All

Had a big drive yesterday and caught up with a few post race podcasts. Sven Martin was saying that 2 mob riders had already signed contracts which was Vali and Oisin and the 3rd just about to which I assume was Kolb . Vali to commence les orres which she could be riding with at the next round but he didn't mention who Oisin had signed with . He also said that with Vali signing a rider who thought they were with the les orres team next year now aren't so possibly Antoine Peirron looking for a ride ?

you can see all his YT bikes for sale already. Doubt he's sticking around with YT

Posted that she’s back on the bike. So sounds like she missed almost the whole season due to an injury.

Horrible timing for that guy, switching from Enduro to full time DH and gets a nasty injury the same year the company he rides for implodes. Hope he finds a spot somewhere, maybe he can spend a year racing North American DH races/Crankworx to get his feet back under him.

Total guess but I'd be very surprised if it was just one year .

I don't know if Laurie Greenland's contract is up but I think people are assuming he might be let go as he's perceived to of been having a bad season which I'm not sure he has , or at least not as bad as the results might suggest. He had an old school podium at Leogang I think and has had a fair bit of bad luck in finals and is coming off the back of health issues . He's a world cup winner and still relatively young and has shown he has pace when everything goes right for him...

Let's start a list of who is looking for a new DH team for 2026 : - Vali Höll - Andy Kolb - Oisin O'Callaghan - Dylan Maples - Dakotah Norton - Stephano Introzzi - he is the first rider in the UCI ranking without a team - Greenland ? - Brosnan -> signed with canyon until end of 2026 - Iles ?

If you’re not getting paid by your employer (allegedly), then that’s also a breach of contract on their side…

Vali, just herself, as a team, has enough points to be in the top 15. So just by signing Vali, you're guaranteed a spot in the wcdh circuit as long as she's on your team for the next couple years.

Is it really a surprise that a top level rider like Vali could find something that quickly? There were probably several team managers trying to figure out how to sign her..

From the boys at OTB podcast - Vali might turn up at North American races on a Commencal. Sounds like she may have already signed to Commencal Les Orres. Makes a ton of sense given Cecile & SRAM connections as well.

Kinda wild that Yeti is ranked that high. Digging into it, most of their points came from Cami who is retiring. Also amazing that she's earned nearly as many points as Bruni this year (1105 vs. 1126). I bet they go shopping for a replacement top 10 rider.

New rankings are out and Goodman has dropped to 18th. They’ll probably stay in that range after losing Pontvianne for the rest of the season. Rogue stayed at 15th after not scoring points in the last round. I could see Giant catching them as Rogue lost Simon Chapelet for the year and Daprela has a shoulder injury of some sort, didn’t start the worlds final or at Lenzerheide Scott could sneak into the top 15 depending on the YT situation. Outside chance FW gets in but tough with Asa only getting junior points. If he wins out that’s only 120...

Assuming YT weathers the storm and continues as a company, does anyone think athletes will sign with them in the future? Off the top of my head this is the third time athletes have been left hanging by them because the abruptly shut down their DH teams. Most notably Aaron Gwin, Dak and now this crop of athletes. Please correct me if I am wrong.

Angel was also cheap for Frameworks because he was still getting paid out of his old contract.

Great. So all we need is for the sneaky guys who have never done the right thing to be transparent and responsible and do the right thing!

Ya, your point is the one I was circling around. The second part of this fever dream thought experiment is - Soooo... an interesting outcome would be: YT folds and declares it immediately, a riders signs to a new team "for the period starting at the moment announced for the dissolution" (and probably before the last race), they sign with a new team before October 21st 2025, then those 2025 accrued points go to the new team for the 2026 team raking.

If yt can’t fulfill the contract obligations of being a Uci team then the riders are free agents. Not sure if it’s reached that point yet. A ride can’t just sign with another team though as that has to be done in the transfer window

So, I have 0 insider information, just pure speculation. If points stay with the team this year, and it's calculated in October, could there be a situation where a team signs a former/current YT rider to a contract this year and capture their points? I don't remember reading anything in the UCI about a cumulative rolling calculation of team points. Just a snapshot at the end of the year. I know UCI contracts in road have language around if a rider isn't paid they they are immediately released from their contract a free to sign with another team. Would be...

Do we simply toss around names and teams or is there at least anything to rely on?