UCI DH World Cup 2017 #4 - Andorra 1-2 July 2017

[Stretch]

i think troy will at least be on the podium

[Headshot]

[Nick]

Claudio's preview: https://www.bikehub.co.za/features/_/articles/videos/course-preview-claudio-slides-down-the-vallnord-track-r6690

[Stretch]

looks pretty wild

[Stretch]

this new end off camber down to berm looks like its going to be quite crucial

 

[Stretch]

i would *** myself hitting that at speed

 

[Odinson]

i would *** myself hitting that at speed

 

 

You can bet your last $ that at some point during the weekend someone is going to come in hot, bottom out in that tight right-hander and get shot straight out the front door. 

[Odinson]

I see the teams are dropping 29ers like a bad habit. 

 

MS Mondraker (Hart), Commencal and Bergamont are all back on 650B. Laurie Greenland even did some testing on a 26er Summum at Innsbruck and was actually faster than the 650B version. 

 

I'm most happy to see Pompon back on the smaller wheels. 

 

http://www.vitalmtb.com/photos/features/2017-Andorra-World-Cup-Pit-Bits,11131/Danny-Hart-Back-on-27-5,116063/iceman2058,94

[Capricorn]

the question to be answered is: why do the riders feel its better to switch to the smaller wheels? I'm sure the usual stuff like rider confidence/comfort blah blah will surface, but there's a technical basis for such a sentiment, and that's what I'm keen to understand.

[Eddy Gordo]

They just all jumped cause Greg was on it and thought that he was gonna slay them and didnt wanna be left behind. Hopefully he does still slay them this season.

[Tubehunter]

You can bet your last $ that at some point during the weekend someone is going to come in hot, bottom out in that tight right-hander and get shot straight out the front door. 

 

I'm trying to understand why they would even put the jump that far down and have such a tight corner just before the line? Someone is going to overcook it straight into the stands! I expect this will change before the actual event. Either take off moved further back or the jump flattened to some degree.

[Captain Fastbastard Mayhem]

I'm trying to understand why they would even put the jump that far down and have such a tight corner just before the line? Someone is going to overcook it straight into the stands! I expect this will change before the actual event. Either take off moved further back or the jump flattened to some degree.

Nope. It's been like that for teh past couple years. That berm on the exit is huge. 

[T-Bob]

i would *** myself hitting that at speed

 

 

It's a proper old school type course and a million miles away from the Leogang bike park vibe. Looking forward to some craziness. 

 

Those dropper posts look a bit spiky and angle towards the riders tho!  

[Headshot]

Nope. It's been like that for teh past couple years. That berm on the exit is huge. 

I think it might be better if the take off was further back - Claudio commented that someone is going to flat land that step down if they a bit too fast off it.

[Headshot]

the question to be answered is: why do the riders feel its better to switch to the smaller wheels? I'm sure the usual stuff like rider confidence/comfort blah blah will surface, but there's a technical basis for such a sentiment, and that's what I'm keen to understand.

Also wondering about this. Maybe its a case of wheels for courses. Thing is when you look at the results this year and winning margins from previous years, there is absolutely no evidence that bigger wheels are faster or have changed the results. 

 

I always think of the old XC eliminator series - in its last year running with XCO, the second place finisher overall was on a 26er. Nino dominated XCO on 27.5. Graves has never done as well as he did on the 26" Yeti since switching wheel size. WC DH races were still being won on 26 when 27.5 was in the majority. So it goes on.

[Headshot]

For the Belgian...