
top three but then when i look at tony
43:37
and like yeah the other girls i'm like
43:39
okay yeah they'll just like legend and
43:41
to just write so well
43:43
that it's
43:44
okay you're becoming one of those
43:46
legends
43:48
yeah but for me it doesn't feel
43:50
this way because i just yeah is there
43:53
still more to come
43:54
do you feel like you can improve further
43:56
because i discovered something
43:58
incredible the other day which is that
44:00
you've actually done less downhill races
44:02
than me
44:04
kind of probably confirmed i've still
44:06
quite got quite a bit to learn i haven't
44:07
heard yet
44:08
perfected it mate don't listen to anyone
44:11
so is there a lot more to come
44:13
yeah i hope so i mean like when i when i
44:16
watch the replay for example of last
44:18
year or two years ago and i see myself
44:20
i'm like oh my god i i didn't know how
44:23
to ride a mountain bike and
44:25
um
44:26
for sure i i still feel that i'm
44:28
improving and i i'm learning stuff and
44:31
yeah it's super interesting and cool to
44:33
see the
44:34
lines that i couldn't do before or like
44:36
just
44:37
also
44:38
just feeling stuff on my back or just
44:41
yeah i feel that i'm improving even more
44:43
and
44:44
um yeah i honestly can't wait to see
44:46
what what i can do and
44:49
if i can yeah just put it together until
44:52
the
44:52
until the end of the season and win a
44:55
world championships and that will be
44:57
super nice and then from then on just
44:59
keep winning and winning that will be
45:01
nice
45:04
yeah i got a potentially difficult
45:06
question for you to answer um
45:09
how
45:10
serious
45:11
are comments i'll take in you and benoit
45:14
at the moment
45:15
obviously you are
45:17
both doing extremely well but you're not
45:20
on the main common cell team
45:22
um are you noticing that you're getting
45:25
more attention and
45:27
getting more
45:28
things that you need or is think of
45:31
things not really changed
45:33
no i'll say yes honestly um
45:36
i'll say that we're getting more
45:38
attention and or like more respect and
45:40
more
45:41
like
45:42
yeah or like if we give feedback also
45:44
for the frame or stuff like that i think
45:46
we're taking now
45:48
way more serious than before uh
45:51
yeah i will say that and i feel it
45:53
i feel it this way
45:55
that's good
45:56
yeah and that makes sense because
45:57
obviously i know those guys myself and
45:59
that they are always really interested
46:01
in what everybody's doing so yeah that's
46:03
good to know that you guys are getting
46:05
that recognition because you both
46:06
deserve it for sure
46:08
yeah no it's nice to see and we
46:10
we're gonna have like little thing but
46:12
you know like you it's you can feel it
46:14
as a writer like having a special frame
46:16
for worlds and we know it's super
46:18
difficult this year with like the
46:20
covenant stuff but bono and i gonna have
46:22
really like a special one and nice and
46:25
just stuff like that you can feel like
46:27
yeah they they care about us and
46:30
they superstitious that we do and
46:33
good nice
46:35
um
46:36
we mentioned the overall just before so
46:39
now you're in command in the overall but
46:42
we're coming to lanza hi there
46:44
which um
46:46
isn't probably your favorite check so
46:48
what's your strategy what do you mean
46:50
it's my favorite track
46:53
that was george's script so i'm just now
46:55
i'm i'm kidding but i know it's like
46:57
it's been
46:59
it's a hard track and it but you've been
47:02
quite okay on it like the past year but
47:04
i know it's the hardest one for you to
47:06
do well so what's your strategy for
47:08
for the next round yeah i think
47:11
i think i like it and i think i can do
47:14
well but because last year was my worst
47:16
result of the year i kind of feel like
47:19
it's gonna be challenging but in other
47:21
way it was just because i was just not
47:23
having the same plan at all the other
47:26
world cup at all the world cup normally
47:28
i just i want to push but i want to stay
47:31
in my limit and
47:32
be clean and ride well and
47:35
because of the home crowd and just
47:38
wanted to do an extra
47:40
extra good uh i did an extra mistake and
47:44
i just didn't break before the full gaze
47:46
i went like so fast way faster than in
47:48
practice and then i almost died in that
47:51
corner and lost all my speed but just
47:53
just because i tried to push more and
47:55
it's just not working with me or like at
47:57
least this time it didn't work and then
48:00
i just count myself for the rest of the
48:01
season it was way better
48:04
yeah
48:06
so yeah the plan is just um to ride like
48:09
i did for the beginning of the season
48:10
and
48:11
just
48:12
for sure
48:14
you have a lot of work to do on this
48:16
track there is still many lines that you
48:18
can take and it's the grip is super
48:20
tricky and to push and find the limit is
48:22
super hard on t-strike and also it's
48:24
super short
48:25
so
48:26
it's hard to make difference because
48:29
yeah it's shorter so everyone can do
48:30
well
48:32
um
48:33
i think i'm a bit better was it when
48:35
it's a bit longer
48:37
but um i mean i'll just try at least
48:40
i'll try to to stay in my limit and
48:43
don't
48:44
