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Jackson hit that same jump into the wall in practice (https://youtu.be/CV3W_sEpV8k?t=126 starts entering the tunnel) and during his race run I think.
https://www.reddit.com/r/MTB/comments/1l5m0f1/asa_vermette_worldcup_downhill_leogang/ shows a spectator view of that same spot with Asa Vermette doing it during his run.
Very good to hear she is doing OK as that is a really scary looking hit from her perspective and then seeing it from the other two perspectives really hammers home the speed, skill, and courage that they all have to do this.
Sorry if it's already been posted, but Nathan Pontvianne's crash was nuts, he's damaged his kidney, but I reckon I'd take that in his shoes.
It's nice to hear the course crew acknowledged that spot was too much of a G out at speed and riders could not control the lip, particularly with a lovely bit of side wind... So they took the time to shave off the kick on that lip so riders could survive at race pace and not lose it all to a little breeze.
Downtime podcast has been doing AMAZING post race recaps with Neko. One of my favorite race time productions considering its on site information, right after the race, straight from the horses mouth (more or less)
I haven't watched/listened to the Leogang one yet but the Loudenville one was good. Something to put on in the background when I go to work tomorrow.
Leogang EDR World Cup race report:
MELAMED AND CONOLLY NAVIGATE TREACHEROUS SAALFELDEN LEOGANG - SALZBURGERLAND TO SECURE IMPRESSIVE UCI ENDURO WORLD CUP WINS
8th June 2025 - The toughest test of the UCI Enduro World Cup so far produced two intense battles for Elite victory as Jesse Melamed (Canyon CLLCTV Factory Team) and Ella Conolly proved worthy winners in Austria’s largest Bike Region Saalbach Hinterglemm Leogang Fieberbrunn Trails.
A contender for the most challenging course of the year was made even more troublesome by heavy rain after riders had made their one-and-only practice runs in the dry on Friday, with a winter cycle having swept away a lot of dirt from last season leaving more exposed roots and rocks to give riders an extra challenge.
And that was reflected in the closer Elite leaderboards as neither Melamed nor Conolly could open up a comfortable gap to the chasing pack while Lacey Adams (Yeti / FOX Factory Race Team) and Melvin Almueis took their second and third victories of the season in the Juniors.
MELAMED EDGES COMPETITIVE MEN’S RACE
Jesse Melamed overcame an inauspicious start to triumph in the men’s Elite race, finishing fourth on a long stage one that had looked capable of immediately separating the pack but only produced minor time gaps in the end.
The dangerous Bergstadl Trail was followed by the equally daunting (and even longer) X Trail featuring some perilous rutted turns at the bottom and while Melamed claimed the stage, it was only by a tenth of a second meaning Charles Murray remained in the overall lead for Specialized Gravity.
The Canadian made a bigger difference on a diverse stage three that finally establish a running order as Murray dropped five seconds and Sławomir Łukasik (Yeti / FOX Factory Race Team) and Jack Moir (YT MO
slipped further back in a race where one mistake could mark a rider out of the running.
William Brodie took a surprise stage four win as all of the favourites came unstuck, but Melamed lost the least time to cement his advantage - now into double figures. The Canadian was fastest again on the Knappen Trail so staying on his bike was the priority on a stage six that ran along a bonafide downhill trail, and he did just that finishing sixth but only a second behind Daniel Booker.
That capped the end of a disappointing overall day for the Australian who ceded more ground to Łukasik in the overall race, the Men Elite UCI Enduro World Cup leader was third in Austria and now enjoys a 290-point advantage while Melamed jumps into the top five, level on points with Moir but ahead courtesy of winning a round.
“Honestly it was quite smooth and steady which is saying a lot for how tricky this course is,” Melamed said.“It obviously poured down rain on race day but I was kind of wanting it because these trails are fast and tech at speed so I wanted to be slower.
“It just went smooth, I made one mistake, one crash on stage four but other than that it was really clean, so I was hoping for a good overall result just for that so to win is amazing because I just felt like I was riding my bike well.”
