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Val Di Sole World Cup - Live Thread

'size

'size

Turbo Monkey
May 30, 2007
2,000
338
AZ
edit: is this correct? looking back a number of people mentioned a 1007 to 1000 pt spread between gee and minnaar?

overall pts updated on the UCI site:
link

Rank Name
1 (2) Gee ATHERTON 1,434
2 (1) Greg MINNAAR 1,432
3 (4) Samuel BLENKINSOP 998
4 (3) Aaron GWIN 968
5 (5) Steve PEAT 873
6 (7) Cameron COLE 804
7 (6) Brendan FAIRCLOUGH 759
8 (12)Marc BEAUMONT 688
9 (8) Samuel HILL 620
10 (9)Justin LEOV 583
 
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rosenamedpoop

rosenamedpoop

Turbo Monkey
Feb 27, 2004
1,284
0
just Santa Cruz...
After seeing how fast Minnaar was at Schwietzer in the rocks years back, I have always gotten a kick out of people saying rough/gnar is not his strong suit. The guy is absolutely pinned in the rough.

I have heard him say multiple times that he doesn't feel rougher/less pedally courses suit him, but that just seems like him not seeing himself as a newschool tech specialist.

I also think he rides a lot less ragged than a guy like Blinky or Hart (who are also amazing to watch), so his composure makes him seem slower on camera. Combined with a massively glued-to-the ground suspension design, he does often just seem like he's cruising even when he's pinned.

Look at footage of him on the Honda, he definitely hopped around way more...
 
- seb

- seb

Turbo Monkey
Apr 10, 2002
2,924
1
UK
'size said:
edit: is this correct? looking back a number of people mentioned a 1007 to 1000 pt spread between gee and minnaar?

overall pts updated on the UCI site:
link

Rank Name
1 (2) Gee ATHERTON 1,434
2 (1) Greg MINNAAR 1,432
3 (4) Samuel BLENKINSOP 998
4 (3) Aaron GWIN 968
5 (5) Steve PEAT 873
6 (7) Cameron COLE 804
7 (6) Brendan FAIRCLOUGH 759
8 (12)Marc BEAUMONT 688
9 (8) Samuel HILL 620
10 (9)Justin LEOV 583
Click to expand...
That's the UCI world ranking points - NOT the UCI World Cup standings. Interesting that it too is such a close 2-horse race though, good spot :)
 
evolutionbike

evolutionbike

Monkey
Mar 21, 2004
260
0
Baltimore
Sorry if this has already been asked, but does anyone know what happened to Fairclough? I saw him leave the start gate but never entered the view of the next camera. Hope he is ok.
 
stiksandstones

stiksandstones

Turbo Monkey
May 21, 2002
5,078
25
Orange, Ca
General Lee said:
Stiks assessment last year that RM's general level of racing knowledge is about a C+ is pretty spot on, though he caught quite a bit of flack for it at the time.

Not sure who made up the idea that he only does well on power tracks (obviously someone who hasn't been paying attention). It's been good for a few laughs for sure. Wasn't really worth calling anyone out for it at the time as Minnaar was sure to let his riding answer the critics far better.

After Vouilloz, you won't find a more perfect example of a DH racer than Greg Minnaar. He can ride just about any sort of track consistently faster than just about anyone else and has huge amounts of pedaling power on top of it. His mental, physical, and natural abilities are among the best in the biz, and in person his riding style is so smooth and precise it's hard to believe. Case closed.
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As I (and MANY others) have said…

Greg Minnaar might be battling Nico and Peaty for GOAT (greatest of all time)…not only for his race results, but the fact that with some of his injuries, he should have been put out to pasture more than once.
 
William42

William42

fork ways
Jul 31, 2007
4,035
800
rad to see that hill, after missing 3/5 races, is still ranked so much higher then so many full factory sponsored riders.

props to him. hopefully he's back on top next season (although I hope/expect to see gwin start taking wins real soon here. I think he's getting it together for a breakout season).
 
SylentK

SylentK

Turbo Monkey
Feb 25, 2004
2,668
1,110
coloRADo
A few random thoughts...

Is it just me or is Warner's commentating getting better? One of his better broadcasts, IMO. Even his track walk and helmet cam commentating was spot on.

So is there going to be a DirtTV or Parker Bros Finals vid? Or is there a rule against that?

