2025 Race Talk

Vital Fantasy 2025 a thing?

I'm flattered, but I can confirm it's not me. I'm excited to see who it is though!

I know who you mean now... obvious choice when you consider him. 

There is no Fort William on the World Cup schedule this year, but the iXS cup is keeping this legendary venue in the rotation - here's a course preview with none other than Steve Peat and Nina Hoffmann ahead of this weeked's race:

Really good to see the regional races getting more coverage and better attendance from the top riders, despite my negative feelings towards what WBD are doing to the world cups, the other events stepping up is a silver lining for sure. 

Fort Bill seeding

Having a surname beginning with H seems to be an advantage.

The track is 30ish seconds longer than the world cup last year by the looks of it. Is it weather or course changes I wonder.

Maybe getting rid of WB constraints of a 3/4ish minutes long track ? That would be great if regional series can on top propose more variety both style and length wise compared to the WC circuit

WB changed the start last year, essentially moving it down the hill a little and also with a ramp to get people moving fast from the get go.  Also in the lower woods before the motor way they added a jump that cut out a slower section.  And lastly they moved the finish up the hill quite a bit. Small changes but they added up.  

If you look at the winning times of last year's world cups vs. peak RBTV era (2015-2019). You'll see that tracks were all by in large longer last year than during the UCI/RB era. 

For example only Poland last year had a winning time under 4 minutes in the womens category 

Gearbox bikes go 1-1 at Fort Bill IXS

Squamish's local enduro going off today. Jesse and Richie going head to head for the first time this year with a handful of EDR pros in the mix as well. Live timing - https://zone4.ca/race/2025-04-27/7c300520/results

last stage is a 30 year old trail that use to be used for a dh race. 

Fort William race mashup, coming in hot!

Fort William race report:

Successful premiere! The iXS European Downhill Cup made its first stop on the legendary World Cup course in Fort William. Wind, rain and one of the toughest tracks in the world demanded everything from the field of riders. In the end, Great Britain's Harriet Harnden and Charlie Hatton triumphed in a weekend that is guaranteed to be one to remember.

Friday - The first impression

Blue skies, sun, clouds - and plenty of wind: that's how Fort William welcomed the riders on training Friday. Although the weather played along, the 2.8 kilometre course proved to be a real challenge. Many had only seen the course on TV - and they were not disappointed: razor-sharp rocks and high-speed sections awaited at the top, then from the centre onwards there were rough root carpets and technical drops, before the famous ‘motorway’ with fast bends and huge jumps gave the final pulse boost. No wonder that the first runs were still approached with caution - real course reading was required here.

Saturday - changing conditions

Light rain in the morning and afternoon made the conditions treacherous: most of the training still took place on a drying track, but it became slippery just in time for the seeding run. Finding the perfect balance was a real challenge, especially for the less experienced riders.

Seeding Run

Charlie Hatton (GBR - Continental Atherton) came out on top in the Elite Men - with a lead of 1.3 seconds. Harriet Harnden (GBR - AON Racing) caused a minor sensation in the Elite Women's category: she outclassed the competition, including top favourite Nina Hoffmann (GER - Santa Cruz Syndicate) and Jessica Blewitt (NZL - Cube Factory Racing), by a whopping 15.5 seconds.

Sunday - Battle against the elements

Final day in Scotland - and the weather showed its wild side. Strong crosswinds in the upper part of the course and light continuous rain made for challenging conditions. The jump sections in particular became a lottery due to the wind. Nevertheless, the riders delivered a highly exciting finale.

The big surprise

In the elite women's category, Harriet Harnden provided perhaps the biggest bang for the buck of the weekend. The British rider, previously best known for her enduro racing, dominated the downhill scene in Fort William in impressive style. She already made waves in the seeding run with a lead of over 15 seconds - in the final she defended her top position with aplomb and celebrated an impressive victory with a lead of almost five seconds. Nina Hoffmann came second and Jessica Blewitt took third place.

The man of the weekend

After his 2023 World Championship title, Charlie Hatton once again proved in Fort William that he is currently one of the strongest riders in the world. The Brit dominated the competition in the seeding run, but he went one better in the final: With a confident yet controlled ride, he defied the wind and rain to secure victory by four seconds. Second place went to Matt Walker (GBR - Trek Factory Racing) and third place to Danny Hart (GBR - Norco Race Division).

A weekend with a signalling effect

The race in Fort William impressively showed where the iXS European Downhill Cup is heading: Larger venues, tougher courses and an increasingly strong field of riders ensure that the EDC is no longer an insider tip, but a permanent fixture on the international racing calendar.

The increasing professionalism in the organisation and field of participants makes the series the ideal platform for ambitious talents - and at the same time the perfect stage for established World Cup stars. The mixture of young up-and-comers and concentrated experience makes the EDC more exciting than ever. If you want to be among the front runners here, you not only need speed, but also real stamina - and that is exactly what makes this series so appealing.

Weekend results from France. Some big hitters at a small race (160 riders across all categories)

Occitanie Regional Cup:  rd2 Combes

1   ALRAN MAX   00:02:18.048

2   VERGIER LORIS  00:02:18.716

3   FRIXTALON HUGO   00:02:19.718

4   ALRAN TILL  00:02:21.217

5   KIEFER HENRI 00:02:22.298

1   NICOLE MYRIAM 00:02:34.720

2  CABIROU MARINE 00:02:39.719

3  BOULADOU LISA 00:02:45.719

Nice win for Jesse! Only rider to go under 20 minutes. 

Jessie can't hold back when there is a crowd. Full gas to flat on S5 and doing a years worth of pushups in single go. 

ALN also on the top spot, hope she has a great season back at the sharp end of the EWS.

13th Ryan Voit. Dudes a full time trail builder from OK. His practice spot is an all hand built by him and a very local crew gnarly silliness. Plus the guy is super nice and an all around good dude. Much respect. 

TDS Enduro Results - 

R-Dog!

I wish they would be able to bring in more top world cup contenders, though I understand that not everyone is willing to take the risk. If you see Hardline as a race, then there's only 3.5 actual contenders for the win on the men's side - Jackson/Asa/Ronan, and maybe Bernard on a good day but I don't think he's really up to speed with the first 3. The features and gnar is interesting to watch, but actual race runs are...less exciting until the last couple contenders. Probably an unpopular opinion I guess.  

Mmmmh I have not checked overall. But looking at roots & rain, in RB era for Fort Bill (2018 for example), we had a male winning time of around 4:30 and last year it was 4:04... All I say is that, and I'm pretty sure it has been mentioned by many, WB want a standard format with homogeneous times. I just hope we keep the possibility to have more variety through regional series