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16.50 BST for the short track tonight
In my opinion the best short track course of the calendar (or possibly the best filmed, as I've never been to any)
Evie Richards and Yolanda Neff have been quiet so far this season - by their standards.
McConnell still the woman to beat on a wave of form right now. Think she has a new coach this year, and has had an explosive start to the season, especially as all the antipodeans got screwed over by the last two years.
However theres a couple of killer climbs in sundays XCO so could favour the lightweights of Lecomte and Mitterwalner.
Would you bet against Pidcock in either race? Especially Sunday's climbs. The short track, will his road and CX skill see him slip effortlessly through traffic, or will the bigger stronger riders out muscle him?
Based on the last two races (Avancini in Brasil and Scharzbauer in Germany), Cink should attack early spurred on by the home crowd, only to realise he has bitten off more than he can chew and drop back.
Dascalu seems to be be brewing up a big performance. His comeback last week following seatpost issues showed what he can achieve if his mechanic does all the bolts up.
OP can you put "contains spoilers" in the title before its too late? Ta
too late, have asked the mods
XCC coverage starting now (16:50) on Red Bull TV - looking forward to this.
Kryton57
OP can you put “contains spoilers” in the title before its too late? Ta
Who would click on a thread about the race if they didn't want to know what was happening?
XCC coverage starting now (16:50) on Red Bull TV – looking forward to this.
Might put this on when I get home - thanks.
Proper battle and awesome by Neff. Cracking jump on the last double
Wow, a five rider photo finish.
that looked brutal and ridiculously fast!
Where did Pidcock come from?!
He seems to take places effortlessly.
Oh I dunno, it looked hard in the last 500m.
The German is a big strong boy isn't he!
I thoroughly enjoyed muttering 'go on lad' at scharzbauer in the final. In yer face global superstars! Pidcock looked well peed off after the race. Hee hee! Don't worry, Pidders will be just fine. He's a cracking rider and an uber-superstar. He'll cope.
Great racing, the speed they were going was crazy. Luca Schwarzbauer still trying to get his breath back in the interview.
Don't know why Pauline Ferrand Prevot pulled out of the women's.
PFP snapped her chain on lap 4 I think
Ah thanks, that was a shame.
Strong win from the German, he’s huge. A new era of XC sprinters?
I thought he had gone to early but he kept rolling on the power. Classy finish line shot as he could sit up and celebrate while the pack gurned away in the background for 2nd.
They changed the course compared to previous years. Not as good IMO, but it kept the pack together so maybe it was exactly what they wanted.
Good to see Neff back. Evie still nursing an injury apparently.
Reading the pink bike comments, they have really turned on Kate Courtney.
they have really turned on Kate Courtney.
Just had a scan, there are some pretty ugly comments on there. I have huge amounts of respect for anyone who straps a number board to their bike, and in my opinion anyone who's ranked top 40 in either DH or XC as far as I'm concerned has a claim to be amongst the world's very best.
There's even comments about her weight (carefully disguised as watts/kg obvs) I thought we were done with all that?
There have always been haters of Kate Courtney for some reason, even in the past attacking her for having a privileged childhood.
I like Kate and hope she gets back on top form soon.
Have to say, Schwarzbauer was seriously impressive - led the last lap, with riders well placed to come round him. And into a headwind on the home straight - and he blew them away....would love to know what watts he was producing - probably enormous.
Agree about the new track; I'm not sure. They amended it last year to include a rock garden, and this year it's completely different.
As for the comments on Kate, not great. I've always thought criticising sports people is fine as long as it's fair, constructive, and doesn't become personal. Those comments look like a vendetta.
She's still a young woman, who is struggling for form for whatever reason. Imagine any of her friends/ family reading that.....awful.
There have always been haters of Kate Courtney for some reason, even in the past attacking her for having a privileged childhood.
I got the impression that she was pretty universally loved (by the yanks at least) while she was winning.
In 2022 there is sadly still a feature where the most attractive North American or (possibly just native English speaker, and as I only read the English speaking media, this could be happening elsewhere) gets doted on by hoards of misogynistic men until they get bored and find a new doll.
Before Kate it was Emily Batty, who has a similar fall from grace a few years back.
Happy for the big german after the repeated efforts he put in at last week's xcc.
What's equally impressive though is seeing where pidcock came back from having lost significant position in the tight right hander on the climb and was back in 10/12th or so before the dropping into the speedway descent.
He made up a mind bending amount of track and positions to take that second.
Not seen the Pinkbike comments; I find Courtney a bit of an offensive self-promoter but I guess trying to hawk sports cars is part of the job nowadays.
It's funny how form ebbs and flows, Loana Lecomte was smashing last year like KC was a few years ago and she's a few steps from the top at the moment. Now it's Rebecca McConnell, or at least it is so far in XCO.
