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Ah that's a huge bummer. They're both so fun to watch
Hard disagree.
IMO, if you watch Hardline like a WC DH stop, you're going to be disappointed. If you watch is a more of an event than a race, and include all the practice and pre-race footage, it's fantastic. You get riders from all over the spectrum. Fast, really fast and WC winning fast, but also freeriders and trick riders and old heros. You get women who are pushing their limits and progressing the sport.
Yes, at the end of the day, it's a race, but it's not about individual riders or teams or points. Everyone is walking the track together and checking features off together and towing each other into stuff and just having fun. On maybe the rowdiest DH track around.
Done his knee in real bad... Then I think did his heel in real bad right after return or something. Dude been practically MIA for like a year or more. One of my fav riders too.
I do like the practice and the pre-race footage. The problem imo, is that none of it builds up to the actual race, which is a snoozefest until the last 2 riders come down.
Full pull POV by Gee and Ronan 😱
@Jason_Schroeder You guys still doing the shorts bounty or whatever? Booker in seeding at hardline in shorts and a T-shirt. Side note dude is so dialed on the 90s. Just casually rolling into them.
Most of the way through Ed's video but seems like all features ticked off by Hannah, Lou and Vaea! Not sure if Kami got the last 90, she had a gnarly dead salior on the first one that she made it out of.
except for following the women riding, I don't find myself as invested in the practice riding this go. probably since it's the same course so everything has been done already.
on the women's side, the latest ride companion vid on YT showed Vaea walking out with her arm in a sling. hope it's just precautionary.
Brendog showing back up and doing a top to bottom is impressive
Start times have changed for weather. 9 am local time. 1am west coast NA
how much earlier is that than the original time?
5.5 hours earlier
I'm up VERY early watching the live timing, Asa last man down in quali is wild pressure for a junior. But I'm sure he's more than ready for it. Ronan DNF it says, hopefully not another crash? Bernard DNF too. Lou Ferg did a full run. Bryceland still has some speed. I know in previous years they've actually had a qualifying quota for TV purposes, does anyone know how much they chop the field down by this year?
Would be so sick in the future if we could get a fantasy mini event for Hardline 😇🙏
If you finish a full run you can ride in finals afaik regardless if it’s seeding or practice. Bernard had a crash on one of the big jumps coughed up some blood but says he’s fine otherwise will probably ride finals, Ronan destroyed his back wheel but will ride finals. Learned all this and more from WynTV!
Full qualifying/seeding results from Hardline - big congrats to Lou Ferguson who becomes the first woman ever to complete a full top-to-bottom run at Hardline Wales (following up her success at Hardline Tasmania where she and Gracey Hemstreet were the first women to complete that course in 2024).
As per usual, any rider who completes the course whether in practice or training should be able to ride in the finals, regardless of seeding results. Note that finals are now at 3am PST (12:00 CET) on July 27, the event has been moved forward in the day to account for inclement weather forecast to hit the site later in the day.
2025 Hardline Wales Seeding Results
NEW, NEW START TIME: 11:00 local time (3am PST, 12:00 CET)
Masterclass in how to provide knowledgeable exciting and funny commentary by elliot and Rob.
Commenting on all the different lines riders were taking while making the whole thing exciting from start to finish.
Race day at Hardline looked quite a bit similar to qualifying day, with overnight rain leaving the course slick and even more difficult to ride. The organizers did well to move the start time forward though, as conditions stayed the same throughout the race giving everybody a chance at a clean run. Ronan Dunne and Bernard Kerr dropped in early, courtesy of their less than stellar qualifying results, and they predictably set the benchmark that would stand until the very fastest qualifiers. Charlie Hatton was the first rider to better Asa Vermette's qualifying time and he did so with over 3 seconds, but the young American had more left in the tank and was able to shave another 2 seconds off Hatton's time to take his first-ever Hardline win. Congratulations to Asa on a remarkable win, and to Louise Ferguson who became the first woman ever to lay down a full finals run at Hardline Wales. The future is indeed bright!
2025 Red Bull Hardline Results
Asa is the post-win interview GOAT
Take into consideration how many runs of the track that Asa has altogether compared to every other rider there, especially Charlie Hatton.
It would have been interesting to see how he would have fared today against Jackson and the Alran brothers
Credit to Neko as well because the bike he has developed looks like an extension of Asas body
Hell yeah Asa! Love seeing Frameworks on top of the podium
Hopefully we see Lou at rampage. Super impressive riding. With her technical skills and confidence I think she’d be capable of a podium if things went right. So much fun watching the girls over the weekend. Feels a lot like the early days of hardline except a lot more sensible with less injury and a even greater emphasis on teamwork.
Asa had go faster flames machined into his rocker 🤣 you can tell he turned the afterburners on. Seeing Charlie on the podium was nice too, he's not had the best luck at WCs recently.
100% agree. last year was a bit corny with the canyon gap hype machine they built, but I feel that it was a return to form this year. grassroots rider-first vibe. everyone was having fun, the track was GNAR, the runs were sick, and the vibes were so high in the lead up. I haven't even watched finals yet but the over-arching feel of the event as a whole was spectacular content.
huge ups to wyn's coverage. dude is on fire right now.
Overall, this has been a really great event. I've watched a ton of content an youtube and it's been super entertaining (like Matt Jones, BK, Ed Bull Media, Downtime, Adam Brayton and probably more). The race itself was (imo at least) not quite as exciting as a regular DH WC, but it was still a worthy conclusion to all the build up and individual storylines from the days leading up to it. To me, Lou and Asa were particularly impressive. Also, I hope to see a full women's race next year with at least 3 - 5 athletes. Feels like many of them are on the brink of being able to piece it together (e.g., Cami and Vaea).
But to be honest, what I still keep thinking most about is the Brendog mystery. Somehow, he's late to the party and misses the training but then proceeds to do pull the absurd feat of doing a top to bottom in his very first run, only to disappear right after! 😄
However, before submitting this post, I did some extra rounds just to be sure I didn't miss anything and managed to find one recent comment on pb claiming it was a family emergency. If so, I hope things turn out well for him and his family. Not quite the funny or curious solution to the riddle I was hoping for, but who knows if it's true.
Brendan posted from his house the other day that he had to go back home for family stuff. Was able to get back for training but then i guess had to leave again. Hopefully things work out with the fam
Good result, good event, but the wales hardline for me has lost its shine. For me it has become the leogang of Hardline, I’ve watched that race track so many times now that every year looks the same, time for a refresh! More tech more awkward like Rachel eluded to in the Wyn Tv video.
I did really like Rachel bringing that up. I think another way to look at it is we know people can clear 90 footers. We knew that even before Hardline added them, obviously. And we also know that the speed variance between people riding the 90s is pretty low. You have to clear them... But you also can't go too fast because going deep deep on the 90s is a bad, bad idea.
So as a race feature it's... I mean it's basically for shock value, a la the canyon gap (RiP). Again, I don't think that canyon gap would have been a 'racing' feature in terms of speed variance. Everybody clears it, or they don't race more or less.
Also the old hip jumps were SICK. Watching Kaos flip the hip was insane... Also the dude who G'd out way off line and literally landed in a tree. Clung on to it like a monkey. Still a challenging feature, has more racecraft, and leads to fun moments unlike the 90s.
That said I'll take em any way I can get em. Hardline is sick. I would love to have more... podium guys there, if ya know what I mean. (aka, if Wales didn't have the 90s and shit, would Jackson have been ok with riding it mid-season?)
How long before Lou Ferguson has a red bull lid?
She's 29 so unlikely. It seems like RB picks up riders between 17 and 21 usually.
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