5 Things We Learned at the Vallnord DH World Cup 2019
This season just keeps getting better and better. Here are five things we noticed from the sidelines as we passed the halfway point in the downhill season:
The top section of the track was crucial for the win
It's easy to look at Vallnord and assume the race will be won in the technical, steep chutes that make up the bottom half of the track but the opposite seemed to be true in racing on Saturday. Both the men and women's elite races were won in the top 90 seconds of the track as Rachel and Loic put 3 seconds into the rest of the field in the bike park. It was a lead they would both able to manage to the wins at the bottom (although Rachel did win the bottom split in her run too).
Were other riders keeping energy in reserve for the bottom or did they just not realise the amount of time to be gained on the flatter top section? Whatever the answer, the current World Champions took full advantage and added another notch to their win tallies.
Thibault Daprela will be one to watch when he graduates to elites next year.
Thibault Daprela may not have won the junior round in Vallnord but he certainly showed he has the pace to be a real contender from the get-go when he graduates to elites next year. Daprela won junior qualifying by 13 seconds, with a time fast enough for seventh in elites, then in finals was leading by nine seconds at split 2, which was only beaten by Bruni and Vergier by the end of the day. A high-speed crash robbed us of the chance to see how fast he could really go but there's no doubt we'll see plenty more dominant performances from him before the year is through.
Loic Bruni's overall challenge is starting to look very strong
There has never been any doubt around Loic Bruni's pace but it has been four years since he put together a full season of results that let him challenge for the overall. In 2015, he finished second after picking up four podiums but he still finished more than 250 points behind a dominant Aaron Gwin. This is the first time Bruni has ever won more than one World Cup in a single season and now has a lead of 65 points with three wins in his pocket and momentum on his side going into a home race in Les Gets next weekend. The race is for the overall is far from over though as Troy Brosnan and Amaury Pierron are within 150 points and ready to jump on any mistake.
The rise of the privateers continues
The privateers have been showing up a lot of Factory riders this year and that has only continued at Vallnord. Nina Hoffmann qualified fastest and went on to deliver one of the most memorable race runs in history, Johannes Von Klebelsberg backed up his performance in Leogang with his first-ever top ten and David Tummer, while not technically a privateer, was still pitting out of a van and ended up just off the podium. In the junior ranks, Matteo Iniguez, racing in a French National jersey, took his first-ever World Cup win too. The privateers are fired up and ready to take some more scalps through the rest of the year.
Andorra still provides one of the toughest challenges in downhill.
We've been coming to Andorra for more than a decade but it still challenges riders with relentless steeps and burly tech. This year, the deep dust lying on the track and hanging in the air made this race similar to a wet race with precision and control more crucial than ever. The track is set to change next year with a new bottom section leading to a different part of La Massana for a new finish arena. Hopefully, it doesn't detract from the amazing character of this one of a kind track.
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Him and rob have done a stellar job over the years but I feel like they could do with some fresh blood in the commentary box. Imagine Cathro & Jackson with special guest peaty. Maybe with all the fresh faces and better coverage its showing the commentators to be a bit out of touch with the pinnacle elite racers mindset, ability & limits now.
Easy for me to say this sat at home I know and in truth the coverage has only got better over time so I'm stoked on this and its still free!!
That said, Red Bull really should give us the option to switch off the commentators completely. That raw run was sooo nice to watch and it would be even better for all the riders they do not care about as i honestly don´t need them debating the advantages of 29ers or electronic shifting while there is a rider on the track. It completely kills the viewers involvement when the announcers obviously don´t give a f*ck about the run.
This. He does something like this at every bloody round and it's just bollocks. He's been doing it so long now that I'm not sure whether there is some mad conspiracy to make him only talk about the parts of the track that are visible on the live feed. He used to race bikes for a living, he must _know_ that you don't lose 3 seconds by taking a single slightly different line
Actually you can tell by the tone of Rob that he does not agree fully with Claudio but I guess he has to keep on going for the sake of the transmission.
@OllieB278 Indeed to have Cathro would be awesome, the guy is just spot on.
Also, regarding his inaccuracies and mistakes; perfect information doesn't = interesting or exciting. Look at Murray Walker from F1, he was universally loved, but he was about as accurate as Trump when it came to reeling off facts.
