UCI MTB (XC, DH, Enduro, Marathon) season 2022

andyrac

https://www.wielerflits.nl/nieuws/mathieu-van-der-poel-neemt-sabbatical-op-de-mountainbike/

In unsurprising news, no MTB for MvdP this season.

JimD666

The Aussie lass is a joy to watch and hear from in her interviews. Pidcock was impressive and about as eloquent as ever.....

andyrac

3rd round of the XC World Cup in Nove Mesto na Morave, Czech Rep.

XCC tonight 17:00 UK on Red Bull TV.

dabber

Now that's what I call a race today. That last lap, incredible.

andyrac

Absolutely!! The longer Pidcock didn't attack the more I thought he wasn't in good form - and it seemed like he had an issue with the lock out on his suspension.
When Dascalu attacked I thought he may have it, especially when N1no couldn't follow (and what a race from him).

However, he couldn't get away from Pidcock, and that sprint - it wasn't even that close in the end.

The women's race wasn't as exciting; McConnell is just in better form at the moment - and again rode away from them. Lecomte with another nice podium, and the same for Risveds.

Evie made a great start, but looks to be struggling with her back - and then got a flat.....hopefully they can sort it out.

JimD666

Just finished catching up. Cracking men's race, that Nino Schurter guy looks to have a future in racing. Seems to be quite good.......

andyrac

Nove Mesto does seem to produce decent racing, especially on the men's side, where the top 10 were separated by about 1m40.

Dascalu's last 4 XCO World Cup results are impressive; 2nd, 3rd, 3rd, & 2nd; one hopes he can finally nail it. I wonder if he should have gone earlier, he did look to be going well; maybe if he can win one, he'll have the confidence to back himself.

It's about 3 weeks to the next XC World Cup in Leogang, Austria; and that is one for the climbers.

However, this weekend sees the 2nd round of the DH World Cup, in Fort William.

webboo

I thought Pidcocks sprint in Friday nights short track was even more impressive than his winning one on Sunday. He appeared to be nowhere as they hit the finishing tarmac then there he was in second place.

andyrac

Yes, he seemed to lose his position at the start of the lap and then miraculously appeared. Saying that, the winner, Schwarzbauer was most impressive - led most of the last lap, then outsprinted everyone.
He actually put his numbers up on instagram after questions/requests from people.

ddraver

I dunno if it's just HD coverage but I was watching the race and thought that the riders are notably bulkier than they were too. Maybe it's XCE or just that the courses are proper gnar now, but TomP is notable by his weedy birdman physique (see also Loanna Lecomte).

Even Nino looks swoll these days...

andyrac

Nino's training regime is pretty rigorous (GMBN went to visit him) , so that's no surprise. I'd guess that most riders do some weight training; Kerschbaumer is another who looks to have bulked up.

I suspect Tom can't overdo the weights as it may affect his climbing, particularly for the longer road climbs.

webboo

Kerschbaumer looks overweight he’s almost got a double chin.

andyrac

Next World Cup round in Leogang, Austria, where the 2020 Worlds took place.
4th round of the XCC/XCO, 3rd round of the DH.

A few news stories:

https://www.pinkbike.com/news/pauline-ferrand-prevot-will-not-be-racing-the-leogang-xc-world-cup.html

https://www.pinkbike.com/news/evie-richards-to-miss-leogang-world-cup-xc-to-focus-on-back-rehab.html

No Evie, who continues to struggle with a back issue; and no PF-P who wishes to concentrate on preparing for later in the season.

andyrac

https://www.eurosport.co.uk/mountain-bike/extended-uci-and-warner-bros.-discovery-partnership-signals-exciting-new-era-for-the-uci-mountain-bi_sto8983284/story.shtml

More details on Eurosport/Discovery; one hopes their MTB World Cup coverage is better than the EWS coverage....

dabber

Some good DH racing at Leogang today. Very enjoyable.

andyrac

Leogang always produces excellent racing in DH; a great track whether wet or dry.

andyrac

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rxMICoyNleo&ab_channel=Eurosport

More info on the new Discovery deal.

