[Closed] WC DH 3 - Leogang, this Sunday at noon

Bike park yeah....
Lots of long fast sections, another motorway, some big rock gardens?
I'd say Greg is the man to beat after the first 2 rounds, he is looking back to that level where it's just easy.

Not sure how if Rachel will be back to full pace for this one, will be hard work.

So predictions
Greg Minaar
Tracey Hannay - sometimes winning one gives you that confidence, even without the mud she had those big jumps nailed at Ft Bill which will be a big advantage here.

also does anyone have the points standings?? UCI useless as always don't seem to have it online. With Round 1 written off for the men and Rachel potentially missing 2 rounds it could shake up the overall quite a lot. A lot of people need to be on the podium if they want to be single digit at the end of the year

No Mike, I looked around and came up blank.

Further to the OP, Tahnee will also be riding angry this weekend. My money's on her if Rachel's still crooked.

Found it on Red Bull's site. I wasn't sure about the UCI's rankings

[url= http://www.redbull.com/en/bike/event-series/1331835739730/uci-mountain-bike-world-cup-2017 ]Standings[/url]

If Rach actually dislocated her shoulder on sunday, there's no way she'll be racing this weekend.

Tahnee is a good shout for the ladies, I reckon both Gwin and Hart will be equally as motivated.

last years - no way they have that many points after 2 rounds 🙂

Found it on Red Bull's site. I wasn't sure about the UCI's rankings

Standings

I found those but it's the final results from 2016.

[url= http://www.vitalmtb.com/news/news/2016-UCI-World-Cup-DH-Overall-Results,1003 ]see[/url]

2017 standings here...

[url= http://www.vitalmtb.com/news/news/RESULTS-Fort-William-World-Cup-Downhill-Race,1049 ]http://www.vitalmtb.com/news/news/RESULTS-Fort-William-World-Cup-Downhill-Race,1049[/url]

last years - no way they have that many points after 2 rounds

Hahah you are right sorry too many things at the same time

In case anyone missed it, Matt Walkers winning Junior run would have put him 10th in the seniors. Corking ride

Leogang was interesting in 2015 because there was a section around a big tree with at least three different lines and a great camera angle to see which one the riders were taking (Gwin took the riskiest one without his chain!)
They seemed to change the route last year though, missed it out and reduced the line choices

Danny on just 70pts after 2 rounds. His season over?

With 5 rounds left and 250pts for a win? I think not.

He can't afford another miss though. About 10 guys need to be on the podium next weekend to keep their season going.

250pts for a win?

200 for the win, 50 for qualifying first

It's all to play for with five rounds remaining.

Danny can certainly still do it, but bad luck for Gwin might have to play a part.

Leogang & Lenzerheide are both on the easier side for WC tracks, Vallnord & Val di Sole are rocky steep tech fests. MSA is a monster with a bit of everything.

I'd put my money on Greg for the overall if forced to bet, but obviously it could go five or six ways at the moment.

If Rach actually dislocated her shoulder on sunday, there's no way she'll be racing this weekend.

Certainly wouldn't bet against her taking it easy in quali and just scraping the win.

Though she has a chequered history with Leogang, so maybe she'll just prefer to skip it and make the season more of a challenge.

If she got it back in quick, then I wouldn't rule it out

Somebody helped her put it back in at the side of the track, can't really get much quicker than that 😆

Hopefully she'll be back racing this weekend. My money is on Minaar after what he said about feeling like he's finally got a bike that fits him. I don't think it's a case of 29ers not suiting certain tracks, I think if the rider is more comfortable on 29 inch wheels they'll work on any track!

Minaar or Gwin in the mens and hopefully Manon for the girls.

Nice preview on PB...
https://www.pinkbike.com/news/your-essential-guide-to-the-leogang-dh-world-cup-2017.html

That vid of Wyn Masters shredding the track looks awesome.

I'd like to see Danny get a fair crack at the track, and Manon or Tahnee take a win too.

If she got it back in quick, then I wouldn't rule it out

I wouldn't rule her out either, but recovery time is determined by the amount of damage done, not how quickly it is reset. There's a few different types of dislocation too.

I've done mine a fair few times!.

Looks like a 29r Gambler

Nice.

Didn't expect Brendan to be among the vanguard on 29in, but I guess he'll want the advantage if it's on offer.

I should have been there but Mrs ColP is ill.
My friends have just posted a picture of themselves with Claudio, should be a cracking weekend.
The track crew have been busy this year so maybe a few changes.

