We have a BRAND NEW DH race venue for a World Cup race this weekend in La Thuile, Italy. The track is steep with plenty of duffy, natural sections and a questionable finish feature. Weather looks atrocious a week out from the race, but maybe dry conditions will find their way in. There's an EDR and DH this weekend, and we'll have Lawlor on Pit Bits, Vital RAW and The Weekend videos.
Post up all the vlogs and social media content here as we get ready for a freshy!
La Thuile Race Book (PDF)
La Thuile Event Schedule
Play Vital DH Fantasy La Thuile - game is open
New Crank Brothers Synthesis 2.0 wheels are up for the winner!
Weather (still early, as of Monday June 30 but...😳)
@BGoldstone posted up these vids in a different thread last week, so we moved them here. The track looks so rad (assuming the steeps can be managed in soaking wet conditions).
La Thuile EDR Course Map
I think that Canadian kid is in with a shout…
Weather looks better than that forecast. Rain may hold off until Sunday night. It’s hot but cooling down
Confirmed: Finn Iles for the unlikely Fantasy Team points haul.
Yes, the forecast I'm looking at says possible showers for Wed/Thurs, dry Fri/Sat and showers Sunday. Lets hope if they come, they come after the race.
here is another video about the track:
Having been there during these exact dates for a few years now, that's about as accurate as the forecast will get
Rarely have been in places where there's been such a quick turnaround from bluebird to thunderstorms, and then back again to bluebird in a couple of hours.
If anything I'd say the days of slouching your quali run to get a favourable start time are over however.
I've also spent a bit of time there in the summer months. Weather forecasts anywhere in the mountains will always be hit and miss.
Not a bad view 😬
I wonder how the track looks under all that loam. Just roots and rocks or a nice layer of dirt? From watching the enduro and these clips I feel like it won't be just as rough as VDS. I guess the erosion from DH is a different beast though...
Myriam Nicole out for this round Kaspar Woolley in
I can't wait to see how the track evolves once there is some real traffic on it. I think it's going to be a wild one and super fun to watch.
Outside of his success over the past few stops, I think this will be a good track for Jackson.
I’m stoked for this one. I think we are in for a truly iconic track. The trail crew clearly put a lot of passion into making it sweet, and they got a lot of rider input which I think is important because the riders play the biggest role in the narrative of the weekend. If everyone is hyped about the track, the overall vibe is good. It also looks dumb steep.
On the Downtime Pre race pod, Killmurray said he expects to see "carpets of roots" instead of Val di Sole style chunky roots because of the kinds of trees there (larches maybe?).
UCI just announced in the Rider Communications that the road gap is closed for the Junior women in DH this weekend, B-line only. Its open for Elite M and W and junior men. i thought this was 2025? Why not let the girls decide for them selves whether they want to take the B-line or not.
What a bunch of hot garbage. The b-line is there for a reason, but let the riders make the choice. Jeez.
I raced the EWS in La Thuile 9 years ago!!! The loam was really good, the dirt was also amazing. It seemed to have less clay content that what you find at lots of race venues in the alps so there was grip even in the moist areas. The fresh grass and heather was tough to race on. That Slayer proto was also tough to race on as the A-S and A-R numbers were aggressively high but that didn't seem to faze Florian Nicolai later on when he got a frame. This shot was from practice day as you need to have gloves and a back protector to race in Italy. Side note I cobbled together a back protector by using a Race Face Stash vest and a cut up D3O back protector pad so it could fit in the hydration pocket in the back panel.
Haven't seen this one posted yet...Shows a full POV minus the end which was not complete yet. Steep is an understatement!
If two people can comfortable hit it and it comes with a huge time advantage it gets to the point that the entire field has to take massive risks to be competitive. The Jr's are just that, Jr's. They are not professionals and outside of a very select few I bet most are not getting a paycheck. Closing one feature will have zero effect on the racing for the weekend......
Having to chopper a rider or two off the course during practice will have a big effect on everyones race weekend.
Then close it for junior men too and just say junior riders can't hit it. Or let them check it out during track walk and practice and then make a decision with rider input. Don't make the decision before the athletes even get there.
Pretty sure there are features on every track that only a few junior women hit, but the point is it's left for the rider to choose.
It does seem like a strange decision to me. It brings to mind the gap jump with the catch net as they come out of the woods at the bottom of the track in Leogang. I've seen junior (and maybe even elite?) women ride around it, which is undoubtedly slower. It'll be interesting to see exactly what they've closed and how it compares.
It makes sense to close it.. its too much pressure.. same thing happens in French Cup... the U15 kids (some) are beasts faster or on par with Elite women.. faster than Junior girls even.. so the speed and ability of some jr girls is just far from the top 3-5, these are the ones that succumb to the pressure and get obliterated in some features.. Jr men are just way closer to elite speed on average, .. all this in the french cup.. which translates very well to world cup imo..
First of the trackwalk vids. They talk about the road gap that's closed to the junior women and how it could be made safer. I know things look different when you're on the ground, but if the knuckle gets removed I wonder how riders will see it in comparison to the road gaps at Fort Bill or Andorra?
The track looks amazing, really excited for this one.
Video PIT BITS from Lawlor
I just don't think it's okay to say junior men are allowed to make that decision, but junior women aren't. The top eight junior women would have placed within the top 15 elite women in Val di Sole...
If I was closer I’d live stream Qualies
Within their categories the time gaps from 1st to last in qualifying at Val di Sole was almost double (less than a minute for jr women, 2 minute for jr men) To me that means the back part of the men’s field is going to have a harder time with it than the women
Fantasy is open - https://www.vitalmtb.com/fantasy/2025/round-5-la-thuile-italy - first place is new Crank Brothers Synthesis 2.0 wheels!
114 Elite Men
32 Elite Women
81 Junior Men
22 Junior Women
WynTV La Thuile Track Walk
TB track walk -
7 mins of hanging in the Pivot pits
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