In this course preview Jackson kept saying how loose everything was or how loose it was going to be by finals, but to my eyes the berms and jumps looked a thousand times more hard packed and bedded in after a winter under the snow. I remember last year all of the berms and features were getting built over the summer in the leadup to the event, and they all looked like pure moondust on the first day of practice. To me it all looks way better this year. Or way worse, if you want it to be a dust pile armageddon out there.
In this course preview Jackson kept saying how loose everything was or how loose it was going to be by finals, but to my eyes the...
In this course preview Jackson kept saying how loose everything was or how loose it was going to be by finals, but to my eyes the berms and jumps looked a thousand times more hard packed and bedded in after a winter under the snow. I remember last year all of the berms and features were getting built over the summer in the leadup to the event, and they all looked like pure moondust on the first day of practice. To me it all looks way better this year. Or way worse, if you want it to be a dust pile armageddon out there.
Loose over hard is the hardest conditions in my opinion. Some sections are a bit less tech. Pace is flying. I feel like this year is a bit more terrifying for sure.
But something has got to be done about the points system. Walking away from a World Cup having qualified and raced a finals in the top...
But something has got to be done about the points system. Walking away from a World Cup having qualified and raced a finals in the top 30 over 100 plus racers deserves credit. Someone will lose an overall or a paycheck or a ride because of that. Teams will dump racers who put up results, got on TV, had their sponsors on screen the world over...and yet on a score sheet, it's as if they never existed.
I'm not clear on what might need to be done about the points. I tend to think the points system works pretty well. If a male...
I'm not clear on what might need to be done about the points. I tend to think the points system works pretty well. If a male elite rider completes a run in finals he gets at least 31 points just for that. A female elite rider gets at least 30 points if she finishes a run in finals. And any rider who qualifies in Q1 also gets points.
Last year's men's overall came down to the last race in large part because of how consistent Loic Bruni had been all year: He earned 100 or more points in the first 9 races while Jackson Goldstone had 3 races that got him 65 or fewer points.
Can't remember the exact scenario, but someone qualified, raced, finished higher & still went backwards in the points versus someone who qualified. I assume because the fractions of seconds in Q2 that require death defying feats are of no value in the overall?
In this course preview Jackson kept saying how loose everything was or how loose it was going to be by finals, but to my eyes the...
In this course preview Jackson kept saying how loose everything was or how loose it was going to be by finals, but to my eyes the berms and jumps looked a thousand times more hard packed and bedded in after a winter under the snow. I remember last year all of the berms and features were getting built over the summer in the leadup to the event, and they all looked like pure moondust on the first day of practice. To me it all looks way better this year. Or way worse, if you want it to be a dust pile armageddon out there.
Agree, especially noticeable in that gross, blind, off-camber to hard-right thing...
But something has got to be done about the points system. Walking away from a World Cup having qualified and raced a finals in the top...
But something has got to be done about the points system. Walking away from a World Cup having qualified and raced a finals in the top 30 over 100 plus racers deserves credit. Someone will lose an overall or a paycheck or a ride because of that. Teams will dump racers who put up results, got on TV, had their sponsors on screen the world over...and yet on a score sheet, it's as if they never existed.
I'm not clear on what might need to be done about the points. I tend to think the points system works pretty well. If a male...
I'm not clear on what might need to be done about the points. I tend to think the points system works pretty well. If a male elite rider completes a run in finals he gets at least 31 points just for that. A female elite rider gets at least 30 points if she finishes a run in finals. And any rider who qualifies in Q1 also gets points.
Last year's men's overall came down to the last race in large part because of how consistent Loic Bruni had been all year: He earned 100 or more points in the first 9 races while Jackson Goldstone had 3 races that got him 65 or fewer points.
Can't remember the exact scenario, but someone qualified, raced, finished higher & still went backwards in the points versus someone who qualified. I assume because the fractions...
Can't remember the exact scenario, but someone qualified, raced, finished higher & still went backwards in the points versus someone who qualified. I assume because the fractions of seconds in Q2 that require death defying feats are of no value in the overall?
I think you're correct: The only bonus from qualifying in Q2 is that you get to race in the finals. Amaury Pierron has had to qualify in Q2 twice this season and is in 2nd in the overall, only 41 points out of first. If he had matched his qualifying performances of the first two races he'd be leading the standings, despite not having won a race.
First place in Q1 is worth 50 points, so someone from Q2 might have to finish substantially higher in finals to earn more points than a rider who had a very good Q1 placement (such as someone who qualified in the top 5 in Q1). Lots of different combinations of points available from qualifying and finals, so that's sort of a rule of thumb.
