Up next in 10
They’re the two young guns taking the DH World Cup by storm, but their 2021 seasons were diametrically opposed! Thibaut Dapréla started the season strong, podiuming at each of the first four rounds but crashed out in Snowshoe and lost his grip on the overall. Vali Höll crashed at the first two World Cups but won the final two races to take the Women’s title. Those are the headlines, dive into this episode as we dig out the detail…
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0:02
[Music]
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[Music]
0:14
welcome to the making of the numbers
0:17
podcast
0:18
the making of the numbers podcast is
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sponsored by hope technology jtag
0:24
suspension revolution bike park ride
0:27
southern spain
0:28
schwall from the world's finest
0:31
independent mountain bike magazine
0:34
single track
0:38
once again snowshoe delivered the most
0:40
epic season finale possibly even eclipse
0:43
in 2019 for the drama because this time
0:46
the women's race was even more dramatic
0:48
and it really was winner takes all as
0:50
loyacan valley took the wins in the
0:52
final round and in doing so both won the
0:54
series as well jack it was breathless
0:57
watching at home what was it like
0:58
actually being there
1:01
yeah it was really exciting to be fair i
1:02
mean
1:03
i didn't get to see the women's race
1:05
because
1:06
i was getting ready for my own race we
1:08
knew something was going on because it
1:09
was a red flag um but
1:13
like we were warming up and stuff yeah
1:15
and so we missed out on that excitement
1:16
but yeah the men's was uh
1:19
was really exciting um and like just
1:22
showed how how world class he really is
1:24
by producing that at the very end um so
1:28
yeah it was uh nail biting to the finish
1:30
he just has the mental strength and he's
1:32
got the head game oh you can just
1:34
eclipse anyone can at the moment and
1:35
when it comes down to that you've always
1:38
got to put your money on him yeah
1:40
when you've been
1:41
like world champion multiple times when
1:43
you've won the overall before
1:47
it must take the pressure off because if
1:49
you don't perform that one time it won't
1:51
affect your standing in the spot
1:54
like
1:55
you can want it too much can't you
1:58
yeah
1:59
yeah there's certainly an element of
2:00
that isn't there i mean he's won world
2:02
championships five times he's won the
2:03
world cup overall once before
2:05
snowshoeing now twice
2:09
yeah it's probably a little bit of maybe
2:11
a different kind of pressure but also it
2:13
must just
2:14
feel easier to do it because you've done
2:15
it before so whereas for someone like
2:18
loris like
2:20
he clearly struggles with that kind of
2:22
that kind of pressure at the moment so
2:24
maybe if he does get one behind him
2:25
that'll change i think that's the thing
2:27
i think once you get warm that must like
2:30
you know really help you move along
2:32
let's do because
2:33
yeah it's unbelievable to watch i did a
2:36
quick list of people who'd had a great
2:37
season and i think if you're finishing
2:39
the the well the top three women i think
2:41
if you're finishing the top five in any
2:43
category you've had a great season but
2:44
the top three women valley miriam and
2:46
camille all had a a great season i think
2:49
it was tony and marine next and
2:52
i don't know if by their standards they
2:54
would say it was a great season really
2:55
so i thought about the top three women
2:58
and top five men like tebow loris troy
3:01
and rhys
3:02
and then in the women's i added eleanor
3:05
and millie johnson because millie's come
3:06
on lords this season hasn't she
3:08
yeah for sure she got that one result
3:10
behind there and i think when she did
3:12
she put her post on saying something
3:14
like finally i didn't crash or something
3:16
yeah um and she's a lovely girl millie
3:18
and she's always smiling and it's nice
3:20
to see you getting some good results and
3:22
and she got red flagged twice
3:24
yeah she got red flagged in both the
3:26
snowshoe race runs i don't know and the
3:29
the third the second dress she was she
3:31
was absolutely fine and it was um it was
3:34
the girl you talked about before jessica
3:36
blew it is it who crashed at the bottom
3:38
and uh you know really hurt herself she
3:41
i think she's still in hospital now so
3:43
get well soon
3:45
but yeah so she had to go up and do it
3:48
again and she she laid down another
3:49
great run so fair player to millie for
3:52
sure then in the men's obviously greg
3:54
winning worlds you you can't fault like
3:57
another great season benoit's done great
3:59
and there's a couple of like people i
4:01
spotted that have over performed
4:04
david pilar polizzari and dillian
4:07
levesque
4:08
they've had they've been top 30 all
4:10
season
4:11
do you see those guys coming through
4:13
they actually i don't really know much
4:14
about them are they experienced racers
4:15
or
4:16
um dylan's fairly experienced i know
4:19
both of them i know dylan better than
4:20
david um
4:22
david was one of the guys
4:24
with me at the top of all the soul two
4:26
years ago when we all qualified in the
4:28
top ten right
4:30
and i think he finished 15th or 16th in
4:32
the race so
4:34
that was the first time i became aware
4:36
of him yeah um and yeah he's he's fast
4:38
for sure um but dylan's been around for
4:41
a while and it's nice to see you have a
4:43
solid season yeah and there's some good
4:45
youngsters coming through uh two out of
4:47
eiriki pen and i thought henry curtis
4:50
pretty well the second half of the
4:51
season he really came on and yeah
4:56
as a junior he was kind of overshadowed
4:58
by tebow um
5:00
but i think he finished second
5:02
a couple of races maybe even in the
5:04
overall i can't remember um so it's nice
5:06
to see him starting to you know push the
5:08
pace after he's finished his university
5:10
because he's got a he's got an
5:11
engineering degree henry and he's been
5:12
focusing on that so
5:14
you know shout out to anyone who's
5:15
racing at a higher level
5:17
to do that alongside it and how hard it
5:19
is
5:19
um and then yeah the kiwi kid i saw him
5:22
getting results in the winter and
5:24
yeah he's he's he's looking really
5:26
strong so he might be going places and
5:28
finally on the list uh dan slack what
5:31
what a year yeah he's had a great great
5:34
second half of the season really it was
5:36
a disappointing start for him and he was
5:38
he was really struggling going into
5:39
maribor mentally um
5:41
and it was you know it was a blessing
5:43
that we had that european champs there
5:45
the week before the world cup he loves
5:46
that track and it just gave him time to
5:48
settle and
5:50
yeah taking it i've said this to a few
5:52
people taking away the top 10 he's had
5:54
34 39 and then the 47th in london hide
5:57
would have been a better result it was
5:58
the reign that cost him that um and
6:00
that's a really solid set of results in
6:02
the first elite season you add in the
6:05
20th qualifier and snowshoe and then the
6:07
11th qualifier in maribor followed by
6:09
the 10th finish and
6:11
you're looking at some really really
6:12
really good results so
6:14
we're already excited for next year and
6:16
yeah he's got a bright future for sure
6:18
excellent so then i drew up a list of
6:20
kind of
6:22
ones people who'd had one to forget
6:24
and i i was drawn to teams rather than
6:26
individuals for this because some teams
6:28
just really didn't didn't manage to do
6:30
it this year starting with common cell
6:32
100
6:33
greg thomason hugo
6:35
there's been some injuries there for
6:37
sure lots of injuries lots of
6:39
disappointment it was nice for tomorrow
6:40
to finish with a good top 20 resulting
6:42
snowshoe and he looked like he was
6:43
riding like his old self so that was
6:46
nice to see yeah madison sarasota i know
6:49
matt won't be happy with 17th after
6:51
winning it last season and not getting
6:53
the win he was after and veronica had a
6:55
bit of an unfortunate year with injuries
6:57
jordan's done really well though hasn't
6:58
he
6:59
yeah i mean jordan's uh
7:01
been a bit of the talk of the pits
7:02
really it's uh
7:05
yeah he could be one of the next big
7:07
things he's certainly got the got the
7:09
ability and he's he's a a very very
7:12
committed and keen race so i know he's
7:13
down quite well now and he just lives
7:15
eats and breathes it and uh yeah it's
7:18
exciting to see it's going to be him and
7:20
jackson next year
7:21
as second year juniors is going to be
7:23
one hell of a battle and then you've got
7:24
don platt i believe he's a first year
7:26
junior next year so he's going to be
7:28
coming in ruffling some feathers and
7:30
yeah
7:31
you can see that can't you he's winning
7:32
his category here in the uk by seven
7:35
eight seconds and he had a good elite
7:37
time at fort william and if you can you
7:39
know winning his category and getting
7:41
good times at hopton bridgewood is
7:44
you know
7:45
whatever but you go up to fort william
7:47
which is a world cup track
7:49
and you do it against slides like george
7:52
gallicott and i think fergus lamb was
7:54
there
7:55
and you know
7:57
that shows that he can do it so it's
7:58
going to be interesting yeah norco
8:01
blankie lucas cruz henry fitzgerald and
8:04
elliot jamison i don't i don't think
8:06
they've had a decent result yeah i mean
8:09
i haven't seen much content about them i
8:12
haven't seen much
8:13
of anything really when i read it i was
8:15
like oh yeah that team is there so yeah
8:18
and scott as well i know maureen got
8:20
fifth in the overall but no man in the
8:22
top 20.
8:23
is it is it contract year for them do
8:25
you reckon it's been together quite a
8:26
few years that team hasn't it oh um i
8:28
know that flow and dean have had
8:30
injuries um
8:33
so so yeah there could be some changes
8:35
going on in there again this industry
8:37
very much depends on how much the
8:38
management and scott like the riders
8:41
yeah really like the riders and they're
8:43
happy with
8:44
stuff under the tent they won't really
8:45
care about the results they'll want to
8:47
keep her keep the house as is so and
8:49
there's so much that we don't see isn't
8:51
there you know riders they could be
8:53
really pretty badly and injured and
8:55
trying to keep going you know it means
8:56
dean's been rough with injuries for sure
8:58
so
8:59
and finally another one that's injured
9:01
intense i haven't had a great year with
9:03
aaron
9:04
not being able to do all the races
9:07
yeah and i i think
9:09
i'm sure nick had an injury or two um
9:12
and seth said his first year in elite so
9:14
obviously he's qualified a couple of
9:16
times which is good and
9:17
but yeah for a factory team like that
9:20
they've got to be disappointed with the
9:21
season yeah and i i'll i'll mention
9:24
yourself you are i know this is all
9:26
right to mention because you've posted
9:27
it on socials you aren't had a great
9:28
season have you about your did i race
9:30
this year
9:32
i've forgotten all about it
9:34
so
9:35
the question i had for you was like
9:38
because of the 2020 thing didn't they
9:40
wipe the uci points so pretty much
9:42
anybody could go race this year
9:44
i'm not sure i got
9:45
i got a bucket load of points at the
9:47
world cups last year so
9:49
this is the first year and 11 years that
9:51
i've finished the season without 40 or
9:53
more uci points
9:55
i've never had to chase points
9:57
and never finish the world cup season
10:00
without them so it's a strange feeling
10:02
um
10:03
going to snowshoe i didn't really want
10:05
to race but my only
10:07
goal personally was to finish with 18
10:09
points because i already had 20 no sorry
10:12
22 points because i already had 18 from
10:14
euro champs so if i'd finished
10:16
um 50th and 49th
10:19
in the two races i would have got the
10:21
points i needed
10:22
and what's annoying is without the
10:25
mistake in my first one and without
10:27
bending my pedal in my second one i
10:28
would have done that so that was pretty
10:30
frustrating because i was certainly
10:32
battling against the odds um
10:34
i went trail riding yesterday with two
10:35
of my friends and
10:37
they couldn't believe how bad
10:39
i was riding and how slow i was and they
10:41
were like how the hell did you qualify
10:43
in snowshoe and it's simply just mental
10:45
strength i guess that kind of got
10:47
through it um because my hand is still
10:49
really painful um
10:51
but yeah i mean
10:53
finished the world cup series with nine
10:55
points and i've got 18 from
10:57
european champs i've got 27. um
11:00
you need 40 but you need more than 40
11:02
because in my opinion there's not much
11:03
point going to a world cup without being
11:05
in group a if you're having to get up at
11:07
8 30 and finishing practice at court
11:09
past 11.
