I thought Pidcock started on the 11th row in P76. Definitely an impressive ride by him. Also saw where he had a slow lead in his (rear?) tire.

You pretty much covered all the story lines. What happened to Jolana Neff? Still not in top form after her bad crash from a year or so ago? Felt bad for Flueckiger - he looked real strong and had crappy timing with his faulty seatpost. Any word on cause of that? Great move by Koretzky passing Schurter on that last turn before the sprint. Pidcock is going to be tough when he gets a nice starting position in Nove Mesto. I enjoyed watching Red Bull's coverage of the races. I may have to look into the PB fantasy league as I've never participated in that.

Yup! Number plate 100 = 11th row start, and flat rear tire for last lap of race.

FWIW, VdP has historically had issues with the heat. Not a surprise to see him fade in the end with temperature at race time getting up into the 80's.

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I heard that Neff had an allergic reaction to the pollen. This weekend will show though, tech course should suit her well and not expected to be as warm.

I am not sure if it is a story line, but feel it must be said. Hats off to Red Bull and whoever else is involved in the production. I have been racing XC for ~ 16 years, and basically only followed results of the world cups. But the TV set up the last few years has been a game changer, great commentary, good camera coverage, really light years ahead of what it used to be. Even my wife (who has never ridden a mountain bike) was getting into the the women's race. Although she did not appreciate me yelling to the commentators during the men's race that it was Fluckieger's dropper post the had broke, not his gears or a flat tire...

I honestly am starting to feel bad for Nino, guy is getting second in World Cups and it seems to be a constant ring of "when will he get back on winning form" I think there are only 10 or so men on the starting line that have won a WC, and for Nino it is the expectation; if that does not tell you he is the standard by which others are measured, I don't know what does. No disrespect to Absalon.

Can't wait for this weekend!

Agree! Red Bull's coverage makes XC compelling. I also appreciate the articles and photos on Pinkbike.com.

Agreed. PB has done a great job of covering races, especially for what kind of started as more of an endure/AM website.
I do still laugh at some of their XC bike reviews, which often seem to be just a review of the HT angle and if it is greater than or less than 68 degrees.

Yes, they seem to rate and review XC bikes as if they would be used on an enduro course. That said, the race coverage has been excellent.

I agree! I get quite frustrated in Rob and Bart's lack of equipment knowledge. I assume they see the same video coverage we are seeing and it was quite easy to discern Fluckieger dropper post failed. They need to study up a little to provide better coverage and insights.

I am amazed that we are living in a once in a lifetime cycling moment where we have 3 people (Pauline Frerrand Prevot, Mathieu Van Der Poel, and Thomas Pidcock) showing absolute dominance in 3 forms of cycling. I have been riding for 30+ years and have never seen a moment where we have seen 3 people able to win on the road, cross, and MTB.

To me this should be a more inspiring moment for bike racing since LA or anything else and drive interest in the sport.

Meanwhile in the US everyone is wrapped around the axel of softer more checked out forms of cycling like gravel and enduro.

With PinkBike acquiring cycling tips, there's a bit more crossover now.

I thought their XC bike reviews were pretty good, but yes, they do lean to "capable" xc bikes. XC courses are getting more technical and modern geometry bikes are frankly more fun.

I have a 2021 Epic Evo (F: 120mm / R 117mm ) and it is better in every category except pure smooth-terrain pedaling as compared to my 2014 Epic WorldCup (F/R 95mm) because the EVO dropped the brain. It's as light, faster, and more fun.

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I honestly think this might become more normal, I feel like several racers used to move over to the road because there was little money in mountain biking (unless you were at the very top), and I feel many did so early. Now with the XC coverage, social media and teams starting to support the idea of diversified riders, you will see more of it.
And I love it! To me it is cool to be well rounded, I am not great at any one form of cycling, but I love the fact I can go hit up a line of dirt jumps Saturday, ride XC Sunday and race a crit on wednesday; I don't win at any, but have great friends in all 3 areas, and all make me better at the others.