do the same mistake than last year and
48:46
then i hope it will be enough to be at
48:48
least up three
48:50
okay nice
48:52
so there's a new track in hondura this
48:55
year
48:56
um
48:58
so i know you haven't written it
49:00
obviously but uh you've been talking to
49:03
a lot of people that did the
49:05
that race on it and the past week so can
49:08
you tell us a bit about that yeah so i
49:10
watched they were like a catalan cup or
49:13
whatever the name just
49:14
yeah same time than money about the week
49:16
before my bro and i watched all the
49:19
gopro i possibly could find
49:22
and uh yeah i spoke to to miriam because
49:25
she she was racing there and she also
49:27
had some concern before the race because
49:30
she heard like of the big germs that
49:31
were building and i saw because it's
49:33
super windy up there like it's not the
49:36
same place as as we used to be it's like
49:38
way higher in the mountains and they
49:40
don't really have trees and so it's
49:42
super exposed
49:43
and um i already heard from like i don't
49:47
know months or so that it was um
49:50
probably getting super
49:51
dangerous for the rider because it's
49:53
super windy and you have like big road
49:55
gap and jump and pom-pom was concerned
49:57
about it and then she raced it and she
50:00
said that i think they even had to close
50:02
some of the jump because of the wind so
50:05
they said no no it was just for this
50:07
weekend but i think it's always super
50:09
windy
50:10
and it was good that they did a race
50:12
because they could uh take a lot of
50:14
feedbacks for the rider they were like
50:16
greg mina and all those super
50:18
experienced guys so
50:19
um from what i heard um it's super cool
50:22
to ride like supernatural and um
50:25
they did a great drop just like the
50:27
upper section like the top section it's
50:29
they have huge jump and it's too
50:31
dangerous and i think or like i hope at
50:33
least they're gonna change it a bit and
50:35
make them
50:36
rollable and uh just a bit smaller just
50:39
because of the wind like we don't care
50:41
if we have big jump but it just need to
50:43
be safe and if we have to take christie
50:46
and obviously in restaurant you want to
50:47
jump everything because yeah
50:49
you want to be the fastest you will be
50:51
just um pretty [ __ ] if we have to take
50:53
like super big risk with the wind so i
50:55
hope they're gonna change it and be
50:57
it would be just super good for everyone
50:59
then
51:01
yeah we'll see about that um but i'm
51:03
definitely looking forward to it and
51:06
i think it's a pretty flat out track
51:09
looks natural and loose and i think i
51:11
will love it
51:12
yeah i think we'll be good good track
51:14
for you as well so um you're 130 points
51:16
ahead of miriam in your role
51:19
225 ahead of value is in third um
51:23
who do you think is your biggest
51:25
challenger
51:26
now
51:28
uh for sure me um because
51:31
i we'll see we never know is valley
51:37
[Music]
51:40
way more consistent this year and i know
51:43
like she has been a big head injury in
51:45
lou and that's also why she's been like
51:48
not like the fastest every time because
51:50
she was a bit struggling and she had a
51:52
lot of time off the bike so
51:54
i'm expecting her to be back a full
51:57
throttle in no time especially in in
52:00
lancer rider when she she can kick her
52:02
ass so i think
52:04
if she takes the momentum in lancer
52:06
ryder it can all go up and she's super
52:09
hungry to win that overall um that she
52:11
missed last year as well so
52:13
yeah for sure for me it's it's uh it's
52:16
miriam she's a great contender and she
52:18
has a nerve
52:20
and i i just think and what from right i
52:23
heard from valley that she would maybe
52:24
just go for a bit more like you know
52:26
just winning
52:28
world cup
52:29
she's maybe gonna miss some of that
52:31
consistency you need to win the the
52:33
overrule and then
52:35
um but i mean it's just we just did
52:37
three rounds and it's still a lot of
52:39
runs to come and everything got changed
52:41
so
52:42
um for sure both of them are a big a big
52:45
threat and uh and i'm gonna have to
52:47
fight
52:48
but when i so when i was looking at the
52:51
the races coming up for the rest of the
52:52
season i was like oh lens of hype carry
52:54
doesn't go that well there i think fifth
52:57
is your best result in lanza high yeah
52:59
and then i was like monsoon and i think
53:02
if you only have a race there once
53:03
before or something yeah it was world
53:05
champ
53:07
i went off track and i ended up 17.
53:10
so i was like i know snowshoe you do
53:12
pretty well but then i was like oh it's
53:14
maybe not like looking that good but
53:16
then i thought back and i was like yeah
53:18
lords hadn't done very well there before
53:20
until this season fort william had only
53:22
been there once before hadn't done very
53:24
well
53:25
so it it's almost like there's a new
53:27
camera
53:28
yeah i mean i've never been to lord
53:30
before so it was hard to say i'm not
53:31
going to do well
53:35
no i know i know what to eat
53:40
this is what happens when you try and
53:41
pick results out of your head
53:44
no but yeah um
53:46
i would say monsanto for sure was super
53:49
intimidating when i went there but it
53:51
was 2018.