11:10
you're usually going to be on a dr a wet
11:12
track especially somewhere like lords
11:15
um and then everybody's gonna go out and
11:16
practice in the dry so
11:18
you know the odds are against you so so
11:20
i'll certainly be finding some races in
11:21
the winter but that would be part of my
11:23
prep anyway yeah
11:25
if kovid gets bad and we don't have any
11:27
races um
11:30
i'm not even sure if i'd go to lords um
11:32
thinking about it
11:33
i've never had to wear a jersey i don't
11:35
think i want to wear a jersey um
11:38
so i'd maybe delay the start of my
11:40
season and find some points and get my
11:41
pace and and then reset fault william um
11:44
but i mean as i said it's a position
11:46
i've never been in um so
11:49
my body is just broken at the moment um
11:52
tried to go in the gym the other day and
11:53
what i can do is just so limited because
11:55
my shoulder is just so restricted in
11:57
movement so
11:58
um yeah it's [ __ ] but this is the sport
12:01
we do we know the risks we know what we
12:03
sign up for and
12:04
i've had a few
12:06
good friends ask me
12:07
um
12:09
if i'm gonna carry on and to me it's
12:10
just a ridiculous question because
12:13
there are hard times in anything and
12:16
why the hell would i stop just because
12:17
i've had a bump in the road like some
12:20
saturday at snowshoe
12:22
was one of my favorite days on the bike
12:24
ever because of the crowd like
12:27
i was just having so much fun i was
12:29
finally able to keep up with dan i had
12:31
good top splits not good top splits but
12:34
like okay top splits um for the
12:36
situation i think i was 38th and 48th or
12:39
something at the first two splits and i
12:41
had a big smile on my face and um
12:44
it reminded me why i do the sport and
12:46
like even though i was kind of half the
12:48
person i normally i'm on the bike it was
12:50
still like wow this is this is it yeah
12:52
so i just want to get back and um yeah
12:55
we're doing everything i can to to be
12:56
back so
12:57
yeah i i know you've not had the best
12:59
time personally but it's been such a
13:01
good season hasn't it
13:02
yeah it's like i've said this before and
13:04
i i kind of have two personas and the
13:07
one is the athlete one which
13:09
it's just been massively disappointing
13:11
um
13:12
but the other part is the coach and team
13:14
manager and
13:15
i was thinking about this like it is
13:17
potentially one of the best seasons the
13:19
team's had with the results dan's had it
13:21
probably rivals 2017 when i went the
13:24
world's um
13:26
so so yeah like what a success for the
13:28
team and what a success for damn and
13:30
what a success for me as a coach and a
13:32
manager so so yeah we're
13:34
on that side of it it's just mint and we
13:36
can't wait for next year cool on to this
13:38
episode then just over a year ago we
13:40
interviewed two young guns on the pod
13:42
valley hull and tiba de prella they both
13:44
just had standout junior seasons and
13:46
we're heading up too late and what an
13:48
adventure they've been on this season
13:50
alone they've had more ups and downs
13:52
than your average theme park i'm going
13:53
to be chatting with them both starting
13:55
with the elite women's 2021 world cup
13:57
overall champion valley hall after these
14:00
messages i just insured you before the
14:02
ad break as the elite women's 2021 world
14:04
cup overall champion but you won't have
14:06
heard that so we'll do it again valley
14:09
hall elite women's 2021 world cup
14:11
overall winner welcome back to the pod
14:14
sounds crazy huh thank you
14:18
so we should probably start by telling
14:19
people that this podcast was scheduled
14:21
to be recorded before the final two
14:23
rounds of snowshoe
14:25
but due to my day job getting a little
14:27
crazy we rescheduled and what a
14:29
different podcast it would have been
14:31
i know you've you've stayed out in
14:33
snowshoe for a few extra days and
14:35
literally just stepped off the plane
14:36
this morning have you stopped
14:38
celebrating yet
14:40
um
14:42
yeah i mean it was kind of sad after
14:44
snowshoe because after the cross country
14:46
one left it was pretty empty up there
14:49
and i'm actually happy that i'm back
14:51
home now so i'm
14:53
seeing my family for the first time
14:54
after three weeks and
14:56
starting to celebrate with my friends
14:59
cool but let's go back a bit then
15:01
because last time you were on the pod
15:02
was around this time last year in our
15:04
world champs preview show and we all
15:06
know what happened there seeded first
15:08
and then a huge crash on the morning of
15:10
the race broken ankle torn ligaments
15:13
the whole shortened 20 20 season written
15:15
off then came a winter of recovery
15:17
including two operations
15:18
i believe that was your first big injury
15:20
was it harder to get over mentally or
15:22
physically
15:24
um
15:25
i think
15:26
the thing was that it was actually
15:28
pretty exciting because it was also news
15:30
it was like first time had surgery like
15:32
first time was rehab but i guess if you
15:34
have to do it more often it kind of gets
15:36
pretty boring so um
15:38
like the recovery was fine i was
15:41
actually okay i mean it was my first one
15:44
so i can't really compare it to any
15:45
other injuries but um
15:47
i was actually shocked how hard it was
15:50
mentally to
15:51
get over the fear of jumping because i
15:53
still struggle with it actually
15:56
yeah i can imagine
15:58
it's um
15:59
if you've done that
16:00
i'll i'll come on to it in a little bit
16:02
when we get to talk about leo going
16:03
about the jump down there i'll let jack
16:05
take over the next bit
16:07
um so how long did the physical recovery
16:09
take and when were you first back on the
16:12
bike after the surgery
16:14
um so i got surgery like a week after my
16:17
crash in leo gang and
16:19
then i was like two months monday to
16:22
friday in the rebel rehab center
16:24
that was pretty cool because i mean we
16:26
had lockdown anyway at home so there was
16:28
nothing to do and i just stayed from
16:30
monday to friday out in salzburg and
16:31
they took care of me that was pretty
16:33
sick i mean i had physio sessions two
16:36
times a day which is crazy and that five
16:38
times a week and then i had
16:40
uh training sessions and nutritionist
16:43
mental performance coach so they really
16:46
took great care of me and um yeah it
16:49
helped me a lot and then i was actually
16:51
already back on the bike
16:53
in january but that was actually a big
16:55
mistake because i was so slow and my
16:58
ankle was so stiff and
17:00
then
17:01
i went to madeira in february and the
17:03
writing was just not really good and
17:05
then i decided to have a second surgery
17:07
to get all the metal out because i just
17:09
couldn't move my ankle
17:11
okay okay
17:13
and you also switch teams in the
17:14
offseason moving from your personal deal
17:16
with yt the rockshox trek race team
17:20
i mean let's not beat around the bush
17:21
here you must have had quite a lot of
17:23
offers um how many people approached you
17:26
uh yeah it was crazy i mean it started
17:28
already two years before my contract
17:30
ended with yt and
17:33
it was for me it was a big shock because
17:35
i felt the am i'm only racing junior you
17:38
know
17:39
like who cares and then like so many big
17:42
teams call me up and you know all my
17:44
heroes are in those teams and it was
17:46
actually really really hard for me to
17:48
decide what i'm gonna do
17:49
like
17:50
on the other side i could have gone to a
17:52
full factory team where my biggest idol
17:55
is but then i need to give up all my
17:57
personal sponsors i've worked with
17:59
the last five years who supported me
18:00
from day one on so that was actually a
18:03
really hard decision and it took me
18:05
quite a long time to decide where i'm
18:07
gonna go but i think
18:09
going with with rockshox and track was
18:11
actually the best decision i think so
18:14
nice has it been a big change has it
18:16
taken you a long time to adapt from the
18:18
program you're on to the new program or
18:20
is everything quite similar
18:22
no it's actually quite similar i mean
18:24
you're still
18:25
i think the most important thing for me
18:28
was to stay with sram and just the
18:31
whole infrastructure they have they have
18:33
the big race truck
18:34
and we know we will get parts no matter
18:37
what
18:37
and then obviously working with matt my
18:39
mechanic i've been working with for the
18:41
last four years and it's always good to
18:43
have someone you trust and i mean always
18:45
worked out perfectly and um
18:47
i mean now we're trying to get more
18:49
people involved and i think the first
18:51
year in a new team is always a bit hard
18:52
because you need to uh
18:55
yeah italian the people and everyone
18:57
needs to find their groove what their
18:58
position in the team is but i think for
19:00
next year it looks already better and
19:03
smoother but i mean it worked out this
19:04
year so it's fine nice
19:07
did you find it difficult switching
19:08
bikes because obviously you'd been on
19:09
the yt your whole life was that a big
19:12
change
19:13
um yeah it was hard
19:14
but also i think it was i was like
19:16
coming back from my injury so my riding
19:18
really sucked
19:20
and
19:21
it was so hard to feel good on a bike
19:23
and i was like super scared
19:25
i actually started testing the new track
19:28
with the mullet setup but i just
19:30
couldn't handle it and every time i was
19:32
jumping i was coming so nosy and i think
19:35
also it was because just my my little
19:38
brain [ __ ] i had from from chumps and
19:40
like nothing worked out and i was
19:42
actually like getting a bit stressed
19:44
that i'm not getting on the bike wall
19:46
and then i was talking to matt quite a
19:48
lot and then we were deciding that we're
19:50
gonna stick with 29er for the season to
19:53
make it as similar to the yt and then
19:56
during the season we actually changed
19:58
quite a lot to
19:59
make it better and
20:02
yeah for sure this off season i'm gonna
20:04
try the mallet because for my size i
20:06
think it's it's the best
20:08
yeah well you've completely answered the
20:10
next question which was
20:12
are you still running 29 and do you plan
20:14
on moving to the mullet so i'll hang
20:15
back
20:17
onto this onto this season then leo gang
20:20
back to the scene of the crime how deep
20:23
did you have to dig to hit that the gap
20:25
that you you did your ankle on
20:27
oh my god it took me so long actually i
20:29
wanted to do it like before the world
20:31
cup was coming to town just to have like
20:34
no pressure and then the problem was the
20:37
jump was always closed or it was like
20:38
too muddy and uh yeah i mean
20:42
put a lot of wood
20:43
uh in front of the jump that no like
20:46
joey's can actually go there and kill
20:48
themselves like me
20:49
so
20:50
they only opened it for the race and i
20:52
was like ah damn it now like everyone is
20:54
gonna watch me and the pressure's
20:56
actually on and
20:57
i mean
20:58
i remember i didn't do it on the first
21:00
day and i chopped it on the second day
21:02
but the conditions were actually kind of
21:04
the same as when i broke my ankle like
21:06
it was super slippery
21:08
the in-run was a bit better but not
21:10
really much it was still like quite
21:12
slippery and
21:14
yeah it took me yeah it took me two days
21:16
of practice to finally do it but i was
21:19
so relieved after that because
