DH World Cup thread

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Hanging out for Hardline Tassie, it's only a couple of weeks away. Went last year with a mate and it was fantastic, got there a couple of days early and could hang with the athletes themselves plus catch up with the likes of Rob Warner, Elliot Jackson, Wyn Masters, Moi Moi and of course, Ed Masters.
Was excellent even managed to get in with the photographers and had much better vantage points to watch a lot of it during the final practice. Thinking things might be a bit different this year as they would have learnt a lot from last year but still heading down there as it was a great event.
Heading over to Europe this year and planning to try to get to the Les Gets round of the downhill in August as it seems the maddest of them all with up to 100,000 fans going mental at the end of the day, figure it's a sight to behold. 🤪
 
At this time gearboxes and belts make perfect sense for bikes that primarily will be ridden downhills. It's when they have to be ridden up them and across the flats when they get iffy it seems?
 
Mabman said:
At this time gearboxes and belts make perfect sense for bikes that primarily will be ridden downhills. It's when they have to be ridden up them and across the flats when they get iffy it seems?
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After reading posts on this forum about mud helping belts to shed, not belts I think.
 
From my BT page i can add it for £16 a month (for first month), then £18 a month for first year, £20 a month for 2026
 
Anyone in the southern hemisphere know who's shitshow we need to be watching and get reamed by?. it was crap last year where if you didn't watch it live and had to watch a repeat, half the time there was no commentary, not that that was bad as it was awful most of the time, still it was nice to know what was going on. It was on Stan Sport last year but with all the upheavals this year it's anyone's guess is suppose
 
Unless it's reasonably priced and convenient to access , pirate stream for me. Stan was overpriced last year imo.
 
I expect since the UCI & WBD are quadrupling the price to watch the racing, they're also upping the prize pots by four times, widening access to privateers & reducing team fees, right guys?

Guys?
 
VWsurfbum said:
Will it not be on Discovery plus anymore?
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It appears they're binning Eursport in the UK & Ireland & bundling it into TNT & charging four times the price. I doubt they'll be pressed on it but if they were, I expect the argument would amount to: Look at all the sport you get for the money, ignoring that people pursuing minority sports are not especially interested in tennis from Yerevan, drag racing from Tuscaloosa etc. As ever, it's a shakedown to squeeze every last cent out of the punters.
 
Interesting, I watched via the Discovery sport App which was free with Sky Q.
 
With all the faffing the UCI did regarding involvement in the sport and now the higher viewing costs it is only a matter of time before televised DH as we know it will be dead and buried. Smaller events on a more regional scale as well as made for social media footage will go on and some of the athletes will be able to eek out an existence going forward.

Last season I made it through after years of faithful viewership, by whatever I could find for free on YT live and recaps and frankly it did the job for me. I also watch the XC events and follow CX and the last 10k of road events the same way but frankly I get more of a kick riding.......I did take advantage of a cheap $25 year long subscription to Peacock however so that will provide some cycling coverage as well as the Tours.
 
Meanwhile, you get the impression there's some arguing going on over at Pinkbike lawns. 🤪

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The thing is, who should pay then? Let's guess at 50 staff on cameras, production, cabling, feeds, catering etc for the TV company, 50 staff, a millions worth of kit, 2 weeks wages, it's got to come from somewhere.
All these MTB whiners with £5000+ bikes and 2 weeks in the Alps every year and £50 uplift days can't afford it, please have a word.
I get that it was free, sure, but that wasn't really viable was it.

Now it's lumped I with football, tennis,rugby and they'll cover the shortfall, surely the only other option was no coverage at all?
 
Shilling for a grasping global multimedia conglomerate because people have expensive bikes is quite the hot take.
 
Well, considering your starting point was factually incorrect, it seems unlikely that you remember the history. Prior to Redbull, DH was sponsored heavily by large corporates, Nissan, J&B, Rockstar & Mercedes to name a few. After that, Red Bull funded it for a decade in order to sell soft drinks, in keeping with their forever policy of reinvesting heavily in adventure sports marketing. It clearly can be funded in a variety of ways.

You can search back through this thread & you won't find many people arguing the broadcast is some sort of public service that should be provided free of charge but plenty objecting to a 400% price increase to watch eight weekends of racing and that's before you get to insulting prize pots, swingeing team fees, the sidelining of juniors & privateers via points rule changes. The idea that the UCI is on the side of actual cyclists is dismal, all the evidence is to the contrary.
 
They're not getting a 400% increase to watch 8 weekends, they're getting a 400% increase to.watch 8 weekends plus football, tennis, golf, etc etc. I accept it's not what many MTBers actually want, but they're offering a lot more for the money than previously.
Whether people see that as value is open to debate.
It sure CAN be funded in other ways, but if those sponsors don't exist currently, then someone has to pay until they do.

Don't forget, Red bull had the option to buy/keep DH, they decided a value and it was lower than WBD. Red bull are not victims here in any way.

Trust me, more than anyone on here I dislike how the sport is going, I've got more of a vested interest than most as my lad is chasing a world cup position this year and next year, so trust me, I want this to be as accessible as possible a sport. But the reality is different to my wants. Hence less National Federation jerseys, less Privateers and less teams.
Hence the fact we're entering the Continental and IXS races.
 
RustyMTB said:
I doubt they'll be pressed on it but if they were, I expect the argument would amount to: Look at all the sport you get for the money, ignoring that people pursuing minority sports are not especially interested in tennis from Yerevan, drag racing from Tuscaloosa etc.
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The you're getting more for your money is not an original point but it is a spurious justification.

Weeksy said:
Don't forget, Red bull had the option to buy/keep DH, they decided a value and it was lower than WBD. Red bull are not victims here in any way.
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You know this for a fact? I'd be interested in how so & moreover why anyone with skin in the game would be out to back WBD/UCI in this. They're not acting in the interests of riders, teams or the audience, only their own investors. If you said to me your lad was offered sponsorship, travel, accomodation, training camps, a mechanic & it all came from WBD, then fine, that I can get behind but he's not is he?

Any football fan will tell you where this leads & it's nowhere good.
 
RustyMTB said:
You know this for a fact? I'd be interested in how so & moreover why anyone with skin in the game would be out to back WBD/UCI in this. They're not acting in the interests of riders, teams or the audience, only their own investors. If you said to me your lad was offered sponsorship, travel, accomodation, training camps, a mechanic & it all came from WBD, then fine, that I can get behind but he's not is he?
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It was stated by them at the time.

LOL i'm not backing WBD/UCI, i'm just seeing it from a purely pragmatic view.

No, not from them he's not.
 
TBH, it's not really a hill to die on but if pragmatism is a currency, then recent history tells us the people getting a raw deal out of the sport are the riders & the fans.
 
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