U.C.I. WorldCups and W.C.

Eamonnator

https://www.vitalmtb.com/news/news/The-NEW-2020-World-Cup-DOWNHILL-Schedule,1307

It was announced today that the Mercedes World Cup DH and XC are to go ahead
in the Autumn. There will be 7 DH events at 5 venues. On two weekends there will be two separate races.
The World Championships are also going ahead.
All the events will take place in Europe.

covey123

Glad to see this is going ahead,but very valid point made in that link;

"Even a mild injury could take a rider out of any World Cup overall contention with no hope of recovery"

With such a short season, I'm wondering will some riders be playing it safe to a certain extent

Lemming

That schedule is going to be absolutely gruelling so I can picture a lot of riders riding the later races half-baked from previous weekends; that means more chance for mistakes and ergo injuries. We only see the weekend of a race (between qualifiers and race runs), but for them (and their support staff for those lucky enough to have factory support) it's the better part of four or five days at a venue, excluding travel.

iwillhtfu

I'd say this will be bitter sweet for those coming back from injury. I can't see TS or RA getting back into the racing groove that quickly although RA seems to be taking a long time rehabing the achilles injury.

Glad to see it running again though and wonder will Jolanda Neff be back for the XC.

nelly17

Rachael Atherton has started her own Youtube channel and shes only gertting back to hitting jumps again by the looks of tings

iwillhtfu

nelly17 wrote: »

Rachael Atherton has started her own Youtube channel and shes only gertting back to hitting jumps again by the looks of tings

I can't Rachel Atherton returning to where she was previously. I think family etc might be in her mind and she's lost the competitive edge.

Lemming

iwillhtfu wrote: »

I can't Rachel Atherton returning to where she was previously. I think family etc might be in her mind and she's lost the competitive edge.

Much like with her brother Gee; "ignore at your peril". I think she'll give at least another season before deciding if she's really done as she'll have that nagging doubt of "could I have?" if she packs it in now. Plus, so many of her winning runs are several seconds ahead of the rest of the field that even if she's not quite running on full steam she's got a decent chance.

You also have to not look at this with all attention exclusively on Rachel Atherton. What about the rest of the field? They've all had their race season and general schedule completely up-ended, which will favour the top dogs with experience behind them. Cabirou's head of steam from last season has been interrupted, and both Atherton & Seagrave are returning from injury, leaving Nicole (herself not long returned from injury from a race perspective) and Hannah. So Atherton isn't really at that much of a disadvantage. Mentally she'll still be ahead of almost all of them with her experience of both winning and coming back from some really sh1t injuries. The real danger woman is Vali Holl, despite being the new entry into the womens field as her junior times consistently placed her ahead of most of the eilte field over the past few years.

iwillhtfu

Lemming wrote: »

Much like with her brother Gee; "ignore at your peril". I think she'll give at least another season before deciding if she's really done as she'll have that nagging doubt of "could I have?" if she packs it in now. Plus, so many of her winning runs are several seconds ahead of the rest of the field that even if she's not quite running on full steam she's got a decent chance.

You also have to not look at this with all attention exclusively on Rachel Atherton. What about the rest of the field? They've all had their race season and general schedule completely up-ended, which will favour the top dogs with experience behind them. Cabirou's head of steam from last season has been interrupted, and both Atherton & Seagrave are returning from injury, leaving Nicole (herself not long returned from injury from a race perspective) and Hannah. So Atherton isn't really at that much of a disadvantage. Mentally she'll still be ahead of almost all of them with her experience of both winning and coming back from some really sh1t injuries. The real danger woman is Vali Holl, despite being the new entry into the womens field as her junior times consistently placed her ahead of most of the eilte field over the past few years.

Ah I've heard that old adage about Gee so many time but he's passed it now. No doubting he's an absolute tank but he just doesn't have the speed and finesse the younger guys do and tries to horse his way through the stages where the other lads float through them. I can't say RA was ever on my radar but hard to ignore her results, I can't really warm to her at all. She might have the race head but that won't count when up against the exuberance of youth particularly in such a condensed season, there will be no place for the hesitation returning from a bad injury will bring. I'd say it will only be a matter of time before redbull start to look at other athletes as I think Gee only has his ticket because of Rachel and the hardline course.

I'm looking forward to what Myriam Nicole brings although would love to see Tracey Hannah having a ripper of a season. Whatever the result it's sure to be an epic season and hopefully no serious injuries.

Lemming

iwillhtfu wrote: »

I can't say RA was ever on my radar but hard to ignore her results, I can't really warm to her at all. She might have the race head but that won't count when up against the exuberance of youth particularly in such a condensed season, there will be no place for the hesitation returning from a bad injury will bring. I'd say it will only be a matter of time before redbull start to look at other athletes as I think Gee only has his ticket because of Rachel and the hardline course.

Highlighted bit; the first mountain biker - regardless of discipline - to ever have the perfect season, male or female. Only one other person can claim that accolade, being Nino Schurter, and he did it the following year. Honestly, you have to be having a laugh if you claim you've never rated her enough to notice her. Doesn't mean you have to like her, but credit where credit is due. She knows what it takes to win consistently; and she also knows what it takes to return from injury to take wins too. In any case exuberance of youth only gets you so far; case in point Finn Iles who doesn't seem to quite know when to back off the edge and consequently crashes out. Feeling indestructible only works until your first seriously painful crash. As you have astutely pointed out, being such a short season, that'd be the end of your season too if the crash is serious enough.