Jonty had a very horrible crash in practice, and posted video to his stories on IG. It looked/sounded to me like after he went over the front end in the berm going Mach 5, his left ankle, or foot, or lower leg, hit the stump right under his foot in the screen cap, and spun him around like a toy. Rough practice indeed. Hope he can keep blowing our minds.
Three of the women in the top 10 of the standings are on the start list for Q2, although it's not certain they'll all start. At least one might have had a wreck in Q1.
Anyway: Newkirk, Nicole, and Cabirou are on the start list. They're 2, 3, 4 in the standings.
Make of it what you will: 5 of last year's 6 Elite podium riders successfully qualified through Q1 today: Goldstone / Vergier / Hoffmann / Höll / Hemstreet qualified. The 6th, Bruni, is out with injury.
The gaps from 1st to 10th in Q1: Women - 7.312 seconds; Men - 1.830 seconds.
Incredibly, the spread in qualifying times is actually CLOSER here in La Thuile compared to Lenzerheide (which was probably the tightest we had ever seen at that point). 1.4% is the top-20 spread in Q1, compared to 1.6% in Lenzerheide.
Croatia's Simon Juras might have been angry about the football/soccer World Cup results from last night, because he just threw down the qualifier of his career so far!
I don’t think the track is a raw as it was last year
No surprise, it looks "straighter" & more hard packed everywhere. Last year there were almost 180 degree turns on silt. Was funny because I'd posted that if track designers wanted to push talent to the forefront & not lead bottom bracket weights, they'd throw in some hard braking directional changes on off camber if they didn't want Jackson to anchor down. He still smoked 'em...anchor and all.
Mikey DeLasalle was top 25 after split 1 in Q1. His time is holding up during Q2 but we're getting into the EIGHT World Cup DH winners now w/ Reece Wilson on track. NINE if you count Max Alran.
Yeah...they've definitely straightened the track this year. Jackson's fastest qualifier time last year - 3:33:716 Jordan's fastest qualifier time this year - 3:30:765
No wonder the times are pinched together even more. 19th place Q1 this year was faster than Jackson's fastest last year - 3:33:468
The World Cup powers that be just don't comprehend how to keep a track competitive. The racers will always be the show & make the times tight. But the designers have GOT to build in things that separate.
Tomorrow someone may get hurt very bad b/c when I look at last year's times they all dropped 3-5 seconds off their qualifying times. If that holds true tomorrow, going off course is gonna be grim.
does this track really seem too "straight" or not raw? with all rider comments being "best track of the year!" and "finally a real track!" i take that to mean it's rough and rowdy, not some bikepark thing. is it because there are some berms to keep things moving?
No surprise, it looks "straighter" & more hard packed everywhere. Last year there were almost 180 degree turns on silt. Was funny because I'd posted that...
No surprise, it looks "straighter" & more hard packed everywhere. Last year there were almost 180 degree turns on silt. Was funny because I'd posted that if track designers wanted to push talent to the forefront & not lead bottom bracket weights, they'd throw in some hard braking directional changes on off camber if they didn't want Jackson to anchor down. He still smoked 'em...anchor and all.
They made minimal changes the track is just bedded in more compared to being a fresh track last year.
Tomorrow someone may get hurt very bad b/c when I look at last year's times they all dropped 3-5 seconds off their qualifying times.If that holds...
Tomorrow someone may get hurt very bad b/c when I look at last year's times they all dropped 3-5 seconds off their qualifying times. If that holds true tomorrow, going off course is gonna be grim.
no one in q2 was faster than jordan. jordan had a 3:30. q2 was 3:31
In this course preview Jackson kept saying how loose everything was or how loose it was going to be by finals, but to my eyes the berms and jumps looked a thousand times more hard packed and bedded in after a winter under the snow. I remember last year all of the berms and features were getting built over the summer in the leadup to the event, and they all looked like pure moondust on the first day of practice. To me it all looks way better this year. Or way worse, if you want it to be a dust pile armageddon out there.
I've heard plenty of riders more out of breath during track walks!
I'll probably never stop being amazed by this guy.
Loose over hard is the hardest conditions in my opinion. Some sections are a bit less tech. Pace is flying. I feel like this year is a bit more terrifying for sure.
Can't remember the exact scenario, but someone qualified, raced, finished higher & still went backwards in the points versus someone who qualified.
I assume because the fractions of seconds in Q2 that require death defying feats are of no value in the overall?
Agree, especially noticeable in that gross, blind, off-camber to hard-right thing...
I think you're correct: The only bonus from qualifying in Q2 is that you get to race in the finals. Amaury Pierron has had to qualify in Q2 twice this season and is in 2nd in the overall, only 41 points out of first. If he had matched his qualifying performances of the first two races he'd be leading the standings, despite not having won a race.
