Hello Vital MTB Visitor,
We’re conducting a survey and would appreciate your input. Your answers will help Vital and the MTB industry better understand what riders like you want. Survey results will be used to recognize top brands. Make your voice heard!
Five lucky people will be selected at random to win a Vital MTB t-shirt.
Thanks in advance,
The Vital MTB Crew
Some Rob Warner face masks should do the trick.
we should crowdfund a prize bounty for whoever does the best Rob Warner impersonation on the podium
I’m sure there’s all sorts of oddly specific rules. Neff got fined for wearing a coat once - I think in the short track where the women have to wait until the end of the men’s race for the podium.
In road races the fine is something like 500 chf but you also the points for that race
Oddly specific rules, but also intentionally vague and subjective ones; think requirements of “exhibiting sportsmanlike behavior” and “positively representing cycling and the UCI.”
Protesting the podium is not going to work. You know what will? Protest the race. Would be amazing to have everyone qualify for DH finals and the. All go off course in the first 10 seconds and get DQed. No one gains a points advantage, WB gets screwed as they have nothing to broadcast.
Looks like downhill is FULLY on board. My Instagram feed is pretty boring this morning! 🤟🏻
DUNNE Ronan
COULANGES Benoit
KOLB Andreas
PIERRON Amaury
ILES Finn
VERGIER Loris
THIRION Rémi
O CALLAGHAN Oisin
NORTON Dakotah
HART Danny
KERR Bernard
DAPRELA Thibaut
HATTON Charlie
WALKER Matt
ALRAN Max
MEIER-SMITH Luke
WAITE Tyler
GREENLAND Laurie
SUAREZ ALONSO Angel
ESTAQUE Thomas
PINKERTON Ryan
PALAZZARI Davide
PENE Tuhoto-Ariki
HARTENSTERN Max
DOOLEY Austin
MAPLES DYLAN
RUDE JR Richard
ALRAN Till
CABIROU Marine
NICOLE Myriam
BAUMANN Lisa
HOFFMANN Nina
HRASTNIK Monika
GALE Phoebe
BALANCHE Camille
FARINA Eleonora
BLEWITT Jess
HEMSTREET Gracey
SCARSI Gloria
HASTINGS Jenna
PARTON Mikayla
HOGIE Abigail
FISHER Stacey
WIDMANN Veronika
GWIN Aaron
CRAIK Ethan
MEIER-SMITH Remy
WILLIAMS Jordan
WOOLLEY Kasper
WALLACE Mark
BANDEIRA Gonçalo
LEVESQUE Dylan
GRIFFITH Ryan
CHAPELET Simon
ZWAR Oliver
REVELLI Loris
INTROZZI Stefano
proud to see these names and disappointed to not see some others.
Makes me think of the current F1 anti swearing drama going on
The reply from WBD/UCI about the podium protest was concerning, they basically just said we understand your concerns, but no. I would hope that many pro riders would have more sway than that.
Did WBD really go from 5 to 3 merely to "conform"? That may be the reason they gave, but there has to be more their thinking than that. I'd probably buy it if someone told me they were thinking along the lines of making it more like other sports is likely to make it more widely viewed and thus more profitable, and maybe the podium is just low-hanging fruit in that effort? Does anyone have any additional insight on where WBD is coming from?
It seems ridiculous that this is something they won't consider. I can't really think that a 5-person podium would have any influence on someone wanting to tune in to watch if the rest of the product was really good.
But the downsides to the riders are real, and have a measurable impact on bonus money. Their unwillingness to consider the rider's concerns is very upsetting.
vital raw from pro downhill series rock creek today. insane conditions by the end of the day
more AI, less human in world cup!
WARNER BROS. DISCOVERY LAUNCHES GENERATIVE AI-POWERED CYCLING CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE PLATFORM IN COLLABORATION WITH AWS
New AI technology platform transforms storytelling capabilities for WHOOP UCI Mountain Bike World Series coverage, enhancing the viewer experience through data-driven insights
As part of this initiative, AWS becomes the Official Cloud Infrastructure, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, and Deep Learning Provider for the WHOOP UCI Mountain Bike World Series, supporting WBD's mission to further enhance on-screen experiences for mountain bike’s global fan base.
CCI will dramatically improve efficiencies for cycling commentators by mitigating the challenges of accessing comprehensive information about riders, venues and race histories within a live broadcasting environment. By providing instant access to a wealth of data points, it will empower commentary teams to deliver even richer, contextual storytelling to better connect fans with their favourite sport.
"What makes CCI truly revolutionary is how it enhances and complements the human expertise that makes sports broadcasting special," said Chris Ball, VP, Cycling Events at WBD Sports. "Our commentators and producers bring unmatched levels of experience and passion for the sport, and through our partnership with AWS, CCI ensures they can expertly craft the compelling stories and insights that our viewers love and that will keep them engaged.