So looking at the course description from the UCI, this course has 1300m (4,265') of vertical?! That's a lot. I mean Vail's frontside has 2,200' of vert, Keystone's front has 2,300. That's about half of this place. That is awesome. I'm impressed. Maybe I should go there...:D
 
- seb

- seb

Turbo Monkey
Apr 10, 2002
2,924
1
UK
SylentK said:
Is it just me or is Warner's commentating getting better? One of his better broadcasts, IMO. Even his track walk and helmet cam commentating was spot on.
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I don't know, I thought he was more annoying than ever. It was all the normal Warner trademarks (ignoring the riders on course, not actually DOING any commentating until the top 20, missing key things like exciting split times, talking over everyone else, shouting constantly) but without the excellent 1-liners he normally has - they were in short supply this time around.

That combined with the constant mic going out (meaning that when it worked all he talked about was how they were having problems - avoiding any real commentary again) made it pretty **** in my opinion.

His other stuff (course walk etc) is good. His commentary leaves LOT to be desired in my opinion. And no, I don't think I'd be any better!
 
SylentK

SylentK

Turbo Monkey
Feb 25, 2004
2,668
1,110
coloRADo
Ya, the mic thing was teh sucktor.

Maybe that's why it was better....cuz his mic kept on going out! :rofl: :rofl:

But seriously, do we really need that much commentating on the bottom 60? Especially when a lot of the rider's race runs look exactly the same. This is the only time to hear, live, what the teams, racers, managers, etc. are doing. They can talk over some riders. I know if a guy looks fast or not. Warner doesn't have to say so. :D
 
P

Pslide

Turbo Monkey
Jan 14, 2002
1,373
0
Feet on the ground, head in the clouds.
SylentK said:
But seriously, do we really need that much commentating on the bottom 60? Especially when a lot of the rider's race runs look exactly the same. This is the only time to hear, live, what the teams, racers, managers, etc. are doing. They can talk over some riders. I know if a guy looks fast or not. Warner doesn't have to say so. :D
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Maybe I'll just ignore you. Can we get some commentary from a team manager or something instead of this post?
;)
 
slyfink

slyfink

Turbo Monkey
Sep 16, 2008
9,892
5,747
Ottawa, Canada
http://dirt.mpora.com/news/dirttvval-di-sole-wc-finals.html

Dirt finals vid is up. Is it me or did Stevie Smith look smoothest coming around "Sam's Corner"? maybe he was just going slower than the rest and that was in practice, but his line seemed tight and nowhere neer as ragged.

Sick vid from Dirt again... thanks boys.

(though I must say I'm surprised no one has footage of Gwinn's otb - it was gnarly, but what was even gnarlier is that he got up and stomped the rest of his run. truly a hard-man)
 
SylentK

SylentK

Turbo Monkey
Feb 25, 2004
2,668
1,110
coloRADo
sethimus said:
look closer...

(hint: the finish isn't on sea level, not possible normaly in the alps)
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You make a good point. They start counting at 700m, not zero (sea level). So 700-1300=600 meters of vert, or 2297'. Bah, that's nothin'! :D Good to see the rockies can hang w/ the alps....or something like that...:think: :thumb:
 
'size

'size

Turbo Monkey
May 30, 2007
2,000
338
AZ
slyfink said:
http://dirt.mpora.com/news/dirttvval-di-sole-wc-finals.html

Dirt finals vid is up. Is it me or did Stevie Smith look smoothest coming around "Sam's Corner"? maybe he was just going slower than the rest and that was in practice, but his line seemed tight and nowhere neer as ragged.

Sick vid from Dirt again... thanks boys.

(though I must say I'm surprised no one has footage of Gwinn's otb - it was gnarly, but what was even gnarlier is that he got up and stomped the rest of his run. truly a hard-man)
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been waiting for the freecaster replay to show up so i can see gwin's (and blenki and gee) run as my feed died right before.
 
SuspectDevice

SuspectDevice

Turbo Monkey
Aug 23, 2002
4,219
447
Roanoke, VA
SylentK said:
You make a good point. They start counting at 700m, not zero (sea level). So 700-1300=600 meters of vert, or 2297'. Bah, that's nothin'! :D Good to see the rockies can hang w/ the alps....or something like that...:think: :thumb:
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Of course Whiteface in NY has that beat... Suck it, rest of the world.
 
D

davetrump

Turbo Monkey
Jul 29, 2003
1,270
0
SuspectDevice said:
Of course Whiteface in NY has that beat... Suck it, rest of the world.
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wait they have a world cup at whiteface?

oh, wait, never mind

and UCI has some restrictions on race times so often times the races in the alps only go from mid-stations.... schladming, Maribor, Champery, etc. The DH trail at Schladming starts at the top, but they start the race about 1/3 the way up and it still takes over 4 minutes. and yes, the top section is in the same style as the race course... would be an epic DH o run the whole thing


so yeah, the alps have whiteface beat by a long shot, sorry :thumb:
 
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ride_fast

ride_fast

Monkey
Jul 10, 2005
325
0
boulder, co
Thanks NY_Star, Bizutch, JRogers, and davetrump for sticking up for me. Also, thanks to my great team Yeti/Fox for showing so much support in me, believing in me and putting the effort in to developing me as a rider, racer, ambassador, and person. Not much else needs to be said.