53:53
yeah
53:54
2019. so for me it's like ages ago and i
53:56
know i've been improving a lot so i'm
53:59
sure i'll be
54:01
uh fine this year or like way better and
54:04
i'll i'll help you out because i always
54:06
love once again no but i think i'm there
54:08
so many times
54:10
and then
54:12
yeah i really like snowshoe too but it
54:14
was just also more because it was the
54:16
end of this season and i know i really
54:18
gonna try to improve but just in my head
54:21
it's way harder for me at the end of the
54:23
season i'm thinking too much of
54:26
just make it true you know like stay
54:28
healthy and then i'm not so motivated
54:30
anymore to push and i was the big
54:32
problem in snowshoe that wasn't a track
54:34
i'm sure i could have done better but
54:36
just in my head i wasn't pushing out i
54:38
wasn't trying to to find the best line i
54:41
wasn't doing my job like really like 100
54:44
and just i'm pretty sure now
54:46
it's not going to be the end of the
54:48
season at first and
54:50
um yeah i'm just gonna try really to
54:53
to make maybe take a bit more rest
54:56
before valdisol or find a solution to be
54:58
still uh pushing on a percent before
55:00
before the last round
55:02
cool
55:02
so the final thing i just wanted to ask
55:04
you about i was listening to your pod
55:07
and you were saying how great it was
55:08
that the pair of you could travel
55:10
together and be at the races together
55:12
and i'm not going to bring jack into
55:13
this because i i don't want to get him
55:15
into trouble but she won't listen
55:17
anywhere
55:19
i love my my wife rachel daley we just
55:21
had our 10th wedding anniversary today
55:24
uh
55:24
and she's great
55:26
but i don't i don't want her at the
55:28
races i go racing to kind of escape from
55:30
everything else
55:32
has there ever been a moment when you've
55:34
just gone you know [ __ ] off emmy you
55:36
didn't put the bins out on friday and
55:38
i'm still [ __ ] annoyed about it
55:40
no not at all um
55:42
no first of all like we are
55:45
we are so used to be all the time
55:47
together like at home we live together
55:49
we turn together we ride together so
55:52
it almost feel like we're not really
55:54
together at the world cup because we are
55:56
separate like we sleep with our team and
55:59
we don't we don't see at us like a lot
56:03
honestly like we see it
56:05
i don't know in the morning maybe she
56:06
come by and say hi and then she's on the
56:09
track the whole day and i'm i'm i'm
56:11
training and then
56:13
um in the evening i don't even see her
56:15
and then i just it's just really nice
56:17
that um
56:18
she comes with me at the top before my
56:20
my quality and restaurant because
56:22
otherwise i will go
56:23
up alone because monica and a mechanic
56:26
are
56:27
going a bit earlier and then the physio
56:29
is going with the junior before me so
56:31
i'm always alone and i don't like that
56:34
so i'm super happy she's there and she
56:36
come with me and she just have a talk
56:38
with me and
56:39
otherwise i don't really see her or i
56:41
just if i need her i'm going to text her
56:44
and she's going to come so i think it's
56:46
just
56:47
advantageous
56:50
no but
56:51
it's it's just it's being like the stuff
56:54
like the different stuff i do it's just
56:57
being also pretty busy but
56:59
of course i'm trying to help the riders
57:02
of my team
57:03
of the conti teams and also for connie
57:06
to have like
57:07
if she needs something although the
57:09
other team is doing a great job so i
57:11
don't have like much input that she
57:13
doesn't know yet but maybe i can just
57:15
like just be there and try to be like a
57:18
support like i'm i am every day but
57:21
um i think kami does a
57:23
good job on her own as well cool i think
57:26
it's really cool
57:27
and final final thing tell us a little
57:29
bit about what you've got going on
57:31
tomorrow night because
57:34
have you got a boat being named after
57:35
you or something yeah apparently
57:42
yeah so it's just um
57:44
like 20 minutes from where we live uh
57:46
obviously we have a lake all around and
57:48
um
57:50
they have like
57:51
a club for wake surfing
57:53
and um this year they got a new boat um
57:57
and uh they have like a tradition to
57:59
name the boat after uh
58:02
like a
58:03
like a good athlete of the region and
58:05
because i come from there he asked me uh
58:08
if i want to be
58:10
that person for for the boat and all
58:12
yeah i mean there was just
58:14
i think it's cool and
58:16
i can go wake surfing and
58:18
yeah so tomorrow night we're gonna crack
58:21
a bottle of champagne on the on the boat
58:24
and he's gonna put the stickers with my
58:26
name and that's it
58:28
excellent
58:29
well i'm genuinely pleased that you
58:30
proved me wrong in leo gang it's great
58:32
to see kind of an underdog rising up to
58:34
the top so best of luck for the rest of
58:36
the season and thanks for making the
58:38
time to come on the pod tonight
58:39
thank you and i can't wait to hear your
58:41
prognostic for the for the overall who's
58:44
gonna take it oh you've been my 50 now
58:46
for
58:47
this that's
58:57
after these messages fellow pay hey
58:59
welcome to the making up the numbers
59:00
podcast how you doing yeah thanks thanks
59:02
i'm good man pretty good
59:04
cool pretty happy to be there and talk
59:06
with you guys
59:07
excellent well it's great to have you on
59:09
the show um you recently announced that
59:11
you'd be retiring from world cup racing
59:13
at the end of the season
59:14
