All

Here's a challenge: name another team with three elite male racers who could win on any given day. Was that team able to sustain that level of parity between their riders? I have to go back to IronHorse Madcatz or Volvo Cannondale in my mental rolodex to think of a team that's had this level of talent on the payroll. What's most impressive and surprising is that Specialized (who typically cannot wait to drop underperforming riders) has kept Jordan on the payroll for the four years of consistently upper midpack results since his first win so that he had time...

Loic always got preferential treatment. They all talked about it many times. Loic being out has always been the thing Finn needed. Jordan I don’t know, he’s more of an enigma. That said, they were all flying in S. Korea. Nico being in the team must be a game changer.

I’m sure loic would like to see his team win in his absence. Pressure will be on everyone when loic returns. Which loic certainly thrives on more than most.

I don’t think anything’s changed tbh, Finn took most of last year off to properly recover and spent the whole winter riding and on good health, Jordan having Nico there as a coach is obviously going to help. If anything if Loic wasn’t injured it would mean just more Specialized team riders in the top 5

First season of Nico on the team yeah? Could be an interesting conversation at the end of year. Great team, great bike, great riders. Comes down to resource allocation and having more time for the guys that are left. Some unconscious rider hierarchy bias probably comes into it. How good would it be for Jordan to clap back at Jackson the year after he has the season of his life? Those two still battling years after their junior fight.

Looks like CB Mallets in the pics.

Martin Maes was 2nd with flats at Les Gets last year.

It's all very strange. When Loïc (or Finn in 2022) was winning on different proto versions of this now production bike, it was always the suspension that was the key part. Now suddenly they win 4 in a row on give or take the same bike Jordan and Finn raced last year and the bike is the key? Strange, cos Finn struggled to qualify on it last year if my memory serves me.

On the La Thuile post race downtime podcast Neko talked about how they finally got Gwin to try different suspension settings

Random thoughts / observations: I watched jr's this weekend. I normally don't have time and maybe just watch the highlights of them if anything. The jr women are fucking flying and its not just Aletha either. They are all tapped and riding really active on the bike. It would be interesting to see where the majority of them slotted in vs the elites. I think the Elite womans field is going to get detonated next year and they are going to need to expand the number of finals. Go watch the Jr's!

Jordan is the man of "boring lines, hit to perfection" it's mesmerizing to watch him!! Other than that: That mental boost you get from sending something well is enormous. I only race national enduros, but one thing that has helped me a lot is picking one section on every stage and executing it exactly how I want. Nothing crazy and no hero moves. Just something I know I can do if I stay focused. It could be opening up a corner perfectly, hitting the exact braking point, or greasing a small gap. Just one small thing. It does a few...

How was Loic’s suspension at worlds last year?

Reece absolutely has the worst bike setup of anyone in the senior men's ranks, and the only thing I learned from his second place at Andorra is that he's even more talented than I realized. Random question: does anyone know what tires Jordan was running? Seems like the Specialized team are on Cannibals 90% of the time unless it's a mudder, but I'm wondering if they maybe switched to a front or rear Hillbilly for the super loose conditions at Andorra.

Also 2 different riders. Also not the prophesied golden child, so that as well. It's kinda hard to talk about bikes when it's always the rider and some companies have more teams (cough commy cough)... But yeah, if the topic was success per gate drop, the Commencal may be the 'best bike'. Vali is sure as sh!t about to give them some numbers to ink in the history books. Asa's done great on the FWs and now Anna's got one. That's about as small a team as you can get outside of just being a privateer/solo program. So what does...

i think the sentiment is that the v10 hasn't changed much in years (not a bad thing) and is a "simple" design (also not a bad thing). the demo is basically a new-this-year freak bike of a contraption that is holding its own, so it's kind of exciting.

Ha yeah the crop top look doesn't really work for our boy 😏

As someone who's won and lost bike races, I think there's something to be said for that old saying. When I was racing, I always kept that phrase in mind when I was processing my nerves about a high risk section, especially the gnarly gaps that only the gnarliest riders were doing in practice. Hitting all the gnarly lines is a great way to win practice, but at Andorra, for instance, Jackson Goldstone was the only rider that I saw doing that super gnarly gap in the bottom third of the track (same rock section where Amaury ate shit and...

V-10 got four wins in a row last year and nobody said a thing.

Stoked to see Dak climbing the ladder. Gotta be hard to perform in that kit, maybe he can convince them to change it over the break. Inside Line pod topic ?! Should be entertaining to see the follow up Cathro video on bar height post Reece result!