CONOLLY REMAINS WOMAN TO BEAT BUT KUCHYŇKOVÁ IS COMING
Simona Kuchyňková (CUBE Factory Racing) has lived up to the billing so far in 2025 after stepping up to Elite racing and mounted her closest challenge yet to Ella Conolly, though couldn’t prevent the Brit taking her second round of the season.
It all seemed to be plain sailing for Conolly when she opened up a 38-second gap on Kuchyňková in the opening three stages, with Nadine Ellacosta (Abetone Ancillotti Vittoria Factory Team) and Winni Goldsbury the only other riders within a minute.
However, an uncharacteristic off-stage on the arguably less challenging Hangman 1 brought Kuchyňková and the rest of the field right back into contention, as Conolly fell and lost 20 seconds to her closest rival although Goldsbury and Ellacosta couldn’t capitalise as well.
That advantage was whittled down still further when Kuchyňková claimed her second successive stage on a Knappen Trail that made sticking to the right line almost impossible. So Conolly entered the final stage with an advantage of 16 seconds knowing she likely couldn’t be overhauled with a clean run, but any mistakes could hand the round to the Slovakian.
But the Brit produced a champion’s response by refusing to lessen her commitment and claiming the stage and the round, while opening up an almost 500-point lead over Kuchyňková in the overall standings at the halfway point of the season.
“It was a really really eventful race, I had a good few crashes, made a bit of a lead then lost time on stage four, a couple more crashes, said Conolly. “Even if I slide out, something happened I was just trying to move on all the time and thankfully held onto the win, but it got tight.
“The mud was crazy on the last three stages, big roots that came out that were super slippery and just kept catch you off guard.”
JUNIOR RACES PRODUCE CONTRASTING RESULTS
The men’s Junior race was the closest-fought of all in Saalfelden Leogang – Salzburgerland as Melvin Almueis clinched his third victory from four rounds in 2025 by seven seconds from Cooper Millwood.
Almueis made up over half his eventual margin of victory on stage one, but he’d only win one of the five remaining stages and suffered a scare on the decider as he lost three seconds.
Millwood led by four seconds after stage three but hit trouble on Hangman 1 and hemorrhaged 12 decisive seconds to Almueis, who showed consistency is key in enduro and now has a three-figure overall lead.
“Today was really hard for me because I don’t really like to ride in rainy conditions but I kept my flow, and don’t crash,”Almueis said afterwards.
And Lacey Adams made it two wins on the bounce with the most dominant performance of the day, taking victory by 25 seconds from Lucile Metge.
Adams claimed the opening two stages but ironically it was the first one she failed to win that proved most decisive, with Chloe Bear (Yeti / FOX Factory Race Team) fastest on the Matzalm Trail while Adams trailed by seven seconds, yet put almost double that margin into Metge.
The Frenchwoman took time back on stage four but another heavy loss on the Knappen Trail proved the final nail in her coffin as Adams extends her advantage at the top of the overall standings to 150 points.
“Last week was super dry and fast, this race was muddy and very crazy, I just tried to keep it upright on every stage, keep it smooth so really stoked,” Adams said.
“The course changed a lot, practice was relatively dry then today was just a mudfest, it was very wet and slippery.”
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You know you've been waiting for this one!
Not sure if this is the place, but I'm getting a little concerned over rider safety (also posting in the 2025 race thread).
I'm a big fan of the LCQ, I think it's brought a lot of excitement to the weekend. BUT when it's brought in in conjuncture with a concerted effort to speed up tracks (correct me if I'm wrong, but it seems lots of corners are either being removed or sped up). I think the execs ( I believe this also was a thing in the RB days) think high speeds and big jumps are what the public want to see. I'm of the belief that most of us who know anything about the sport are more than happy to watch tech/gnar in combination with motorways and 30ft gaps.
