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On Downtime, Olly Morris basically said the same thing you just said. Everyone gets caught up in line choice and such in the woods... but the race is won or lost by how fast a rider gets to the woods (sector 2).
-GM seemed quite pissed (but holding back) about lack of preparation in his Wyn interview. Likely angry with his mechanic at not being prepared. Probably the same reason he got Marshy booted from the program.
-Coverage was disappointing. The race was won/lost in Sector 2 and you saw none of it. The 300ft in the air wide angle drone shots are worthless other than as art to be played during delays, etc. Course is too long for good coverage which is also a big reason it's not on the schedule next year. The UCI's program of running riders by world ranking also throws a wet blanket on the drama.
-Stoked for Charlie. Atherton Bikes will likely be stressed paying out he and Kolb's bonuses. Hopefully they have enough cash reserves to cover it without issue.
I noticed it right before Greg Williamson came through that everyone was hitting the timer at split 2 well behind him. Angel apparently hit the lower 2 segments the strongest because he nailed sector 5 and was in touch with Williamson.
After that I just kept watching no one pull time back after that split. If you came into sector 3 looking for more time than Hatton and the rest of the top 5 final riders, you glitched that tech. Norton, Kerr, Daprela, Hart, etc. All of those dudes looked like they were pulling time in the woods of sector 3 but the woods weren't having it.
For me, one of the most impressive parts of the race is top 10 riders on split 5. Brun & Dak were the only 2 to finish top 10 AND have a Split 5 time in the top 10.
Those 2 pulled back time in the flat muddy jumps that all the others sacrificed.
Another neat thing to look at on Roots & Rain is the "Finish Spread".
There's a big gap from Hart in 11th of 2 seconds back to 12th place.
That's not typical for World Cups. It's usually more evenly distrubuted.
But with the rain and the go for 1st only runs of Daprela, Kerr, Walker, Williams, Finn and others...you get a hole in the field where top guys who would normally fill in the time gaps just sacrifice it all and back it in.
What prep was lacking? Did he say?
Said they were not prepared for the weather.
GM has probably been to Ft William more than anyone else involved in the WC's, how could he (or they?) not think to prepare for bad weather in Fort freaking William.
Yeah. That's strange. Chris asked Neko in the Downtime episode if they did anything different and brought anything different up the hill with a chance of rain. Neko basically said, "You bring all that stuff up to the start everytime regardless. It could always rain unexpectedly in the mountains. Your mechanic has to work anyway, so he might as well carry everything up. Better to be looking at it than to be looking for it."
So not sure what the Syndicate wouldn't have done to "prepare" for the weather. Neko said that tires stay the same at Fort William whether it's wet or not. Traction isn't the problem with the rain there, it's the lack of visibility and not being able to ride with confidence due to not being able to see anything.
neko's world champs video
Not sure that's what the race results tell us though, looks to me that there was around 1.5 seconds between the first and tenth place in the woods section over less than 40 sec of track, in Sector 2 there was 2.3 seconds between first and tenth. Seen as Sector 2 was nearly two minutes long, seem to me that the woods were quite important?
Importance of the woods was literally nullified ironically. You could LOSE the race in Sector 3, but apparently the TYPE of rider who could NAIL sector 3 to gain time....was too FAR BEHIND the leaders to pull lost time back in the 1 minute & 35 seconds of track that made up sectors 3, 4 & 5 combined.
Laurie & Benoit stole time in 3, but were behind coming into it from the 2 high speed, high power Sectors 1 & 2.
Body Weight & the momentum it generated plus power up top in the 2 minutes & 40 seconds of exposure were too much to overcome in that middle sector.
And the big power riders did NOT give up anything in 4 & 5 through the sprints.
The only World Champs The Alien lost, in a pre-race interview when asked about the course, he said "in the exposed sections, I can feel bigger riders passing me". Nico was the fittest, most skilled rider but even he knew punching a hole in the wind with body weight was a big advantage. He tried to push in the lower woods to make up & atypical for him...punctured.
kolb lost the race in the woods. every section is important.
Marshy was booted by GM? Really? Had just assumed he wanted to take some year(s) off the WC travel schedule. Seemed like they worked well together and didn't see many mechanicals in that era that I can remember (snapped frame freak accident being one exception).
