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It's really the first race of the season that's kept them that close. Jackson picked up only 50 points at that race while Loic got the max - 300 points - after qualifying 1st and winning the race.
It would be great if the overall came down to the final race of the season rather than being wrapped up before then. With the final race being in Mont-Sainte-Anne the crowd energy could be epic, especially if Gracey is also in position to win the overall.
A great edit of Enduro action from La Thulie. Putting it in here so it get some eyes as the La Thulie thread is burried now.
You never know! there may be no Canadians in the hunt for the overall by that point. (Unlikely, but possible)
Anybody else waiting to hear if The People's Elbow is healthy?
will YT mob riders get paid from here on out w/ the YT news that dropped today?
I really hope so, but they haven't exactly got the best track record ever.
I found that advert placement quite obnoxious. I guess if it added say, $20,000 to the prize purse, I'd let it slide, but I'm doubting that riders really saw any of that revenue?
I've been holding off asking, but... is there any word on Richie's pace since the first race in Poland? In Poland, he looked poised to smash DH into submission, as he did with enduro ten years ago, but since then, not so much.
He's been pretty solid, but I think he probably did so well in Poland because the crazy conditions played to his enduro background. Most of the other riders have already had so much time riding at the ragged edge of raw speed on a blown out dry track --Loudenvielle, Leogang, VDS, La Thuille, Andorra were all like that. I think we might see Ritchie do better in Lake Placid and MSA where there are more tight wooded rocky sections like those he's ridden in Enduro for the past decade.
That makes sense. It will be great to see him get back onto the podium.
I thought my understanding was that Bruni tried to trademark the name SuperBruni, and Warner Brothers shot him down by challenging it. So as a way to create good will they came up with this scheme this weekend where he would get paid to cross promote it, ironically if the money did go to prizes he would've got some. It doesn't sit perfect with me as a viewer, but marketers are going to do marketing stuff.
Am I the only one who thinks 1st place finishes should be worth more than they are currently? I get Bruni has been consistent, but Jackson dominated the last 4 rounds, he should be farther ahead in the points chase imo.
What would you propose? Like 250 - 200 - so on?
I think it's worth noting Loic made up some extra points in qualifying and Jackson arguably lost a bit in qualifying on the season, considering his dominance.
Jackson kinda flubbed the first 3 events in terms of qualifying. Loic has only flubbed one qualifying round, in Leogang. A Q1 win can earn 50 points. Loic has a 1, 2, 2, 3, 4, and a 16 in qualifying. (Jackson has a 27/8, 12, 14, 1, 1, 5.)
So that may be making the 'missing points' you are sensing in the overall.
Jee-zuss... That La Thuile edit is outstanding. Reminds me of old gaming clan edits that hit hard.
Interestingly loics overall run time for the year is less than Jackson’s - combined Q1 and race that is (according to the pink article) so I’d say it’s good that the numbers are still close, consistency should be rewarded.
I'd take any track that has at least one turn you have to give 3 heavy cranks out of from the midway down.
Watching a bunch of spandex overall wearing speed tuckers I can see on winter ski races crossing the line is getting lame.
Someone give me ANY indication of physical prowess on the pedals during a race. If events go any more like this, they're gonna remove the pedals.
From what I've seen on social media, he's changed the size of bike he's riding and adjusting to some stuff (not sure if that's for his sb160 or the DH bike though). Hope he finds his feet again, he was doing great at the last couple rounds in 2024 too.
I do think that it is ok, to keep the competition alive, and having a "small" distance in points between 1st and the rest is healthy for the overall. And I also think that the guys that does not qualify should get some points, most of those are not in big teams, and do an effort to be there, some recognition would be good.
Fully agree.... should be 40 riders in the final and points to 50 in Q1 . Also if you don't make the final, your Q2 result should be added to the final results so that you actually get a place in the race. The riders that don't make the finals get no points , no placement and nothing to give back to their teams. It's basically like they weren't even there but are still taking the same risks. For personal worth and team highlights, 31st in a race looks and sounds way better than saying you finished 11th in Q2. Organizers need to look out for the riders and support them better. New rules are good for their TV program and the no protection rule is good for spectators and the racing but look out for all riders and not just those in the final. Lots of holes in the new format that should have been better thought out.
So I'll keep going with the unpopular opinions, but I think uci points and the world cup overall points should be separated at some level. I agree with others that a way for riders to get uci points to make themselves valuable should exist, and obviously if you place or win you should get uci points as well. The overall world cup season should be on a different scale, I think qualifying points for the world cup overall are way too over valued at the moment, qualifying points should be 10% of the value of the race points at most, especially with this new format. If a rider wants to be in the chase for the overall race day is what should matter and almost race day alone. I'm a fan of tight racing and I get what I'm proposing might be counterintuitive to that, but qualifying points really shouldn't be deciding overall world cup winners.
