2024 UCI DH/XC/Enduro Megathread

[jm2e]

Tell me again how this is going to get more people interested in World Cup racing and put more money in the pockets of more racers…….??


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[HAB]

Sounds like watching bikes next season will require a Max subscription + a $10/month sports add on (which apparently also includes NHL, MLB, and NBA). That's for the U.S. - presumably other countries are different.

But only a small percentage of those other sports. They advertise "over 300 matches a year", which is a whopping 6% of the total NHL/NBA/MLB regular seasons combined.

[joetron]

Getting bike racing on the same platform as most of the ball/puck/stick sports seems like a rational plan for attracting eyeballs….much more so than a small niche streaming service.
It’s kinda funny to see the consolidation of streaming services…it’s almost like what if there was a service that provided basically all the content you wanted, and also a bunch you don’t care about, all from one place for a fairly reasonable price.

I feel ok about this. I’ve already got Max, would be psyched to watch MLB and NBA playoffs and all the bike racing I can handle.


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[toast2266]

Getting bike racing on the same platform as most of the ball/puck/stick sports seems like a rational plan for attracting eyeballs….much more so than a small niche streaming service.
It’s kinda funny to see the consolidation of streaming services…it’s almost like what if there was a service that provided basically all the content you wanted, and also a bunch you don’t care about, all from one place for a fairly reasonable price.

I feel ok about this. I’ve already got Max, would be psyched to watch MLB and NBA playoffs and all the bike racing I can handle.


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I more or less agree. I don't really care about the stick and ball sports (especially since football isn't included, and as HAB said, apparently it's a small fraction of the games). But consolidation was fairly inevitable.

The real question is: how long until it comes full circle and we're just back to the exact same situation we were with cable? Hugely inflated prices in the name of getting "all" the content, but 99.99% of the content is complete garbage. But you're stuck paying for it because it's been bundled for convenience and it's the only way to get the .01% of content you actually want to watch.

[grskier]

Lots of Team Talk on the various podcasts. Seems like things are moving more elite and only minor tweaks to race week. Oh, and Redbull Hardline this week!

Game on.

[Canada1]

Blunk is kicking ass in the Spain races. Will be fun to watch her. Interested to see how Batten and Blevins come to it this year. Interested to see if Swenson continues his Gravel run. Wish there was more out there on all of them, but I also get that training content isn’t that interesting to most.

[smmokan]

There is a good YouTube series about last year’s Lifetime Series that was launched a few weeks ago. Keegan and some of the others are on the TrainerRoad podcast fairly regularly too.

[toast2266]

Lots of Team Talk on the various podcasts. Seems like things are moving more elite and only minor tweaks to race week. Oh, and Redbull Hardline this week!

Game on.

Taz hardline looks like it'll be a fun watch. I was skeptical, but it seems like they put together a pretty decent course.

[grskier]

Taz hardline looks like it'll be a fun watch. I was skeptical, but it seems like they put together a pretty decent course.

BK's long ass vlogs have been a good look at how they all walk these things, and seeing some of the top 10 on the WC kinda freak out at some features put this into context.

[smmokan]

Watch Jackson Goldstone's course preview today... definitely a few sketchy parts, but IMO it doesn't look nearly as gnarly as the Hardline Wales course. It looks more like a beefed-up World Cup DH course (other than the huge road gap).

[grskier]

Here is the preview:

[Eluder]

Man the jumps and drops are BIG

[skinipenem]

Here is the preview:

Oh Hell Yeah!!!

UCI can eat a bag of deez nuts.

Let's GOooOOooOoo!

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[toast2266]

Yeah, those jumps / drops are a *lot* bigger than what's on world cup tracks.

But yeah, Wales certainly seems techier. All in all though, the Taz course looks rad. Especially for a first year effort. The first year or two in Wales had some seriously sketchy shit in it (and not really in a good way).

[Dantheman]

That looks proper rowdy.

[smmokan]

Yeah, those jumps / drops are a *lot* bigger than what's on world cup tracks.

But yeah, Wales certainly seems techier. All in all though, the Taz course looks rad. Especially for a first year effort. The first year or two in Wales had some seriously sketchy shit in it (and not really in a good way).

Yep, should be super fun to watch!

[skinipenem]

Yeah, those jumps / drops are a *lot* bigger than what's on world cup tracks.

But yeah, Wales certainly seems techier. All in all though, the Taz course looks rad. Especially for a first year effort. The first year or two in Wales had some seriously sketchy shit in it (and not really in a good way).

Agreed. For hardline to compete with uci world cup the courses may need to be a bit more accessible than the original Wales course. Assuming Redbull intends to compete with uci.

Either way, the hardline courses are awesome!!!

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[jm2e]

I doubt anyone involved with Hardline has any intention of "competing" with World Cup DH. It was always meant to be something entirely different.
Now, whether it's morphed away from Athy's original plan of creating the most technically difficult track(s) in the world that only the best riders in the world could navigate? I don't think that's the plan anymore. Original Hardline was reported by the riders as technically harder than any WC trail, and it had a few gratuitous big airs. Athy himself said the goal was to push the boundaries of what can be done by the best riders. Since then, the tech has been cleaned up and it's become more about Fest sized airs that look good on TV. But the run in to the Wales road gap, and pretty much everything after the road gap seems way harder than anything in Tazmania.
To me, the Taz track looks more like a "Dreamline" track for World Cup racers. Probably a lot more fun for them than any World Cup track, and the airs are all huge but straight forward for them.
Not as big as Fest, but way better for "racing" than ALine.
It'll be good entertainment for sure. And I imagine the riders will have fun.

