Just wanted a update... So who is at the top of DH racing these days? What countries are standing out?
As far as bikes go who is up there?
Also parts ?
LittleBIGjumP
As far as bikes go who is up there?
Also parts ?
LittleBIGjumP
Who is at the top of DH........
- Thread starter LittleBIGjumP
- Start date
well i think like from day come into dh peaty and gracia are in the top all the time, maybe i am wrong maybe not.. 
France and Australia are putting out the top riders, but I'd still put Steve Peat as the best, Greg Minnaar and Sam Hill in second. Minaar because he has such a professional set-up and a consistent rider and Hill because on the right day he is the only rider he can completely destroy the others.
Bikewise, Honda would be leading the race circuit but the Lahar DHV would be the most advanced bike. Hopefully it takes off soon. As for privateers the Iron Horse Sunday, Giant Dh and Foes Mono seem to be pretty popular anywhere you go.
Bikewise, Honda would be leading the race circuit but the Lahar DHV would be the most advanced bike. Hopefully it takes off soon. As for privateers the Iron Horse Sunday, Giant Dh and Foes Mono seem to be pretty popular anywhere you go.
Nico.LittleBIGjumP said:
still.
I would have to agree that Duncan is the top american rider nowadays. Australia puts out more top level riders then anyone. Great that Peaty is still on top after more then 10 years.rockymt21 said:
thats according to the uci as of todayuci said:
I don't think France are anywhere near the almighty dominent force they once where, now they have Camellini and Barel in mens, and Jonnier and Ragot in womens. Mickeal Pascal just doesn't have the raw pace needed anymore to be a constant top 5 WC finisher. As for Gracia well he is Basque!!!?!
The number 1 country at the moment is Great Britain and it has been like that for some time, especcially going by world rankings, they have the depth and strength in numbers that te French used to have, look back at every junior world's in the past 10 years and there was always a young French ripper right up there, I think 06 might be the first year that you see no Frecnh junior in the top 5 at Worlds.
The Brits have Peat, Atherton and Beaumont right at the sharp end of all things DH, beyond that they have Old Atherton, Donoghue, Wardell, and a huge host of super fast riders, junior and senior, male and female(Rachel Atherton, Mosely, Gaskell), going to a British National is sometimes harder then racing a world cup. And don't forget Brendan Fairclough, still a junior and soooo fast he has so many years left in him and if he lays of the Stella he'll be lit!
Now to my antipodean friends, the Aussies......scary, a list of names is all you need....Kovarik, Hill, Rennie, Hannah, Atkinson, Havukainen, Cavalier, Rando, young and old Panozzos, just scary. Out of the first 5 world cups so far this year we have had 5 winners......3 of them however where Aussie, which rankings aside would make them the dominant force in DH. Now as long as Amiel Cavalier gets out of Cali before he gets soft, he willnot go the way of Rando, not saying that by any stretch Rando is slow, but if Cavalier wants to progress as one of the worlds best then he has to get back racing World Cups and more Euro races, I know he got a ride and money etc... in the US. But he was last years Junior World Champ because he raced every weekend all ove the world, against the best in World Cups, French Cups, Maxxis Cups, Norbas etc...... Scott Sharples has the right idea.
Then come the springboks....Minnaar and Neethling, best style, huge speed, huge air.....and Minnaar is the only true consistent successor to Nico.
I say bring back Nico, Maribor is on the cards next year for a World Cup, we could see a comback.......not!
Ohhhh yeah and don't forget that Finnish chap.
As for bikes, who really gives a ****!
The number 1 country at the moment is Great Britain and it has been like that for some time, especcially going by world rankings, they have the depth and strength in numbers that te French used to have, look back at every junior world's in the past 10 years and there was always a young French ripper right up there, I think 06 might be the first year that you see no Frecnh junior in the top 5 at Worlds.
The Brits have Peat, Atherton and Beaumont right at the sharp end of all things DH, beyond that they have Old Atherton, Donoghue, Wardell, and a huge host of super fast riders, junior and senior, male and female(Rachel Atherton, Mosely, Gaskell), going to a British National is sometimes harder then racing a world cup. And don't forget Brendan Fairclough, still a junior and soooo fast he has so many years left in him and if he lays of the Stella he'll be lit!
Now to my antipodean friends, the Aussies......scary, a list of names is all you need....Kovarik, Hill, Rennie, Hannah, Atkinson, Havukainen, Cavalier, Rando, young and old Panozzos, just scary. Out of the first 5 world cups so far this year we have had 5 winners......3 of them however where Aussie, which rankings aside would make them the dominant force in DH. Now as long as Amiel Cavalier gets out of Cali before he gets soft, he willnot go the way of Rando, not saying that by any stretch Rando is slow, but if Cavalier wants to progress as one of the worlds best then he has to get back racing World Cups and more Euro races, I know he got a ride and money etc... in the US. But he was last years Junior World Champ because he raced every weekend all ove the world, against the best in World Cups, French Cups, Maxxis Cups, Norbas etc...... Scott Sharples has the right idea.
Then come the springboks....Minnaar and Neethling, best style, huge speed, huge air.....and Minnaar is the only true consistent successor to Nico.