First place in Q1 is worth 50 points, so someone from Q2 might have to finish substantially higher in finals to earn more points than a rider who had a very good Q1 placement (such as someone who qualified in the top 5 in Q1). Lots of different combinations of points available from qualifying and finals, so that's sort of a rule of thumb.
Jonty had a very horrible crash in practice, and posted video to his stories on IG. It looked/sounded to me like after he went over the front end in the berm going Mach 5, his left ankle, or foot, or lower leg, hit the stump right under his foot in the screen cap, and spun him around like a toy. Rough practice indeed. Hope he can keep blowing our minds.
We are live with the 'better than a spreadsheet' live updates at Gravity Lab
https://gravitylab.live/live.html?session=we-q1&event=20260703_mtb
That is so cool, so much better than just watching the times get posted on the live timing thing from UCI. Great work!
Women's Q1 top 10:
Three of the women in the top 10 of the standings are on the start list for Q2, although it's not certain they'll all start. At least one might have had a wreck in Q1.
Anyway: Newkirk, Nicole, and Cabirou are on the start list. They're 2, 3, 4 in the standings.
A couple of notes on Q1:
Incredibly, the spread in qualifying times is actually CLOSER here in La Thuile compared to Lenzerheide (which was probably the tightest we had ever seen at that point). 1.4% is the top-20 spread in Q1, compared to 1.6% in Lenzerheide.
Results after Q1: https://www.vitalmtb.com/news/news/results-la-thuile-downhill-world-cup-elite-qualifying
Notes on Junior women’s qualifying:
Gap from 1st to 10th: 21.895 seconds
Fastest qualifier Aletha Ostgaard’s time would have been good enough for 7th in the Elite women’s Q1.
"a raw track will separate the riders." 🤣🤣🤣
I don’t think the track is a raw as it was last year
Croatia's Simon Juras might have been angry about the football/soccer World Cup results from last night, because he just threw down the qualifier of his career so far!
https://www.vitalmtb.com/news/news/results-la-thuile-downhill-world-cup-junior-qualifying
Nicole, Widman, Melton, Ronning and Bouladou made it through Q2 for the finals.
Newkirk and Cabirou didn't. (They're 2nd and 4th in the overall standings.) Before today, Cabirou had qualified in Q1 in each race.
Nicole and Widman had times that would have been good enough to qualify in Q1.
charlie coquillard quali vid
No surprise, it looks "straighter" & more hard packed everywhere. Last year there were almost 180 degree turns on silt.
Was funny because I'd posted that if track designers wanted to push talent to the forefront & not lead bottom bracket weights, they'd throw in some hard braking directional changes on off camber if they didn't want Jackson to anchor down.
He still smoked 'em...anchor and all.
Mikey DeLasalle was top 25 after split 1 in Q1.
His time is holding up during Q2 but we're getting into the EIGHT World Cup DH winners now w/ Reece Wilson on track.
NINE if you count Max Alran.
Yeah...they've definitely straightened the track this year.
Jackson's fastest qualifier time last year - 3:33:716
Jordan's fastest qualifier time this year - 3:30:765
No wonder the times are pinched together even more.
19th place Q1 this year was faster than Jackson's fastest last year - 3:33:468
The World Cup powers that be just don't comprehend how to keep a track competitive.
The racers will always be the show & make the times tight. But the designers have GOT to build in things that separate.
Uggh! Gwin went off track. Split dove in sector 3. Hope he's OK.
Tomorrow someone may get hurt very bad b/c when I look at last year's times they all dropped 3-5 seconds off their qualifying times.
If that holds true tomorrow, going off course is gonna be grim.
does this track really seem too "straight" or not raw? with all rider comments being "best track of the year!" and "finally a real track!" i take that to mean it's rough and rowdy, not some bikepark thing. is it because there are some berms to keep things moving?
They made minimal changes the track is just bedded in more compared to being a fresh track last year.
The times are so tight!!! Go Mikey, congrats on qualifying for your first-ever elite finals! https://www.vitalmtb.com/news/news/results-la-thuile-downhill-world-cup-elite-qualifying
ok, i guess i mean "natural" when i say "raw."
no one in q2 was faster than jordan. jordan had a 3:30. q2 was 3:31
It would have been nice to see Aaron make it to finals since Mikey raced for him last year and they're now teammates at Frameworks.
Fantastic work by Mikey today, with a time that would have been top 5 in Q1. He was actually doing well in Q1 and then had a slow 3rd sector.
Post a reply to: 2026 La Thuile World Cup