21:21
i mean
21:22
i crashed there in october and all i was
21:25
thinking about it was to jump until i
21:26
finally hit it in june so uh it's a long
21:30
time to think about one thing
21:34
can i ask you you said you did it on the
21:35
the second morning or the second day was
21:38
it first run was it you were going up
21:40
there going right i'm just gonna do it
21:42
or was it no i need to look at it again
21:44
no i was uh actually doing it second run
21:47
second day so the last run before
21:49
calling so the quality was like the
21:51
second time i hit it so uh
21:53
it was stressful
21:56
it's funny i uh i remember walking that
21:59
jump when i was
22:00
helping down at world champs obviously i
22:02
didn't ride it and i'm scared of heights
22:04
so like
22:05
standing on the edge of it was like i i
22:07
can't stop in the edge of it simple as i
22:09
mentioned yeah um yeah
22:12
when we walked the track this year i
22:14
like walked to the edge of it and just
22:15
went nope
22:16
and just kind of turned round that i
22:18
couldn't do what i would normally do and
22:20
like look at it and size it up so
22:22
because it was just it's massive unless
22:25
you stand on the lip you don't get a
22:27
scale for how yeah i think people don't
22:29
see yeah no idea
22:33
is
22:34
huge
22:35
yeah first run i just had to follow down
22:37
into it because i was like i can't just
22:39
close your eyes
22:40
yeah and then when you hit it you're
22:41
like oh it's fine is that it you can
22:44
just whiz off the takeoff and land on
22:46
the line
22:48
yeah i can i can verify it's massive and
22:50
it's really scary so can i just ask you
22:53
know that you said you did it in the run
22:54
before quali did you do a stop before
22:57
that did you stop before it or was it a
22:58
full run
23:00
uh no actually the message crashed the
23:02
corner before
23:04
[Laughter]
23:07
so and i was like okay if i'm not gonna
23:09
do today i won't do it the whole week
23:11
and i was just like collecting myself
23:13
and i mean i know i can do it i mean
23:16
and then uh i went for it and it worked
23:18
out perfectly so i was yeah i was just
23:21
wondering if you got like halfway down
23:22
new quality run and thought [ __ ] i can't
23:24
feel my arms here and and i've got it
23:26
i've not done the jump on a full run
23:28
before
23:30
no it was good because i knew like the
23:31
previous year i did it as well so yeah i
23:34
think i'm fitter than last year so it
23:35
should be okay
23:37
so you say did first you were first or
23:40
second every split heading for your
23:42
first world cup win and then in the
23:44
final section you lost it on a pretty
23:46
innocuous section of track
23:48
talk us through what happened
23:50
um yeah i think uh i already uh finished
23:54
the race before the race was actually
23:56
finished um i hit the road gap and my
23:59
run was super clean and i knew like it
24:01
would be a good one i didn't know that
24:03
pom-pom actually crashed
24:05
but uh i knew that that the run is good
24:08
for for i mean i didn't expect to win
24:10
obviously in my first elite race but
24:13
um i knew that it was really good and i
24:15
heard the crowd and yeah suddenly i was
24:19
on the floor
24:21
it's your local track how many times
24:23
have you ridden that corner before and
24:25
have you ever crashed on it before
24:27
uh actually that corner you're never
24:29
right because normally you take like the
24:31
stone wall down oh yeah section and you
24:33
don't take those weird corners before
24:36
so um yeah maybe i think at world champs
24:39
we went the same way you know
24:41
so
24:42
maybe 10 times
24:44
the contrast though with what happened
24:46
to miriam in snowshoe crashing on a
24:48
section of track where no one expects
24:50
you to really that kind of when i was
24:52
thinking about this part i thought that
24:54
that's quite a quite a comparison for
24:56
the seasons you've had you still managed
24:58
second place you were only 1.4 back on
25:00
camille was the confidence dinted at
25:02
this point because you know you've just
25:04
finished second with a crash were you
25:05
still pretty pretty happy
25:08
i actually wasn't happy at all because
25:10
even when i finished the race i didn't
25:12
even know i was second i was
25:15
i didn't really
25:16
you know i didn't care i was second i
25:18
was just so pissed about myself to throw
25:20
it away
25:21
and then
25:23
mid season i was like
25:24
i should have been actually a bit more
25:26
happy about my second place because i'm
25:28
actually not getting on the podium at
25:30
the moment
25:31
i remember seeing you cross the line
25:33
though you were really angry weren't you
25:35
yeah i was super angry because it was so
25:38
stupid like a proper rookie mistake
25:41
yeah but then i did a second one in the
25:43
shade so
25:45
well that's that's where we were going
25:47
on to leger
25:49
you seeded second um
25:53
sorry i'm just going to start again
25:54
somebody called me and it closed my
25:55
screen you'll have to just edit that out
25:57
george yeah anyways back to the hell out
25:58
of me you guys have gone now there we go
26:01
okay sorry
26:02
on to leger you seated second and this
26:04
time you crashed in the final corner
26:07
but it wasn't your best run up until
26:09
that point was it
26:10
no i feel like the whole weekend was
26:13
really
26:14
cool for me like
26:16
when i arrived i wasn't really stoked to
26:19
ride my bike and
26:20
it kind of went went on until finals i
26:23
had huge troubles to to hit the road
26:26
gaps and stuff i was super scared which
26:28
is
26:29
which was hard to take because normally
26:31
i was always one of the first girls to
26:33
do the jumps and i only did it the last
26:36
day and saturday one run before before
26:39
the race i finally hit the
26:41
road gaps and stuff and i just didn't
26:43
feel really comfortable and
26:45
i mean the race run wasn't that great i
26:48
think even without a crash it would have
26:50
been maybe fifth if so so
26:53
that was like a weird
26:56
weird start
26:57
to my kind of
26:59
bad
27:00
week riding i guess
27:02
yeah
27:04
okay
27:05
did you like the track i mean it was a
27:06
strange track very technical and then
27:09
very gnarly features
27:10
no i actually really enjoyed it i just
27:12
didn't don't know why my writing was so
27:14
bad like my self-confidence was just
27:16
really really really bad but i can't
27:18
wait to get there next year because i
27:20
actually like to track a lot
27:22
cool so maribor you seeded first and
27:25
ended up sixth um after crashing at the
27:28
previous
27:29
two world cups were you just literally
27:30
playing it safe or
27:32
um yeah i was playing it safe but i was
27:34
actually
27:35
pretty surprised that i didn't even get
27:37
on the podium yeah i was super surprised
27:40
that it was that slow like or not slow
27:43
that the girls went so much faster yeah
27:46
so um i thought even if i don't crash i
27:48
should be on the top five but apparently
27:50
you're not nowadays but it's it's sick
27:52
to know because the level is just
27:54
getting so much
27:56
the level is so much higher than it
27:58
would have ever been so um yeah even if
28:00
you chill it's it's not you know sure
28:03
that you even got on the podium so it's
28:05
nice to know that so i'm always going to
28:07
push a bit more now yeah for sure
28:10
moving on from maribor did your strategy
28:12
then change did you kind of stop chasing
28:14
wins and podiums and just try and do
28:16
your best
28:17
yeah i mean i just stopped thinking
28:19
about the podium because my luckily my
28:21
my qualities were always really good so
28:24
they kind of saved me from
28:26
having a shitty race run
28:28
yeah um
28:29
and then next up was world champs i
28:32
yeah i qualified first and
28:35
i don't know i changed a lot
28:37
on how i approached the racing the weeks
28:40
and i was just
28:42
way happier like i enjoyed it being back
28:44
at the races and i just had more fun and
28:48
did what i liked to do i went out for
28:50
coffees with the girls and like hang out
28:52
with my friends and not only like sat in
28:54
the pits did my training and i went back
28:56
to the hotel room and sat there alone so
28:59
i actually enjoyed it being at the race
29:01
yeah nice
29:03
so again you seated first but then in
29:05
sector four it looked like you kind of
29:07
unclip took a dab you hit one of the
29:09
course poles and then boom you you had
29:11
the crash
29:12
um what happened there were you pushing
29:14
too hard or was it just fatigue
29:16
uh
29:17
i think
29:18
like fatigue stupid mistake yeah um the
29:22
track was really tough and i think i did
29:25
a bit yeah too many laps i guess
29:28
during the week because i actually
29:30
really enjoyed the track so it was
29:31
actually
29:32
like super nice to ride so i did many
29:34
laps and it felt good but then
29:36
you know once it's too late and you
29:38
don't really recover anymore so yeah it
29:41
was i mean my splits were really good up
29:43
to pom-pom i mean i wouldn't have won
29:45
but maybe top three so yeah
29:48
yeah the crash wasn't that nice i
29:51
bruised my ribs and stuff so um it was a
29:53
bit hard to raise lenses height but it
29:56
was good to see that my speed is is up
29:58
there again and did i actually do better
30:00
on like more technical tracks than like
30:03
fast ones yeah so i remember someone you
30:06
mentioned it before about qualifying
30:08
first
30:09
every time or qualifying really well i
30:11
remember someone messaged me wondering
30:13
if you might have doubts about the bike
30:15
or anything and i said well i doubt it
30:16
because she's qualifying first every
30:18
week you know i'm sure she's getting on
30:20
pretty well for with the bike
30:22
let's pause for a minute here
30:24
it wasn't really going to plan
30:26
i probably wouldn't have asked you this
30:28
if the season hadn't turned around so
30:29
dramatically but
30:31
was there a low point was and if there
30:33
was was it after maribor or valdisol or
30:36
somewhere else
30:38
um i think the lowest was lychee because
30:41
i crashed two times in the last
30:43
corner and i had a concussion and i
30:46
couldn't ride my bike for three weeks
30:48
and
30:49
i was really really unhappy about
30:52
about my life like it didn't really work
30:55
out anything i just put way too much
30:56
pressure on myself to
30:59
to already
31:00
be good in the first two races in my
31:02
first elite season so
31:04
um
31:06
i think
31:08
after maribor i was just like super
31:10
surprised
31:12
that if
31:13
even if i have even if i don't crash i
31:15
still don't get on the podium so that
31:17
was a bit like uh okay like what what's
31:20
going on i'm missing i'm missing the
31:23
train i think but um
31:25
i had a really good training week with a
31:27
friend nova karem and she she helped me
31:30
to be a happier and
31:32
yeah i was back in value so and back up
31:35
to speed
31:36
cool we we talked a little bit at the
31:38
top of the show about pressure and
31:40
you've just mentioned it there you said
31:41
it was pressure that you were putting on
31:42
yourself to to win
31:45
you've got ben catherine videos saying
31:47
everyone's saying she's saying
31:48
everyone's saying she's going to win
31:50
we're talking about it on the pod
31:54
are you aware of all that and does that
31:56
add more to it or are you is it like i
31:58
think greg said on the podcast that is
32:00
just the pressure he puts on himself
32:01
that's greater than anything else
32:04
uh
32:05
