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Looking forward to this weekends racing, going to be another good one. I'm betting on a Brit winner - Matt Walker, Reece Wilson, Danny Hart or Laurie could all take it. Yes I'm optimistically ignoring Bruni, Gwinn, Pierron and Brosnan.
Tahnee or Rachael in the Womens is almost a given, although Tracey Hannah can jump with the best of them so maybe she will make up enough time in the motorway section to threaten for the win.
Our first time on Finals/Sunday at Ft Bill.
Looking forward to it.
(Two types of midge attack - one when you wonder if you're going to die and the other you hope to die... Take your nets)
Breaking news.
https://singletrackmag.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/fort-bill-news-from-the-hill-at-fort-william-world-cup-spoilers/
Im not so sure its a given in the womans. Weather will play a part and its all open. The top 5 are very close now.
Gwin limping badly in the pits
I don’t think Gwin will bother taking the start
OP: Matt Walker is injured.
also You'd be a fool to ignore Minnaar at Ft William
Theres a bit on vitals raw video from practice that shows a bike with the number 1 plate on it and someone being looked after by medics so it doesnt look good :/
OP: Matt Walker is injured.
He did timed training - has it been confirmed he is out?
OP: Matt Walker is injured.
He did timed training
Both right, he's starting (today at least)
Tahnee out though with a dislocated shoulder. No run with 1 plate for her, I'll bet she's gutted!
Brendog out with a pre-existing injury.
is there any where to watch qualifying on the interweb ?
Not sure, maybe highlights tomorrow but dont think ive seen them live
i didnt think they showed them but hoped i was wrong
They had a live quali show on red bull at the last round. Check on the red bull TV schedule
A lot better than i could have hoped for today, weather held off and midges werent as bad as they could have been.
Slipped into the torrent that was running near the top of the hill though so wet feet until i got to the bottom and bought new socks!
Kate Weatherly qualifies 5th. Could be interesting if she continues to perform at this level.
Can we just link to the thread about the transgender time triallist, to save everyone's time?
I'm more interested in what's up with Rachel, 10s off Tracey's time, but why?
Not sure what happened to Rachel but Loic must havd went down fairly hard he was a good bit down and looked beaten up at the bottom
Brendog out with a pre-existing injury.
Is it his lack of ****s to give about actually winning a race? 😉
good to see Gee and I have the same riding style
Is it just me who struggles to find a schedule on Red Bull Tv?
Point me at something that tells me when to see the top qualifying women and men pls.
I think women are on at half twelve and or sure about men.
Women 12:30, men 13:45
12.30 for the women, and 13.45 for the men
Live streaming on BBC Sport website too:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/live/cycling/48460994
And an interview with Mike Jones here:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/av/cycling/48467759
Live reporting on the home page:
https://singletrackmag.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/crash-carnage-at-fort-william-wc-downhill-2019/
Brayton went down hard but his clip cuts off on point of impact. Probably left a crater.
Dear Red Bull,
Like many others, I won't be able to watch the race live today.
For the live of the baby Jeheebus, please refrain from your usual trick of listing the replay just under 'Watch xxxxx's winning run'. You utter ****ing wazzocks.
Thanks,
A hopeful person.
You can see Bruni crash on rob warners Instagram stories. He was trying to fly without wings.
Was looking forward to seeing Katy Curd in the top ten - did she crash..?
Well that was epic in the women's. Real nailbiting stuff.
did she crash..?
Yeah, must have done, her finish time was nearly 3 minutes more than the winner's
Does Rob Warner always look that orange? Shade of Trump.....
Gwin..! Oof..
Ouch!! Gee's rock-to-the-face could have been nasty!!
Wow, amazing run from Walker
Amauryyyyyyyyyyyy!
Hope he got a change of pants before the podium ceremony.
Amaury is so fun to watch ride, dude just seems excited all the time!
What happened to the Swiss lass. She got stretchered out....
That was the best race in years. Genuinely exciting stuff. Pierron's nose dive made me jump out of my chair.
Still glad I didn't drive up there though! Much better from the comfort of my living room.
That was the best race in years.