JimD666

I like Orla but my eyes were starting to glaze over with the corporate shilling going on. Did they actually say anything of use? Like who's going to be presenting?

ddraver

Jesus, it's 20 minutes long?

I was assuming it was a 20 sec promo

andyrac

It was what was expected really; they've a tough job, as the current RBTV stuff is so good, and it's free. The only things I think they need to do are live coverage of DH qualifying, and U23 XCO races.

I understand they want to increase the number of rounds, as currently it can be anything from 6-9; which isn't a great deal of exposure for an Elite sport; hence the lack of non bike sponsors, etc

I'm guessing that we'll maybe see more racing featured on GMBN, as currently, it makes up very little of their coverage, as opposed to GCN.

The comments on Pinkbike aren't positive, especially after the first round of the EWS, which after last years coverage, seemed disjointed; previews after event had finished, a shorter highlights programme, and then the new show, which repeated a lot of earlier coverage, and had very little analysis.

ddraver

The people in the clip looked concerned. Jolanda is usually pretty good at this ort of stuff but couldn't quite pull it off on that.

I don't think the EWS coverage has ever been that good has it? It hasnt existed for long enough or had enough money (as well as being about as difficult to film as is possible). However the RBTV stuff has been going for a while now and works great.

It will be interesting to see if they keep Rob, assuming he still wants to do it, whilst he is iconic for the DH, if I'm really honest, the XC commentary could do with some improvement.

andyrac

Unsurprisingly, none of the Red Bull riders were involved; and I agree, it's hard to be enthusiastic about something that is unknown.

EWS is very like rallying, with multi stages, meaning it's not the easiest sport to cover; unless you want to spend money with cameras on each stage - and I can't see that happening yet.

I get the feeling that Rob is a RB guy - and may stay with them, as they have Hardline, Rampage, Crankworks, and other MTB stuff. It would be a shame to lose him from World Cup MTB.

The nightmare is Kirby doing MTB commentary...

andyrac

Next round of the UCI MTB World Cup, and another 'double header' - this time from Lenzerheide, Switzerland.

As ever, kicks off this evening with the XCC

https://www.redbull.com/gb-en/events/uci-mountain-bike-world-cup-lenzerheide

JimD666

Still haven't finished catching up with the last XCO. There's too much cycling on TV!!

Have massively revised my opinion of the DH stuff though. It's mental, and a lot more fun to watch than I gave it credit for initially.

dabber

andyrac said:

Next round of the UCI MTB World Cup, and another 'double header' - this time from Lenzerheide, Switzerland.

As ever, kicks off this evening with the XCC

https://www.redbull.com/gb-en/events/uci-mountain-bike-world-cup-lenzerheide

Thanks for the reminder andyrac

The DH is my favourite every time. Crazy but oh so skilled.

ddraver

No Evie for the next two WCs...

andyrac

Yeah, saw that on instagram; she's not having a great time of it - and before her issues she seemed to have great form.

She'll be back and ripping it up....there's a reason she wears the rainbow stripes.

Both short tracks were interesting; Jenny bossed it from about halfway and rode away. Whilst the men were more tactical, and another first time winner.

Interestingly, neither XCC World Champions have ever won a short track World Cup; no rider tends to dominate these races anymore.
Annika Langvad ran up a sequence of wins, and in the men's some Dutch guy won 10 out of 12.

dabber

Just watched the Men's DH.... most enjoyable. I won't put a spoiler up.

andyrac

That men's XCO race was rather dramatic; won't reveal too much but had memories of the 1989 Japanese F1 Grand Prix.....

dabber

andyrac said:

That men's XCO race was rather dramatic; won't reveal too much but had memories of the 1989 Japanese F1 Grand Prix.....

Yup. I wonder what happened there. No video so far.