"This collaboration represents a significant step forward in our ongoing commitment to innovation in sports broadcasting," Ball continued. "By combining cutting-edge AI technology with our leading production expertise, we're setting new standards for how mountain bike events are brought to life for viewers around the globe."
"AWS is helping Warner Bros. Discovery enhance the art of sports storytelling through the practical uses of generative AI," said Samira Panah Bakhtiar, General Manager of Media & Entertainment, Games, and Sports at AWS. "This collaboration showcases how AWS’ generative AI services can amplify human expertise. By handling time-consuming research and data synthesis tasks, CCI frees up WBD's talented commentary teams to focus on their passion and ability to capture the excitement of live sports."
The CCI platform leverages advanced generative AI capabilities of Amazon Bedrock and Anthropic's Claude 3.5 on AWS to create a unified knowledge base that processes and analyzes hundreds of documents about riders and events, along with vast databases of results, race times, and athletic performance data.
This comprehensive system enables commentators and production teams to access information through natural language queries, dramatically reducing research time and enabling more engaging, data-driven storytelling. Working backwards from the needs of its broadcasting teams, WBD Sports Europe collaborated with teams at AWS to envision CCI, develop a proof-of-concept, and build the solution.
CCI's technical architecture carefully balances AI capabilities with human expertise. The platform utilizes Amazon Textract for document processing, Amazon Translate for breaking down language barriers across international content, and Amazon Comprehend for organizing and structuring information. Amazon Bedrock integrates with these services while ensuring broadcasting professionals maintain complete control over the storytelling process.
The platform will continue to evolve throughout the season, with plans to incorporate additional features that will enable WBD’s commentators and production teams to serve mountain bike fans with the best possible live content and viewing experiences.
So, they are replacing texting Martin Whitely questions about history with generative ai? Last time i checked, the majority of mtb history is of yet unwritten. Now WBD can more effectively steal from our forum posts though!
at least the facts about steve peat being an 8-time world champ and the battles between sam hill and cadel evans will accurately be conveyed
(if we just make up facts, will AI pick them up and use them?)
I dunno, at present my experience of AI generated answers is they are wrong disturbingly often.
Just like in F1, it will simply be some factoid that any dedicated fan already knows or a useless mid race data point with "BROUGHT TO YOU BY AWS" in the graphic. Guessing they will use machine learning voice translation for any non-english interviews. Your favorite riders will now get the TicTok voice to text girl or the chad guy voice.
That said, if it's a way to get Amazon money into MTB then I'll tolerate it.
WB is in such shambles their april 1st joke was late
Riders: "We want you to keep 5-person podiums." WBD: "Did you say 'false facts hallucinated by an overhyped predictive text machine that requires near-infinite electricity to operate'? Can do!"
No, now we'll get a insta text reel from Martin after the event pointing out the stats AI hallucinated during the broadcast.
I have no problem with it, but I never understood the 5 person podium and always thought it was weird. Is there a reason it’s like that from back in the day? Pumped to see the riders getting together and sticking up for their wants though.
I think it will be more Martin hooked up inside of a Matrix like tube with hard wired neuralink super computer and tube fed by Chris Ball to keep him alive.
I'm going to go through the forum and delete every single post I've ever made so the world will be a better, more perfectly bland place.
You can all get your news from WBD's AI generated content.
Vital can delete anything that isn't robotic context from the forums.
All will be mundane. Sanitized. Devoid of variation from the group think.
BRB
So they’re using AI to try and recreate the brains of Rob Warner and Mikey Haderer
Of all the things the riders and fans have been complaining about the 3 rider podium seems like hardly the hill to die on, almost every other sport especially motorsports have a 3 person podium including all Olympic sports. Any type of boycotting will only hurt the riders, Discovery may end up losing money but who can afford to lose more money the riders or Discovery?
I would bet the reason for this uproar from the riders is that their contracts and bonuses have a lot of wordage involving a podium finish. Not to mention riders negotiating for contracts in the future can say I have X amount of podium finishes.
Course preview of the first iXS Cup in Santiago De Besteiros, Portugal with Alexandre Fayolle.
stick to race talk. we have a block user function, so use it instead of clog up the forums w/ 3rd grade pettiness. roll over the avatar and you'll see a block button.
This rule change was ANNOUNCED BY THE UCI IN NOVEMBER!!! Why are the athletes only just getting up in arms about it days before a race? It is only a big deal because they realized they may loose podium bonuses and instead of becoming more competitive, they are complaining. Happy to be completely wrong but seems like they want everything to grow, earn more money and have a better sport but are all against change....
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