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FMD / Atherton. Tahnee and Kolb. Would make for a strong podium threat team at every race.
I don't think that's terribly likely with Tahnée and Rachel's relationship over the years.
IIRC points from different disciplines count, so Matt, Eddie, and Morgan scoring UCI points in Enduro would help the team qualify even in DH.
not sure what the required # of points is, but Kerr is currently 18th overall with 466 points.
I found team rankings ......of course not on the UCI or Wso sites.
https://mtbdata.com/ranking/2024/teams/downhill/
Interesting reading 🤔
I don't see Continental GT on there, unless I'm missing something.
haha that would be WILD!
But with Rachel not racing now.. maybe it could work? Their proximity to each other and Dyfi would be advantageous. Long history to overcome tho
Here's something I don't recall seeing.. Loris leaves Trek, is anyone rumored to be in line for that seat? That's a spot that someone would want...
Trek have got 2 spots to fill (Reece going too).
Got to be a winner and marketable (I wonder if that was an issue with Loris being quite low key).
I wonder if Loris isn't the guy to help develop a bike? Some riders are better that others at giving the feedback needed.
If Finn is shopping, I would think he could be high on the list for a company like Trek.. With Atherton seemingly out, maybe Hatton? A lot of talent available going into the silly season..
Trek and Specialized are both going to want Asa on their team badly in 2026. If he continues his winning ways and gets even faster, he'll be the top prospect for that signing class. These brands will need to have big money on the table/ready to sign next May/June to lock him in.
On a related note, I wonder if any teams will try to sign him this winter for 2026... Giving him a $75k signing bonus towards his 2025 pay while he rides for Frameworks, but then he's locked in to go to their team on Jan 1 2026. Given the industry pullback and lack of funds, this is unlikely, but would be interesting.
I believe this was discussed a bit on the recent Downtime with Neko. I believe I heard him say that he's encouraging Asa not to entertain any future offers like that, as his value is only going to rise through next season.
Listening to Neko I got the impression he was hopeful he'd convinced Asa to stay for the duration of his contract, rather than it being a done deal (maybe I misinterpreted what he was saying).
Looking at the list of team rankings that Gibbon posted I wonder if it's how they'll decide on the 20 teams for next year (if the rumours are true). If they just go with the top 20 (even if Continental Atherton pull out alongside Dorval) Frameworks will be left out in the cold (admittedly I haven't looked at how things may change at MSA). Hard to see Asa staying in that scenario.
What the fuck is a kilometer?
I dont see that happening, has a too many cooks in the kitchen feel to it. Tahnee has expressed that she has been more involved on the team management side of things and is a marketing machine, probably more so than all but a couple elite men.
The Athertons are going to want to be hands on with their name on the bikes and their obvious racing expertise, I could see Rachel running the Atherton team in the future whatever that may look like.
Sven’s interview with Benoit in the needles podcast post race show said he’s speaking with managers but hasn’t signed yet.
Neko on the downtime podcast said all 3 podium guys (Benoit/reece/kolb)’s contracts are all up.
oTB podcast said WB have to wait till October for UCI to sign off on 10 race season (inc champs). So no one will know until after then.
Also pointed out every winner was on a Commencal
For the UCI team ranking, the final individual DHI UCI World Cup standings of the previous year and the DHI UCI World Championships results by attributing points as per the table below will be used to determine the UCI ELITE MTB DOWNHILL TEAM status.
The top 15 ranked teams in the UCI MTB TEAM rankings are offered the opportunity to register as a UCI ELITE MTB TEAM. If these teams decline the opportunity, then the invitation is offered to the next team in the UCI MTB TEAM ranking. Invitations are only extended to teams ranked in the top 20.
A maximum of five wild card invitations to be granted UCI ELITE MTB TEAM status can be issued at the discretion of the UCI during the registration process.
The points move with the rider, meaning riders like Benoit, Anna Newkirk etc who have solid overall and world champs results will have value going into next years team rankings.
given his performance, results, and potential I could certainly see Asa ultimately signing an extended duration contract with a team similar to J Goldstone (on contract w/ Syndicate until 2029) when the time comes
Can you enlighten me on their issue? I have no clue. Thanks.
That’s a lot of podcasting!
Lachie Stevens McNab at a guess. He's due a big ride. Trek or Syndicate I'm spitballing.
If we go with 10cm diameter to round up, there is 100000cm in a kilometer / 10cm = 10,000 cheeseburgers stack side by side
hell yeah brother!
Re Asa, I hope Neko and Martin Whiteley are in his ear to make wise decisions. I'm almost shocked Asa is not a client of Martins.
The stuff I know about (and there may be more) isn't any one specific thing so much as it is Rachel being very open about not wanting to be buddies/friends w/ her competitors.
I think he’d be good on a team with some experienced guys, if he can fine tune his runs with less crashes he can be a regular threat for sure.
45min commute each way.
3 hours of podcasts a day... I kinda envy you to be honest 😂
Don't.
I've been there with a commute of ~50mins each way and while I miss the podcast time, the 8 minute cycle commute I now have is infinitely better.
Somewhat back on topic, I'm curious if Needle's last chance qualifier campaign got any traction with the powers that be.
It's how countries that haven't been to the moon measure distance.
😂
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