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He saw the writing on the wall before last season started. Knew no teams were going to sign riders going forward for good salaries. He was 'forced' into retirement. If YT offered him another $250k/yr for 3 more years, he'd still continue racing. Just like all these guys and gals that are 'retiring'. ...totally understandable that they don't want to grind and want to 'move on' with their lives when they're only being offered tiny salaries or bro hookups. But that's all that's on the table anymore for Enduro.

Yeah, i agree with you. Moi Moi was keeping enduro going with his vlogs and was a more reliable and timely source of information on the races than the UCI. Charley Murray has already mentioned his race program for 2026 will be "slightly different." No idea, what that means though.

Plus, I believe pretty much everyone that applied for a wildcard spot last year got it..

I doubt it. From what I figured out when I lived in Germany is that ski resorts in Europe can be owned and operated by a blend of local town, regional committees and private companies (usually running the actual lifts). And the distance of culture, language etc.. between say Austria and France make large company ownership less likely

Peatys latest instagram with syndicate ride doesn’t tag Laurie in it. If anybody on the team could make it to Sheffield it would be him surely.

Everything at Specialized is 100% oriented towards Bruni. I don't think this is what Höll wants. I'd guess, her future team will be built around her, with people she feels comfortable with. That is why the Les Orres rumour is pretty obvious. Plus the bike is proven fast.

ya, strange one if true. PFR should have been rebranded BK Lifestyle Racing a long time ago, as it seems the primary reason Bernard runs that team is to fund his own preferred lifestyle. A guy who's so close to consistent top 10s like Maples needs better I feel.

The live feed of the crash actually made it look not too bad, but the side angle thats floating around instagram truly shows the size of the cliff he fell off. Pretty sure he has hip and injuries in one leg, but unsure of specifics Here is said insta post - https://www.instagram.com/reel/DQAXtkrCYVl/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link…

Not showing a crash (insulating people from the realities) won’t accomplish much for rider safety. It will definitely be better for the sport as people won’t be scared away from viewing. Many other sports have matured to be open and honest about the realities and dangers. It is nice, however, that they don’t replay the crash and zoom in on the lifeless athlete. That is a respect thing though, in my opinion.

When adolf crashed they were pretty much able to land the chopper at the bottom of the landing and walk his stretcher over to it. Emil was next to a cliff just off one of those exposed ridges. Unsure how hurt Emil was or if they were being cautious and simply didn’t want him to exacerbate any issues trying to get down the hill. But he was in a much more difficult place to extract someone. I usually don’t have a issue with the judging. But it really seemed all over the place this year.

Can someone put sam pilgrim in contact with these boys please. I bet he would take that thing down a line and actually look good while doing so.

By my calculations (could be wrong), 18 of the top 20 ranked teams earned their "spot" fair and square. It was only Cube and Yeti, ranked 20th and 21st who got wildcard spots instead of the slightly higher ranked teams of Rouge Racing and Goodman Santa Cruz. Tough times, but alot of stacked teams in there none the less

No Goodman - Santa Cruz is a bit of a bummer.

There are quite a few DH racers who go with the EX471 on their DH bikes. The 25mm ID is what they are after. Be it their familiarity with the rim or preferring the rounder tire shape that it offers.

Honestly it's a big W for Kenda if the other website considers them on par with the competition.

take the tire talk somewhere else! Juanfer Velez on Intense Factory Racing - https://www.vitalmtb.com/videos/member/intense-factory-racing-introduce…

The sport needs to move away from endemic only sponsors etc.. so one team per frame brand just makes no sense. Why stop a team or brand who want to run a development and a-team program?

I know he's an icon of the sport, but he has only been in one WC final since 2023, and that was at the first race in 2023. He's barely made it into the top 50 in semis most races. He's an icon, but sports progress.