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VARERA SANJAYA Rendy
Came back from the Lake placid race! Thanks to all of you who suggested watching the juniors up top and moving down the track as the elites came down, it was an amazing experience. I also watched the XCO on Sunday, which was a real treat - modern XC is really great to speculate, probably even better than DH even though I'm a DH fan. I went against on the speculator path next to the track and was able to see riders consistently pop up over the 8 laps, before going to the finish straight to see the final sprint. Anyways, for all of you who has never been to a WC and thinking about it, it's worth going, no question.
I was gonna do the math but now I can just objectively steal from pink site:
"• Asa Vermette in 4th // Max Alran needs 18th or better
• Asa Vermette in 3rd // Max Alran needs 14th of better
• Asa Vermette in 2nd // Max Alran needs 12th or better
• Asa Vermette in 1st // Max Alran needs 6th or better"
And then Zierl literally just has to not get last. The only scenario is Aletha wins, and Zierl gets dead last, to flip em. Would be insane if that happened. But also still gonna be awesome for Zierl to take a title same year as Vali. Such a cool story...
Imagine if they gave points to Juniors for qualifying.
If they did, Max Alran would have locked up the overall at least a week ago. He qualified 1st 6 times and 2nd 2 times in the 9 races so far.
He's going to be scary as an Elite racer.
Still gotta make the finals first right? Lots of people in dead last, points-wise…
It would suck tho if a mechanical took these battles away from us... Especially when dudes are pushing and not perfectly on line, MSA is PUNISHING to bikes. Another reason why I could see the points leaders not 'going for first'. And let their competitors marinate in the fact that they have to basically win to beat them. Pressure cooker. Plus home race for Jacko. Talk about expectations, man...
Nr 47: Rendy Varera Sanjaya from Indonesia.
It really depends when you look at the points. National series and Crankworx events have all wrapped so World Cup DH riders keep collecting points and points from 2024 continue to expire. My main point is that you can be at the highest level of the sport and finishing 31st - 40th consistently and have no points or even a ranking . It's like you're not even at the races. lf you are consistently one of these riders and even on a factory team then you will have almost no UCI points . System is broken in my opinion . Organizers should award more points and go deeper with points in Q1 then add 20 to the Q2 finish and this is the result and let the riders have it. At least this way a rider gets points and can walk away from a world cup race saying they finished 31st or 32nd. They can't even do that these days. Current format works for spectators but must be crushing for the athletes.
This was clearly the goal when they changed up the qualification and finals system. To be in it all season, you have to be consistently at the sharp end or go gather points at national, continental and any other feeder race series.
Its harsh, but that's elite competition for ya.
Based on the latest b-practice pod (Dak and Dante) there's 100-115+ elite men racing at just about any given world cup in the past year. I don't think they mentioned women elite and junior stats but that's a lot of men. On one hand I am absolutely stoked to see most of them either chasing a dream or just having fun while doing other stuff(like Wyn), but one has to wonder if they would be better off somewhere else that is NOT the world cup. Either way I highly suggest you all listen to the latest b-practice pod ; and I agree with the sentiment if someone is realistically not going to make it anywhere on the wc circuit, maybe a domestic or continental or local series may be better for them. Dante has made it work pretty well, at least it seems so.
Well it's not supposed to be mutually exclusive. The lower half of riders are absolutely racing in locals/nationals or whatever else. If they have the means to attend a world cup, they can/should. It's up to the UCI to limit the field more or less.
It would be interesting to go back and look at how many elite men and women have actually qualified for a final this year. Maybe 50 men, 20-25 women? Would also be interesting to see how many elite riders have been to at least 5 world cups without qualifying. The riders who are spending the money to go a significant number of world cups without ever even qualifying are the group that could benefit from a program like Dante’s doing USDH or IXS
here is the latest b practice pods in youtube or audio form (or it's on the homepage too)
It kinda is though. WC DH is pretty stressful and time consuming, I don't see the racers having much time/effort for anything else. Even for someone as established as Gwin, he had to skip 3 rounds (iirc) to do the Monster series. For some racers who are 1.Doing the WC full time , 2. Getting at best a low 40 and usually a 50+ , 3. Doesn't seem like it will improve quickly maybe it really is better to focus on non-WCDH circuit races and only go to ones that are close/easy to get to.
hm. how to phrase this. I don't think they are racing world cups for results / to improve.
basically, if the WC is in town and you qualify... just do it for fun.