It is funny, as I also have a 2014 epic world cup and am now looking for my next bike. The WC is a 71 HT angle, and while I love it on an uphill switchback section; I do find it twitching on downhills, and also laugh at the fact that it is incredibly hard to ride with no hands for more than 20-30 seconds.
But I keep coming back to "how slack do I go?" while every bike brand loves to say "world cup courses are far more technical than they used to be" and I don't disagree with that, but when I look at my local XC race, it pretty much looks just like it did 10-15 years ago. And plenty of riders seem to do just fine at WCs on the lux, which is a 70 HT angle. So hard to not be able to demo bikes right now!

Definitely get out to demo if and when you can.
Soon, the 66-68 degree head tube angle will be the norm for XC bikes.

The improvements are more than that though. I immediately noticed how much more robust the frame felt while still being lighter. The bike is so much more stiff and composed. I trust it much more than my WC. The new EVO is similarly fast on uphill and flat sections, and seconds faster on the downhills.

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I think the epic WC i had was a 2016, but the previous owner (who was our local specialized rep) had switched the fork from 100mm travel to 120mm and removed the brain. That slackened out the geometry to make it much more like the 2018 epics. That could be an option for you if you just want to do a small change to your 2014.

I have a Trek Top Fuel now. It took me a while to get the feel of it, but i like it now that i have everything dialed in.

I took my buddy's 2021 Epic Evo for a spin the other day and it was very very difficult for me to ride it. Not sure if it was because of his short stem, forward saddle (steep seat tube angle), or the bike's geometry. I couldn't corner on that bike at all. The front end felt awful, and had so much understeer. I'm sure it was something with the setup and not just the bike, because obviously that bike is very capable and does well in the highest level of racing. For me, it pointed out how much more there is to a "fast bike" than just paying a lot of money for a "fast bike." Setup is so so so important.

Agreed, so many factors that effect a bike, I run pretty narrow bars (685mm) where most of my friends ride 720 and up, even riding one of their bikes around a parking lot feels strange to me.

Here's the link to watch.

https://www.redbull.com/...ke-world-cup-germany

Ha!

Just sold my 2015 WC aluminum. Hated the brain in front and back. After figuring out the costs of changing to regular shocks I sold it for a decent price to a friend who wanted it for Leadville - for which it should be perfect.

That said, the bike was a bit overwhelmed by Colorado descending terrain. A 120/120 FS is far more capable here. ( bought it when I lived in the Midwest).

It does boil down to where you live and how you ride. I live in the midwest and really like my Giant Anthem (100/90mm) for our local and regional trails. My son and his girlfriend moved to AZ and quickly upgraded their midwest hardtails for a Norco Revolver 120 and a Specialized Epic EVO.

Looking forward to Nove Mesto today and Sunday.

Agreed!
I think the OP should change the thread title to "world cup chat" .
Ill give everyone a couple hours to watch if you did not catch the live short track broadcast

Spoliers!!!!!! Don't read if you haven't seen the results from Nove Mesto.


I think Haley Batten has to be a lock for the Olympic team no matter what she does on Sunday. She was great last week and obviously today. I could certainly see her placing in the top 8 Sunday and getting an automatic spot along with Kate Courtney (3d spot up for grabs). I feel bad for Pauline. I saw her IG account and she took a hard spill and has a nice knot on the side of her face. Not sure if she'll be on the starting line Sunday.

I didn't watch the men's short track, but saw the results. I'll watch the replay later tonight. Certainly the results were not shocking.

While the mens results were not shocking TPs reaction was. He seemed pretty annoyed with the team, which is interesting. I am not sure what Ineos long term plan is in MTB, but would be hard to believe it is anything that major considering they dont have a bike sponsor.

I read that too. Said he broke his suspension on his main bike and the mechanics didn't check the shifting on his backup bike.

Was really sympathizing that someone else disliked the brain, but true - XC bikes have limited use in CO.

Where did you see Pidcock's shocking reaction and being pretty annoyed with his team? I only watched the RedBull video, but that didn't come across at all in the interview with him.

Also, in fairness to him, depending on what actually happened, if he couldn't access his top gear because his spare bike wasn't tuned properly, I think he'd have a right to be annoyed with his mechanic! They may not have a long term plan with mountain bike, but getting 2 bike's correctly set up doesn't require a long term plan!!