As for Redbull (and every other sponsor ever the world over), the Athertons are - from a brand recognition perspective - worth an insane amount of money. It's not about podium results or else most of those people sponsored wouldn't.

iwillhtfu

Lemming wrote: »

Highlighted bit; the first mountain biker - regardless of discipline - to ever have the perfect season, male or female. Only one other person can claim that accolade, being Nino Schurter, and he did it the following year. Honestly, you have to be having a laugh if you claim you've never rated her enough to notice her. Doesn't mean you have to like her, but credit where credit is due. She knows what it takes to win consistently; and she also knows what it takes to return from injury to take wins too. In any case exuberance of youth only gets you so far; case in point Finn Iles who doesn't seem to quite know when to back off the edge and consequently crashes out. Feeling indestructible only works until your first seriously painful crash. As you have astutely pointed out, being such a short season, that'd be the end of your season too if the crash is serious enough.

As for Redbull (and every other sponsor ever the world over), the Athertons are - from a brand recognition perspective - worth an insane amount of money. It's not about podium results or else most of those people sponsored wouldn't.

I'm not sure where I said I never rated her

Lemming

iwillhtfu wrote: »

I'm not sure where I said I never rated her

Someone or something not being on ones radar is typically a euphemism for disregarding whomever or whatever it is as unlikely, remote, unimpressive or not to be taken seriously. With the added context of the sentence that followed, perhaps that not what you intended to say but that's how it read. If it's not, my apologies for misreading it.

xxyyzz

You'd wonder how many more serious injuries Rachel Atherton can take. I've lost count of how many shoulder operations she's had and an Achilles injury is very serious. You'd wonder how much more the body can take.

iwillhtfu

xxyyzz wrote: »

You'd wonder how many more serious injuries Rachel Atherton can take. I've lost count of how many shoulder operations she's had and an Achilles injury is very serious. You'd wonder how much more the body can take.

The mind will quit before the body does but she does have some amount of op scars around her shoulders.

iwillhtfu

iwillhtfu wrote: »

The mind will quit before the body does but she does have some amount of op scars around her shoulders.

It has indeed been some amount of damage :eek:

covey123

iwillhtfu wrote: »

It has indeed been some amount of damage :eek:

F*** me,her shoulders have seen some damage!

Stabilisers

Hi there,

I'm a bit of a novice, but hoping to take my husband to either the World Championships in Leogang or the World Cup in Lousa in October (provided travel restrictions are lifted etc).

Can anyone give me some advice on which one might be better? I'm finding it hard to differentiate. I'd enjoy either spot as a travel destination (and both are eqaully accessible), so that's not really a factor.

Thanks!

Lemming

Stabilisers wrote: »

Hi there,

I'm a bit of a novice, but hoping to take my husband to either the World Championships in Leogang or the World Cup in Lousa in October (provided travel restrictions are lifted etc).

Can anyone give me some advice on which one might be better? I'm finding it hard to differentiate. I'd enjoy either spot as a travel destination (and both are eqaully accessible), so that's not really a factor.

Thanks!

If you search through pinkbike.com from the 2018/2019 WC events, they ran an article including things to see & do etc. on each venue coming up to that particular round of the W.C.

Here's the 2018 Leogang article. There's an official venue website link in there too that'll have more info.

Stabilisers

Lemming wrote: »

If you search through pinkbike from the 2019 WC events, they ran an article including accommodation, things to see & do etc. on each venue coming up to that particular round of the W.C.

Thanks! Would one event be more exciting than the other, from a spectator's point of view?

Lemming

Stabilisers wrote: »

Thanks! Would one event be more exciting than the other, from a spectator's point of view?

I can't really answer that. Lousa is a new venue for the World Cup series and I've never been to Leogang so can't comment other than to say that it looks like there's plenty of opportunity to get track-side as a spectator from watching previous race runs. I'm sure both will have a good buzz about them to enjoy in any case.

mad turnip

Stabilisers wrote: »

Thanks! Would one event be more exciting than the other, from a spectator's point of view?

Lousa is having two world cups over the span of 3 days. Oct-29th to Nov-1st. I think this is the first time and likely only time they will ever do this due to covid. It will make for interesting racing. They haven't even confirmed if its two tracks or one. Its also the final weekend of the season and if its anything like 2019 season it will all be up for grabs in a weird two race weekend. Injures will count for double.

Eamonnator

This video was shot in Lousa, Portugal earlier in the year.
It is a Giant promotional film.
Jacob Dickson from Northern Ireland features in it.
There are some shots of the village of Talasnal, above Lousa which were filmed early in the morning.
2 rounds of DH World Cup are due to be held in Lousa later in the year.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gsg9sbnWQwU&t=3s

Eamonnator

Lenzerheide and Les Gets have now cancelled their World Cup Rounds.

https://www.cyclingnews.com/news/mtb-world-cup-shrinks-as-les-gets-lenzerheide-cancelled/