It´s not the same though. I wanna hear those tires on the ground and the visitors cheering the riders.
It´s not that i hate the commentators but rather enjoy to see the racing without the distraction of someone talking. Muting the video kinda kills the experience.
That said, compared to many other sports, the combo of Rob and Claudio is top notch.
However an optional clean feed free of commentary would be the ideal solution IMO. The effects track is already there, so it's just an additional audio stream. It should keep everyone happy.
Has anyone watched it with someone that's not super into DH because I can see them struggling to work out what Claudios on about a lot of the time and it turns people off to it.
As I said in the post its still free and awesome and compared to ten years ago its incredible, I just wonder if they want to keep this upward trajectory should they improve this? Do you have any suggestions? Not that I think redbull will be reading this but just interested to see who other people think.
There was uproar a few years back in the UK when two recently retired footballers (Gary Neville & Jamie Carragher) replaced the established older generation commentators/analysis team for the prime time spots. Especially as they were from two huge teams that are massive rivals. Since then the quality and insight improvement has increased exponentially.
Not doubt that in the end they deliver huge performances, but they need a bit more maturity to do so.
well done for pointing out the blindingly obvious
An she's (more than likely) faster than you so deal.
And a logic that states somebody can be the most successful but not the greatest because they couldn't compete against somebody with a gender advantage IS sexist...
If a middle weight boxer had more success, more wins, more KO's medals than a super heavy weight but couldn't compete in the heavy weight class.... would you dismiss their title?
Knocking on the door of 40 and still a podium threat at every round is impressive whichever sex you happen to be (unless a male competing in female catagory - oops, new can of worms ;-))
Okay good point by tremeer023 let the men compete against the women. Then what do you say?
@Extra300L: SO.... Greg gets the title GOAT by being the most succsefull racer in world cup podiums but, when/if racheal gets more world cup podiums an therefore more succsess. she still will only be the female GOAT?
well then surley Greg can only ever be male GOAT?
"You can say pound for pound there is a GOAT. Go ahead and have that argument and put your female boxer up against the male boxer in the same weight class. Sorry, lights out."
You just made my point for me...........
the super heavy wieght has a genetic advantage over the middle wieght just as a male DH racer has a gender advantage over a femal DH racer
I think Gwin is also knocking on the "GOAT" door by a few WC podiums
Larger gaps between the top positions = more margin for error = less competitive.
Less competitive = more easily attainable results.
It’s not hard to understand. It is utterly amazing that the difference needs to be explained.
The womens field is growing, so the GOAT very well could be a woman in the future. They’re getting there, but they’re not there yet.
And speaking of numbers, Minaar being the “GOAT” is questionable. His results have come over a long time, compare that to Gwin and Gwin has a much better win ratio.
The whole idea of the “GOAT” is simplistic and silly anyway. Dominant riders from this generation didn’t have to race the dominant riders, tracks and equipment from a generation ago. Don’t get too hung up over it, it’s just a sound bite.
Also didn't Warner call Troy the Bridesmaid a couple years back for always getting second?
Claudio is so annoying at times, a serious shit talker in kind of a passive aggressive way.
The top of the track is critical, riders are so close and well schooled when it comes to the tech that now the endurance part of the track is critical. Easy to make up time or loose time when its flatter and more technical to carry speed than it is to make up time when it gets steeper as there is only a certain speed you can go.
I raced masters last year with a broken bike, the bottom was fine (apart from catching people), it was obvious how critical certain corners are up top, make a mistake on tight lines with light where you cant really see and you were trying to pedal back up to speed (right hander after the first jump, carrying off the 1st bridge into the near flat corners before the 2nd bridge, 2 corners after the jump after the 2nd bridge). The bottom was fun in the pouring rain during practice haha. The top was torture though. even when racing in the dry the top was pure torture, not a dh race section IMO.
That's surely the definition of "Pro", ie it is your profession, your source of income.
Doesn't matter if you get a free bike/tyres etc, if it isn't your livelihood, you're a privateer
I understand they can't cover every inch of the trail, but this race it felt like we didn't get to see any of the important parts of the race.
maybe the top had an impact on the rest of the womens field, but not those two.
What does that involve - you can’t sit or stand anywhere touching the tape? Is it to move you guys back away from the action?