for sure like obviously i see everything
32:07
that gets posted and when i get tagged
32:09
on instagram and then see the messages
32:11
from the people and
32:13
like every time i had a bad race people
32:14
were like yeah next race is gonna win
32:16
and then the next race i didn't win and
32:18
i'm like yeah it doesn't matter next
32:19
phrase is the one you win it's like yeah
32:21
guys just
32:22
just say next season huh wouldn't that
32:24
be better
32:26
give me a bit more time to actually
32:28
improve and um
32:30
yeah it's tough i think i just expected
32:33
way too much
32:34
on myself and
32:36
it was hard because i got second with a
32:38
crash in leo gang then i won crank works
32:40
so i was like oh okay now this is easy
32:42
like i'm going to show them how it's
32:44
going but
32:46
i didn't show them at the beginning
32:50
mentioned when you were in the red bull
32:52
rehab center you had a psychological
32:55
coach to help with the the mental
32:57
aspects of them um
32:59
did you continue with that throughout
33:01
the season did you use that to help you
33:03
with the struggles
33:04
um i think the last time i was spoken to
33:07
them was when i was there for my
33:09
concussion so after lucie
33:11
but actually i was just tired about
33:14
talking how bad i feel like yeah i just
33:17
didn't wanted to think about it how
33:18
shitty i feel at the moment so
33:20
i just stopped
33:22
calling them and uh yeah they didn't
33:24
reach out to me because they knew that
33:26
you know if i don't need them i'm i
33:28
would not you know
33:31
get to them so um
33:33
yeah it's somehow like with the help of
33:36
of the friend noga it turned out
33:38
actually
33:39
pretty good like it's always cool to
33:41
have her have a friend who has such a
33:44
yeah so he's so supportive and has a
33:46
really
33:47
cool and happy mindset that like infects
33:49
you as well so uh i think i changed a
33:52
lot from leo gang to now as a person
33:55
yeah that's really cool
33:57
so we believe you've been using tracy
33:58
mosley and cecile ravenel as mentors
34:01
what have they been helping with
34:03
and how much help have they been um so
34:07
cecilia's doing all my training
34:10
so she's kind of my coach and i've spent
34:13
the winter with them and ride with them
34:14
a lot and
34:15
it's kind of cool to have tracy and uh
34:18
and cecil because cecile is like 100
34:21
badass
34:22
like she always says switch off your
34:24
brain and go full gas and then you have
34:26
the other side tracy mostly where it's
34:28
like a bit more calculated and like
34:31
not i wouldn't say more professional but
34:33
like
34:34
maybe yeah yeah thinks a bit more about
34:37
stuff and
34:38
i think to have both sides kind of next
34:40
to me is i can find the perfect mix and
34:43
i think uh that's what i had for
34:45
snowshoe and landsat
34:46
actually yeah sounds really good
34:49
um we commented on the pod that you
34:51
learn a lot more when things aren't
34:53
going right what's the biggest lesson
34:55
you've learned this season apart from
34:57
not crashing
35:00
i hate good ones
35:03
i think it's hard for me to say because
35:06
i never had to learn
35:08
i never had the chance to learn when i
35:10
was junior because it was always going
35:11
perfect so um
35:13
yeah i mean now this season i had four
35:15
races where i finally learned something
35:17
and
35:18
it's hard because it's always live on tv
35:20
and everyone sees it
35:22
they see your mistakes and
35:24
but it's good because i yeah i could
35:27
learn a lot from it and that's why i
35:29
guess i could handle snowshoe
35:32
yeah a lot better than than maybe last
35:34
year but it's crazy to see uh pom-pom
35:37
crashing two times even though she's ten
35:39
years older than me you know so it's
35:41
hard like do you still make the same
35:43
mistakes even you have way more
35:44
experience
35:45
yeah yeah it did this was something i
35:48
wanted to come on to it's it's very easy
35:50
to forget that you're still on in 19 and
35:52
the journey you've been on this season
35:54
it's like a whole career in one season i
35:57
do some some guest lectures at
35:59
universities and schools on
36:01
entrepreneurship and one of the points i
36:02
always focus on is that vulnerability
36:05
sounds like a weakness but vulnerability
36:08
is actually a strength if you put
36:10
yourself out there if you make yourself
36:12
vulnerable if you do anything that puts
36:14
you in a position where people can judge
36:16
you and you know they're going to be
36:17
talking about you
36:19
if it go you know they're going to be
36:20
talking about if it goes wrong that
36:22
gives you such inner strength whether it
36:24
actually goes wrong all right and you
36:26
you've got you've been doing this in
36:27
front of you know millions of people on
36:29
red bull tv
36:30
do you actually feel stronger mentally
36:33
now than than you've done before
36:36
i would say it was kind of hard for me
36:37
to accept the people like
36:40
tell me what i did wrong
36:43
that was actually quite hard for me to
36:44
accept that
36:45
we were analyzing my mistakes and it at
36:48
first like it was like pissing me off
36:50
because
36:52
you know why you tell me i'm [ __ ]
36:56
but uh
36:58
no i mean it helped me a lot because now
37:00
i know what to do better and
37:02
i guess you just get older
37:04
and yeah you learn from it and you just
37:07
get wiser and you appreciate it when
37:08
people tell you what you can do better
37:10
and
37:10
i think i
37:12
i learned how to
37:14
cope with with it during the season a
37:16
lot better yeah
37:18
if it's any help people have been
37:19
telling me i'm [ __ ] my entire the entire
37:22
time i've been racing but i've not got
37:23
any better
37:26
so lenses hide that was the race where
37:28
you you set the fastest time of the day
37:29
as a as a junior and a sense coming into
37:32
it you had a little bit of a different
37:33
mindset
37:35
um lens ahead was just i want i was so
37:38
overweight with crashing i mean uh
37:41
yeah value so was the first time i
37:43
wasn't on the podium in a row and that
37:46
like
37:47
i just wanted to be back on the podium
37:49
and celebrate and
37:51
i
37:51
like i didn't expect to win i was like i
37:54
just want to be top five you know if i'm
37:56
fifth and i get a trophy to take home
37:58
that would be so sweet and then
38:01
yeah i qualified for it and got 13
38:03
finals it was a super clean run and it
38:05
was nice it was nothing crazy
38:08
and
38:09
yeah i was finally super happy and
38:11
relieved that
38:12
you know we've with a run like this
38:15
like it's a third place run and it's
38:17
nice yeah
38:19
you're coming into snowshoe where were
38:21
you sitting in the overall can you
38:23
remember
38:24
i was fourth coming into snowshoe wow
38:28
yeah so what was the mindset had you
38:30
written the overall off yeah totally i
38:33
mean the first place
38:35
never ever came into my mind like it was
38:37
so far away from me and
38:39
i was like well you know if
38:41
because like after
38:43
lancer high tony grabbed my third place
38:46
and i got fourth and i was like oh it
38:48
would be cool if i get the third place
38:49
back
38:50
and
38:51
i didn't know i didn't really think
38:53
about second either i was just like okay
38:55
if i if i can end the season i was
38:58
not really already
39:01
signing the season off but i was like
39:03
okay if i get furred i will be happy and
39:04
i can go home and sleep and rest and
39:07
restart and just set new goals yeah yeah
39:11
yeah
39:11
that makes sense for sure so in race one
39:15
um
39:16
miriam had the fastest three sectors and
39:18
then it was her turn to crash in sector
39:20
four and you took your first world cup
39:22
win
39:24
how did that feel
39:25
uh i must say it didn't really feel like
39:27
a win because i know pompeo would have
39:30
smoked me
39:31
it's always hard to say okay if someone
39:33
crashes i mean you still have to go down
39:35
without a crash to win a race but
39:37
she was just way faster in general and i
39:40
knew that like if she's not crashing she
39:42
would smoke us anyway
39:44
and uh i mean i was still super happy to
39:46
finally win my first world cup i mean
39:48
it's crazy i didn't really expect it
39:50
that it would happen and
39:52
i mean there was still marine and tony
39:55
and tommy who could have gone faster
39:57
than me so uh yeah i was super stoked
40:00
to be honest yeah nice
40:02
so after that that snowshoe race one i
40:05
took you out on my fantasy team because
40:06
i you just won your first world cup
40:09
you're probably going to be a bit
40:10
hungover practice starts the following
40:12
day and you know psychologically it's a
40:14
lot to take in
40:16
but the valley hall i saw in that second
40:18
race the way you were riding it was like
40:21
a completely different rider body
40:23
position attacking the track you look
40:26
very very confident
40:28
was it did the wind take the pressure
40:30
off did you feel different
40:33
no i finally was like okay now i can
40:35
actually show them
40:37
how i can ride
40:38
because i feel like
40:40
my writing was kind of the same when i
40:42
started in leo gang and then
40:44
it just got worse or like
40:46
no yeah worse than like safe and like
40:48
weird and scary and
40:51
not cool and then
40:52
i don't know like i dig qualities for
40:54
the second race and my goal was i didn't
40:57
pedal at all at all the sprint sections
40:59
because i i just didn't want it to start
41:01
last to have the pressure on yeah and
41:04
because we didn't get any points like
41:07
didn't didn't really matter
41:09
so uh fourth place was super sweet like
41:11
zero pressure and i just uh went for it
41:15
and you're in the hot seat
41:18
what what did you know had you done the
41:20
math
41:21
what did you know what you needed to
41:23
happen to win the overall
41:25
um i think that only because i was going
41:28
i worked
41:29
on the last practice run i went up the
41:30
list with kami and then she was like
41:33
yeah you know if you go faster than me
41:35
you can be second and if i go faster
41:37
than you i'm second in europe and that
41:39
was the only thing i was thinking yeah
41:41
maybe i could could go second like that
41:43
would be actually pretty sick but uh
41:45
i had no idea what has to happen to
41:48
get even first and
41:50
as you maybe saw on the tv i had no idea
41:53
what was going on
41:55
it's crazy who was the first person to
41:57
tell you who did you oh not who was the
41:59
first person to tell you who did you was
42:01
the first person you believed
42:02
[Music]
42:03
uh it was actually the stadium speaker
42:06
yeah
42:07
like nobody knew what was going on
42:10
sorry
42:20
yeah it was funny because nobody
42:23
knew what
42:24
what needs to happen or like nobody was
42:26
sure actually they were like yeah we
42:28
think but we're not sure we don't know
42:31
and then like the uci guy wasn't there
42:33
and like we had no idea what's going on
42:35
in the night
42:36
it felt like
42:38
ages until someone finally said yeah we
42:40
confirmed vallejo won the overall typing
42:42
one
42:44
that's just so crazy
42:47
i i i done some i'd work put on
42:50
instagram what needed to happen in the
42:52
men's you know like if it for loris to
42:54
win for like to win for tebow to win
42:56
what needed to happen i'd never even
42:58
looked to the women's because i i just
42:59
didn't think it was going to happen so i
43:01
didn't i mean nobody knew her
43:04
well i think that closes the loop
43:05
because you've just literally got back
