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On the other foot. There's a lot of 'experienced' and maybe slightly older riders going through the motions. they have been around long enough to know what to do to qualify and are on any level super quick but won't ever worry the top 25 much again .But , it's a good lifestyle and beats the bejeezus out of getting a real job....... and no one is going to pay them for riding national races.
Chopping these riders will maybe invigorate national level races and maybe the Maxxis/IXS cup becomes the 2nd level circuit. There's not too many sports where you can turn up to the highest level events with little background and race against the worlds best (though that is a lot of the charm of the current WC).
I mean f@ck the UCI and t'disco......
World Cup racing is extremely dangerous and demanding, and being profesionalized for me is the right thing. I mean, it is cool for privateers to be able to race with all the top pros, but in most occasions they will be loosing money, time and sometimes getting badly hurt. National races should be the place for them to prove themselves.
There is also a problem with WC tracks getting destroyed after a day of training, and lack of time for all the categories to be on track.
I am fine with less rider entries as long as it implies more races, top notch insurance and protection for riders, bigger $$ for pros, and a better coverage of the runs. Drones and FPV cameras should be a must for every run. 4 minute gaps and full coverage. (4 minutes max track)
I would do a SX style closed lineup, with 4 slots per profesional team (3 men, 1 women) and eliminate junior category (they would compete in the same race). Only 2 fields: mens and womens, with plenty of time to train in day 1, seeding runs (for a good chunk of points, kinda mini main event) on day 2 and race on day 3.
Every team would choose their roster for the season with one backup rider (1 male, 1 female) to step in in case of injury. The backups obviously would do training as the rest, but would not start on race day. Could be an oportunity for younger riders to ease into the WC level racing. The whole field would be limited to about 100 riders, including backups. That would be helpful in case of a less than ideal lift up (e.g. Lourdes)
Obviously this setup would be terrible for privateers and not-so-hot anymore veterans, but as Gibbon says, would force second tier events, such as IXS or national cups (even a non UCI series by red bull?) to gain presence in the sport.
The problem of discovering new talent should not be that hard, with other events like nationals, crankworxs, IXS and such... And social media there to hype the young boys and girls for the trade teams to sign them. It's not like a young ripper who is faster than Loic Bruni is going to be hidden for long.
My 2 cts, what do you think?
@dolface - agreed, 2 men, 2 women if luckymixes formula is used.
I think if you are going to cut the field for finals the key is really making something out of qualifying. The die hard fans will eat up coverage of qualifying the same way f1 fans do. You will still have a large field of racers to watch as a on site spectator. And you can have a smaller and easier show for finals day.
But really I think they have the formula super dialed as it is. The cut from 80 to 60 made qualifying a true challenge as it is but still left room for guys to either get paid while the wait for that track that suits them or have a real opportunity to grow at an event with all the sponsors in attendance. And there is the simple fact that shit happens and plenty of guys who either made one mistake or had an issue will get cut by riders less likely to win and what are you gonna do about protected riders. Would hate to see someone like Aaron gwin having an even more difficult road to back on top or any number of top 10 capable journeyman no longer having a job that actually pays cause there ain’t enough money or fans in mtb racing to really carry a second series. Crankworkx is only prestigious in slopestyle and nobody watches that anymore. And they actually have a live broadcast unlike any other current dh series.
Maybe in 10 or 20’years you can truly have a formula one of mtb racing but if you jump into it now your are just going to lose fans and talent and I really struggle to see what you truly gain. It’s not like formula one broadcasts every turn by every racer on course and it’s still a great show.
Can’t imagine what it would feel like not knowing if you/your team is even racing, where the races are, what budgets needed…? I mean next year is right around the corner.
Imagine 62.5% of the people within the company you’re currently working for basically don’t know if they’ve got a job next year.
Yeah I’m just bummed about missing out on world cups next year also. There have been snippets of EWS racing on my local Eurosport and it has been cringe worthy to say the least..
He did say that the Snowshoe race confirmed to him that Mountain BIking is where his heart is, and he plans on racing a full season next year.
Those Trek pits looking awfully lonely.
https://variety.com/2022/film/news/batgirl-movie-why-not-releasing-warn…
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