Well, he never really left, showed up wrenching for Scott and now this season with Pivot. He never took time away so it was assumed GM wanted new blood wrenching. But that was just a #TeamRumor
There is a BIG difference between "changing things up" and getting fired. You flat stated GM got Marshy fired. That implies knowing it to be truth.
Team dynamics and personalities change & people get bored or just tired of each other in a work setting. I'm friends with people I worked with. Want nothing to do with them at work.
Marshy leaving Syndicate & Luca leaving had a lot of factors involved in both situations. Just doing something besides the same thing with the exact same people all day every day is reason enough.
Implying professional ineptitude was a breaking point gets a lot of traction in the rumor mill. That and/or GM being an unreconcilable racer.
I said 'booted' not fired, similar but could imply different things.
But yes, mainly implying the GM did not want Marshy as his wrench for the next season, or there was tension between the two. GM gets what he wants on Syndicate and Marshy left the team, so it's pretty easy to put 2 and 2 together. It's possible he left on his own accord for 'something different'.. but that something different would be wrenching for probably less than half the salary and multiple riders at Scott... or now the juniors at Pivot. Doubt he would have done that on his own accord unless he had friction with GM. Which would also imply GM 'booted' him--via his personality or that he wanted a change of mechanic.
Also, a little more color on the breakup: if you recall when Marshy left, there was no big "we love you Marshy, good luck on your next chapter" PR vibe like they did for Doug when he retired.
I don't think any of this is a big deal. Guys cut mechanics at times and personalities don't always work together long term. This breakup doesn't say anything bad about GM or Marshy, IMHO.
b practice from world champs is up
https://www.vitalmtb.com/features/world-champs-recap-vitals-b-practice-…
Did anyone watch the men xcc race and see the camera man hunting for woman to put in screen then zooming in on her at very beginning of broadcast.
No. But I'll go check it out. There shouldn't be such a stigma about beauty and sport.
I see... 1:30 into it.
Reminds of the Florida State football game where all the girls on the front row made literal modeling careers out of their exposure during that one game.
The one girl Jenn Sterger parlayed the noteriety and famously wound up working for the New York Jets...and then Brett Favre sent her a pic of his QB 1.
And she got famous again.
https://www.si.com/.image/t_share/MTYyNzQzMzQzODU3MjE1MzI5/fsu-chicks.j…
But then Brent Musberger went and ruined beautiful women in the stands zoom ins when he straight creeped on an Alabama QB's model girlfriend and quite literally fumbled his words.
Hah...the video lives.
Brent got HOT boys....https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5hg7CxBdJHk
He's literally to blame for us not having any fun any more with crowd shots between highlights.
that "honey shot" was pioneered by Andy Sedaris, creepazoid extraordinaire, he of the "bullets bombs and babes" 80s cult classics like Hard Ticket to Hawaii*. He was a director on Monday Night Football when he'd cut to hot babes. He's your hero here!
My enemy is Ric freakin Mic. Went to watch XCC replays last night on GCN+. Clicked on women's first, because they always race first. They start with a slo-mo of the mens XCC winner doing a yeeaaaarrrrrrgggggghh finish line victory yell, fully spoiling it! I guess I should've checked to see what happened first, not just assuming it'd be like every other week's racing...now I'm like you dingdongs who never paid attention to Worlds vs World Cup I guess...or it's karmic payback for using a VPN to steal the broadcast...but I'm coming for you RIC, you're back on my shit list!
*I own HTTH on DVD, it's still awesome and insane but I don't know who to watch it with anymore...
definitely going to pay attention tomorrow when it's time to watch replays of XCO...because men's short track is sorta hmm who cares but mens long xc racing is cooler. Of course both women's XCC and XCO are better than either of the mens' races.
I'll give you notes on the B Practice POdcast later haha
I had that happen too. I assumed womens face was first so watch that to avoid spoilers if I watch men’s first. I think they were doing recap stuff going right into the women’s. I don’t blame him I blame GCN editors.
Yeah.
I blame whomever scheduled mens XCC before womens XCC, I guess.
luv u ric!
So with these new UCI rules about World Champions being allowed to race in other disciplines, will we see Pidcock on his DH bike at Vallnord next year?
I would rather see some BMXer or DHer show up and get in the way in road race or cyclocross race.
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