I say bring back Nico, Maribor is on the cards next year for a World Cup, we could see a comback.......not!
Ohhhh yeah and don't forget that Finnish chap.
As for bikes, who really gives a ****!
Don't forget Geritt Beytagh. He went to worlds last year and was third at the US Open behind Kirkaldie and Rando. An unfortunate injury has sidelined him mid season, but he right up there as top Americans. I'd like to see him compete at the WC level.jonnynails said:
funny thing is that the 3 riders from chile who are responsible for that ranking (only the 3 top ranked riders from each country count towards the nations ranking) have accounts here on RM..thumper. said:
Considering most countries have national and local series races that have large enough prize purses to award UCI points, is it any suprise that the US barely squeezes into the top 10?
UCI ranking is based on UCI calender races.
http://www.uci.ch/ucinet/uci.asp?page=results&discipline=mtb&ryear=2006&ridercategory=me&l=eng
Notice that there isn't a single DH race in the US that is even on that list... Nations and Individual ranking isn't as important for DH as it is for 'cross or XC, but the lack of prize lists in the US keeps american riders from starting on the first few rows of XC worldcups and worldchamps. Motivated promoters have raised the capital to have UCI 'cross events in this country, so that our Junior and Elite riders can start at the front of the field and have a chance.
USa cycling got a USOC block grant to award money at the National series this year so that it could count towards nations ranking for olympic spots, and individual rankings for olympic selection. Even then the points awarded for the NMBS series are only category 2, wheras other nations nation series are Cat 1. WC's and world's have points that are greater than cat 1, and in most countries small local races are cat 3.
The thing that sucks is that there are US DH races that award enough in prize money for Cat 2 and 3 ranking. US Open could be cat 1, the Snowshoe and Diablo series could both be Cat2. Hell the prize list at platty should be sufficent for a Cat 3 ranking.
Submitting an event for UCI ranking is an ardous task, and impossible when the events are not recognised by USAC, Like the Diablo and Showshoe races.
For the eight millionth time, a breakaway gravity governing body could change things, but it would never be able to do things like submit points to world rankings and send riders to Worlds...
UCI ranking is based on UCI calender races.
http://www.uci.ch/ucinet/uci.asp?page=results&discipline=mtb&ryear=2006&ridercategory=me&l=eng
Notice that there isn't a single DH race in the US that is even on that list... Nations and Individual ranking isn't as important for DH as it is for 'cross or XC, but the lack of prize lists in the US keeps american riders from starting on the first few rows of XC worldcups and worldchamps. Motivated promoters have raised the capital to have UCI 'cross events in this country, so that our Junior and Elite riders can start at the front of the field and have a chance.
USa cycling got a USOC block grant to award money at the National series this year so that it could count towards nations ranking for olympic spots, and individual rankings for olympic selection. Even then the points awarded for the NMBS series are only category 2, wheras other nations nation series are Cat 1. WC's and world's have points that are greater than cat 1, and in most countries small local races are cat 3.
The thing that sucks is that there are US DH races that award enough in prize money for Cat 2 and 3 ranking. US Open could be cat 1, the Snowshoe and Diablo series could both be Cat2. Hell the prize list at platty should be sufficent for a Cat 3 ranking.
Submitting an event for UCI ranking is an ardous task, and impossible when the events are not recognised by USAC, Like the Diablo and Showshoe races.
For the eight millionth time, a breakaway gravity governing body could change things, but it would never be able to do things like submit points to world rankings and send riders to Worlds...
The UK is doing that with 1 ski lift.Akula_7 said:
although there's more than fort bill, well said.Cant Climb said:
vitox said:
Bati?
I just read an article In last months BIKE about why Americans suck a downhill, it was pretty eye opening. Barrell talks about how americans dont have the racing attitude and only care and style and getting photos in magazines. Duncan riffle looks like he is the only hope, since kyle strait pretty much only freerides these days, and all the other americans cant even compete with top world pros. It also talked about how the race corses here werent very good and how, there isent enough national support or media coverage. They also attributed the downfall to the olympic commitie's choice of cross country racing in the olympics. The us cycle oc. give that sect. all of the mulas. But have no fear DH will be in the next olympics i have faith.
That BIKE article was really interesting and fairly true, we lack that professionalism and our racers tend to be more chill (not that there's anything wrong with that) while countries like France come from almost a century of rabid bike-racing enthusiasm. Euros in general are more into bike sports and therefore support them way more, whereas in the US bikes get much less respect.
Anyway I say Peat. He's been consistently dominating for a long time and he still gets to the top of the podium. Great Britain with Peat, the Athertons, Fairclough, etc etc are easily a dominant country, Australia too.
Anyway I say Peat. He's been consistently dominating for a long time and he still gets to the top of the podium. Great Britain with Peat, the Athertons, Fairclough, etc etc are easily a dominant country, Australia too.