Yeah, I'm sure I saw about five "winning runs" - thinking "surely nobody could outdo that" - and then someone takes the lead by two seconds.
Great runs from Bruni, Walker, Greg, Hart, Troy & especially Pierron. He is just riding with absolute balls-out confidence, the same way Gwin was the last time he was dominant but looking a bit looser. More like Ratboy in his winning season maybe.
Good women's race too, bit gutted for Tracey but nice to see some fresher faces starting to get quicker and more consistent.
Gwins crash was fairly impressive, shame there was quite so many crashes and injuries.
Nobody wants to see injuries, but the poor weather made the race IMO.
Fort Bill has been a snoozefest some years when conditions were better.
Only saw a quick clip of that nose bonk, I reckon momentum would have carried him over the line in first place even if he had lost it...
I reckon momentum would have carried him over the line in first place even if he had lost it…
Yeah, definitely. His skeleton is probably glad he stayed upright though. It would have been even better than Ratboy scoring a silver meal with a foot like a bag of twiglets.
the womens racing was just as brilliant.
Just got home from Fort William and it was a great weekend, yes the weather could have been better but the racing was brilliant.
I was surprised Gwin wasnt limping after the crash with his already dodgy ankle though.
Great race!
I do wonder how much the weather slowed down the qualifiers around 10th as the wind got up and then sped up the top few as the sun came out?
It was a decent day - the weather was better than forecast and the racing was good.
We saw Gwinn crash- pretty spectacular! Chatted to hime briefly as he pushed back up and he seemed in reasonable spirits considering I bet he was wishing he'd never come to Scotland.
Had a gander at the Atherton bikes - you know the old gag about On-Ones being made from badly welded together scaffolding tube........
Still it worked for Rachel today.
Felt sorry for that Wilson lad whose chain snapped. Surprised it happens on such well maintained bikes. Kind of wanted ilhes to win it but pierron was so so quick.
Gutted for Troy Brosnan, he must have thought he had it won when he took that much time out of everybody.
Pierrons run was something else though, it was one of those where you can just see he was visibly faster than anybody else.
Definitely a memorable race.
I’d love to see an interview with Rachel we’re she lets us know how much effort she’d decided to put into different sections of the track. She certainly seemed to be prioritising sections differently to Tracey.
Yes that would be interesting. She was even giddier than normal after yesterday;s race though, might take her a while to calm down.
Her podium chat with Tracey was entertaining. Did anyone else hear Tracey describing her run and using the phrase “shit my pants”? 😳
Can I also say thanks to Singletrack for the coverage over the weekend. Nice not to have to look elsewhere.
Seemed better coverage and yeah the mens race was epic.
What happened to Bruni's face? It looks nasty when you see it up close in Cathro's day 3 video!
Loic had a pretty mahoosive stack in quali - the damage to his face was apparently done by his goggles 😮
Pretty sure it was at the 'hip replacement' corner just at the start of the motorway section. We were just walking down to it when we saw a rider in white take a big stack, but then a huge cheer went out as he got back on his bike and carried on.
Absolutely loved it. Great watch. Some amazing runs.
Gwins crash was quite bad but did notice as he rolled he kept his bad ankle out the way and straight. Thought he’d take next week off but his Instagram suggests he is focussed on Sunday’s race.
A Cathrovision in-depth look at Gwinn’s crash:
https://www.pinkbike.com/news/video-how-did-aaron-gwin-crash-in-fort-william.html
Amaury has definitely hit the zone...must take serious unconscious skill to not stack on that nose dive
I'd love to see a side-on view of his last landing!
The whole event was fantastic - just a shame about the injuries, but then they're all so on the limit these days.
Interesting to hear just how much having to qualify affected Greg Minnaar.
Leogang might be a bit of a come-down but fingers crossed.
Cathro has footage of Gwin's crash.
By 'eck.
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Was stood just before the finish line...
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Saw the loic crash in qualifying too, he did about 3 somersaults down the track with bike very close behind, on the corner going into the motorway. The sound of him crashing and then the silence after was immense. His bike looked smashed but he just got back on and finished the run. He didn't even flinch. Full respect to him.