43:07
from snowshoe what have you been doing
43:09
out there while since the race
43:12
no we did some secret testing
43:16
yeah
43:19
you got a big family dinner tonight
43:22
oh yeah big family dinner big party at
43:25
the weekend um yeah
43:27
i hope i get some sleep in but it
43:29
doesn't look like
43:31
and and what does the off season look
43:33
like
43:34
um yeah lots of traveling i go back to
43:37
the yes actually in a week to watch
43:39
rampage and go to sea order and meet
43:41
some sponsors and
43:43
yeah hopefully i can spend the winter
43:45
down in france at cece's place and
43:48
annoy her and
43:50
get some tips how to go faster and turn
43:52
my brain nose
43:54
well the women's category is insanely
43:56
strong right now have you got any words
43:58
for your competitors for next season
44:02
ah yeah i think it's just gonna
44:04
be even more
44:06
stressful i don't i hope i don't get
44:09
gray hair next to you already
44:12
well thanks for making the time to come
44:13
on the pod congratulations on on the
44:15
wins and and congratulations on the
44:18
overall enjoy the off season you've
44:20
certainly earned it we'll be back with
44:22
tea body prella after these messages
44:24
t-body prella welcome back to the pod
44:27
tell us a little bit about where you are
44:29
and what you're up to right now
44:31
yeah so hello guys thanks for having me
44:33
and yeah right now i'm at home in the
44:35
south of france and uh
44:38
sitting in my bed or in the so far all
44:42
day long because the head the leg is a
44:44
bit painful
44:45
for the last two days so we're just
44:47
doing nothing and just seeing my doctor
44:50
to try to be better and
44:53
i see him again today to
44:55
to see what's going on and check if the
44:57
surgery was doing well by the americans
45:00
and
45:01
checking the terms also
45:03
and uh yeah
45:05
well it sounds like you're on the mend
45:06
and what are 12 months you've had
45:09
first this time last year it was your
45:11
first year elite in 2020 and you
45:13
absolutely smashed it third and and 10th
45:15
in maribor and then sixth and seventh
45:17
and loser
45:18
ending up fifth in the overall you must
45:20
have been really happy with that
45:23
yeah absolutely i was really stoked uh
45:26
you know we
45:27
begin with the
45:29
world championships and um i did a good
45:31
quality then i was fast in the final
45:34
even if i crashed you know and the tenth
45:36
with a crash i think so i was
45:38
you know feeling good
45:40
and then yeah maribor was waiting again
45:42
and i think i like when he's training
45:44
because i train all the winter like last
45:46
night class without the winter for my
45:48
first edit
45:49
year i trained a lot for that you know
45:51
to because it was
45:52
not maybe my best quality
45:54
and uh it worked pretty well and i did
45:57
some good results you know and even at
45:59
loser you know i did try to say seven
46:01
and six or six on seven yeah
46:04
so for a physical track and like that it
46:06
was really good okay
46:09
we gotta get a guest
46:13
she's welcome to join us if she's like
46:14
okay no but nobody watches it
46:17
yeah
46:18
um so
46:20
when did you start testing the new bike
46:23
uh so i started trying the new bike in
46:27
march for helpful really late actually
46:30
yeah
46:31
march in the end of march or start
46:34
beginning of april something like that i
46:36
don't exactly remember but
46:38
when you know everybody was going to the
46:41
subjects track in spain we try at this
46:43
place the first time ever
46:46
and then we we do it a lot a lot of
46:49
testing because you know was a brand new
46:51
bike it was really good you know since
46:52
the first time we tried but we need to
46:54
improve everything you know when you
46:55
start from scratch you need to to do
46:57
everything
46:58
and how different is it to the old bike
47:00
does it grow in the travel the same way
47:04
like completely different you know like
47:06
the old bike we were at the edge of it
47:08
you know we were we cannot do anything
47:10
else to to be faster and we're just too
47:13
much on the
47:15
i know to say but on the edge here on
47:17
the edge of every time we're just trying
47:20
to adapt the bike to each track and now
47:22
we have the same bike
47:24
almost the same setting for every trucks
47:26
that's why it's working really well and
47:28
you know the old bike is a really really
47:30
good buy but it was a bit sometimes
47:32
going
47:33
front you know you you can see some
47:34
riders it's just doing like that yeah
47:36
because it was this bike and now it's
47:38
just
47:39
like
47:41
and
47:42
everything is better on this bike no to
47:44
be honest really it's impressive
47:46
and it gets me a lot to be faster i
47:48
think this year did it take a lot of
47:50
getting used to because you changed to
47:52
fox as well didn't you this off season
47:54
not to be used to but just to make it
47:58
to make it as we want it
48:01
and to be not too used to the bike but
48:03
used the way is working as it's a really
48:05
different bike we were the first
48:08
few months we were like
48:11
maybe that fast because he has not the
48:14
same feeling i don't know how to explain
48:15
it but it was really really good but you
48:18
don't have any feelings to be fast on
48:20
this bike you know because it's really
48:21
calm and
48:23
in the lights and everything because the
48:24
other bike is a bit crazy you know so
48:26
you feel you're going fast but sometimes
48:28
you're not so this bike was really
48:30
different we just need to the most
48:32
getting used to was that and here as you
48:34
say for the fox suspension we
48:37
we we ride them before having this new
48:39
bike on the old bike so when we put it
48:42
the first time it was even if it was
48:44
stock suspension was amazing so no
48:47
problem to be used to that
48:49
excellent 2021 then what a season
48:53
leo gang
48:54
three seconds up at the first split
48:57
the only rider to do this crazy double
48:59
on one of the jumps on the long straight
49:01
i think that ended up costing you time
49:03
but still it looked impressive then you
49:05
had a you went low in the lower woods
49:07
didn't you and and and that was kind of
49:09
that cost you a couple of seconds at
49:11
least you crossed the line 1.2 up and
49:13
ended up second to troy you really came
49:16
out to make a statement this year didn't
49:17
you
49:19
yeah so
49:21
you know i love this track in ergon and
49:23
last year i knew i was really fast at
49:25
the top and this year was my
49:27
and i know i'm fast when it's steep also
49:29
so
49:30
i knew i can make sometimes a bit
49:32
everywhere and just trying to not lose
49:34
time as i did last year like in 2020 in
49:36
the bottom sadly i did it but it's like
49:39
that you know so yeah the first few
49:41
splits
49:43
i just gave everything i had
49:44
and i push a lot without taking too much
49:47
risk you know but just when you're
49:48
feeling good you're going fast and even
49:50
it's the same line for everybody i don't
49:51
know how i did to to have this time you
49:53
know and yeah i was as i pushed a lot i
49:56
was already tired you know and that's
49:58
why i jumped this triple because i
50:01
just did a mistake about everything you
50:03
know with the celebrity and the gray
50:06
floor
50:07
is
50:08
you can't see where we're going and
50:10
and as it was really fast also and i
50:13
just
50:14
pulled up something bad and i could have
50:16
died you know on this one
50:17
and then i was just trying to recover in
50:20
the woods and i did this mistake because
50:22
last year you know i go i went inside in
50:25
the steep section
50:26
section and it's where i've tried i
50:28
started to lose the food and
50:30
crashed a few meters after and you see i
50:32
say okay even if it's slower i go left
50:35
and
50:37
i knew i can make time at the top and
50:39
after but it does not work for this time
50:42
so i'm writing the mystic
50:44
i'm writing a review at the minute of
50:46
the season review for single track
50:48
magazine and
50:49
your the one image of the whole season
50:52
that stays with me is your entrance into
50:55
the woods in liargan because everybody
50:58
who came down before
51:00
they were struggling with it you know
51:01
there was people
51:03
they were challenged by it but you made
51:05
it look so smooth
51:07
i think you know it made me go wow when
51:09
you when you entered those woods
51:12
were you conscious like that you were
51:14
riding
51:15
that you were doing that
51:17
like for the entrance you know you have
51:19
a big bright grass corner yeah and
51:22
you know everybody was struggling at the
51:24
practice and even me you know but i work
51:26
a lot to be fast on this one because you
51:28
i knew it was one of the key corners in
51:30
the track so
51:33
i just
51:34
need to be confident in this corner it's
51:36
what i did you know just didn't touch a
51:38
break at all and just trying to go as
51:40
fast as i can because i remember all the
51:42
rules where they were
51:44
and you know sometimes when you just
51:45
don't touch the break and leave the bike
51:48
let the bike roll is
51:49
feeling better but it's a risk to do it
51:51
but if you just train for that
51:54
maybe sometimes this works yeah it's not
51:56
going to just want justice there really
51:58
because
51:59
it's uh
52:00
it's not a grass corner it's a rooty
52:03
corner yeah yeah exactly but higher wide
52:06
roots into off-camber roots on and
52:09
off-camber take-off you're gonna have to
52:11
gap on the roots
52:13
and then keep turning right so
52:16
to hit that off the brakes is
52:19
unbelievable and as george says
52:21
yeah
52:22
yeah yeah you've not done yourself
52:24
justice it's not a grass caller it's one
52:25
of the hardest corners on the circuit so
52:27
yeah don't don't undersell yourself on
52:29
that one
52:31
sorry
52:32
that was uh
52:33
impressive riding and yeah just to recap
52:36
how do you think you managed to pull
52:38
three seconds at the top of that track
52:39
as you've said it's fairly one line
52:42
what what went on there
52:45
i think it's just something i had
52:47
luckily like that because you know as
52:50
maybe you guys know i share a lot of
52:52
things with them
52:53
with amore
52:55
and
52:56
even
52:57
like from since the first day i just was
53:00
faster
53:01
but
53:02
i don't know how i know something wild
53:05
but i won't wouldn't say why
53:07
i can't say why because you know i need
53:09
to keep some things but just i'm fast
53:11
because i'm fast on this part luckily
53:14
but you know it's just
53:17
it's a mix of the bike maybe me
53:20
feeling better physically or
53:22
you know getting experience and
53:25
maybe loving this
53:27
mixed
53:28
part and pushing everywhere i don't know
53:31
it was jacob that wasn't i'm just about
53:33
to ask based on you just saying loving
53:35
this bmx part like
53:37
the top of that track
53:39
i've had good splits up there once or
53:41
twice like top 20 splits up there
53:43
and you are going so fast
53:46
are you when you got that split can you
53:48
remember back were you having fun or
53:50
were you behind the bars going whoa whoa
53:53
holy [ __ ] like no absolutely that was
53:56
something so much fun
53:58
and doing i and when you know exactly
54:02
the track you can see me
54:03
like
54:04
going on some different lines and
54:06
everybody even amore says you know when
54:08
you enter in the
54:10
tree section before the the
54:14
the jumps yeah you have the left and
54:16
then it's going slowly and before the