Gutted I'll miss it this weekend.*

* 3 days biking in the Cairngorms should soften the blow, a wee bit....

Was it the same shoulder she did before? That can make a difference too (I did a lot of damage the first time I did mine, but the way it recovered, whenever it came out after that it didn't cause a fraction of the trouble.- basically it was all a bit looser)

She's got to be pretty pissed off about it though, I know I'll do a big cool whip, boom. Did we ever get to the bottom of why she pulled out of the BDS there?

https://www.britishcycling.org.uk/mtb/article/20170608-mountain-bike-Race-guide--2017-UCI-Mountain-Bike-World-Cup---Leogang-0

Claudio's course preview...
https://www.pinkbike.com/news/claudios-course-preview-leogang-dh-world-cup.html

It does look very bike parky, you've got to admit.

Only really the mid section with the big jumps where the DH track and FR track merge for a bit. Some of the rest is pretty rocky and rooty.

Ref RA's shoulder have a look at this from 11 min 35 secs in. It was back in the socket in about 35 seconds.

I know the camera can smooth things out, but it looks very groomed to me.

Only a little bit of woods and steepness.

Still gets Claudio's heart rate right up though- interesting stat to see, surely it can't be so high.

I know the camera can smooth things out, but it looks very groomed to me.

Only a little bit of woods and steepness.

Yeah, definitely a lot of camera smoothing going on. A lot of the first section although not steep is off camber, rough lines. Just before the motorway section with the big jumps there are some steeper rocky and rooty bits that are tricky in the wet, then after the Gopro drop where it goes into the woods it's pretty rooty with awkward small drops. The last jump is big, maybe 60ft or so.

Here's my lad doing it last year

Bit of negativity from some of the riders...
https://dirtmountainbike.com/racing-events/downhill/riders-react-leogang-track.html

Rumours of a practice 'protest' with people riding hardtails.

I certainly doesn't look challenging, at all.

A case of too much media/sponsor influence on the direction of the type of tracks & direction the sport has headed?

She's got to be pretty pissed off about it though, I know I'll do a big cool whip, boom.

That's not how Rachel's accident happened at all

Bring back schladming!

Bring back schladming!

Here! Here!

BoardinBob - Member

That's not how Rachel's accident happened at all

Is it not? I watched a video that seemed to be her crashing on the motorway, immediately followed by the relocation, but maybe I misunderstood the timeline

I think Rachel did her damage in the woods? I think the Trek whip accident on the motorway was Kade the men's junior? I think what with Mudd throwing himself of the road gap, Rachel doing in her shoulder and Gee dislocating his hips, I don't think Atherton racing will be in hurry to go back to Ft Wiliam!

Would love to see Atwill take on the track on his hardtail as per Wyn's trackwalk vid. It's a joke of a track for a world cup DH, they should be rough and as natural as possible.

There was a vid of her going down off the huck in the woods - came up slightly short, front wheel slid sideways and she body slams the floor, hard, with arm up above head....sits up clearly with shoulder down.

Track does look very smooth 🙁
Will we have a winner on a short travel FS or hardtail?

Claudio must be confident on it, he's done the track preview twice, im currently watching it in Swiss (I think) on Redbull TV.

I think Rachel did her damage in the woods? I think the Trek whip accident on the motorway was Kade the men's junior? I think what with Mudd throwing himself of the road gap, Rachel doing in her shoulder and Gee dislocating his hips, I don't think Atherton racing will be in hurry to go back to Ft Wiliam!

The easy way to tell is that Rachel rides in the duck-egg/baby blue kit whilst the Trek men mainly ride red bikes in red kit.

Ohhhhh. Ah well, thanks for the correction, I was going to spend the next year gently taking the piss and looking like an arsehole.

They all love to moan so much, its becoming a bore! Every week its something else! should have moved the race forward cause it rained, boohoo, should have closed the wood section cause it was too difficult, boohoo, this one's now too easy, boohoo! Just get on with it and ride the track in front of you! So its bike parky, its just one out of the year. Whats the thing with Schladming too? Watching the deathgrip section, it looks mostly bike park too with a few wood sections. When's the next EWS?

I liked Greg Williamson saying less moaning please! I'm also surprised by the EWS riders moaning about having to ride in wet conditions and loved Sam Hill's response.