Peat winning that megaAvalanche race in Peru was impressive earlier in the year. He was racing some cardio freaks in that.....black noise said:
Well first off a lot of those riders (England, french etc) get government funding to set up schools.. And alot of them race all year round hardly ever stopping, your going to improve if you could go to Austrialia or New Zealand and race during our winter ...And you were right bicycling is main stream in other countrys (here its all about the ball).....
T23 said:
There is this idea, I think, in the US that DH is some beloved sport over here in Europe, it's just not true, government/sports council/authority funding is at a bare minimum. Especially because we ain't an olympic sport. As far as I am aware, the French FFC and British Cycling, along with almost every other governing body here in Europe sees DH as the bastard child of cycling. Not worthy of the tyres we ride on, and it is funny because in the case of the UK and Ireland pretty much the best performing "cyclists" on an international level are DHers.
The debate about why the USofA has so few top riders is a super interesting one. But I think some of the ideas in that BIKE article are off the mark. In the end it boils down to the individual. Period.
It is the individual, not the coaching, funding etc.... that makes a top rider. Just look at the Matti Lehikoinen, he is from Finland, whats big in Finland WRC, Sking and Saunas. There were no big funded deveopment programmes that mad Matti the DHer he is today, it simple was that Matti found a sport he had the natural ability for and over time he developed the skills to be one of the best.
Much the same can be said with Minnaar and others. It is for much the same reasons that the UK, France and Australia have the dominating riders. However I think there is a slight Snowball effect in those countries. The top riders in their respective countries (McRoy, Warner and Peat in the UK, Gachet and Voullioz in France, Ronning and Sharples in Aus) all set he standards for the hungry locals, it then happened that many of these locals had the ability and more importantly the hunger for racing. And following the examples of the bigger riders before them pushed themselves to get to the heights of there countrymen. I think Andrew Neethling to a degree is a big example of this, Minnaar being his "role-model". And the same could happen in the US, Duncan Riffle has the speed to be a WC podium man, once he gets there more could follow. The same will happen in Finland and here in Ireland.
No that is just a hypothesis, but I do think it explains some of the patterns to DH world domination. After all it only takes 4-6 riders to "Dominate"! What I think is strange is that given the US's population numbers, surely just by sheer numbers you guys should have more top riders, after all what are the numbers at a Norba race? 500-600 riders over all the categorys. You are looking at a third of that in most Euro countries.
I think in the end it comes down to the hunger of the individual. Maybe the US's "quick" riders just don't have the hunger to take it that next level to top 20/10/5 world level. Riffle being the exception. I sat in a chairlift with him at Fort Bill and I could see it in his eyes, he really, really wants it....really! And that's much the same for every top rider.
The winning DH formula goes like this... Ability X Speed X Hunger2 X National Races / Time on Mini Bike = Success!
One more thing to add to my rant. Like everything in our beautiful world,wheter it be female menstruation, the seasons or birds migrating DH racing works on a cycle. No pun intended!
It is not like the US has never had top riders, christ you had Palmer, King, Lopes, Carter, Rockwell, Donovan, Giove etc... That period from '92 to '00 was an up in a long cycle. Just like the French Dominated for over a decade from the early ninties, the Aussies are doing it now, since Kovarik and Rennie burst onto the scene in '99 they have been on an up. The UK's up is only really gathering steam now, from '95 to '03 Peat was really the only man who was truely a big player from Britain, but from '03 onwards the Athertons, Beaumont, Stanbridge, Fairclough have all played there part in an up-cycle.
The French are on there way down, Barel and Gracia are the main players still left, with Cammellini boardering on the top 10 most weekends and Saladini and Bigoni etc... being the beginnings of a new cycle, Barel took over from Nico as the main man. Time will tell as to how long it will take France to dominate again.
Riffle could very well be the start of a good time for US downhill, time gents...time!
It is not like the US has never had top riders, christ you had Palmer, King, Lopes, Carter, Rockwell, Donovan, Giove etc... That period from '92 to '00 was an up in a long cycle. Just like the French Dominated for over a decade from the early ninties, the Aussies are doing it now, since Kovarik and Rennie burst onto the scene in '99 they have been on an up. The UK's up is only really gathering steam now, from '95 to '03 Peat was really the only man who was truely a big player from Britain, but from '03 onwards the Athertons, Beaumont, Stanbridge, Fairclough have all played there part in an up-cycle.
The French are on there way down, Barel and Gracia are the main players still left, with Cammellini boardering on the top 10 most weekends and Saladini and Bigoni etc... being the beginnings of a new cycle, Barel took over from Nico as the main man. Time will tell as to how long it will take France to dominate again.
Riffle could very well be the start of a good time for US downhill, time gents...time!
Thanks guys,
Great info, I too remember USA being the force in DH and the French before, Pete had been getting mentioned too good to see somebody I still know.
Also good to hear the Aussie contingent is doing well.
LittleBIGjumP
Great info, I too remember USA being the force in DH and the French before, Pete had been getting mentioned too good to see somebody I still know.
Also good to hear the Aussie contingent is doing well.
LittleBIGjumP
nope although im sure he'll get a morale boost from you mentioning that. actually id say he is better at skiing than dhing. dang that made me remember he is at termas de chillan skiing and im stuck in smoggy santiago.kidwoo said: