2018 XCO World Cup

[Wil6]

On that topic, and including the XCC .... it seems the number of Spaz Tyre flats far outweighed the rest of the field!

 

Or did I miss something?

My thoughts as well. I will certainly not want to ride that tires in future races.

[Wil6]

The whole weekend i.e including the XCC or whatever its called was probably the best weekend of XCO since I cant remember when.  Nino has a big target on his back and its great to see him dodging the bullets. 

 

His tactics were brilliant - put down the hammer early and tired out MVDP a bit, then used Forster as a useful obstacle to put between the two of them. A very different game to cyclocross. Even the crashes are worse I reckon. 

 

As for Gaze - I am waiting to see what is actually wrong with his arm but right now I think he's a bit of a woosie and a drama queen. I'll happily recant and restore him to actual man status if he has actually bust a bone. Bruising won't do though.   It would have been great if Cooper had actually won, but i guess and almost tie with Schurter is good enough for some mud in Gaze's eye. 

 

We were rooting for Neff but she met her match. Think her tactics at the finish line were a bit weak especially when looking at how Nino handled the same situation. 

 

Oh ya forgot. Are MTB XCO racers more like soccer players and road cyclists like rugby players? Jus asking because I have seen many battered roadies some with broken bones finishing very long road stages in agony while guys like Gaze fall over once and retire while barely looking injured... :-) 

Well said. I still can't get myself to like Gaze after he's middle finger incident, and after he's fall he sweared on live tv in the pits. Also could not face the camera when he retired.

 

Well done to Cooper giving he's all and having a brilliant race. Nino was flawless as always and he's hard racing and tactics caused Van der Poel and Gaze to make unforced errors in technical areas due to Nino pushing them beyond their limit.

 

What a brilliant XCO season thus far and can't wait for the next round. 

[Meezo]

Well said. I still can't get myself to like Gaze after he's middle finger incident, and after he's fall he sweared on live tv in the pits. Also could not face the camera when he retired.

 

Well done to Cooper giving he's all and having a brilliant race. Nino was flawless as always and he's hard racing and tactics caused Van der Poel and Gaze to make unforced errors in technical areas due to Nino pushing them beyond their limit.

 

What a brilliant XCO season thus far and can't wait for the next round. 

 

i read van der Poel started the race with the injured wrist, he said the crash was on the easier part of the course, but he was trying to manage the pain ie. he probably should have not started

[Wil6]

i read van der Poel started the race with the injured wrist, he said the crash was on the easier part of the course, but he was trying to manage the pain ie. he probably should have not started

Did not know that, but that fall looked like a lack of concentration due to fatigue

[Headshot]

Hairy I also noticed that Cool Harvey and KC both had transmission issues. None for Shimano XTR which we saw several close up action shots of on Neffs bike. Win for Shimano????

[Meezo]

Did not know that, but that fall looked like a lack of concentration due to fatigue

http://www.instagram.com/p/BjSmMMeDdSB

[Headshot]

I haven't had terrible experiences with Spaz tyres to be honest. The Butcher Grids are tough. Lighter control casings work well on my wife's bike. Maybe it's a 29er thing????

[kosmonooit]

Yes cool to see a few fresh faces coming through, especially with the ladies. Anne Tauber, Elisabeth Brandau and more.

 

Kate will realise her  potential soon  - but I think the hype is working against her at this stage.

[Wil6]

http://www.instagram.com/p/BjSmMMeDdSB

Do you think he will admit that he was tired and lost concentration? That was not a crash caused by an injury 

[Warren_G]

Yes cool to see a few fresh faces coming through, especially with the ladies. Anne Tauber, Elisabeth Brandau and more.

 

Kate will realise her  potential soon  - but I think the hype is working against her at this stage.

I concur re Miss Courtney far too much hype, let your riding do the talking.

 

Also great result for Emily Batty! Would so love to see her finally win a world cup but I feel it would take a few top ladies having a bad day and a bit of luck for Emily to take a win against such a strong field.

[Iwan Kemp]

What a weekend!

 

Quite interesting to see the season pan out. When we interviewed Anton Cooper earlier this year he mentioned that the one guns don't have what it takes to put a full season's racing like that together. He and others mentioned that they may be able to take the fight to Nino at an event or two, Nino's challenge will come from several different riders getting it just right on A weekend. So Nino may not always win, but he'll (most likely) always be at least top three. Where the younger guns will be 98% one weekend and 80% at the next event. So far it looks like that's how it is going to play out.

Consistency from Nino is incredible. 

Link to that interview:

extract from it
 

Will we see some changes on the podiums this year with the younger riders stepping up?

 

Every year people have been saying that. Absalon and Kulhavý haven’t been consistent recently to compete with Nino. The younger guys can be really good for some races but it's hard to be consistently good at every World Cup. You need experience and lots of training in the legs so you are more physically robust. Younger guys fluctuate a lot more. I find myself picking and choosing races.

[Robbie Stewart]

Do you think he will admit that he was tired and lost concentration? That was not a crash caused by an injury 

 

I would love to know how to avoid trees after having broken your wrist, as I also suffer from the expected results of going OTB one too many times. If this reasoning is true, then I should rather not ride forested trails, as trees and wrists seem to have a magnetic and masochistic attraction to each other.

[CAAD4]

It seemed like N1No rode mvdp into a coma up that climb, before he just rode straight into the tree, as he could not see through the red mist. I like mvdp, he's enormously talented. Just as well the Commonwealth tantrum has already occurred, as Copper would have received picture no sound from his "mate", as he dared to beat him.

 

What a season we're in for.

[Sidersky]

Did not know that, but that fall looked like a lack of concentration due to fatigue

I must admit I thought he just had bad front wheel wash and was unlucky that the root was there. I only saw a rear angle so hard to tell from just the one view. 

['Dale]

What a course, geez!

Up and down 

Little time for relax. 

[Iwan Kemp]

It seemed like N1No rode mvdp into a coma up that climb, before he just rode straight into the tree, as he could not see through the red mist. I like mvdp, he's enormously talented. Just as well the Commonwealth tantrum has already occurred, as Copper would have received picture no sound from his "mate", as he dared to beat him.

 

What a season we're in for.

 

 

That seems to be the word on the street. Nino gunned it, he kept coming - surprising even Nino. Nino kept going and kept going and when he looked back at one stage could see in MVDP's eyes that he'd been broken. We all know what happened next. 

 

It can happen that the best of them misjudge a line or get knocked off their prefered line through wheel deflection or a rogue root or rock, but I also freckon that on that section it was more likely due to fatigue than just a plain riding incident.