DH World Cup thread

Listening to the Downtime podcast today, changes to the Les Gets track are minor but should be good. Left berm gone after the road gap , straight run for 30m then turn back onto the existing track which has been taped on fresh dirt beside last years course.
Weather forecast is for summer. Finally ! 😄
 
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Les Gets will be about the crowd as much as the racing. Best date on the calender, like the Freecaster days!
 
It has gotten now to the point where there is almost too much to unpack regarding the World Cup DH scene? The weather and UCI's knee jerk reactions notwithstanding. The juniors got screwed and should have gone Sunday in place of the semi finals IMHO. That US rider that got screwed at the sign in also was uncalled for. But it seems that the UCI has decided that they don't care as much about the riders as they should? And it's not just in DH but across the board pretty much.

Red Bull's losing the broadcast rights, yet oddly retaining prime advertising around the track like those things in the starting house, as well as the loss of their announcers that pretty much set the gold standard. I would rate the new ones, all of them with the exception of A Gwinn, as more like copper standard.

Also the advent of vlogging on social media has given more exposure into the inner workings of events with more track footage as well as insights into the pits and shenanigans there in. Some good, some so so I find personally. Mostly good watched on playback 2.......unless you really care to hear what they are on about.

The big thing that struck me watching was how many of the old dogs that are still hanging on although they mostly are hard pressed to make the finals? Not going to name names but all you have to do is run down the list to see names that were a few years ago much further up in the standings. They also are sponsored riders that you would have to think that at some point are going to lose those benefits and have to fade away. Some will be able to slot into their manufacturers plan as part of the support team going forward but all can't be Peaty. Sad in a way but hopefully all will land on their feet and continue life living as they want.

On to Les Get and then here to North America where the races are way too far away for me to attend in person. The west coast is a bit too far I guess? Hopefully they keep A Gwinn in the booth and muzzle Cedric and the other guy otherwise I'll still be on mute. Also that it is warm so the female broadcaster doesn't pull out that horrendous leopard print jacket.
 
I'll chime in some thoughts although I did a few pages back but now we are over halfway through the race season.

GCN+ is great $12.99 NZ per month and I can watch on all my devices inc my main one apple tv. The racing has been great this year, the camera work and track coverage are better than Red bull ever was. The commentary is okay, but was a lot better with Gwin this week, hope he can continue. I just laugh at a lot of Cedric's comments, people take it so seriously..

I could take or leave the semis, I sometimes watch the replay of the juniors but never live as its too early over here.
Overall for the price of two coffee's or less than 1 beer I can watch 2-3 races, that IMO is brilliant. 8.5/10 for the season
 
If we're doing world cup gripes, then for me the worst is the points system. People may or may not be aware of the Adam Brayton situation, where he raced the opening three rounds, didn't make the big show in any of them but accrued sufficient points to be in the top 50 overall. But it turns out the UCI changed the points system to finals only, excluding him from Andorra. A de facto two tier points system.

In effect, you could finish 31st in every final this year, easily making the top 25 overall & still not have enough points to race in 2024. The intention is ok, upping the standard of athletes is reasonable & Brayton is never winning a WC but it's clear he was unaware of the rule change & scores of other riders have come out to say they weren't either. The wider implications are it's likely to hit fast juniors who get picked up by factory teams, further undermining new talent and campaigners who come good over time eg. Andreas Kolb, who we'd all agree I think, is a rider enriching the sport.

That & semi finals suck, no one likes them, they make the day too long, riders cruise them, detracting from the spectacle & there was fundamentally nothing wrong with quali & finals in the first place.
 
Mabman said:
It has gotten now to the point where there is almost too much to unpack regarding the World Cup DH scene? The weather and UCI's knee jerk reactions notwithstanding. The juniors got screwed and should have gone Sunday in place of the semi finals IMHO. That US rider that got screwed at the sign in also was uncalled for. But it seems that the UCI has decided that they don't care as much about the riders as they should? And it's not just in DH but across the board pretty much.

Red Bull's losing the broadcast rights, yet oddly retaining prime advertising around the track like those things in the starting house, as well as the loss of their announcers that pretty much set the gold standard. I would rate the new ones, all of them with the exception of A Gwinn, as more like copper standard.

Also the advent of vlogging on social media has given more exposure into the inner workings of events with more track footage as well as insights into the pits and shenanigans there in. Some good, some so so I find personally. Mostly good watched on playback 2.......unless you really care to hear what they are on about.

The big thing that struck me watching was how many of the old dogs that are still hanging on although they mostly are hard pressed to make the finals? Not going to name names but all you have to do is run down the list to see names that were a few years ago much further up in the standings. They also are sponsored riders that you would have to think that at some point are going to lose those benefits and have to fade away. Some will be able to slot into their manufacturers plan as part of the support team going forward but all can't be Peaty. Sad in a way but hopefully all will land on their feet and continue life living as they want.

On to Les Get and then here to North America where the races are way too far away for me to attend in person. The west coast is a bit too far I guess? Hopefully they keep A Gwinn in the booth and muzzle Cedric and the other guy otherwise I'll still be on mute. Also that it is warm so the female broadcaster doesn't pull out that horrendous leopard print jacket.
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Social media has pretty much killed every aspect of society so only time before this happens. So fucking boring. Damn it was great to experience life and downhill scene in the 90's!
 
Speaking of social media on BK & others I can’t be arsed watching the track POV (once I’ve watched a full run & know the track I don’t care) I’m far more interested in the behind the scenes and talking in the pits. I ffwd the riding parts of race videos.

