Qualifying Results: Vallnord World Cup 2013

 I'd love to see Sam get a win here! Gwin looks to be having a hard time on Sam's old Demo Late.

 FINALLY, THE COMEBACK OF SAM HILL! Cannot wait for race runs!

 where is macdonald?!

 Good to see Sam on top see if he can keep it up for finals. What happened to Stevie Smith?

 Brook MacDonald DNF.

 Looking at the pictures of the track I was thinking that if there was any track where Sam could comeback and win, it would be this one. Now looking at qualifying results i'm like WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO ALL HAIL THE KING OFF THE HILL!!!

 ^^yeah almost. 53rd?? wtf Gwin? he must have bailed. anybody know where the video is? maybe vital? (please say he bailed, i just dont wanna believe he's that slow)

 It's only qualifying.. most riders aren't gonna go flat out and risk missing actual race day just to qualify well.

 Gwin had a mechanical

 @kind0fimportant: thanks for the info, that makes me breath a little easier, because it seems as though he's been racing this season as if he were gelded.
and @AdamChed: i disagree. qualification position is valuable points that most riders want/need, not to mention the advantage of knowing what time you have to beat.

 Gwin took a spill, per his twitter. Gooooo HILL!!

 Alright somebody better tell us what happened to Stevie and Bulldog.

 Gwin should have made his bike 40mm shorter not longer

 I wish Gwin the best of luck but now that he's not dominating any more it sure makes every race anybody's race! Go Fairclough!!

 Does anyone know if Atkinson is racing this round?

 Yup! He's back on the horse. Qualified 106th I think?

 Brendog, 9th with a flat.... pinned.

 Thats what Im sayin, Go Brendog. Hope to see him on the podium.

 PINKBIKE Where are all the photos ? you guys are usually so good at putting up

 My mate tomato with the top comment, glad you ripened well!

 As excited as I was to see him on the top of this list it wasn't much of a surprise.
^ Hope it's true. This track suits him, he's put in the work time to cash in!

 Sam Hill once called me a homo

 Gwin, is that you? Probably well deserved. Though he should of chosed other word when expressing his feelings about you.

 @kleinblake and @MendelMu thanks for the laugh while I'm eating breakfast Stoked to see Hill fastest in qualifying.

 Link to tweet please

 Then Rachel should race Enduro or join the Men's division as a guy.

 link to tweet ? or else it didn't happen...

 There was a 2nd part that she deleted shortly after it was posted -- I think she was just high on her win and wrote whatever came to mind, I don't think she meant to be a poor sportswoman. I don't know how to directly link a tweet but you can scroll down on her account to June 10 (or copy/paste the link to the screen cap below). As much as I love to hate Rachel -- she's dominating and totally untouchable right now. On that note -- GO MANON & RAGOT!
i2.photobucket.com/albums/y41/bechu18/rachtweet_zps779bb86a.jpg

 @Matt76...maybe you miss read it cause Rachel's twitter is super positive and pro-chicks racing (she even tweeted on Jul 1st how awesome Manon was riding and pushing her to stay on top!). The only tweet I can think that you may be referring too is this one instagram.com/p/cGfULugvaB and I don't think she was putting down female riders, just super stoked to be competitive with the mens times. Go Rach! Go Manon! Heal up quick Tracey!

 @rbka - thanks for the link and the info. She better not get too complacent...Manon's obviously liking this track, and will b interesting to see what Holly Feniak can bring when she's recovered and back on the circuit!

 Yup, from the edits I've seen of Feniak and Casey Brown there's a new school of female riders coming up with incredible style on the bike. Would love to have seen what they can do on a track like this.

 No mate it wasn't that one its the one someone else has just put a link to above but some of it was deleted.

 Yes, he looks like he's having fun in their latest video www.pinkbike.com/news/Chain-Reaction-Cycles-Nukeproof-OnTheHunt-2013-Episode-2.html and he could probably have been on the podium without the bad luck in the two first rounds...