what made you decide now was the time to
59:16
retire
59:18
um
59:20
that's a tough question actually because
59:22
i think i think about that since many
59:24
years but i feel like i have more to do
59:27
in biking before and now the time is
59:30
just changing and then
59:32
i have a lot to to learn to all the
59:34
people around me and especially on the
59:36
team so
59:38
i feel like i'm just need to turn some
59:40
something else like racing 18 years
59:42
maybe it's just like big big carrier so
59:44
i was i wasn't i expect that when i come
59:47
first here in france for racing
59:50
and uh yeah this thing happened like
59:51
that and it's just like
59:53
i think it's it's a good time i have
59:55
some opportunities as well with it the
59:57
scot team now and i don't want to miss
59:59
it anyway so yeah cool well it's been a
1:00:02
fantastic career but it seems almost an
1:00:04
unlikely one you're from reunion island
1:00:07
which is in the middle of the indian
1:00:08
ocean
1:00:09
tell us a little bit about growing up
1:00:11
there and how you got into downhill
1:00:13
racing in the first place
1:00:16
yeah grubs there it's just far from
1:00:19
everything anyway for sure because you
1:00:21
only know what's happening on your
1:00:22
island pretty much
1:00:24
now it's a bit better with all the
1:00:26
social network and everything but back
1:00:27
in the days you were just like
1:00:29
just living there so it's just growing
1:00:31
normal like as a normal kid and just my
1:00:34
dad was racing trials there so
1:00:37
i just get lovely passionate with the
1:00:39
racing spirit and all the the mental
1:00:42
stuff around that and also really loving
1:00:46
riding bikes so i just i just i was just
1:00:48
playing till
1:00:50
like 14 15 before i just like oh maybe i
1:00:53
can do like some racing proper racing i
1:00:56
would say
1:00:57
and then
1:00:58
and then down it was like more i was ra
1:01:00
i was racing trial before and then yeah
1:01:02
i need more speed more adrenaline and
1:01:04
some stuff like that too and the trails
1:01:06
and range is pretty
1:01:08
it's pretty it's pretty good i mean to
1:01:11
get like really good skills even if it's
1:01:13
not like the fastest track of the world
1:01:14
but it's really technical so i kind of
1:01:16
like it as well
1:01:18
and uh yeah i just get my first travel
1:01:21
with a like iranian island team in 2001
1:01:25
for the french champ
1:01:27
and i get smoked for sure because the
1:01:28
truck and everything is really different
1:01:32
so so yeah i was like oh this is cool it
1:01:34
was a good trip in france so yeah let's
1:01:36
do it again and then it works in 2004
1:01:39
and everything starts from there
1:01:41
cool
1:01:42
jack was out at reunion island last year
1:01:45
racing the mega um he told me it's a
1:01:47
fantastic place everyone was really
1:01:49
really hospitable
1:01:50
you're really well known for your your
1:01:52
laird back attitude do you think that's
1:01:54
kind of a product of of island living
1:01:58
yeah i mean probably because we are
1:02:00
pretty chill there i mean there's
1:02:02
there's less stress than in europe like
1:02:04
big cities and all the
1:02:06
other things so it's more like an island
1:02:08
i mean so it's just a bit chill for sure
1:02:11
and uh yeah so that's that's maybe why
1:02:14
as well i am like that just
1:02:16
like really happy to see people and
1:02:19
really welcome to the people as well and
1:02:22
and then that makes you some good
1:02:24
contact with the people you work with
1:02:26
and that that that's why you bring you a
1:02:28
career as well so
1:02:30
yeah hopefully yeah
1:02:31
so 2003 you started racing world cups
1:02:35
2004 european junior downhill champion
1:02:38
and you also took silver in juniors at
1:02:40
worlds you seem to
1:02:42
you said before you got smoked in your
1:02:44
first race but you seem to adapt to kind
1:02:46
of world level pretty quickly
1:02:49
yeah for sure it's a big difference in
1:02:52
between 2001 when i came the first time
1:02:54
and then i was like oh i missed these
1:02:56
skills these skills these skills and it
1:02:58
was pretty clear in my head like oh i
1:02:59
need speed and i have enough technical
1:03:02
and i need to work on my physical
1:03:04
strength so
1:03:05
i work on that like the next two years
1:03:08
and then
1:03:09
proper come here with like
1:03:11
some hope of doing a result and it works
1:03:13
really good so we're just like
1:03:15
let's do that
1:03:17
it works
1:03:19
your sent up the ranks was pretty swift
1:03:21
you moved into elite and finished top 30
1:03:24
at three rounds in 2006 then in 2007 you
1:03:28
were eighth at worlds in fort william
1:03:29
and sixth at the world cup in maribor
1:03:32
the only 2008 european champion and
1:03:35
again in 2017 tell us a bit about how
1:03:37
the level has changed
1:03:39
now from from those early days to now
1:03:43
um yeah for sure there's some stuff
1:03:46
changing uh we're still doing downhill
1:03:48
but the tracks different the bike is
1:03:50
different and the the skills of the or
1:03:52
the right the skills you need to ride
1:03:54
the track now is different than 10 years
1:03:56
ago and
1:03:59
the level has changed because now it's
1:04:01
really packed there's a lot of riders
1:04:03
about to ride fast because everybody's
1:04:05
training and everybody wants to win
1:04:08
almost
1:04:09
so
1:04:11
that's why you that's why you go to race
1:04:13
for sure but i mean uh yeah now there's
1:04:15
a lot of people in one second maybe more
1:04:18
than before and it makes this thing a