Gracey put down a time around 20 seconds faster than Vali posted to win last year and Jackson put 8 seconds into Bruni's 2024 result. When some of the fastest riders on the planet are talking about being scared riding at the speeds they feel are necessary to qualify I think things need looking at.
I need 16 more things to start our VitalMTB Bingo Card:
"This man", "huck a buck" and "he's a big rider" come to mind.
"HERE. in. (venue name)."
but it only counts if Ric spaces out the pauses between each part...
maybe its part of his job tho, dont the venues have to pay out to uci to be used? more needless advertising. my goldfish memory means i never know where the race is taking place during the entire broadcast.
It's weirdly inconsistent to me. At the weekend it was just "Leogang" IIRC. Last year at Fort William it was just "Fort William", other races you get everything but the postcode.
I'm starting to think it depends on the size of the envelope from the local tourism department. 🤣
For sure it’s in the contract that he has to say the full name of the region presenting the race. Some cases it’s a tourism board some places it’s a ski resort. They are the ones putting up the money to host the race so they want to see the ROI or they’ll just hold a CrossFit event that weekend next year. Maybe Warner didn’t say the full name but maybe that’s why we had 6-7 races under Red Bull.
FWIW this is the what’s written in the calendar. Thankfully he just said Leogang.
This reminds me of the horrific SX broadcasting where they have to say like "Monster Energy Series presented by Monster Energy". It can get even worse with team sponsors and then advertising afterwards. They really be like "he's making great time on that Monster Energy Kawasaki here at Monster Energy Supercross presented by Monster Energy, don't forget to pick up a can of Monster Energy at your local grocer today!" (I'm barely even exaggerating there.)
in those regards MTB is MUCH more listenable lol
also in said podcast neko acknowledged it was his idea to bring ken into the booth (although not to keep him that long) due to pressure from wb to expand the reach of the sport outside of mtb. i rarely say this but...DAMMIT NEKO.
props tho, as he also said it let him keep his pay and also go out to the track and watch the race....hahaha
Huck A Buck added!
Spicy Added!
Here! In! Val de Sole! added!
Need a few blocks for random things on camera & celebrity sightings
Accidents? Bloopers? Blue Smoke?
Vape Pen?
Dog Sighting?
Maybe 'track marshal looking at phone' or some other form of hilarious marshal not giving a good god damn about the entire ordeal.
That whole episode is worth a listen.
Lawlor follows Finn, Lachie and Danny during Leogang for this episode of The Weekend.
its become my favorite race content cuz its so behind the scenes. plus neko has no issues with just saying whats on his mind. and the host is very good about... directing the conversations without making any of it about him. he's so good with his guests, and i wish he would get more bigger names on his normal podcasts.
I clearly remember Warner repeating a lot of 'The EPIC Bike Park Leogang' at one point in the RBTV days. Does grate hard but it's not exclusive to WBD/Ric.
Shocking Blue is a nice break from the usual nu-metal/pop-punk/mumble-rap edit soundtracks. Bravo.
Legendary song, many of us probably discovered it in the Post Office segment of "Strength in Numbers" 🤟
Did your 20 year old self ever thought you'd become this old?
cheers, a soon to be 40 guy.
You got it.
We need to fill 6 more slots:
1. Direct Quote from Vital forum Member ?
Here is a sample card. Can remove something if a better play is suggested!
Lake Placid Olympic Region... they last hosted the Olympics almost a half century ago in 1980 (yes, that's 45 years). I think they can let it go now.
kinda related but a question I like to ponder, who's the best world cup rider never to take a win? It would be cool if the B Practice dudes would spend some time and do a ranking from say 2000 to present. Thanks in advance.
barely within 2000 but Jurgen Beneke has been 2nd 3 times and somehow has an overall and 2 runner up seasons. don't see any wins registered. not sure how points worked back then 🤷♂️ active from 92-09 (would love to know more about his career/story)
-Josh repeats what Rick just said
I'm pretty sure Jurgen won 4 world cups. Edit. Those World Cups were in the 90s.
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