They all love to moan so much, its becoming a bore

To be fair to them, those are the comments that will be reported. Most riders do just "get on with it" The overwhelming response from Lourdes was "Mleh, that's racing" and likewise Ft William as well. It's only one or two riders that are having a mike shoved under their noses for WynTV, and then he's really just taking the piss...

was planning on spectating this weekend, but alas i'm back in the UK.

interesting point... why is DH governed by a primarily road focused body?

EWS is independent... could DH go the same way?

i've ridden there a few times... always on my old DB Alpine. there are sketchier tracks there than the Leogang DH... they could go over the hill to the Adidas track.. that would be fun to watch. quite parky with some tricky jumps, gaps and root sections, but certainly not no long open runs.

why is DH governed by a primarily road focused body?

Because road riding is more popular than DH.

The UCI aren't doing that bad a job with downhill. They don't design the tracks, though they could arguably be more demanding about the content of them.

A case of too much media/sponsor influence on the direction of the type of tracks & direction the sport has headed?

My feeling as an outsider is that it's probably accidental. The sport seems far too disorganised and amateur to have a coherent direction. They just seem to end up with the tracks provided by the locations willing to pay to host a WC round.

Yeah, I'm not sure anyone's in control enough to steer it like that. I can definitely see why people are thinking "this is dumbed down for TV"- high speed and big jumps looks great if you know nothing, but it needs to be proper mad before steep or tech looks good to an outsider.

TBH I'm totally fine with a huge mixed bag of tracks- one flat out bikeparky one, some technical nadge, some maniacal steepness, old man fort william and old lady mont st anne, anyone that can perform on all surfaces deserves an advantage. But I don't feel like they really have their shit together right now.

(EWS is independent but that can still lead to total ****-ups, it's not a panacea)

If they don't like the direction it's heading then they could always form a breakaway group/competition. I doubt any of them would be willing to put their money where there mouths are though. It's expensive and lots of hoops to jump through to put on a world cup. Not sure contestants whining publicly about the standard is going to encourage any other places to come forward or sponsors either. Best to form a group and approach the organisers and sponsers together.

If they don't like the direction it's heading then they could always form a breakaway group/competition.

It's been put forwards more than once in the past IIRC an 'alternative' series nearly got off the ground at one point... But then didn't.

Some interesting pit discussions there, the whole thing of "Tape it wide" has been a recurring theme for at least the last decade...

Interesting too that some riders think course selection and designs is being nudged towards the broadcasters requirements rather than the sport... That said it was mostly the 'kids from Kent' not WC top ten ranked racers...

Aaron Gwinn said Leogang is his favourite race, I think Brendog likes it too.
i know at Leogang they are severely restricted on where they can build, from the peak to the base (WC track starts at mid station) there are around 27 different land owners they have to get agreement from. They nearly lost the whole finishing area last year, had to do some weird deal with the farmer to provide him with free labour.

I think the 'made for tv' must have an element of truth. My other half watches it with me but really she just likes people going really fast and massive jumps. As a predominantly xc rider I like watching the natural and wide taped tracks as you can learn a lot about line choices if you pay attention. Not sure I'll watch leogang.

Phil Atwill on his HT:
https://www.pinkbike.com/photo/14816989

scc999 - Member
Phil Atwill on his HT:
https://www.pinkbike.com/photo/14816989

Lol, Legend.

Media coverage will definitely be influencing decisions and the direction of the sport, it's been seen before and happens in every sport.
Motocross is a good example of that, it used to be 3 races (or motos as they like to call them these days) on race day, but they changed to two 35-40 min races as it was more TV and advertiser friendly fitting into two 1 hour TV segments combined with advertising nicely.

I think RedBull, isn't as bad as others in this regard, but they really need to improve the coverage to reinforce it as a World level competition, by having more cameras and show more Riders runs. Showing it to be the big event it is.
On the camera front they don't need to all be manned cameras, they could have some basic fixed cameras setup in certain areas showing sections of the track.

Regrading the actual Leogang track, if they riders don't speak up about it nothing will happen or change, but it sounds like the organisers are very limited on what they can do at Leogang. So as one of the riders said what about Schladming instead?
Maybe they should be approached, to see if they would be willing to provide a World Cup level technical track.

I'm sure I read / watched an article that talked about the venues in WC DH and how much it ost them to put on an event. My memory of it is that there aren't a large number of places all vying to host a round of the WC, it didn't sound as simple as saying "we want a race at XYZ track, you can put one on for us". The preferred vnues may not actually want the cost and hassle of a WC event.