Great to see McConnell doing so well. Feels like she’s always been there or thereabouts for the last few seasons, but not quite made it.
As for the Kate Courtney detractors. How many of them have earned the right to wear the world champ bands on their sleeves?
Looking forward to tomorrow’s races, just need to get back in time from my ride.
To be fair, we see riders peaking at different times, particularly in the women's field.
Remember Loana destroyed everyone in the early season races but then went off the boil, comparatively bonked the Olympics then unfortunately quit the season early as she wasn't able to recover.
Rebecca could simply be on a tear right now and PFP's eyeing up the world champs.
Evie finished last season in impressive form but illness and injury has messed the start of this year up.
Evidently it doesn't take much bad luck to throw a spanner in the works.
I'll keep hoping for good results for Jolanda, Jenny and Evie, the rest is just good telly.
Was expecting Pidcock to be out muscled by the bigger sprinter types so impressed with his position.
Phenomenal effort from Nino playing catch-up.
This is an incredible watch, back with the leaders!
Wow..... that was spectacular.
By Eck that was a race from Pidcock, well not just him. Awesome
That is insane, not just the power and lungs but the bike handling at full gas on those descents when I assume you can barely see because of the stars in front of your eyes from the effort. What a finish....
Amazing race by Nino to come 3rd after that puncture and another strong race from Rebecca McConnell in the women's race.
Pidders was muttering about his bike not being right today, but not being specific. Anyone got any details?
Pidders was muttering about his bike not being right today, but not being specific. Anyone got any details?
No insider info, but I wondered if it had anything to do with the automatic suspension lockout system?
Yes, doesn't he have a Suntour electronic prototype system?
I was keeping an eye out for Eli Iserbyt, but just read he never started due to back problems.
“After the past cyclocross season, Eli Iserbyt’s first back problems arose during the preparation for the summer program”, it sounds in a press release from Pauwels Sauzen – Bingoal. “Despite treatments, the back pain continued to return and unfortunately became so severe last Sunday with his debut in the Mountain Bike World Cup in Albstadt, Germany, that Eli dropped out of the competition prematurely. Afterwards, he did not travel to Nove Mesto in the Czech Republic for the next World Cup competition, but Eli returned to Belgium for medical examination.”
Shame, I was looking forward to seeing how the CX riders got on as they gained experience.
He was pretty aloof when asked about his bike problem just saying it didn't work as it should. Was it about the 7th lap he was seen bouncing his bike up and down like something wasn't right?
Yep it was his electronic/automatic suspension control that wasn't working - he was playing the company linein the interview by not saying it but you could hear him taking to his team of you rewind back a bit.
Regardless... Nino Schurter. Just wow. He is incredible. Half an hours of solid full gas to catch them, and he still managed to drop 4th.
A podium finish after he lost so much is remarkable.
What races is Pidcock in this year, i.e. enough to win the whole thing?
I'm not even sure he plans to do any more now? When does le tour start?
Schurter's performance was just beyond belief. 😮
Amazing racing at an insane pace, watching these guys you realise that what you do and what they do, while superficially the "same thing". It's entirely not the same thing at all.
I love the commentators "I don't think Pidcock has got it today"
"oh"
Tour is not until July, which would mean missing Lenzerheide and Vallnord and possibly leaving Snowshoe a bit hpoeful as well. He may be called up for more road specific training in June meaning Leogang would also have to be skipped.
He said last week he'll do both Euro & World Champs. That maybe the next time we see him. He's pencilled in for either Tour de Suisse/ Route d'Occitanie as prep for a possible Tour outing; he did recce the cobbles a month ago.
After the MTB Worlds he'll prep for Road Worlds, which are a month later.
Rob Warner still has it though, somewhere on the last laps
“I’m glad I didn’t pay for a whole seat, I’ve only used the edge of it so far!”
I find Courtney a bit of an offensive self-promoter but I guess trying to hawk sports cars is part of the job nowadays
I follow her on Instagram and don't recall seeing her hawk any sports cars. Surely self promotion is part of the job, sponsors are less interested in results than they are Instagram followers. I don't see her as being any different to any of the other top racers.
If she was lucky enough to come from a privileged background the she's not alone, sadly in this day and age I think it's really hard to compete in most sports without decent financial support and this starts at home.
You get all sorts of guff on the socials about all sorts of riders, people asking what right Piddock has to just turn up and race when he's not a MTB'er, people asking why the Giro leaders jersey is Pink, questioning if it's some kind of inclusivity thing! Not to mention derogatory comments abound both male and female racers. There really are an awful lot of absolute weapons out there armed with a keyboard or a smart phone, yet they seem to gain a lot of traction.
You even get it on the regional and national youth scene in the UK where disgruntled parents aim entitlement / privileged / what ever rants at other kids who happen to have had more success than their off-spring. Money doesn't buy talent, sure it can help, but it doesn't make it.
But back to the racing, it was most excellent indeed.
