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The hardtail thing at a World Cup was cool when Phil Atwell did it a few years ago as an exhibit to showcase a track that at the time riders said was too bike parkish and not inline with what a World Cup track should be.
And he did one run. He didn't insist on running that bike all weekend.
So finals kick off at 11:00 PM CST tonight for Elite Women? Any junior coverage?
The Setup from FOX at South Korea
ed bull qualifying day (algo just now referred it to me 7 hours after it was posted 🤷♂️)
Yes, juniors an hour beforehand
couple of observations
For a track with so much line choice possibility, it's kind of funny how one line has burned in and not many are deviating from it.
The hardtail guy is exactly the opposite of what the UCI/WBD/Bruni wanted isn't it? I thought this was for elite factory teams, the formula 1 of DH has a 1994 Toyota Camry running on 3 cylinders on course. You will know I'm a big proponent of privateers. But I kind of feel turning up on a hardtail is taking the piss a bit and is not in the spirit of the sport.
Nonsense like that is going to ruin it for the actual privateers trying to make it happen.
@sspomer when is bikes unaffiliated leaning into typical podcast discussions of wild conspiracy theories? I mean how can the HT guy not be a plant by WBD to turn the whole fan base against privateers. It's obvious they are a safety hazard...
option 1: it's one line b/c the bulk of the loose debris was not removed/rake before practice making alternative lines virtually impossible as the piles of said debris littered the surface outside of the main racing line.
option 2: they always pick the fastest way down the mountain and multi-line tracks aren't actually a viable reality except for a random move or two.
^^^THIS!!!
max.com watching schedule (these times are mountain time USA) - i just searched "uci" and this came up.
Junior women go at 7:30 PST. Coverage is usually a phone duct taped to the finish line fence.
Exactly. Take that dartmoor to rampage and show the unique take on the sport where you're not gonna ruin someone else's chance that's actually taking it seriously
The UCI World Series page shows 11:30 for the start of Juniors. Has that been changed to 11:00?
Schedule at: https://www.ucimtbworldseries.com/events/race-of-south-korea-2026
Start list shows that the jr women are dropping at 11:30 am local time
Thanks, @BGoldstone
Whoops... I didn't notice that @FerrousBueller was talking bout Elite women and was talking about the Central time zone (US) not Korea time, so I guess he had that right. It agrees with the schedule (13:00 Korea time for Elite women).
Just curious on the hardtail guy debate why more people are not up in arms over the Indonesian champ? Dude seems cool as hell, seem happier than anyone else to be there, BUT lets be real now the guy can only use one finger to brake and his pinkie and thumb to hold on on one hand and cant brake on the other hand. As much as he is an inspiration it also seems just as if not more dangerous then HT guy.
How many incidents did he cause?
Well he is the champ for his country and has an actual physical disability verses just a guy pulling a bit of a “look at me”. Again I’m not even mad the hardtail guy is there. I just think he should’ve borrowed a buddy’s bike and gave it an actual go.
Along with not being called out for causing any incidents (so far), I mean the dude has a single finger for braking and beat hardtail guy by ~90 seconds. The rider that took the longest to cross the line was... Dak. As far as I know he caused no incidents to other riders all weekend.
It seems that the true issue causing problems in this scenario wasn't necessarily the bike type, how many fingers you have, or how many times you crashed... More so what resides between the ears. And how you can use it to safely navigate a course for yourself and others. In between the Asa clip, Breeden clip, Wyn story, the crashing clips and qualy speed... Our ability to defend him diminishes with each media release.
I think I can speak for most when I say we wanted to like hardtail guy. Put the other riders on a hardtail right now and I guarantee they don't experience the same issues this guy ran into... What you could say is "bringing a hardtail to a WC at all makes the intentions clear". Exhibition. Part of me would like to know how he would perform on FS. But a FS would not guarantee he navigates a track safely...
Women's Juniors finals is underway.
Aletha Ostgaard is setting a very quick time early. Looks like she's more than 12 seconds faster than Rosa Zierl's top qualifying time.
Congrats to Aletha. That's her 3rd straight WC win and 6th straight win since the Fox US Open last fall.
RicMc just said three year deal for this track—did we already know that?
Nice work out there, lads. Hats off.
One of the podcasts, I believe Downtime, said that. I assumed it was a 2 year and was a little surprised to hear 3.
Is RicMc pretending not to know the big jump is closed?
Jonty Williamson lays down a fast 4th sector to come back from more than a second back and goes on for the win.
Holy shit the commentators aren’t there, are they?
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