Of course that could all be nonsense, hopefully someone with some experience or knowledge of how these events are paid for will confirm or deny all that!

Si

gaz552 - Member

it sounds like the organisers are very limited on what they can do at Leogang. So as one of the riders said what about Schladming instead?

Yeah, people are talking about the landowner issues excusing it but if they're so bad, it's a reason not to hold a wc there at all.

But these things can be so trivial- like, la thuile suffered in their first EWS because of bad weather but that somehow became people not wanting to go back, it was like they turned the bad day into a bad review. Peebles dodged a bullet on that too. Moans have momentum.

(I'm not so against the track but if you think it's bad, then the landowner thing doesn't change that)

So how did Atwill lose 11 seconds in qualifying when its such an easy track with no line choice or difficulty?

I'm sure I read / watched an article that talked about the venues in WC DH and how much it ost them to put on an event. My memory of it is that there aren't a large number of places all vying to host a round of the WC, it didn't sound as simple as saying "we want a race at XYZ track, you can put one on for us". The preferred vnues may not actually want the cost and hassle of a WC event.

Of course that could all be nonsense,

I think you're probably spot-on. This is my guess why the number of WC DH rounds fluctuates as low as six some years.

For the record, I don't mind Leogang being bike parky, I don't have to ride it and it makes decent viewing. The current "regular" venues create a nice mix of tracks IMO.

Looks like Gwin's going to smash it tomorrow, unless it suddenly gets really wet maybe.

Women's race will be an interesting one. Fingers crossed Tahnee's got a bit more up her sleeve.

rs - Member
So how did Atwill lose 11 seconds in qualifying when its such an easy track with no line choice or difficulty?

One of his main gripes is that these "easy" tracks make the racing too tight. Obviously he wants harder tracks where he can be 20 or 30 seconds off the pace.

rs - Member

So how did Atwill lose 11 seconds in qualifying when its such an easy track with no line choice or difficulty?

Same reason he was 20 seconds off the pace at fort william, 30 at vallnord?

One of his main gripes is that these "easy" tracks make the racing too tight. Obviously he wants harder tracks where he can be 20 or 30 seconds off the pace.

😆

Pity Jared Graves isn't there with his SB6c, he's pretty good at downhill on am enduro bike.
Gwin has his capra there though. 160-170mm travel that would pedal better, he could win on that.

Well STW DH Warriors the bar is set, simply beat his HT time down that track and you can claim 1,000 internet UCI points 😉

Loved the humour with the riders this weekend, at this point you have to realise that the internet warriors are the joke here 🙂 Well played all, the vital slideshow tells you how much the riders are enjoying the track and the weekend in the sun. Reckon this will be a good watch today, really looking forward to some racing where the riding dictates the finish order

I can't wait I always like the track and should avoid the weather of round 1 and the terrible camera issues of Fort William

Gwin won there on a dh bike with no chain.

He doesn't need an enduro bike.

Remi thirion had a horrific high speed crash coming over the massive finish line jump in quali.

Broken collarbone, three broken ribs and two fractured vertebrae.

🙁

So did Lachlan Blair, young FW lad that finished 21st last week.

Broken femur. 🙁

The Thirion crash was savage:

Thirion's team posted that everything is moving and he may be back this season thankfully. That was a monster crash
Hope him and Blair recover well and quickly.

The fort bill camera positions were set well before the event and the tricky drop into the woods wasn't anywhere near as tricky for the riders in the dry. Where they did put the two cameras in the woods captured a lot of the carnage that happened and covered that wooden sender that caused carnage a few years back including Ragot faceplanting off it.

The pinkbike comments section has been frothing itself up into a frenzy this round. I generally assume it's 14 year olds, keyboard DH warriors (pfft I could win on a unicycle!) or guys who've landed on their heads a few too many times posting

Healing vibes to Thirion, wow that must have hurt! Looks like how i usually ride jumps! (although on jumps about, ooh, 30 times smaller... 😉

Nicole looking good on the 29er

I don't see why people think they will use anything other than a dh bike for the race, still by far the quickest way down.

Looking forward to this one and definitely don't think it's too bike parky, just makes it different to the other races. Surprised to see Danny Hart way down the top 10 but it'll make it interesting and it's good to see Mick Hannah and Laurie Greenland doing well.

Will have to try and stay away from here and the internet as I'm off out on the bike this afternoon so I'll have to watch it later on tonight.

Really pleased for tahnee.

Amused to learn that her dad is called Tony as well.