UCI ranking points and World Cup Series points are separated. And I think have been for a long time. For example, a first place in elite DH finals at a world cup gets you 200 UCI points for your UCI ranking but 250 series points for your World Cup overall.
Looks like currently Q1 points are about 20% of finals points for WC. Not sure I agree that that should be reduced to 10%. But some sort of reworking of UCI points for Q1 and Q2 is needed to keep riders careers healthy.
Thanks, I got to thinking after I posted that that I must've been wrong about the points not being separated already, thanks for clarifying.
I still personally believe it could be reworked some, especially if the format is going to stick with a relatively low amount of riders and two intense qualification sessions. Make getting uci ranking points easier, but make the main show the dominant part of the woeld cup overall points. I feel like DH has always been about laying down that one stupid fast run.
I might be in the minority when I say that I'm fine with the current Q1/Q2 arrangement and the 30-rider finals. If they expanded the finals field to, say, 40 men's Elite riders and 20 women's Elite (or even more in both groups) I imagine one of the other changes they'd make is to reduce the gaps in the starting times, resulting in at least half the finals riders getting less of their runs shown. At the most recent race it took 1 1/2 hours for just the men's finalists to make their runs.
Maríne cabirou out of racing with few broken vertebrae from Andorra crash https://www.instagram.com/p/DMOCHbQscC7/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==
I’d be totally fine with seeing less of more riders till we get to the top 5 q1 finishers for men’s and women’s. As long as they got the cameras there is absolutely no reason they can’t show the action without showing runs as close to start to finish as possible. It’s not like like when you watch an f1 race they just split screen a camera following every car. But you do see just about everything of note that happens while watching a “live” program. I think the real beauty of American football as a tv sport is the fact it’s mostly highlight based. You see a play live often with many players out of view or with a camera missing a trick play or such. There is very little effort into actually displaying the live show. It’s all about the overall package of taking that live event happening in a stadium and turning it into something great for tv.
Instead Warner bros solution is to just keep fucking with the event to try to make their ideal tv package and their ideal tv package is infinitely worse for all but the most hardcore fans. Who at your trailhead is like oh man did you see Jackson’s q2 time? How many people want to watch an hour and half of 30 dudes barely off the same second. It almost becomes like nascar where you are just passively watching waiting for something to happen. But I’m sure Troy’s vlog took a massive hit cause he was just off the pace after crashing quali day even though he’d be a podium threat on race day with a little recovery time. And every single race you have multiple big names barely missing out cause the times are so insanely tight. None of it is broadcast live. And they only sometimes provide a replay of q2. You never see q1. There is no comprehensive highlights package from qualifying (like you get in f1).
So the race is a weaker product and is behind a paywall. And qualifying is new product that is admittedly very entertaining. But you literally have to be such a fan to want to see it and then on top of that be even more dedicated to actually do the work of following what happened.
It’s a totally asanine way to take a sport to a bigger level. Great way to siphon a shit load of money from a struggling bike industry on the other hand.
@Between The Tape Simulated Racer from Andorra is live - https://www.vitalmtb.com/features/simulated-racer-was-it-palazzaris-race-taking-andorra-analysis
Some really cool insights into what could have been for Davide Palazzari had he not crashed in the last split. It's also crazy how little time was actually left on the track this weekend. Enjoy!
Not really what I needed to see after having him and Gracey in my fantasy team last week. 🤣
So, let's Captain Obbvious this year:
1. Fewer Riders - But still following the 1st rider's entire run & acting like the next rider off the gate never happened. 14th women & 29th men is the WORST qualifying position to have (could see sponsor contracts not paying out for that spot if it continues)
2. Paywall - We're told millions more eyes & they're getting revenue from HBO/Max/TNT Sports AND YouTube advertisers
3. 10 Year old Prize Purse
4. Does it pay MORE to be the injured elite racer who does the pre-show (Gwin/Hattie/Myriam) than the prize money? Journalists...please ask.
5. We've become dirt Giant Slalom w/ the skinsuits & minute margins
6. UCI drug testing....the world is innnocent and free of doping again???
I feel your pain haha
Canyon gap is out for Hardline. Sounds like they felt they had made it safer and it would have been fine, but it's just become too controversial at this point, so it's out. (From Gee and Dan on the Downtime podcast)
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