I mean Dante rode very well and probly outperformed all expectations including his own, but I don't think he decided to race a WC 'to win'. He may not have even seen it as a big opportunity to improve. Racers gonna race.
I'm not really seeing this 'zero sum game' ideology on lower rank riders racing a WC. As if it takes away from anything.
Aside from, of course, missing a different race where they would be a top 5 rider. Sure, I get that. But even then a world cup just sounds fun.
Like is a local SoCal rider gonna skip an opportunity to race WC because they can win their division at one of the many Fontucky races the same weekend? I'd think not. Maybe a Monster/SW race at most, but ideally bigger events would never overlap anyway.
I know even local Sam Porras went. Don't think she expected a winning result. But she's just having fun racing bicycles at the US/CAN stops. Doesn't go to EU stops because that would def make it a... Dubious use of resources/time.
Lots of riders operate like that, cuz it makes sense. Race local, if a WC is reasonably nearby... Race that too.
You see it every race on fantasy. Even in elites. A large number of local venue/country riders sign up. And sometimes they pay good in fantasy! Cheap pick, guaranteed points if they qualify.
That’s why I was curious how many riders have gone to a “significant” numbers (5+ or however you want to define that) without qualifying this year. It makes to go try and qualify for a WC or 2 if it happens to be in your country or nearby and you can get a federation jersey, enjoy the experience and see how it goes. Traveling to every WC without qualifying is where doing well at Conti races or CW is probably better.
If you mean using sponsor dollars, uhhh I am of the understanding riders at that level are basically paying their own way. One way or another.
And again, world cups are not inherently landing on the same weekends of other racers. Ideally they never should. So it's... I dunno what I am missing about this narrative lol. Going to a world cup should not reduce your ability to attend and perform at local races. And, realistically, it should help you a little bit find the 'elite speed' needed to ensure you are winning local racers and not just top 5ing them.
Lemme look up what racers are going to all events with no finals (kinda, for a lil bit, sounds like a job lol)
EDIT: such a faff to sort through the 'few entries types'. Biggest ones so far are RMS, Dane J, and Henry Kerr. Attended all 9 for Giant, Pivot, and AON. No finals. RMS had a Q2 11th in Thuile, Dane's best is I guess 14th in Lenz, and Kerr done a 16th in Lenz also.
Lot of random names who have done some rounds and with no finals, often with no sponsor listed on RootsNrain. And I dunno how to approach this but... The rest of their results often reflect that. They're often not turning around and then grabbing podiums left and right in local races. This is not hard data but, at a glance it seems like never qualifying once at WCs often slots you outside the top 5 of even local races (unless its a not as common DH country, etc.) Like participant wise, you see the ones who do get podiums or wins are often doing so in like 10-20 man fields, at most.
I don't think any of this makes a point anyway. Anyone who wants to race and qualifies should do so. I feel like there are a lot of US riders right now who can qualify but are still avoiding WCs because of the reasons yall are mentioning. Costs a lot for not much return. Whereas podiums at Monster/SW/etc are better for their sponsors. Both concepts exist. And it seems you can go in and out of them in so far as you are qualified (ie, Dante Silva). I can't imagine doing ok at a WC but not a podium turns into a net negative for his locals/nats experience/ability. I dunno. I can't understand this logic lol
I downloaded the CSV sheets from Vital Fantasy and found out there's more that qualified than I thought. Every single women elite has scored at least some points, which means they all qualified at at least one race. Of the elite men, these are the racers that have never scored any points while also being at multiple races.
(sorry guys). Spomer feel free to take this down if this violates the spirit of this forum.
uhhh you only get points for a qualifying Q1 finish and finals. so anyone who has not qualified for finals ever would be at 0 points and likely not be shown on an overall list.
i.e. Fernanda Gildemeister who has done 5 rounds, never going to finals. So if looking at overall lists you are specifically only seeing riders who have gone to finals, and thus earned points.
The lowest point total right now is Lais Bonnaure for a 13th finish. She did not qualify Q1, so 0 points... She went P2 in Q2 (which awards no points)... And then ultimately finished 13th in the final, where she got her 40 points.
Some teams with big funding that haven’t performed this year. The YT Mob racers must be in a position to really help some teams make a real step next year if those teams decide to stick around.
Does anyone think Richie Rude is going to be racing downhill next year?
I think it's because the latest sheet for MSA specifically only filters for people racing at MSA. I'll probably do something later to check on previous sheets.
