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Hey guys, a few people have asked why we took the pod down for a bit over the weekend. Quick explanation… I want to give everyone on the pod a platform to speak candidly. With this episode we were up against it, we only recorded on Friday morning & I knew Singletrack were publishing on Friday evening, so we rushed it out & Jack, Emilie & Joe didn’t get a chance to listen back to it until it was live. On reflection there were a couple of bits where people wished they’d phrased things differently. I was racing at the...

Lachie Stevens McNab at a guess. He's due a big ride. Trek or Syndicate I'm spitballing.

For the UCI team ranking, the final individual DHI UCI World Cup standings of the previous year and the DHI UCI World Championships results by attributing points as per the table below will be used to determine the UCI ELITE MTB DOWNHILL TEAM status. The top 15 ranked teams in the UCI MTB TEAM rankings are offered the opportunity to register as a UCI ELITE MTB TEAM. If these teams decline the opportunity, then the invitation is offered to the next team in the UCI MTB TEAM ranking. Invitations are only extended to teams ranked in the top 20. A...

I dont see that happening, has a too many cooks in the kitchen feel to it. Tahnee has expressed that she has been more involved on the team management side of things and is a marketing machine, probably more so than all but a couple elite men. The Athertons are going to want to be hands on with their name on the bikes and their obvious racing expertise, I could see Rachel running the Atherton team in the future whatever that may look like.

FMD is an interesting one as I could imagine nearly every brand would want Tahnee but not necessarily the whole FMD program. Kolb to YT purely because he's Austrian although I'm hoping that Atherton are staying at the races .

She seemed to come out of nowhere and excel on the Junior WC circuit: 3 races, no quali lower than 5th and no race result lower than 4th. I thought I saw something that said she's done Enduro and that she won the Swedish national Downhill championship for Junior women last year, but now I can't find where I saw that. The Junior women have been a massively pleasant surprise this year and in 2023. Women's Elite could shape up to be something very special in the next 2 or 3 years, the way these young women are performing.

On site facilities like bathrooms, water etc are all issues. Shuttles and parking would also be issue with spectators and large field of riders.

I forget which forum this was already discussed, but the local infrastructure (apparently) can't handle it. Some commenters said it could handle a Redbull Hardline race, but a World Cup would be too difficult for the entire circus to find lodging, food, etc

Surely someone will give Ella Svegby a ride for next year, she's been very impressive .

Not really a rumor, since it's published on UCI's team listings for 2024, but Nathan Pontvianne and Mylann Falquet are shown as members of the Goodman Santacruz team. UCI listed them as members of the Pinkbike team last year, although they apparently only received "support" (whatever that means) from PB. Nathan placed 2nd overall in Men's Juniors last year and Mylann was 4th in Juniors. Nathan took 1st, 2nd, and 3rd in 3 of the last 5 races. Mylann placed 2nd and 3rd in the last 2 races of the season. I don't know if they are still Juniors for...

Personally while I think it’s unlikely I’d love it if gwin went without a frame sponsor and just rode whatever frame he tests to be best. Not that uncommon in other two wheeled sports and neko has proven you don’t need a frame sponsor to put a budget together with far less resources than Aaron has at his disposal.

You what mate! You've been a member here since 2015 and your only posts have been to rag on Katy... I don't think anyone needs to say anything else about you. Shush up

There’s no place for that attitude here, I suggest you quieten down or find positive things to say. Straight up, people are losing their livelihoods this year and they’re going to be in turmoil, put yourself in their shoes and be kind or keep your hate in that thick skull.

For the same reason “no one wants”: Danny Hart, Cole Lucas, Greg Callaghan, Bex Baroana, the list goes on… The sport is struggling at the moment, kicking riders whilst they’re down is a weird hill to die on

I like Canyon's approach to up n comers. They gave Lukasick and Scarsi spot in the Pirelli team, Lukasick moved to Yeti and now Scarsi bumped up to CLLCTV. Menzies was a somewhat privateer couple years ago, now with CLLCTV. This is the way.

Hart

Zoe Cuthbert (U21 XC and EDR rider from Australia) has picked up a ride on Jenny Rissveds Team 31 after a couple of years doing the privateer thing.

Shameless promotion time. I sat down with Alan Milway (coach and Norco team manager) last week to chat about all the DH team moves and get this thoughts on them. Podcast version is live now here https://www.downtimepodcast.com/team-moves-2024/ YouTube version premieres at 6pm GMT today if anyone fancies joining us here https://youtu.be/9kXXLt4lsuI

We can see some fingers, so we are in the need of a detailed hand analysis once again. Show us your magic, Enhanced Freckle Distribution Analysis guys!