54:18
left i just
54:19
i just double
54:21
all the breaking balls and nobody has
54:23
done it just because i was faster than
54:25
everybody else and just doing but it was
54:27
still fun to do it you know even i do it
54:30
during the training but
54:31
not properly yeah and
54:33
i was so much fun on the bike you know
54:35
feeling all the grip and feeling
54:37
everything and i was not
54:40
ahead of my edge you know i was just
54:42
yeah
54:43
as i can you know that lines up nicely
54:45
with something greg midaz said to me
54:47
before
54:49
i asked him at leo gang when we were
54:50
doing an o'neill shoot after the race um
54:54
i says when you're doing your timed runs
54:56
like your quality run or your race run
54:58
and you're pushing i said does it feel
55:00
fast
55:01
like do you feel like you're like oh
55:04
god we're going and he just looked at me
55:05
and he went
55:06
no he said i always make fast like just
55:09
feel slow in my mind
55:11
and that ties in with what you've just
55:12
said of when you are pushing to your
55:14
maximum you're still just having fun and
55:16
relaxed and exactly it might do its
55:19
thing and yeah riding stressed is always
55:22
slower
55:23
yeah okay exactly
55:25
so possibly again um you went to the
55:27
french cup at lazar you had a huge crash
55:30
you were airlifted off the track uh you
55:33
bit through three quarters of your
55:34
tongue and a number of injuries uh what
55:37
happened there
55:39
yeah so
55:40
there was a french cup filling once
55:42
again really fast on the track even if i
55:44
didn't do any qualification but i had
55:46
the gopro and just i compare after the
55:48
crash i compared my
55:50
time training time with the quality once
55:52
and i was already
55:54
now i can say i was faster you know yeah
55:57
even if i didn't do any race you know
55:59
but you know i was in the timing you
56:00
know i was fast during this race also
56:03
and uh there isn't one thing between two
56:06
trees you and
56:08
you need to
56:09
pull up
56:11
one rock
56:12
and go after a few roots in on the floor
56:16
was since the first day i didn't feel it
56:19
too that it was necessary to do it or i
56:21
don't want to do it
56:22
and then
56:24
like
56:24
everybody was doing it even some little
56:27
guy which goes fast and the youth
56:29
category i did okay i will i'm going for
56:32
it first friend and i know if if this
56:34
guy can do it maybe i can you know yeah
56:37
and
56:38
it knows work i was really too short and
56:42
go over the bar and smash my head
56:44
straight to the floor really bad
56:46
and not that fast you know but sometimes
56:48
when you are slow it's worse than going
56:50
fast exactly so it was pretty bad crash
56:52
really painful like even thinking about
56:55
it it's really bad you know yeah
56:58
okay um so i mean you you obviously
57:01
couldn't eat properly all week but you
57:03
you came to legere which surprised most
57:05
of us um did you think it was racing
57:07
when you arrived um and and how much was
57:10
the overall on your mind yeah so yeah
57:12
for sure the main thing was the overall
57:14
it was just to mark some points and
57:17
so i went
57:18
when i went out of the hospital i
57:20
strayed
57:21
go to see my doctor at home and
57:24
when i saw him say
57:26
everything is fine he's kind of fine
57:30
you can race in just about two right now
57:33
so when you sell that to me
57:35
i will race for sure yeah so
57:38
then i start the first few runs in
57:39
nigeria i was feeling not good but
57:42
i can ride you know then i take a big
57:44
crash once again on my head
57:46
you know at the beginning before the
57:48
drop you know
57:50
because i was trying to push and if i
57:53
was feeling bad and then
57:55
i did a new hit but my team
57:57
they talk together not with me you know
58:00
because me that just made me see and
58:02
they want me to stop riding
58:05
because i take this one one second this
58:07
crash once again yeah they just they
58:09
tell that to me uh
58:11
one week ago
58:13
yeah to be fair for you and then uh
58:17
quality i just couldn't go fast because
58:18
i was completely tired you know as i
58:21
take um not medication but they give me
58:24
um i slept because they gave me some
58:26
things to sleep when i
58:28
they stitch everything and i did a lot
58:30
of things to trying to be good physio
58:32
and everything i was so so tired no no
58:34
power anywhere no power left so during
58:38
the quarter i just say okay i try to
58:39
ride the fastest i can but it was my
58:41
first
58:42
it was the fastest i can go and then the
58:44
33 as you say
58:46
and then the day after you know
58:49
yeah
58:51
i just i was feeling really really good
58:53
like
58:54
not good
58:55
physically but feeling good to go fast
58:57
and then suddenly start to rain
59:00
and i say
59:01
okay start to rain maybe i could have i
59:03
could make some points if it start to
59:05
rinse
59:06
more but
59:08
and then yeah i did i think my if the
59:12
the weather was the same for everybody i
59:14
think it was once again a race to be top
59:16
ten top top five i think because you
59:20
know even if i was bad i was pushing and
59:22
trying to ride fast and sadly i had a
59:24
little of luck with the weather
59:27
but at least my race run was really fast
59:29
so
59:31
it's not like i did a bad run and i win
59:33
you know yeah i was lucky but
59:36
i'm not
59:37
like i knew i would be top 10 at least
59:39
so it wasn't
59:41
just
59:42
and you have some fast guy like i don't
59:44
remember the name which came before me
59:46
or after me yeah and i did they didn't
59:49
do my time or even top five so
59:53
was not lucky lucky you know it was
59:55
maybe just
59:57
you know definitely um
59:59
after the week you'd had how did that
1:00:01
first win feel
1:00:04
strange you know i was really stoked but
1:00:06
at the same time i didn't join and i
1:00:08
didn't enjoy the win because after the
1:00:11
race i just went to my bed and sleep
1:00:14
yeah absolutely i was completely done
1:00:16
and even the week after
1:00:18
dawn
1:00:20
uh
1:00:21
i didn't enjoy it i just
1:00:23
enjoy it but
1:00:24
yeah too much no celebration
1:00:26
yeah no no no absolutely not but you
1:00:29
know you win a race so sometimes uh some
1:00:31
people are waiting all their life to die
1:00:34
and yeah well he did so i'm
1:00:36
i'm happy with that you know you've got
1:00:38
all your life to celebrate that one for
1:00:40
sure yeah
1:00:42
so personally and i think most people in
1:00:44
the sport will believe aaron gwynn is a
1:00:46
little bit of uh of a hero um for the
1:00:49
things he's done over the years on the
1:00:50
bike on this podcast um i talked about
1:00:53
how i felt you were kind of in a
1:00:56
position now
1:00:57
where some of your race runs were like
1:00:59
raising the bar like aaron did in 2011
1:01:02
2012.
1:01:04
um
1:01:05
he said that you're
1:01:06
the rider who he enjoys to watch most
1:01:09
when you leave the gate he like taps his
1:01:11
mate on the arm and says oh yeah here we
1:01:13
go um
1:01:15
did you feel you were doing something
1:01:16
different for example in that leo gang
1:01:18
run or were you just riding the bike
1:01:20
no no that's the thing is that i was
1:01:23
doing my things and that works the best
1:01:25
for me you know
1:01:26
because when i'm not trying to do my
1:01:28
things i did what i did in bali soleil i
1:01:31
crashed twice because i was just
1:01:33
not me it was not me like it was me but
1:01:36
trying to think too much trying to
1:01:38
didn't take any risk because it was not
1:01:40
my goal this year like i have no goal
1:01:43
this year but when you came first after
1:01:45
maribor you know your goal is not maybe
1:01:47
to win world champs and
1:01:49
risk your life to win that race you know
1:01:51
because when you are 20 and you can
1:01:54
potentially win the overall you can take
1:01:57
risk everywhere yeah so no i'm just when
1:02:00
i'm the best is when i'm just me and
1:02:02
doing my things you know not trying to
1:02:04
go crazy it's just because my riding
1:02:06
style maybe is a bit
1:02:08
on the edge sometimes but i'm not on
1:02:11
that much on the edge it's just because
1:02:13
i'm maybe
1:02:15
tight on the bike and pushing a lot but
1:02:17
when i'm on the bike i'm not
1:02:19
scary you know yeah
1:02:21
and yeah it's good that i won't say that
1:02:23
because
1:02:24
i'm a fan and i still a fan of him
1:02:26
a long time ago and now with the years
1:02:28
you know i'm
1:02:30
now it's my friend so
1:02:32
it's so cool that you can say that and
1:02:35
i'm talking with him every time almost
1:02:38
every race and even
1:02:39
between the race so it's
1:02:41
so cool very nice i love it
1:02:43
relationship
1:02:45
on to maribor i believe you were riding
1:02:47
a data acquisition bike in practice
1:02:50
trying to squeeze every tenth out of the
1:02:52
track
1:02:52
if you can remember how much adjustment
1:02:55
does the data tend to advise over the
1:02:57
settings you were running previously
1:03:00
yes
1:03:01
yeah maribor it's a track that i love i
1:03:04
did some good results in junior and i
1:03:06
did also during their first elite here
1:03:09
and uh
1:03:10
you know we went before the race to the
1:03:12
european cup
1:03:14
championship yeah so the plan was just
1:03:16
to raise the
1:03:19
the qualification you know because uh
1:03:22
i need to keep my fire you know as
1:03:23
miriam would say and
1:03:26
i won the quality
1:03:29
behind glories and we know he's a fast
1:03:32
fast fast rider so it was really good
1:03:34
for me
1:03:35
so i was sad to didn't raise the the
1:03:36
race day but
1:03:39
i was going into the world cup like okay
1:03:41
maybe it's my
1:03:43
my day again so
1:03:45
we gave everything we had with the bike
1:03:47
with my legs with my speed
1:03:49
and it worked still well and the second
1:03:51
loris was uh really fast this day and
1:03:53
you know
1:03:55
it was uh
1:03:56
i can't take too much risk this day i
1:03:59
couldn't be really faster maybe
1:04:02
maybe the same as always but not faster
1:04:04
you know but i cannot take
1:04:06
like second was enough for me to mark
1:04:08
some points for the overall so sometimes
1:04:10
you
1:04:11
like for me
1:04:12
now you know i can't sometimes i prefer
1:04:14
to be second and first and taking so
1:04:16
much risk or
1:04:17
trying to win for anything you know yeah
1:04:19
i prefer being consistent yeah
1:04:22
on the last episode laurie said that
1:04:24
yours and his and and loic's dad hang
1:04:26
out quite a bit
1:04:28
loic and laurie are a few years older
1:04:30
than you how does it feel to be up there
1:04:32
at the sharp end with them now
1:04:35
it's amazing you know we were riding
1:04:37
also together for years because we are
1:04:39
in the same club in south france and we
1:04:41
train with rory's we have the same
1:04:43
trainer we go to the gym sometimes
1:04:45
together and we're going to the bay mix
1:04:47
together
1:04:48
so
1:04:50
it doesn't change anything we know we
1:04:53
we're not fighting or we're not
1:04:55
we're just fighting the time so
1:04:58
it's just
1:05:00
great you know there is no reality
1:05:01
within us and between every anybody i
1:05:03
think but for me
1:05:05
it's just the time so yeah it's it's
1:05:08
cool you know they suppose that we know
1:05:10
it's fighting you know we are not
1:05:12
like bmx or road bike or cycle you know
1:05:15
we
1:05:16
it's just the track and the time so yeah
1:05:18
yeah you rest in the clock yeah yeah
1:05:21
exactly exactly
1:05:22