Had a quick search for footage and found some red bull film with a long tarmac sprint finish. Was that the right one?
What an utter joke for a mtb race.
Surely not.....
Had a quick search for footage and found some red bull film with a long tarmac sprint finish. Was that the right one?
No. You wanted https://www.redbull.com/gb-en/live/uci-mountain-bike-world-cup-2022-nove-mesto-xco-men.
For next time, to find Redbull stuff you need to choose 'Events' from the home page top menu.
Nothing wrong with the "long tarmac sprint finish" - when there are multiple riders competing for the line, there is space to do so and someone isn't hampered by a rider deliberately cutting across someone. It also allowed them to have a good sized grandstand to add to the atmosphere at the end.
The full event on Sunday was a good course with much better coverage than the previous race. The short track on Friday wasn't as interesting/technical but at the pace they're attacking it, it's pretty impressive all the same.
Pidcock looked cooked half way round the last lap, but the way he dragged himself back onto Dasculu's wheel to keep himself in contention was class.
He stated in the interview that he wasn't sure if they should've waited for Nino to fix his puncture as they often do in Le Tour if the Yellow Jersey has an issue.
Perhaps he could have taken Dasculu earlier.
finally had time to watch it. what a race. it remains my favourite XCO track even if the XCC has been changed.
stunning comeback from Nino, even if he couldnt compete for the win with Tom and Vlad, he managed to blow Cooper Hatherly and Fluckinger away after a half hour max effort to catch up.
I got a little laugh from:
He stated in the interview that he wasn’t sure if they should’ve waited for Nino to fix his puncture as they often do in Le Tour if the Yellow Jersey has an issue.
I never really understood it in road racing although punctures there are purely luck.
Definitely not in MTB.
Pidcock seemed to say that his suspension wasnt unlocking. Not good from the yet to be released Suntour, also worthy of note that it seems to default/failsafe to locked, like fox, not open like rockshox? (welcome any corrections if this is untrue).
He was also clutching his shoulder after the race, which Rob pointed out. Didnt mention he broke it last year getting hit by a car and he also I think took quite a high speed crash in a road race only a few weeks ago. If he rode those descents locked out that would have been quite a pounding.
Speaking of descending, they only flashed the graphic up quickly, but as Nino caught the lead group, they compared Dascalu's lap to Nino. It seemed at a quick glance that he had gained all his time - in that lap at least, so 15-20 seconds - on the descents.
The front few slowed quite a bit on that lap, so some of the 15-20s was likely due to that. You can ease off on descents as well as the ups.
Nothing wrong with the “long tarmac sprint finish”
Mmmm yes, totally agree they have their place, but this is supposed to be a mountain bike race
The front few slowed quite a bit on that lap, so some of the 15-20s was likely due to that. You can ease off on descents as well as the ups.
They weren’t trying their hardest certainly, but it shows that time can be made on the downhills, which the armchair xc detractors often claim to not be the case.
Skill and bravery aside, I wonder how much extra effort it took.
Well that was a bloody excellent race to watch, start to finish
Mmmm yes, totally agree they have their place, but this is supposed to be a mountain bike race
It's a World Cup, not a race round a trail centre comparing your times on Strava, the courses are built to pretty strict regulations and inspected before they're allowed to even race on it, BC do the same here.
The Tarmac start/ finish allows for a good evenly matched fast start and likewise time enough for a sprint to wind up at the end - if required.
Short Track isn't meant to be a particularly technical challenge; it's a starter for the weekend, providing close racing for 20 mins - and grid positions for the main course XCO race. It's almost a 'gravel crit'.
Saying that, I actually prefer the first Nove Mesto XCC track that ran from 2018-2020.
I follow her on Instagram and don’t recall seeing her hawk any sports cars.
I think it's Emily Batty who has the Porsche contract, fair play to be honest. I wouldn't mind.
My apologies - I stand corrected - I'm mistaking Courtney for batty who is constantly trying to sell cars!
Saying that, I actually prefer the first Nove Mesto XCC track that ran from 2018-2020.
yes - it used to be the best track by far. They had manufactured obstacles that provided technical challenge, yet, crucially, had multiple equal lines possible through them allowing proper side by side racing and mid obstacle overtaking.
There was a whoop/roller section where people with the skill and a clean run in could double them up could make mid air overtakes.
A couple of crashes though, maybe the UCI decided they had taken it too far.
batty who is constantly trying to sell cars!
You poor thing. If only there was some way you could avoid her. Have you tried a restraining order?
Shock horror, sponsored rider poses with their sponsor's merchandise.
My apologies – I stand corrected – I’m mistaking Courtney for batty who is constantly trying to sell cars!
I'd be absolutely devastated if I was sponsored by Porsche, got to drive round in a selection of their finest machines and as a result of that I had to post about them, it's a hard knock life being an highly marketable elite athlete.