UCI MTB World Cup (All forms!)

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Only cycling has fans conservative enough to think it's fun having the stars of the sport racing at considerable disadvantage. Meanwhile, the casual fan loses interest if there's no chance for these guys to do anything special. The explanation given by mr. Van den Abeele makes perfect sense.

Whatever one’s opinion, changing the rules 24 hours before an event are more at home in a banana republic.
 
Nope, Ripper is right it was a pr!ck move from a cocky little sh!t.
Thanks! Glad there's no protest, but also happy to see some attention has been brought to it and Pidcock's DB response was also caught.

Having raced road, track, cross, and XCO, I'm comfortable with some contact. But when you make a move you know will almost definitely cause a crash, well ...

And for those not in the know, I'm not grim. Ripper is a different reference :p
 
The speed at which Pidcock goes into that line did not allow for much or perhaps any reaction and Pidcock would have known contact would have been very likely. He dove into the corner on the inside line at full speed and there's no way he wouldn't have realized the likely outcome, which is supported by the fact that he didn't seem to care if he got a DQ. That latter aspect is probably more annoying for me ... if you are not too stressed about getting a DQ, then why risk another rider not finishing or perhaps even getting injured through your being a d0uchebag. It's all rhetorical of course, and with a block pass, there is subjectivity in what is okay. You and I have different thresholds, and that's okay too.
I'm a big Pidcock fan, particularly in MTB, but have to agree that Schwarzbauer possibly didn't have time enough to react to his move in this instance. But I also seem to remember Schwarzbauer doing some 'accidental' stalling of riders behind him in an XCC last year?
 
I'm a big Pidcock fan, particularly in MTB, but have to agree that Schwarzbauer possibly didn't have time enough to react to his move in this instance. But I also seem to remember Schwarzbauer doing some 'accidental' stalling of riders behind him in an XCC last year?
So that makes it okay to basically eff up someone else's race in the last turn when you had no chance of getting around them any other way? If I'm Luka starting in the front row I would dedicate my race to two things, first winning, second insuring that at no point in the race do I let Pudcock past me. Svening is not the same as what Pudcock did.
 
I'm glad that MvdP is allowed to start on the fifth row instead of the last. However it's weird that Samuel Gaze, winner of the short track, is starting one row behind Sagan.

If it was up to me the starting positions would be something like this:
  • Pidcock: first row (Olympic champion)
  • Gaze: second row (world champion short track)
  • Van der Poel: fifth row (world champion road race)
  • Sagan: last row (leaves one minute behind the others)
In the women's cross I'm hoping for another medal for Puck Pieterse.
 
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I'm glad that MvdP is allowed to start on the fifth row instead of the last. However it's weird that Samuel Gaze, winner of the short track, is starting one row behind Sagan.

If it was up to me the starting positions would be something like this:
  • Pidcock: first row (Olympic champion)
  • Gaze: second row (world champion short track)
  • Van der Poel: fifth row (world champion road race)
  • Sagan: last row (leaves one minute behind the others)
In the women's cross I'm hoping for another medal for Puck Pieterse.
What about Nino?
 
I'm a big Pidcock fan, particularly in MTB, but have to agree that Schwarzbauer possibly didn't have time enough to react to his move in this instance. But I also seem to remember Schwarzbauer doing some 'accidental' stalling of riders behind him in an XCC last year?
Don't leave a gap and complain when a rider sticks it up the inside; it really is that simple. I can't think of any racing sport where that doesn't happen. It's quite naive, and a lack of racecraft......If it was Nino doing it, I imagine the reaction (and he';s done similar) would be different.
 
I'm glad that MvdP is allowed to start on the fifth row instead of the last. However it's weird that Samuel Gaze, winner of the short track, is starting one row behind Sagan.

If it was up to me the starting positions would be something like this:
  • Pidcock: first row (Olympic champion)
  • Gaze: second row (world champion short track)
  • Van der Poel: fifth row (world champion road race)
  • Sagan: last row (leaves one minute behind the others)
In the women's cross I'm hoping for another medal for Puck Pieterse.

But that's not how it works; it's an XCO race, not Short track, or Road race....The qualifying system is well known, and is different to World Cups. Race on the XCO, get UCI points = better gridding for championships. If you want a decent position, then race your MTB.
Parachuting big names off the road into favourable positions shows an absolute lack of respect for MTB, and its riders.....

The sport is fantastic, but never receives the respect, or coverage it deserves. For example, look at this website; their MTB coverage is poor, very few stories, preview of races, or analysis.
 
How can you not like Puck

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