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"What was his qualifying time Ric?" "Free Firty Free & Free Hundrits"

I think he got better towards the end of the year. Cedric was the worst of the commenting IMO. Ric did a really good job a few years ago doing the EWS highlight videos. Seems like he is the guy in the booth moving forward so hopefully he keeps improving.

Moimoi is on YT? I don’t think they make a sender

Bold move for Daprela. Completely new EVERYTHING for him to learn/dial in. Suspension, brakes, tires, drivetrain, all different than his Commencal build. I think the team is great fit for him, fingers crossed he can stay healthy. The opportunity to work with Fabian (especially as a fellow Frenchman) must be really exciting.

Between the lines of your post is an unfortunate reality about Danny — the most memorable thing he will ever do in his career was over a decade ago, and is in fact largely about Rob Warner’s announcing, not Danny himself. As an aging racer with diminishing results, anything he can do (aside from coming back with another 2011-World-Champs-style performance or multiple World Cup wins) is going to be overshadowed by *that run.* Sponsors don’t really get to cash in on that retroactively, either. It was done on a Giant, and always will have been done on a Giant. With...

My thought is that those who had their contracts expire this year are having a tough time reconciling their worth against others who signed at peak market insanity. In all likelihood, Bex and Danny fall into this camp. They won’t be able to secure a ride if they are expecting the same salary as someone, on par with their results and marketability, who signed in 2022, say. They will need to make concessions which may hurt the ego but will be the way, going forward.

While I agree they might not be the best brand of bike out there, WCDH overall winner Matt Walker and junior World Champion Jordan Williams might disagree with your opinion of what a rider can achieve on Saracen bikes.

I’m all for paying racers good money but if all you sponsor are racers you’re missing out on a huge portion of the riding market. Most of riders don’t care that much about racing.

Who is Meg Whyte?

Neko, Asa, mystery rider, Anxo, Logan, probably one other mechanic/support person. At a minimum average of $50k salary per person per year you’re already at $300k. Then Martin Whiteley’s management cost ($25-50k). Add on travel (bare minimum $5k per race per person, so $25-30k per race x 8 WC races, then domestic races. There’s another $300k at a minimum. Tack on insurance, taxes and other stuff. So $600k on a tight budget, and the whole reason riders get Martin Whiteley involved is so they aren’t on a shoestring budget. I sure hope Neko’s salary is at least $150k though. Hence...

There is a maximum of ten riders for uci elite teams at world cup mtb and there is an overall team ranking for all disciplines. It's been like that for many years

In DH, there's a Team known as MS Racing. In SX, there's a team called Rick Ware Racing.

Angel's got no angel.. he's been hopping on and off for a while now. Hope he does better next time!

Looks awesome! Reminds me of the old Specialized derailleur buddy. It's obviously printed, but out of what material? Can't tell if it's metal or plastic.

Very close to some of my points I've made before in this debate. Keeping the cozy UCI run, RBTV broadcast series was always going to reach a dead end of sorts (probably very soon). In terms of potential for outside sponsorship etc. While things were great for lots of "real" fans. It's clear that the ones who won't now tune in care more for their entertainment than they do the sport. Which is fine of course. But, you can't have the cake and it it and all that. More prize money for riders, more outside sponsors, more professionalism etc... have...

No not surprised at all..humans are like that.. especially in countries like here in US where we have thousands of sport entertainment options on social media, streaming etc. The idea that the racing wasn't "as good" in 2023 compared to 22 is nonsense though. The racing was better by all accounts. And from VDS onwards the coverage was good enough to be worth the money I paid for GCN. Wasn't as good as RB but it's year one. I'm willing to give them a few seasons to sort it out. Some aren't. That's how it is. The top one racers...

Seems DH fans are expecting a lot out of a niche sport. There's not that many sports where the athletes make direct money from TV revenue. Sadly, for now, the only way we can help riders "make more money" from being on TV is by tuning in. It's a salary sport, and good salaries for top riders. It's not a prize money sport (luckily for the riders) and not a TV revenue sport, cos the previous TV provider probably didn't make huge money from their free streaming model. So expecting riders and teams to get.money from TV revenue in year...

yeah, i got that… but he says greg won‘t be on THAT bike in the pictures which i unterstand as there‘s gonna be a new one from norco