Joey Schusler
 
William42

William42

fork ways
Jul 31, 2007
4,035
800
ride_fast said:
Thanks NY_Star, Bizutch, JRogers, and davetrump for sticking up for me. Also, thanks to my great team Yeti/Fox for showing so much support in me, believing in me and putting the effort in to developing me as a rider, racer, ambassador, and person. Not much else needs to be said.

Joey Schusler
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good luck, hope to see you at the main event and killing it in your homeland at windham! feel free to take some riding tips from the peanut gallery on ridemonkey, they'll have you riding like sam hill in no time! :rofl:

Also, on a slightly different subject the Schusler bashing, anybody else stoked that steve smith and neethling made it on to the podium for their first time?

This was pretty much the best and most entertaining WC race I've ever watched I think.
 
Transcend

Transcend

My Nuts Are Flat
Apr 18, 2002
18,040
3
Towing the party line.
Stevie is ready to take on the world at tis point. His riding is better than t has ever been and he wants it bad. Going to be an interesting end to the season for the Evil boys with him and Brooke slaying it!
 
William42

William42

fork ways
Jul 31, 2007
4,035
800
stoked smith made it, and as stoked neethling finally made it - its been a long time coming for both of them, both of them are pretty consistent really solid riders - course, with steve peat riding like *relative* crap, and hill and barel out, this might be their only year for it.

I am also finally certain that gwin is going to start winning with the likes of gee, minnaar, and and hill.
 
P

Pslide

Turbo Monkey
Jan 14, 2002
1,373
0
Feet on the ground, head in the clouds.
Yeah, awesome to see Stevie up there. How could you not like him after watching Seasons? Great style on the bike too.

This whole race has stoked me to ride more than any other World Cup. Great to watch, and so photogenic. Everyone all loose and larry, a cloud of dust behind them - amazing.

You know when you have a "moment" on the bike, you pulled something off that you shouldn't have, got all loose and held it together and got a huge adrenaline buzz from it. It looked like the fast guys were just having one three and a half minute moment down the whole track!
 
norbar

norbar

KESSLER PROBLEM. Just cause
Jun 7, 2007
11,523
1,738
Warsaw :/
Dat true though Im still bummed that in a season when the trails most suited him Hill decided to hug a rock. Would really like to see if he would smash the competition like he did in the previous years.

btw. Ill repeat my question - Val di sole track open to public? Or only open for the WC?
 
W

wood booger

Monkey
Jul 16, 2008
668
72
the land of cheap beer
norbar said:
Dat true though Im still bummed that in a season when the trails most suited him Hill decided to hug a rock. Would really like to see if he would smash the competition like he did in the previous years.

btw. Ill repeat my question - Val di sole track open to public? Or only open for the WC?
Click to expand...

Seeing as the track is in Italy, I am sure that you can get it "open" if you slide some Euros into the right hands.
 
T

Tdiddy

Monkey
Apr 8, 2009
222
1
Sam Hill said he'd be racing the last world cup and world champs in his blog, so hopefully he's back to full health. It would be a shame to re-injure anything by coming back to soon and screw over his next season as well.
 
S

slowitdown

Monkey
Mar 30, 2009
553
0
General Lee said:
Stiks assessment last year that RM's general level of racing knowledge is about a C+ is pretty spot on, though he caught quite a bit of flack for it at the time.
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The general level of knowledge here is about a C+ --across all categories, not just DH.

It is FAR better and much more knowledgeable than MTBR, that is certain.

But there's a lot of crap offered as knowledge here, when it's really just ignorant opinion. And I notice that whenever I observe this, those whose ignorance is best and most consistently on display, they give me schitt.

Nothing like prideful ignorance. It's what the best houses of cards are made of, eh?

Thank the Flying Spaghetti Monster that there are a few extremely knowledgeable, helpful, generous people here -- or else RM would be just like MTBR.

Okay, everyone get back to saying Minnaar sucks and only flat pedals can win.:D
 
- seb

- seb

Turbo Monkey
Apr 10, 2002
2,924
1
UK
Love that opening shot of Gwin in the Tri-Ride vid. Has made me mad keen to get out on my bike :D
 
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