1:04:20
bit more complicated
1:04:22
but back in the day we have some really
1:04:23
really good riders as well like as you
1:04:25
guys know uh samuel nikovias and stuff
1:04:29
and there was like
1:04:30
like a really
1:04:32
highest level of the competition but
1:04:34
the people around was like less into the
1:04:37
professional world and now everybody is
1:04:40
just working so hard so it's making
1:04:42
really difficult to do like a good
1:04:44
result effect
1:04:46
yeah
1:04:47
you're the tallest guy i think on the
1:04:49
world cup circuit and ben catherine
1:04:51
might be close but uh one ben is it's
1:04:54
probably bigger one centimeter i think
1:04:57
he's big one yeah yeah but it's not it's
1:05:00
pretty he's pretty much retire now
1:05:01
[Laughter]
1:05:03
so i'm six foot six as well bike design
1:05:06
has come a long way in recent years and
1:05:08
and they've only got bigger at what
1:05:10
point did you feel as though you you
1:05:11
actually had a bike that properly fitted
1:05:14
you
1:05:15
oh yeah that's true i was racing with
1:05:18
like medium sized bikes 26 wheels when i
1:05:21
was in the fabian barrel team in
1:05:23
mondraker in 2008 so they were like
1:05:26
really small yeah even before and uh
1:05:29
and now everything is getting bigger and
1:05:31
i have some
1:05:32
better contact with the brand we did
1:05:34
some
1:05:35
prototype frame for me as well so it
1:05:37
makes this thing a little bit better and
1:05:38
that's maybe maybe why i i race good
1:05:42
since many years because
1:05:44
it was getting better for me anyway with
1:05:47
the
1:05:48
bike so so yeah 29 wheels as well but
1:05:52
probably uh before i was racing like for
1:05:55
mondraker in 2016 and they already did
1:05:58
like a pretty big extra large frame
1:06:01
for
1:06:02
carbon frame for the for the for the
1:06:05
brand and i yeah
1:06:07
and that was that was a good frame as
1:06:09
well like one of the biggest i have
1:06:10
before and i did a really good season so
1:06:14
yeah
1:06:15
cool
1:06:16
so that was like the opposite of me i
1:06:18
for me 29 has become too big and for you
1:06:21
29 has become perfect
1:06:23
yeah that's that's true but yeah that's
1:06:26
that's the rule so
1:06:28
it's going reverse
1:06:30
that's probably why i stopped as well
1:06:36
yeah um jokes aside well you had an
1:06:39
amazing career i wanted to congratulate
1:06:41
you on retiring because i know how it
1:06:43
feels and once you decide i think you
1:06:45
feel like
1:06:46
kind of good about it it's hard to like
1:06:48
make the decision but for me as soon as
1:06:50
i
1:06:51
decided
1:06:52
i felt like relieved and yeah
1:06:55
yeah probably same for you yeah yeah
1:06:57
it's the same but it's in the middle of
1:06:59
the season as well i really want to
1:07:01
announce it because i want like people
1:07:03
knows that i that's that's something
1:07:05
like really touched me like on my heart
1:07:08
because it's like
1:07:09
racing for 18 years and see all the
1:07:12
people so i wanted i wanted to be clear
1:07:13
with that that i'm going to stop this
1:07:15
year and and spend some maybe
1:07:18
good times with the people as well
1:07:19
because they know that i'm kind of
1:07:21
leaving even if i'm really on the world
1:07:22
cup and it's it's important to me to
1:07:24
like yeah spend this time with the
1:07:26
people but yeah i feel i feel i'll still
1:07:30
release but there's still like five
1:07:31
races to come and i need to be
1:07:34
to be good so it was like a week in
1:07:36
europe and champ was a bit low and then
1:07:38
i started to feel better it was going to
1:07:39
be good
1:07:40
now it's just i just mentioned it
1:07:41
because i decided i european champs in
1:07:44
maribor last year to return oh crazy so
1:07:46
so did young
1:07:48
so i don't know there's something about
1:07:49
this phrase
1:07:55
no but like if you if you go the same
1:07:57
way as i did like i had the greatest
1:07:59
time on the last races of the season so
1:08:02
oh cool that's a goal actually to
1:08:04
enjoy
1:08:06
so let's go back to your career then i
1:08:08
think probably the most memorable result
1:08:10
was your bronze medal uh
1:08:13
invalid so we did one two three with one
1:08:15
draker in 2016.
1:08:18
um
1:08:18
i remember that as well pretty quickly
1:08:20
um tell us a bit about that week and
1:08:23
uh i mean
1:08:24
i'm imagining you had a pretty huge
1:08:26
party as well there
1:08:29
oh actually it was a tough weekend
1:08:31
because um yeah i just realized that i
1:08:33
can be fast like after the timer and i
1:08:35
get sued i think and i was like okay
1:08:38
everything's starting right now i can be
1:08:40
fast on this track and it's my weekend
1:08:42
so
1:08:42
we just focus on that and then i
1:08:45
received so much message just from the
1:08:47
time runs like from the guy from reunion
1:08:49
because it's so huge anyway to do that
1:08:52
for the guys there
1:08:53
and i was like oh i need to cut off with
1:08:55
my phone and i just turned off my phone
1:08:57
for two days
1:08:59
and it was like kind of strange because
1:09:00
you know how we are we are with the fun
1:09:02
now it's just like a reflex so i just
1:09:05
cut with the phone and then focus on the
1:09:07
race and it works good and it was any
1:09:09
anyway worst after because i got so much
1:09:12
message just like
1:09:15
but but yeah it was like a quick weekend
1:09:18
and
1:09:18
everything happened and it's just like
1:09:21
it's a strange feeling because yeah i
1:09:23
was not expecting that i did a good run
1:09:25