There is a lot of social media out there and I try not to over indulge. The finals for me is still peak excitement though and I am beyond stoked les gets is Saturday evening over here again 👍
 
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Les Gets gives good picture
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Another unforgettable race at Les Gets. The Frenchies went nuts 😄
Personally , I've been hoping someone could put the pressure on Vali , outright domination is boring and for Marine to take the win after such a long road back from injuries was really satisfying to watch.

Coulange totally deserved that win too , after it slipping away from him last week. The guy is on fire ! After Brunis run , I didn't think anyone would top that time. Boy was I wrong.
Epic race.
 
Vali put the pressure on Vali though! My maths isn''t the greatest but I think the womens can only be a three way race from here between Vali, Nina & Marine. The mens is theoretically open to the top 25, assuming any of those riders has a perfect set of races I.e. winning quali, semis & finals & the rivals score nothing. That's a practical impossibility but the numbers are possible. More realistically, it's definitely open to the top seven or thereabouts.
 
Hopefully next year I’ll make a trip from New Zealand to Les Gets. That race is absolutely madness. The crowd is always out of control. I loved it. Had a brilliant round in the fantasy league too 28th out of 1190
 
Few weeks until Snowshoe comes around what do we do now?

I had a listen to Dean Lucas & Wyn Masters having a long chinwag about the current state of DH racing last night. Fair to say anyone tuned into Dean's recent output will pick up on his discontent with the sport & maybe not surprising in the context that he's announced his retirement. Both he & Wyn are 30-60 guys these days, firmly in the never winning again cohort, which gives them an honesty in their pronouncements you just won't see from the top guys who need to protect their positions within the sport.

They rattled off a list of grievances against the present state of things, including discriminatory changes to the points system, pointless semi finals, the loss of Warner, the exclusion of south America, south east Asia & the USA west coast from racing, pay to play teams & risible prize money.

I have my own views on these issues bit the interesting thing is they floated the idea of a breakaway series, suggesting that if someone with deep pockets came along & founded a shadow race series, called say, the international race championship racing at novel venues, with £20k prize money, slick organisation, quali & finals format, 60 in the show with 30 broadcast, then riders would go to it. A bit like the LIV golf thing.

Personally I'm not convinced. You would have to overcome a whole bunch of contractual issues between teams, riders, sponsors, the UCI, Broadcast rights holders & all that before you get into venues, course builders, race operations, medical support, insurances, local government stuff and so on. But, it's not an impossible idea. There's no shortage of people who could fund something like this, the questions are would it ever work financially? Could you attract enough quality riders to create credible racing? Could you overcome the legals the UCI would undoubtedly try to tie the whole thing up with?

Would you end up with two diluted race series to no one's benefit? Yes, there's no racing & I'm bored.
 
I've also been pondering the future of DH as the season has progressed.
I think there could be a chance of a non UCI DH series to suceed but the complication may land with the big name teams that are also invested in XC racing (and road for that matter) under the UCI. Would Specialized or Trek continue with a DH team that would potentially get less exposure and have to be supported at different events than the UCI series , incurring more expense for less return ? And would the UCI muscle said teams into a position to be "all in" or nothing ? Highly likely , I'd say.

I'm all for every rider , team and sponsor to walk away from UCI downhill right now , devaluing the Warner / Discovery product significantly , but in breach of their contracts no doubt and potentially facing legal action. It's the only way out of the clutches of the UCI that I can see right now.

Even if Elon Musk started a DH series with truckloads of money :ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO:, there's still the complication of the bigger teams being tied to UCI events and their DH riders having to find new homes etc.

It's great that this is finally being spoken about openly though , the UCI f#kcing over DH is not a new thing. At least the wheels are turning and there is a quiet rumbling slowly building underneath the incoherently loud ramblings of Gracias commentary!
 
The only recent example we have is LIV golf. The mechanism was piles of cash to lure players, leading to threats of ostracism, bitter divisions, rows out in the open but ultimately, enough traction to cause a merger. There's just not enough pull in MTB racing for that but I like the idea of someone sticking it to the UCI. Still don't think it will happen though. The whole riders union thing withered away as far as we know under a lack of will. I wonder if they're regretting that now in the context of UCI/WBD running the whole thing purely for their own benefit.
 
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I think Lucas is just having a sook. Everything he has posted or spoken about all year is negative. I refuse to watch his videos.

He used to regularly be in the top 10 but probably realised the sport has passed him by. There are soooo many fast juniors now days it won’t take long for a lot of the old names to retire or fade away.

Look at Pinkerton and Kuhn to name a couple, Pinkerton was what within the top 5 of elite at a previous round.

My point is look at crankworx, it’s a nothing event compared to the World Cup. People & teams want to race the best and that’s controlled by UCI. I think this year has been one of the best seasons ever, how many different winners have we had so far?
 
Televised sports can't exist without major sponships. Riders at top level need sponsors. Sponsors can't exist without customers. Can potential customers customers support a WC DH series to watch from the comfort of their own home? Does it inspire them to go out on Monday and buy the products that are trolled across their screen or utilized by the winning riders? Race on Sunday sales on Monday is the age old moniker I believe?

I for one am just going to enjoy what is given while it lasts. I sympathize with the racers because they are the objects of the sport I'm watching and their concerns for safety and equality but they also have to realize that their time in the sun is limited and be ready to move on without regret or shaming the system that has supported them in the past? It is not going to do them any good nor the sport as the UCI doesn't give a rat's bum obviously.
 
Dear downhillers, please keep in mind this is a world cup DH thing, and do not post texts that take longer than a lap at the track to read 😆.
The race at les gets was the best of the year!
 
JP-NZ said:
Oh indeed, sorry wasn't having a go at you.

3 weeks till snowshoe but then two rounds back to back. Can't wait to see how the track looks
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No, my apologies - that read a bit chippy when I meant only that I agree with you, Dean often does project a negative vibe 👍
 
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