I mean it's only 27 elite female riders who have earned points. There were absolutely more than 27 entries into elite female cat through out the entire season. But A normal overall standings list isn't going to list out every 0 point rider. So yeah, not sure which Vital list you're checking against. The issue is every event goes off the 'start list', so only the riders who are doing MSA. And statistically that's gonna remove a lot of lower rank riders who only do EU rounds.
To get 'full' data, you wanna use Roots n Rain: https://www.rootsandrain.com/event13445/2025-may-18-whoop-uci-world-cup-dh-1-szczyrk/results/#h-elitem
Just in the first event alone, you have Kadlecova, Hogie, Carrick-Anderson, and VanDerVelden with no finals appearances all year. Each race will likely add a new name or two to the list (of riders with no finals appearances).
But ya I don't know if Vital ever made a 'master list' of all names/riders to display who has 0 on the season. Cuz the only 'full season lists' I see in the system are just the fantasy user team points themselves.
If Richie races or not is up to Yeti, but for my part I love that he is racing! Kinda like AG, when they are in the race I always look for their list on the Q1-2 sheets, and when I have time to follow the livetiming he is one of the 5-10 people I really look for. I used to be more into enduro so that might bt why.
Who went to Lake Placid on here that also went to Snowshoe prior to the 30 racer cutoff?
Which had a bigger crowd? More spectators?
Resorts pay big money to fill lodging, sell goods & services for a week. They block off the entire week for us.
When the field was more open to race, to me more friends, family & spectators filled the venue.
Anyone with personal experience on the 2 formats?
Lake Placid seemed quiet halfway through with just one crowd down low. I assume that would lead to lower attendance b/c the local/regional rider interest is lost. That means less sales on the weekend overall?
As an in-person spectator, there was way less action on track on race day last year at MSA vs Lourdes in 2015... The small finals field absolutely makes things less eventful trackside. Super long gaps in between riders. Practice and quali's day are still sick though, but a bit of let down on race day given the infrequent action
In the past I've made the day trip to Windham (4hrs each way) and spent a weekend at Bromont for the WCs. Was considering coming out for Lake Placid for Sat finals but had exactly this thought. "Isn't the field going to be less than half the size now?! A good bit of the fun was supporting the local riders that made the show and now the best we get is some course sweepers."
I ended up not going and racing some local XC instead. My concerns were validated by some friends that attended saying that DH was impressive, but lots of waiting around "Hate to say it, but it was kind of boring compared to the XC on Sunday" and qualis were a more fun day overall.
From an elite rider perspective the less crowded courses are probably great, but I just miss the deep field and slow burn pace ramp on Sunday watching track side. All the new rules, fees and structure just seem like its putting WC DH balancing on a razor edge of financial and rider feasibility.
So it looks like points were awarded in Elite Women's Qualifying but not Elite Men's?
i think it was just a template issue on the quali sheet - including points when they shouldn't be there. they updated the PDF and it has no points.
K, checked all the race sheets...
On the topic of the brutality of Q1/Q2 this year. There is a pretty insane stat. Valentina Roa Sanchez sat on the bubble FOUR times this year. Second worst go of it was Zoe Fayolle, three times on the bubble.
MSA just now actually put some more riders on the list of twice on the season, these names include Bodhi Kuhn, Jacob Jewett, Stefano I, Matilda Melton, Jenna Hastings (brutal back to back), Frida Ronning (also B2B i think), and Finn Iles! Q1/Q2 has been SAVAGE to the elite Canadian Men...
Biggest upsets of the year I suppose were Ronan Dunne, though he made it through the next Qheat that race... And Myriam Nicole who didn't make it that race.
And so far I think biggest stand out rider will naturally go to Luke Meier-Smith. Don't think we're getting a better underdog storyline than that this DH season.
Not sure who the 'biggest name' missing a final would be... Myriam is kind of a shoe in, though she was returning from injury. I suppose, once again, Ronan Dunne comes to mind with that NIGHTMARE of a race in Loudenvielle. Bouncing back from that and grabbing a win this season was baller by him.
I'd put Danny Hart as the biggest name to miss finals, only because he has missed more than he has made.
I think we've really seen the pace rise this year and former winners have, over a whole season, been left wanting.
Charlie Hatton, Danny, Finn (injury related), Matt Walker, Reece Wilson (injury related) all have been totally eclipsed by some new names at the top of the sheets
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