and i was happy with my time i did
1:09:27
everything i want but i was like oh yeah
1:09:30
but there's at least one or two or three
1:09:32
guys gonna beat me and yeah only two
1:09:34
guys beat me so i just get like
1:09:36
completely history of mondragon podium
1:09:38
with another team so that was like a
1:09:41
like a miracle pretty much
1:09:44
so it was it was good and the after
1:09:46
party was pretty strange because i got
1:09:47
drunk too fast
1:09:52
yeah all the french team knows that
1:09:55
i was like the last to leave the hotel
1:09:57
on monday and monday was the worst day
1:09:58
of my life so it was okay
1:10:02
well really quick everything went quick
1:10:04
this week so just like
1:10:06
good memories anyway yeah that's good
1:10:08
though yeah yeah so 2001 the round one
1:10:12
of the world cup you had a freak
1:10:14
accident so attract pull to your
1:10:17
genitals
1:10:18
um
1:10:20
i'm just guessing that it must have been
1:10:22
probably one of the most painful injury
1:10:24
you had did you have more painful injury
1:10:26
than that one um
1:10:28
i can compare with the injury i got in
1:10:30
2005 in the open champion valdisol
1:10:33
because i like broken my back and i have
1:10:35
like my sceptic i don't know my
1:10:37
big names yeah it was punched so every
1:10:40
time i move it was like really
1:10:42
like a really hard pain
1:10:45
but
1:10:45
you know the genitals is something
1:10:47
really special and uh
1:10:49
yeah it was more hard to to to be honest
1:10:52
it was more hard to accept that i'm
1:10:54
gonna go to hospital and surgery without
1:10:57
crushing
1:10:59
so it's hard to accept that because when
1:11:01
you crash it's like oh i had a big crash
1:11:03
and i broke my arm or anyway yeah it's
1:11:05
just normal but when you just don't ride
1:11:08
on the stick and hit your balls and you
1:11:10
just
1:11:11
you just go surgery for that
1:11:13
stop riding for
1:11:15
one and a half months
1:11:17
yeah that's really tough like mentally
1:11:19
that was really hard and i was really
1:11:21
really ready for this season because i
1:11:23
really want to do well
1:11:25
this season because i know that i'm
1:11:27
going to start to retire and everything
1:11:29
so
1:11:30
yeah it was tough it's tough season but
1:11:33
anyway yeah
1:11:35
every season is different and every
1:11:36
season is could be tough
1:11:39
i had to give emmy that question to ask
1:11:41
because i it was just too painful for me
1:11:43
to ask to us
1:11:46
to be honest to be honest the pain was
1:11:49
really bad at the beginning like really
1:11:51
really high and then it's going lower
1:11:54
and
1:11:55
yeah it's getting okay for the for the
1:11:58
few days after and it was better than i
1:12:01
thought after the surgery as well so
1:12:03
it was pretty good
1:12:06
yeah you talked about the 20
1:12:08
21 season on 2021 season you mentioned
1:12:12
it was a pretty tough season and for
1:12:14
your whole scot team it wasn't
1:12:16
um the best season um dean looked to be
1:12:19
getting his best season though but then
1:12:21
maureen
1:12:22
um had a big crash
1:12:24
and uh she broke her back again so can
1:12:27
you tell us how she doing
1:12:29
um she's she's okay she's pretty lucky
1:12:32
on the crash because nothing like
1:12:35
it's not nothing moves so she don't have
1:12:37
any to have like a proper surgery to fix
1:12:40
it or other the nails not touching
1:12:42
anyway so that's that's quite lucky
1:12:45
but in another side she's injury again
1:12:48
in the back because this winter she was
1:12:50
injured in the back so which is a
1:12:52
i think hard hard mentally as well but
1:12:56
we know that she's strong and we know
1:12:57
that she wants to do anything she can to
1:13:00
come back and she start moving and she
1:13:02
doesn't feel not too bad so i think when
1:13:04
it's going to be fixed it's going to be
1:13:06
all right she need maybe to work more on
1:13:08
the mental side to be like sure that
1:13:11
she's going to race
1:13:12
without any risk and to be like
1:13:15
to be able to adapt the speed with the
1:13:18
with how she feels on the bike actually
1:13:20
but i think she gets like a little bit
1:13:22
older now she has more experience about
1:13:23
that so she can manage to come back
1:13:25
pretty safe
1:13:27
cool we'll give her our best plays
1:13:29
we look forward
1:13:35
97 world cup finals
1:13:37
five races left you said and you need to
1:13:40
qualify at three
1:13:42
i need to qualify five times
1:13:46
all right to get to the hundred you need
1:13:48
to qualify for this yeah yeah three of
1:13:50
them yeah you should be that's actually
1:13:52
not the goal that i was expecting in my
1:13:54
career or just like i just was just
1:13:56
asking my manager oh how many world cup
1:13:58
i did and then he told me that i did
1:14:00
nine seven final finals so i was like oh
1:14:03
it should be good to go to 100
1:14:05
but just to go like yeah
1:14:08
so yeah it's a carrier goal and then
1:14:11
we're gonna get it and we're probably
1:14:13
gonna do all the finalists here
1:14:14
hopefully yeah
1:14:16
i i think you will um i believe we're
1:14:18
not gonna be losing you from the sport
1:14:20
you you're just gonna be taking on a
1:14:22
different role in the team as you said
1:14:23
earlier tell us a bit about what you
1:14:25
what what your plans are um i can't do
1:14:29
anything no i mean
1:14:31
yeah the goal is to share my experience
1:14:33
with the riders and to advise lines for
1:14:36
sure on the tracks but to share
1:14:40
it's all about sharing i love sharing
1:14:42