yeah so loris is undoubtedly uh the king
1:05:25
of maribor of the last two years i think
1:05:28
you've just said that you may have got
1:05:30
close to him at the time but it would
1:05:31
have been very difficult to beat him is
1:05:33
that right yes yeah yeah exactly exactly
1:05:35
would have been hard to beat him but
1:05:37
for sure he think he's loved this tribe
1:05:39
because you know he's pushing a lot he's
1:05:41
bmx style a bit like me and
1:05:44
maybe when you know you like the track
1:05:46
and you fast you're always faster on the
1:05:48
track you know yeah
1:05:50
so it's cool
1:05:51
yeah it was exciting to watch that's for
1:05:53
sure yeah but um world championships
1:05:55
miriam said to us on the podcast that
1:05:57
she was choosing to stay with your team
1:05:59
comments on look off rather than staying
1:06:01
with the french squad did you do the
1:06:03
same for the week oh yeah absolutely
1:06:05
because i did it once do you know one
1:06:07
and i lost the race when i went with the
1:06:09
french
1:06:10
team so
1:06:12
don't want to miss one race for this
1:06:14
that again
1:06:16
so earlier we are in the with the team
1:06:18
and we are used to some
1:06:21
the food to the
1:06:23
to everything so we didn't need to
1:06:25
change
1:06:26
what we did during the season just for
1:06:28
one race so then we stayed together it's
1:06:31
way better yeah and we were just going
1:06:33
to ask you about the crashes um
1:06:36
obviously two crashes and uh
1:06:38
there was i think you said after the
1:06:40
race that um you tried to use your head
1:06:42
too much um and you've just yeah
1:06:46
in hindsight do you wish you'd gone to
1:06:48
world championships and just
1:06:50
done your thing
1:06:51
and and being yourself or are you happy
1:06:54
with the decision to let worlds go and
1:06:56
focus on the overall
1:06:59
i think
1:07:01
to
1:07:02
to be
1:07:03
honest it was maybe better to do my
1:07:05
things and go fast because i wouldn't
1:07:08
have crashed luckily i was not enjoyed
1:07:09
this time because sometimes i can crash
1:07:11
and be injured like i am right now and
1:07:14
uh so maybe the decision to be to was
1:07:17
better maybe to go early
1:07:19
and not
1:07:20
taking too much yeah
1:07:23
and i crashed twice the first one was
1:07:25
just
1:07:26
just
1:07:27
lose the traction on the corner and the
1:07:29
second one was because i lost my hand
1:07:33
in the hole because i was too tired so
1:07:35
it was really scary one but you know
1:07:37
sometimes
1:07:39
it was also good to do that mistake
1:07:41
during this race because it's a special
1:07:43
race so right now i know what i had to
1:07:45
change for next year and yeah well the
1:07:47
reason i asked you that question is
1:07:49
because the level you are
1:07:51
and the age you are you are definitely
1:07:53
going to be in that position again
1:07:55
um you know they don't world
1:07:57
championships at the end of the season
1:07:58
anymore they seem to always put it with
1:08:00
a world cup remaining so
1:08:02
hopefully you've learned some good
1:08:04
lessons from that and and you can yeah
1:08:06
absolutely i've learned some lessons and
1:08:09
next year would be a goal for me to
1:08:11
yes we did well at this race
1:08:13
cool
1:08:14
lindsay hi you seated fifth and finished
1:08:16
third and i messaged you the night
1:08:19
before the race i think and asked are
1:08:20
you gonna play it safe or are you going
1:08:22
for the win can you remember what you
1:08:24
message back
1:08:26
yeah maybe i say all in oh yeah full gas
1:08:29
yeah
1:08:31
um you and
1:08:32
maori you're just so raw so flat out
1:08:36
this full gas style how much of an
1:08:38
influence on your riding is he
1:08:41
and it's a big one because
1:08:44
you know uh i know him for before we
1:08:47
turn the team because we have a common
1:08:49
friend you know yeah so i know him since
1:08:51
he's in junior category even if i was
1:08:53
really young you know yeah and
1:08:56
and then
1:08:57
now we are in the same team for the past
1:08:59
four years
1:09:00
and um
1:09:03
i i the first few years was you know i
1:09:07
was junior i was uh
1:09:10
like was not the same relationship with
1:09:12
him you know because i was uh still
1:09:14
young and maybe not
1:09:15
in a good
1:09:17
you know was i learned a lot the past
1:09:19
few years and right now you know is a
1:09:21
big is a
1:09:23
big part of being fast because uh
1:09:26
you know on some part of the track is
1:09:29
the first one fastest in the world you
1:09:31
know
1:09:32
you can't be as fast as him on some
1:09:34
corners on some parts you know even me
1:09:37
you know sometimes it's really
1:09:38
impressive
1:09:39
so yeah it helps me a lot to because
1:09:41
where i'm fast it's slow and where is
1:09:43
fast time slow
1:09:45
to be fair
1:09:46
so
1:09:47
we helped us a lot together and he
1:09:49
helped me a lot
1:09:51
and directly helped me a lot
1:09:53
and we pushed a lot together during the
1:09:55
training camp and
1:09:57
now we chair we share everything
1:10:00
on the bike on the track and we even
1:10:02
sleep together so
1:10:06
so it's funny you know
1:10:08
with him
1:10:11
you know to have this relationship in
1:10:13
the team and to have two writers like
1:10:15
that but we love that and
1:10:17
yeah we love each other also
1:10:20
not love how we like and yeah
1:10:22
it's not because we're sleeping together
1:10:25
i understand where you've been
1:10:28
with him being the lead rider on the
1:10:31
team probably but having had some pretty
1:10:32
nasty injuries the the last two years
1:10:35
have you felt any extra pressure
1:10:38
to carry the turret no
1:10:40
no absolutely not because
1:10:42
we are in a great team i didn't they
1:10:44
didn't put any pressure on us and they
1:10:46
know i'm young so i can't be
1:10:49
like that the fastest one in the world
1:10:51
so they let me take the time i have even
1:10:54
they knew i don't want to take the time
1:10:56
you know they know i want to be the
1:10:57
fastest as quick as i can but and they
1:11:00
know i'm working a lot so that's why
1:11:01
they just let me
1:11:03
they're not like oh go for it you need
1:11:05
to be on no no no no no i know i need to
1:11:07
mark points for the team because i
1:11:09
learned that from junior years you know
1:11:11
when i crashed instead of just trying to
1:11:14
ride and be on the podium you know
1:11:16
and uh
1:11:18
no it's amazing because they are just
1:11:21
they know what it is to win they know
1:11:23
what it is what it takes to be on the
1:11:25
program and that's why then they didn't
1:11:27
push any pressure on us because they
1:11:28
know it's better to let do our own thing
1:11:31
and we discussed after the ways what was
1:11:33
good or what was bad
1:11:36
cool
1:11:36
so after lanza hired at this point we'd
1:11:39
had four world cups and you'd not been
1:11:41
out of the top three you were over 250
1:11:44
points ahead in the overall uh on this
1:11:46
podcast greg agreed that he thought it
1:11:48
was your title to lose going into
1:11:49
snowshoe
1:11:51
is that when the pressure really started
1:11:53
or did the depression not change
1:11:56
i don't know i you know i didn't feel
1:11:58
the pressure but indirectly the pressure
1:12:00
was there and
1:12:01
i think i started maybe to lose a bit of
1:12:04
his thought at bali sorry you know where
1:12:06
i was not good and there yeah we're
1:12:10
going to snowshoe i was
1:12:12
i wanted to go full gas and trying to be
1:12:14
fast you know didn't think about the
1:12:15
overall but
1:12:16
at the end i was thinking about it too
1:12:18
much to be fair
1:12:19
yeah and you know when you're 20 and
1:12:22
it's the first time you're in this
1:12:23
position
1:12:24
it's hard to do everything so yeah
1:12:27
it's like that did you have lots of
1:12:28
conversations with tebow and the team
1:12:30
about how to
1:12:32
to
1:12:33
you know play snow issue was there a
1:12:35
strategy
1:12:37
no
1:12:38
there was no strategy maybe we need to
1:12:40
have put one but
1:12:41
no the strategy was just locking points
1:12:44
the two first round and
1:12:46
grabbed the overall before the last race
1:12:48
my plan was that and then last round
1:12:51
just
1:12:51
go full in and try to win another race
1:12:54
yeah but sadly was not
1:12:56
yeah was not my time yeah for sure um we
1:12:59
believe you work quite a bit with nico
1:13:01
villars
1:13:02
as a bit of a mentor did you talk to him
1:13:04
at any point during the season
1:13:07
yeah i chat with him uh a bit you know
1:13:10
right now we we're not that much
1:13:12
together because he's uh we flap here
1:13:14
and
1:13:16
with the bike team and enduro so we
1:13:18
didn't we didn't have that much time to
1:13:20
talk together but yeah
1:13:22
maybe i should have talked more with him
1:13:23
during world champs
1:13:25
because he's fast on this one but
1:13:28
yeah you know
1:13:30
i did some mistakes again this year as i
1:13:32
did every year but it's getting better
1:13:35
so
1:13:36
you just i prefer doing this mistake
1:13:38
right now than in five years
1:13:41
so it's not too bad yeah
1:13:44
so snowshoe
1:13:46
quality for race one crash number one
1:13:48
race one crash number two the front
1:13:51
wheel exploded
1:13:54
let's chat about that one a little bit
1:13:55
did you flat coming into that section or
1:13:58
was it all one impact
1:14:00
no
1:14:01
one impacted the wheel brook
1:14:04
yeah are you guys running particularly
1:14:06
low pressures or does that happen a lot
1:14:09
do you go through a few carbon rims or
1:14:11
just being unlucky no we didn't broke so
1:14:14
much rims
1:14:15
so it was just bad luck at the wrong
1:14:18
place because i could have died also on
1:14:20
this one yeah
1:14:22
well
1:14:23
sorry quality for race two crash number
1:14:25
three third time unlucky a broken thumb
1:14:29
and an open fracture to your right
1:14:30
fibula you jumped up onto your feet from
1:14:32
the crash and it looked like you you
1:14:34
were okay
1:14:35
how quickly
1:14:37
did you know it was over
1:14:39
15 minutes after i didn't knew it right
1:14:44
directly i knew it was bad for the term
1:14:46
yeah for the anchor i didn't know
1:14:49
but then i touched it and i knew it was
1:14:51
bad at this time but it was a good 10
1:14:53
minutes after
1:14:54
so you were telling me before before we
1:14:57
started the call you were telling me
1:14:58
that you actually jumped on your bike
1:15:00
and tried to ride down
1:15:02
yeah yeah absolutely i wrong big my bike
1:15:04
i warned guinea was there it just helped
1:15:07
me with my bike you bring me to the old
1:15:08
track and i just say uh ask him where i
1:15:10
should go to go down and he
1:15:12
showed me the the track and
1:15:15
i tried to go down you know i went down
1:15:17
for a few minutes and then was too
1:15:18
painful and just stop in the wood and
1:15:20
lay down and the boss table came to help
1:15:23
me and we call
1:15:25
we called
1:15:27
the medicine but sadly they just bring
1:15:30
me down with a quad in the old trailer
1:15:34
it was crazy i hope they will try to
1:15:36
make it better because if i had
1:15:38
something in my back i would have been
1:15:39
dying
1:15:41
i would still maybe
1:15:42
die
1:15:43
it was a really bad organization you
1:15:45
know i'm really
1:15:46
angry for that because if sadly i had
1:15:49
something
1:15:50
[Music]
1:15:51
like worse than that
1:15:53
it could have been really bad for my
1:15:55
life or my career you know yeah for sure
1:15:57
i'm hungry for the organization for the
1:16:00
guys at the uci and everything
1:16:02