[toast2266]

^^^ agreed with all of that.

Aside from the made for TV aspect of it, I also think with the original hardline track, they were having a bit of trouble getting good talent to show up. It's structured as a race, so they kinda need real racers to compete. But real racers aren't interested in getting hurt at a one-off event. So they sanitized the track a bit so more of the top talent were willing to ride it.

Even with the "easy" Taz track, Bruni still opted out due to the risk.

[toast2266]

That was an entertaining race. Definitely felt a bit more like a traditional race than the Wales version. In large part due to the lengthy middle section of the track that was neither particularly techy or filled with big jumps. Thought the coverage was pretty good, although a bunch of the camera angles didn't really do justice to the features.

Also just nice to watch some racing in the middle of the winter.


*** spoilers below ***

Impressed by Dunne - looking forward to seeing what he does this WC season. The fact that he was able to hold off Kerr, even though Kerr's had a couple weeks of practice on the track, is pretty rad.

That said, Goldstone was clearly moving at a completely different pace from the rest of the field. Bummed we didn't get to at least see a split time from him, although pinkbike commenters said he was about 2 seconds up via freeze frame video grabs. Sounds like he might have a knee injury - hopefully it's not too bad.

[skinipenem]

Great race. Super impressed by Gracey. She nailed the first full hardline race run by a woman and beat out a couple dudes.

Camera angles did not do the course justice. Very difficult to tell how techy anything was given the coverage.

Dunne smoked the course with a days less practice than anyone else. I think he was on a stock Summum too? His custom hardline bike waa lost in the post? Or did his get there just in time for the raceday?

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[gramboh]

Awesome to see Gracey put down that run, hope it boosts her confidence and pace going into WCDH season. Hope Jackson isn't a bad MCL and he's back on form for this season, seemed like a freak crash.

[toast2266]

Daprela off canyon after only 3 months "by mutual agreement." He says he'll be racing as a privateer. The rumor mill seems to suggest that he did something improper with a female, and commencal, and now canyon booted him for that reason. Nothing official on that front though.

It'll be interesting to see how this plays out.

[Eluder]

Daprela off canyon after only 3 months "by mutual agreement." He says he'll be racing as a privateer. The rumor mill seems to suggest that he did something improper with a female, and commencal, and now canyon booted him for that reason. Nothing official on that front though.

It'll be interesting to see how this plays out.

Kinda shocking, it seems like it has to be something not good for two big teams to run that quickly away from a top 5 talent.

[toast2266]

Article on the Daprela thing, with a statement from Daprela (translated from French)

Before we begin, let’s provide some context. This Thursday, March 14, Thibaut Dapréla announced on his social networks his separation, by mutual agreement, from the Canyon CLLCTV team where he had only just arrived (at the beginning of January) from the Commencal Muc-Off team where he had been since his beginnings. This very surprising double departure led to a number of questions and allegations were made that these two departures were linked to extra-sporting reasons. You can find all the information in this first article that we published: After Commençal, the very strange departure of Thibaut Dapréla from Canyon .

We managed to contact Thibaut Dapréla directly, currently in Portugal to take part in a preparation race, this Friday March 15 in the morning. Here is the content of our exchange with the French pilot:

“ I did not wish to communicate further at the start, but faced with certain defamatory comments and allegations which come back to me from certain people who nevertheless shake my hand and smile at me when they see me but who attack me from behind, I would like to give some additional elements because this goes too far. It takes a lot of energy from me when I would like to devote myself to my sport and winning races. »

First of all, we asked Thibaut Dapréla the reasons for his departure from the Commençal team. “ It’s a considered decision. I wanted a change of horizon and I was very happy with this new start. Unfortunately, following the announcement of my arrival within the Canyon CLLCTV team, problems began because obviously people in the community who knew my sporting abilities perfectly did not appreciate the fact that I was riding for Canyon at all. From there, people clearly tried to destroy or even destabilize me with odious practices. These actions caused a lot of harm to me but also to my loved ones and my family, which demonstrates vile, disloyal behavior and very far from sporting values. I could never have imagined such a smear campaign. »

“ Unfortunately I can't say more because there is nothing to say. This is where it is terrible and frustrating for me and my family, my parents, my little sister. »

Then, we asked the question about leaving Canyon. “ This was done by mutual agreement, for legal reasons. On the other hand, I would like to point out that even if I ride within a private structure and if I am no longer part of the Canyon CLLCTV team, I will ride on a Canyon Sender next season. I will also keep most of the components that I have been testing for several months in order to capitalize on all the work done this winter. »

Finally, we returned to the allegations which point to extra-sporting reasons for the departure of Thibaut Dapréla from the Commencal/Muc-Off structures, then Canyon. “ There is no extra-sporting reason. However, given the way things are going, my family and I are now surrounded by advisors and lawyers in order, if necessary, to pursue anyone who still makes insulting or defamatory remarks about me. I don't like it but unfortunately, in today's society with the continued presence of social networks, we are forced to do this to protect ourselves. »