so i just like to share experience to to
1:14:45
help them to do not do the same mistakes
1:14:47
or to do to help them to do choice on
1:14:50
the tire on stuff on the on even at the
1:14:54
pit not only on the track and uh
1:14:57
and to help them to get ready for next
1:15:00
win next uh
1:15:01
next season as well so working on the
1:15:03
winter for like
1:15:05
some proper training camp testing and
1:15:07
stuff so it's gonna be really
1:15:08
interesting for me as well
1:15:11
excellent and i believe you're also
1:15:13
building a bike park on reunion island
1:15:15
is that correct
1:15:17
um that's a goal actually but for the
1:15:19
moment there's a lot of thing that i
1:15:21
cannot do because i was still racing and
1:15:23
i have less time so because all the
1:15:26
all the offseason in iranian i was
1:15:28
spending most of my time to train and
1:15:30
for myself and not only
1:15:32
so i just try to move the thing there
1:15:35
and to do more stuff but there's still a
1:15:38
lot to do i recommend
1:15:39
the next few years going to be
1:15:40
interesting a lot of work there as well
1:15:42
so i'm going to spend like half a year
1:15:44
there working for the team
1:15:46
and alpha year working in europe for the
1:15:49
oh sorry yeah for the team and then
1:15:51
working in iranian for
1:15:53
developing stuff
1:15:54
excellent well
1:15:56
there are some riders who seem to be
1:15:58
popular with all the other riders i know
1:16:00
that emmy was in the in the women's
1:16:02
field and it seems you are in the men's
1:16:04
as well lots of great comments when you
1:16:06
announced your retirement that must have
1:16:08
been lovely to see
1:16:10
yeah definitely yeah of course yeah yeah
1:16:12
it makes you realize that you're
1:16:15
you you i did i i give my best all my
1:16:18
career i did mistakes i did wrong choice
1:16:20
as well and uh yeah
1:16:22
yes if
1:16:23
you i can i don't want to change
1:16:25
anything because that's make me the
1:16:26
person i am right now and
1:16:28
the people
1:16:30
know me as i am and they love me for
1:16:32
that and that's really important to me
1:16:34
most more important than anything else
1:16:36
so
1:16:36
that's that's makes me want to do more
1:16:39
for this world and keep like the contact
1:16:41
with all these people for sure
1:16:43
excellent well thank you very much for
1:16:45
taking the time to come on the part i
1:16:46
know you're welcome you're basically on
1:16:48
your way to lenses hide now and you've
1:16:49
stopped the car to to do this plot
1:16:52
so thank you for that best of luck for
1:16:54
the rest of the season we all hope you
1:16:56
can get to the 100 world cup finals and
1:16:58
if you're keen
1:16:59
if you can we'll get you back on at the
1:17:01
end of the season to play 20 questions
1:17:04
that would be awesome
1:17:07
yeah of course cool cool
1:17:09
sunny floor
1:17:10
thanks for your time see you i mean
1:17:12
lanzarote this week and see you soon
1:17:14
thanks george thank you flo we'll um
1:17:17
yeah we'll definitely get you back on at
1:17:19
the end of the season jack the men's
1:17:21
race in leo gang was an all-time classic
1:17:23
you suggested benoit might win it and he
1:17:25
got halfway way there and seeded first
1:17:27
and was looking good fastest until he
1:17:29
crashed in the woods what made you pick
1:17:31
benoit fully again
1:17:34
yeah i mean obviously we've seen him
1:17:36
getting faster and faster and
1:17:37
if you remember
1:17:39
last year
1:17:40
we did the podcast before leo gang and i
1:17:42
was sat in la bresse and i called matt
1:17:44
walker to win it yeah and i was a year
1:17:46
early um
1:17:48
so this year i called benoit to win it
1:17:50
and he almost did obviously like we
1:17:51
discussed earlier didn't quite put the
1:17:53
run together and uh and threw it away
1:17:55
but um but yeah i mean great to see matt
1:17:59
take the win we've seen benoit just
1:18:01
getting better and better and more and
1:18:02
more consistent and he's really fast on
1:18:05
the high speed and then he's great on
1:18:06
the technical stuff and i thought that
1:18:07
combination at leo gang would would have
1:18:10
given him a good shot and and it did um
1:18:12
so yeah that was my logic there really
1:18:14
so as you said matt walker took his
1:18:16
maiden world cup win do you think that's
1:18:18
going to open the floodgates now
1:18:21
i i really hope so um
1:18:24
and i think
1:18:27
yeah i think matt listens to the podcast
1:18:29
and
1:18:29
i think for him he needs to really
1:18:32
really take some
1:18:34
some kind of pride and motivation for
1:18:36
that win because
1:18:38
for me matt's like he's fast on the raw
1:18:41
rough stuff monster handful william we
1:18:44
know he's fast on that stuff and he
1:18:45
knows he's fast on that stuff so
1:18:47
to see him take a win on
1:18:50
like the most
1:18:52
it's like awkward technical isn't it
1:18:54
that bottom section of leo going it's
1:18:56
it's horrible and and to see him take a
1:18:58
win on that track that's kind of asking
1:19:00
everything of you the high speed the
1:19:02
technical so so yeah hopefully it's a
1:19:04
monkey off his back um and and it's
1:19:07
going to really start
1:19:08
you know he's going to start giving us
1:19:09
frenchies a room for their money
1:19:11
yeah good good to see danny hart back on
1:19:13
the podium as well emery's lead isn't
1:19:15
looking quite so secure now is it
1:19:18
is he still the man to beat do you think
1:19:19
i think he's he's on 580 and matt's
1:19:21
second on four four three danny on 401.
