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It's not tennis. We should never put the pressure of having a minor take their life in their hands to win $3000 trying to beat a seasoned 10 year professional with an unlimited budget & depth of experience that simply can't be replicated. A 16 year old, well guided or not, would more often than not, risk getting paralyzed to get in finals. There will always be a Jackson or an Asa. But part of why they can put down a time that rivals the best of the Elite field is they're racing their peers. Teens. Removing Junior category leaves...

I thought one of WBD’s main goals was to improve the juniors category and to support young riders. Well, they actually achieved that goal — the depth of talent has never been greater in the junior ranks. I’d even go as far as to say it’s sometimes more exciting to watch the juniors than the elites. Hats off. By scrapping the junior category, WBD isn’t just dropping the improvements — they’re abandoning one of their core goals: developing and supporting young riders. So either that goal was pure PR talk, or this is one of the first WBD decisions that...

They were scheduling juniors for TV slots? It was already an afterthought. But seriously, this is bad unless they have legitimate plans to support feeder systems. Where do talented kids get to prove themselves and experience racing like what it will be at the big show?

I'm not 100% opposed to that idea, but I think it comes with a few caveats. A shorter final will make for a better media product, but overall worse for us hardcore fans. That would have to come with Youtube live Q2, so you can still have a chance to watch your favorite riders. And the tracks would have to be more difficult with impressive features if you're really trying to catch the barely interested TV viewer. Then you will need more non-endemic sponsors because Larry watching channel 23 doesn't give a shit about which suspension brand offers the most...

My two cents. I like watching “second tier” riders right along side the pointy end dudes. Especially when you get to see a rider develop over a few seasons. The rider that starts to qualify more regularly, then becomes a top 15-20 dude, then top 10, and finally a podium threat. I like to see this on the same courses as Loic and Jackson, it gives me scale. I love WC racing, I pay to watch. I am not going to suddenly start paying close attention to IXS Cups. I’ll look at the results of a Monster Energy Series race...

I’m sorry, but Daprela doesn’t ‘deserve’ anything. Racing at a World Cup level is a privilege not a right. It’s beyond just being fast, you also need to have certain aspects of professionalism and be enjoyable to be around. Regardless of what actually happened in the ‘incident’, his continued behavior in the aftermath is uncouth and any team should be hesitant for that alone.

I'll say it again, the top eight junior women would have qualified for elite women's finals in Val di Sole. All the junior women that have been interviewed are upset they weren't given the option to choose their line and wanted to hit the road gap. Why do we believe that junior men are capable of making their own choices, but junior women aren't?

UCI just announced in the Rider Communications that the road gap is closed for the Junior women in DH this weekend, B-line only. Its open for Elite M and W and junior men. i thought this was 2025? Why not let the girls decide for them selves whether they want to take the B-line or not.

I just don't think it's okay to say junior men are allowed to make that decision, but junior women aren't. The top eight junior women would have placed within the top 15 elite women in Val di Sole...

Reece Wilson sharing his thoughts on the tracks

Pretty sure every UCI DH racer agrees with him.

This is a biking forum so I don't want to get derailed too much but NO!, of course I'm not in favor of extrajudicial unconstitutional attacks on minorities. I also hate the guy that's been doing that (also has a ton of SA allegations). At least in the US, not sure about elsewhere, but less than 4% of sexual assaults wind up in convictions. So while yeah, the government shouldn't jail somebody without conviction in a court of law, the participants in a sport that can be exceedingly bro-y should definitely call out and shun people who have a predatory...

Cube is the only team that applied for a combined category team XC/DH. As they ranked 15 in XC, I assume they found their in for DH.

Very, very fast young finn Kasper Hickman coming to Juniors next year with Cube Factory Racing. Won IXS races last year and many times being fastest of all - including beating Andi Kolb at Schladming. About Cube - isn't anyone thinking that isolated/floating brake mount from Cube proto would be next big thing after ochain and it's rivals? That completely isolates braking from suspension.

It's up to men to call it out, especially in this current society where women require a high standard of evidence in order to be believed. Sure, innocent until proven guilty is good and all, but people don't require the standard of evidence like a court to know someone's unpleasant to be around. We need better standards and to hold other men accountable for shit.

I think this is a problem with communities like mtb - everyone wants to think its a chill sport but because no-one wants to rock the boat and call people out, it creates an environment for predators who know they can get away with awful behaviour.

imagine using a “hey at least I’m not as bad as the NFL” argument in real life

Alleged still doesn't look good to people buying products. If I was a bike shop owner and somebody applied to work there and was alleged to be replacing customers' fork oil with olive oil and skidding the showroom bike tires in the parking lot, I wouldn't hire him, because our customers wouldn't trust him to work on their bike. Daprela is alleged of much worse. I just can't see how that makes sense for Rogue Racing's sponsors.

Disappointing to see there are still teams willing to support Daprela after what he is alleged to have done. There are a ton of other riders without teams that are almost as fast and come with none of the baggage. I would've thought sponsors would prefer their riders to be fast and good human beings, rather than just fast.

Another nice spread of races from iXS. Arguably not as interesting as the 2024 calendar (attached for reference) and one less race. But it is cool to see that the changes to World Cups are already having an impact on the visibility of smaller series. Last year no one cared that the iXS euro cup had races on former WC tracks and sick venues like Verbier. This year we do. So that's a positive for the whole DH racing scene I think. Also Kudos to iXS for being able to pin down so many venues that are new to them...