it's just so [ __ ] you know and it's not
1:16:05
the first time that it happened you know
1:16:06
you can see brook sadly can have been
1:16:09
wrong and
1:16:12
they need to work a lot on world cups
1:16:14
you know there is a lot of work and even
1:16:16
on the track you know i crashed because
1:16:17
the track on the side was not clean yeah
1:16:19
it was my mistake that i i lost the
1:16:22
front front front wheel you know but
1:16:24
then i ran a bit too too much on the
1:16:26
right and the rock was moving and was
1:16:28
like that in the side
1:16:30
and the team
1:16:31
tell to the guys which record that tried
1:16:33
to remove it
1:16:34
the day before because they say it was
1:16:36
dangerous and not just the team not just
1:16:38
our team a lot of people see it
1:16:41
and some other guys crash at the same
1:16:43
place and the same
1:16:45
things and they didn't remove it maybe i
1:16:48
would i would be not in this position if
1:16:49
they removed it i killed a bit beside
1:16:51
the track you know
1:16:53
so it's sad that the sport is at this
1:16:54
point right now
1:16:56
yeah you're dead right i think some
1:16:58
people will
1:16:59
will hear us talking about you know
1:17:02
rocks on the track and and and things
1:17:04
like that and here hear you saying it
1:17:06
needs to be removed and the trap be
1:17:08
cleaned and they will think what's he
1:17:09
talking about it's downhill but
1:17:12
they haven't been that track
1:17:15
it's like a book a wall pushed it over
1:17:18
and then we ride down the wall and
1:17:21
[Music]
1:17:22
it doesn't need to be dangerous like and
1:17:25
as you know air blocks sticking up like
1:17:27
this and there's features in there that
1:17:29
are just simply dangerous
1:17:31
they don't need to be there and i
1:17:32
completely agree with you um and even
1:17:35
the side you know you can see some trees
1:17:37
everywhere they're like trees and
1:17:39
they're like some trees cut it and just
1:17:41
put it in like two meters next to the
1:17:44
tape
1:17:45
and
1:17:46
just that they need to be five meters on
1:17:49
each side of the truck completely clean
1:17:51
you know you can see in motogp when they
1:17:52
crash at 300 kilometers they didn't earn
1:17:55
the south
1:17:56
yeah and we're going on a bike with less
1:17:58
protection in 50 or 60 kilometer hours
1:18:02
on some parts in rocks and when we crash
1:18:04
we can die because of that you know
1:18:06
so it's a point that every rider need to
1:18:10
maybe tell the uci
1:18:11
make it going further you know because
1:18:14
when you didn't happen to you you say oh
1:18:16
it's okay we'll be good like don't try
1:18:18
to be
1:18:19
i'm sad with that but when it happens
1:18:21
when to you you're like okay i know why
1:18:24
some other riders are complaining about
1:18:26
that yeah i totally i totally agree
1:18:29
okay um
1:18:31
so you crashed friday
1:18:33
opposite operation friday afternoon
1:18:36
and then you were back for the overall
1:18:37
podium on saturday um was that lift up
1:18:40
for you
1:18:41
yeah yeah i i haven't been in operated
1:18:44
this friday afternoon friday night
1:18:47
okay and uh was late and then you know i
1:18:49
didn't sleep the night at all almost
1:18:52
just some some
1:18:53
and then you know in the morning i say
1:18:55
guys i need to leave at 2 p.m i have a
1:18:58
podium at 6 00 at four so let me go out
1:19:02
and as you pay in usa you know
1:19:05
they did what you want so they just try
1:19:07
everything they can to let me go out
1:19:09
because i need some antibiotics you know
1:19:11
in my body so when the last
1:19:14
last you know portion of antibiotics go
1:19:16
in they say okay you're ready to go
1:19:18
my my dad
1:19:20
my mother helped me with the paper in
1:19:22
france to to go out quickly
1:19:25
and
1:19:26
we did a bit of a rally to go to the
1:19:28
podium because the
1:19:30
the podium was one hour away from the
1:19:32
hospital oh and it was it was amazing to
1:19:35
to be at the podium you know because
1:19:38
it's not maybe every year that you can
1:19:40
be in second in the overall if you lose
1:19:43
missing two races so
1:19:46
it was amazing amazing even if i was
1:19:48
really tired at this time and almost
1:19:51
like i was retired and almost losing my
1:19:53
head because i had so much uh i had the
1:19:55
anesthesia inside i was like my head was
1:19:58
a bit i was almost
1:20:00
sleeping in the podium but
1:20:02
was amazing seeing everybody sharing my
1:20:04
name on the podium even if i was second
1:20:07
it was something amazing for me so
1:20:09
yeah
1:20:10
good memories for sure nice so the uh
1:20:13
the dust is settled now or a few days
1:20:15
after snowshoe um you mentioned before
1:20:19
that maybe maybe you would have a plan
1:20:20
in future for that situation
1:20:23
would you have played it differently or
1:20:24
are you happy you just went into it
1:20:26
going yeah full gas
1:20:30
i would have played mary the same but
1:20:32
different in the in the approach you
1:20:34
know i was going for gas absolutely
1:20:36
because when you check my times
1:20:38
my splits even i didn't went to the
1:20:40
bottom my splits were once again into
1:20:42
top five yeah and uh
1:20:44
just the first one i didn't cross the
1:20:47
first split the first qualification
1:20:49
because i was pushing already a lot for
1:20:51
the first corners
1:20:53
but when you see the the race one of the
1:20:55
other one and the the quality of the
1:20:57
other one also was i was in the top five
1:20:59
and maybe
1:21:01
maybe maybe better
1:21:03
because i was gaining time in the rock
1:21:05
section during the the the first race
1:21:08
so yeah sadly i was not able to do that
1:21:10
but you know experience yeah okay can i
1:21:14
just ask you this is just me being
1:21:15
curious
1:21:16
if you were to do an 85 percent or a 90
1:21:19
percent tebow run
1:21:21
where do you think that would come
1:21:23
in the
1:21:26
race where would that place you
1:21:29
i don't know because i i can't try that
1:21:32
ninety percent because if i write slowly
1:21:34
or as i try to do it in practice i'm
1:21:36
making more mistakes in the infrared
1:21:38
fast
1:21:39
so when i write i'm writing 90 percent
1:21:42
is because i do it in quality sometimes
1:21:44
when i didn't pedal at all
1:21:47
like i'm i'm pushing in in technical
1:21:49
section just sometimes i didn't even
1:21:52
pedal in seating run or qualification
1:21:55
and that's why i'm a bit far away but i
1:21:57
know where i can gain some time so
1:22:00
when i'm 90 percent because i didn't
1:22:01
pedal but i push
1:22:04
yeah in technical parts i see so
1:22:07
obviously not the best end to the season
1:22:09
with miriam losing a grip on the overall
1:22:11
as well but an amazing season over for
1:22:14
the team
1:22:15
you're the number one team miriam world
1:22:17
champion and second overall you with
1:22:19
your first win and second in the overall
1:22:21
and maori back on the podium what's the
1:22:23
mood in the camp like now
1:22:28
by going to try to win the overall in
1:22:30
edit and in elite women and
1:22:34
mark some big points for the team and
1:22:35
still
1:22:36
because now it's been almost
1:22:38
four years that we are number one team
1:22:41
so we try to keep that you know because
1:22:43
we are the best team for sure
1:22:46
so
1:22:47
i hope it will continue you know and we
1:22:49
keep working a lot and
1:22:52
not me not
1:22:53
not me yet because i can't be on the
1:22:55
bike
1:22:56
for the next two months maybe but you
1:22:58
know they will work for me
1:23:00
during this time and then i will be back
1:23:01
and we will work again together
1:23:04
well i believe you're in phys physio
1:23:06
already and you just said it's a couple
1:23:08
of months before you're back on the bike
1:23:09
what does the rest of the off season
1:23:11
look like for you
1:23:13
i don't know yet i will be
1:23:15
i will know that maybe today because i'm
1:23:17
going to see my doctor yeah i don't know
1:23:20
maybe four weeks with the
1:23:22
argue called the platter with the cast
1:23:25
if the other cast sorry so with the cast
1:23:28
and
1:23:29
then the same of physio and
1:23:31
i will be back on the bike not the
1:23:33
quickest i can but just when the foot
1:23:34
will be 100 ready you know because i'm
1:23:37
not really hurry to be back on the bike
1:23:39
yeah i just want to be back when i will
1:23:41
be fully ready i know i can crash again
1:23:44
and everything so
1:23:45
i will take some times i way i'm not uh
1:23:48
ready for that
1:23:49
cool well thanks very much for making
1:23:50
the time to come on the pod and chat
1:23:52
there's some difficult questions there
1:23:54
but some really insightful answers so so
1:23:56
thank you very much for that
1:23:58
best of luck for next season um i'm sure
1:24:00
i'm not the only one who who can't wait
1:24:02
to see you riding again in fact i know
1:24:04
that because there's some comments on
1:24:05
pink bike and you they were trying to
1:24:07
give you some kind of people's champion
1:24:09
award for this season because
1:24:11
everyone was i think you know you were
1:24:13
the standout rider this season so good
1:24:16
skills
1:24:17
thank you very much and thank you for me
1:24:19
and the supposed to like it so it's cool
1:24:22
thank you excellent cheers
1:24:25
jack that's the 2021 world cup season
1:24:27
done and dusted what's next for you feet
1:24:29
up on the sun lounges for a couple of
1:24:31
weeks
1:24:32
unfortunately not george
1:24:35
we've got the casus british national
1:24:38
race this weekend so um we have indeed
1:24:42
yeah once we finish this i've gotta
1:24:44
get the vanload and get everything ready
1:24:46
and uh get down there um
1:24:49
and then next week we've got the uws
1:24:51
innolithium which i'm feeling
1:24:53
pretty indifferent about um at the
1:24:55
moment um
1:24:56
with everything that's gone on but yeah
1:24:58
so a couple of couple of weeks of racing
1:25:00
left we've got the there's another
1:25:01
national after that isn't there i'm not
1:25:03
sure if i'm gonna go um i vowed i'd
1:25:06
never go to stinion again in 2015. um
1:25:10
i can i can assure you
1:25:13
the track
1:25:15
that that last year the track that we're
1:25:16
racing because they put a video up last
1:25:18
night of it it i went last summer and it
1:25:21
was my favorite track anywhere in the uk
1:25:24
you're doing a lot of changes then yeah
1:25:26
it's on to the black reef powder they've
1:25:27
got this new section in that was
1:25:29
absolutely amazing right okay it was
1:25:31
yeah for me it'll depend on the weather
1:25:32
because if it's windy and rainy there's
1:25:34
no trees i'm just not interested um
1:25:37
and it'll also depend on if i'm doing
1:25:39
any coaching down there at a race with
1:25:40
any of the athletes i coach so yeah i'm
1:25:42
not sure about stinehog maybe but then
1:25:45
for sure from uh from the middle of
1:25:47
october just uh just need to get
1:25:49
properly into my rehab and have a little
1:25:51
rest off the bike and uh
1:25:53
yeah do some work and yeah keep my head
1:25:56
down well i'll see you at kazoos
1:25:58
tomorrow i'm not coming till until
1:25:59
saturday morning but i will see you
1:26:00
there
1:26:01
thanks thanks very much to the sponsors
1:26:03
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1:26:05
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1:26:07
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1:26:09
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1:26:11
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