1:19:25
i mean
1:19:26
it still stands that raw pace-wise when
1:19:28
pieron comes past in practice the ground
1:19:30
shakes like i can genuinely tell you
1:19:33
giving me tell me that first down then
1:19:35
emmy will back me up like
1:19:36
race day morning i was sat at the top of
1:19:38
the woods
1:19:39
and the hop into the woods just got
1:19:41
worse and worse and i i had a massive
1:19:43
slide on it in quality and then
1:19:46
every single run in practice before
1:19:48
finals on the morning i messed it up and
1:19:50
i pushed up twice to have another goes
1:19:52
at it and quite a lot of you know top
1:19:54
ten riders top five riders came through
1:19:56
and we're doing this and that and
1:19:59
peerum came off the wall ride and
1:20:00
charged past and i i
1:20:02
genuinely serious the ground shakes like
1:20:05
he's that fast and that
1:20:07
aggressive so yeah raw pierce-wise he is
1:20:10
the guy to be on on his day but um
1:20:13
time will tell whether he's got the
1:20:15
consistency and the calmness to make
1:20:16
that happen for the overall
1:20:18
emmy it was good to see some fresh
1:20:20
fresh faces on the podium in leah gang
1:20:22
we had angel suarez on there i know he's
1:20:24
been on a podium before but but not for
1:20:26
a while uh andres cole andreas kolb
1:20:30
and then andreas also won european
1:20:32
champs last weekend charlie hatton's
1:20:33
having a great start to the season he
1:20:35
won crank works the week before do you
1:20:37
think these guys can push on now
1:20:40
oh yeah oh yeah especially um
1:20:42
well i'm
1:20:44
a lot in contact with androscope and
1:20:47
charlie hatton because they're both on
1:20:48
conti tires and
1:20:50
andreas just comes back from injury so
1:20:52
that was his first race back
1:20:54
and he just landed on podium so that
1:20:56
that's pretty amazing yeah and same with
1:20:59
charlie he had like a big stomach bug
1:21:03
the day before the race and i've seen
1:21:05
him and i was like i can't even
1:21:07
interview him because he was like like
1:21:08
this in his on his bars completely head
1:21:11
down like i think he was like trying not
1:21:13
to puke before his practice and he still
1:21:16
got eighth yeah um and then one crack
1:21:19
works so
1:21:21
yeah
1:21:22
and in the past we just watched her
1:21:24
today with cam um the replay of lanza
1:21:26
hyde and colby very good there and i
1:21:30
think charlie is also a very good ride
1:21:31
on his top of truck so
1:21:33
for sure and then andrew sure has always
1:21:35
been a fast rider on this type of tracks
1:21:37
too so
1:21:39
yeah for sure so last year we had four
1:21:41
frenchmen on the podium in london heard
1:21:43
with vergiere taking the win give us one
1:21:46
name each of you for the win
1:21:50
for the win oh yeah
1:21:52
oh that's hard
1:21:54
i was about to say andy cole because i
1:21:56
think he can like maybe step it up from
1:21:58
top five and go top three but the win
1:22:00
might be a little bit of a push
1:22:02
so i'll let you go first jack
1:22:06
i i'm gonna go matt walker simply
1:22:08
because we've seen it before when people
1:22:11
get that bit of momentum behind them
1:22:13
that they sometimes they start going um
1:22:16
and i'm gonna go with matt
1:22:19
i don't know i want to go with laurie
1:22:21
because i'm still oppressed about lupo
1:22:26
and i think he's still also trying to
1:22:27
figure out what happened with his
1:22:29
instagram stories when you try to like
1:22:31
mathematically see how and why he looped
1:22:34
out the back so
1:22:36
um yeah it will be cool to see lori win
1:22:39
one but um or
1:22:41
finn finals yeah
1:22:44
don't forget about finn no i'm going to
1:22:46
stick with tebow and he's got to come
1:22:48
good at some part
1:22:51
i'm going to go to you with a pillow
1:22:52
okay
1:22:54
and then the women's
1:22:56
oh god
1:22:58
um
1:23:00
i don't know
1:23:02
i want to say can but i think miriam
1:23:04
it's miriam's track like she won it so
1:23:06
many times and i
1:23:08
when i got my best result went there i
1:23:09
was like only two seconds off her
1:23:12
and i had a really good run and i still
1:23:13
couldn't beat her so
1:23:16
miramas
1:23:17
is if she gets like her head back in the
1:23:20
game she's gonna be pretty hard to be on
1:23:21
that track i'm just hoping
1:23:23
we can have a good battle and and and
1:23:25
cam might um
1:23:27
be close but i'll go with miriam
1:23:32
george you're probably about to upset
1:23:34
cam with whatever you're going to say
1:23:37
so i'm going to pick cam for sure and
1:23:40
get someone in her corner
1:23:41
you know i was thinking cam i can see
1:23:44
him he's logic with miriam but i was
1:23:45
thinking cam she just looks she looks
1:23:48
like rachel on the back when i was
1:23:49
watching back lee again yeah right
1:23:51
rachel after him
1:23:54
she's right i'm trying to dig yourself
1:23:55
out of the hole now no no no no i'm
1:23:57
really impressed
1:23:59
i think and she's doing
1:24:01
she's like doing it's like i said before
1:24:03
a new cam i mean it's a little different
1:24:05
a different rider in some ways so yeah
1:24:08
um how far are you guys from lindsay
1:24:10
high
1:24:11
um
1:24:12
well it depends on the swiss scale with
1:24:14
pretty far yeah it's like about three
1:24:17
hours drive
1:24:18
it's a bit far from home so we don't go
1:24:20
there very often because we have other
1:24:22
bike parks um
1:24:24
on the french side that are closer and
1:24:27
better
1:24:28
but yeah um
1:24:30
it's cool to be on home soil still like
1:24:32
i always felt it
1:24:34
would it be a big crowd supporting you
1:24:37
um there was in the past and especially
1:24:39
because cross country is back on a
1:24:41
program isn't it so that's gonna there's
1:24:43
gonna be a lot of people there um
1:24:46
and
1:24:47
yeah i think there's gonna be a big
1:24:49
crowd for to cheer on come and maybe
1:24:51
we'll see maybe there's gonna be other
1:24:53
fish
1:24:54
female riders or male that can qualify
1:24:56
and
1:24:57
get a big crowd behind them
1:24:59
cool well that's all we've got time for
1:25:00
in this episode thanks to the sponsors
1:25:02
of the show hope technology jtech
1:25:04
suspension revolution bike park ride
1:25:06
southern spain schwalbe
1:25:08
singletrackworld.com and of course to
1:25:10
both of you guys jack best of luck in
1:25:12
the mega we'll catch up about in the
1:25:15
next episode bins is from our teams out
1:25:17
there racing the e-bike race with a load
1:25:19
of our crew so best of luck to them as
1:25:21
well
1:25:22
and as always if you're enjoying the
1:25:23
podcast please subscribe so you don't
1:25:25
miss an episode and if you've got a set
1:25:27
please drop us a review alternatively
1:25:29
please give us a follow on instagram at
1:25:30
making up the numbers racing or
1:25:32
facebook.com slash making up the numbers
1:25:34
we'll be back with another show in
1:25:35
between lenses hard and andorra enjoy
1:25:37
lenses hide everyone
#Sports