 He has also had some continuity in his riding for 2 years without injury. He was getting close last year and seems to be getting closer this year again.

 seems to be doing ok doesn't he ;-)

Sam FTW

 It could be the team not the bike?

 both are bad for publicity still

 so i love gwinning and all and he is american so i guess i have to cheer for him. but after he said he was the best and the turn out he was the best choke artist this season, im finding it hard to cheer for him

 I agree, but everyone is blaming the bike. I can't see an top athlete like Gwin going from unstoppable to non existent soley because of the fame. The top 20 riders didn't all simultaneously up their game from last season. The team and how focused you are have as much to play in the results you get as the bike.

 i dunno i feel like gee did. and gwinn may have lost a ton of spaced but really averages only a few seconds of the pace. so it really could be the bike. if you arent comfortable with the bike you sure as hell wont go wc fast

 21 seconds?

 We're on a break right now. Still trying to sort out our rear end! We'll get back to you on Sunday.

 It's not all about the bike - but after four races, Gwin's on his third bike (medium, large, back to medium with long stays). I think it's fair to say he's not quite comfortable on it yet.

That said, he's just been on Twitter to say he had a crash - if he's only twenty seconds off the pace having had a crash, then he could be right up there.for the race.

 must have been a big crash to lose that much time........

 Can't wait Troy to ride an other bike...

 Maybe it is the bike? Look at Gee all last year on the old Fury. He had a couple chance to make the top spot, but it wasn't enough to top Gwin on his Session. Flip it a year, Gwin is on a new bike and so is Gee. Guess who went one step forward and who went thee steps back? I feel for Gwin, but until he makes a top 3....He isn't going to prove his critics otherwise.

 LOL... Gwin had a crash. He had some mistakes in his race run at VDS, but his qualie time was right up there. Should we blame Trek, Giant, and NukeProof because their riders all crashed then? Gee is clearly on the gas and getting some well deserved wins again, but c'mon people... it takes huge risks to win these days.

 Looking for Neko to step it up. Really like to see him finish top 5 in a race this year.

 I love the idea that Gwin did well at vds apart from..... and today apart from....

Sam would have won fort bill if his gears did not fail
Sam would have won vds if he did not crash going so much faster than everyone else through a section.
So Gee got away with it
Did Steve not crash when well up at champs last weekend?
So Gee got away with it

Wait.... is the race not from the start to the finish rather than just part of the track?

 shhh, people forget it's a point to point event

 and IF my aunt had a package she's be my uncle

 Just to be fair, I don't see any Sessions killing Gwin in qualifying...not to mention he had a mechanical. Whoever judged a riders time when he had a flat/mechanical? You guys need to calm down. Is his season going poorly and under expectations, sure.

 ..... Brook is injured!

 I am amazed at all this bike comparrison rubbish. I mean, I understand people love to debate it on the internet, blah blah. My take is that Gwin's results are as a result of his change of program/team, not the bike. He is using the bike as an excuse rather than accepting that the blame should be on himself. He became complacent and now that he isn't getting the results, he is desperate and making rash descisions and racing tight. A wise mate of mine had this to say "from what he (Gwin) said after his first round capitulation, he didn't wan't to be too far from home during the off season, so he didn't travel to Europe for testing, or barely out of SoCal for that matter. He said it was hard to gauge how the bike and setup would feel at Fort William as he'd only tested it on his local trails... So I think the changes he wanted in his program were to do less training and have it all revolving around his external interests more, something Trek probably understood the ramifications of better than Spesh"...

 a valid argument ^

 if ithat is true and in fact he had only ridden in so-cal then he is a freakin egotistical moron plain n simple sorry to say. How could a team allow that sort of behaviour with their number 1 investment, i bet Troy was pissing himself laughing.

Exactly what sort of conditions and terrain is the wc on? rough, gnarly, steep, loose, holey, rooty, rocky, -muddy and generally unforgiving terrain - - so cal is one pretty mean and cool place but host to a wc it is not......i remember when he did that vid, fastest man on the planet rara rarar, yes mate across trail centre bmx turf - oops major clusterf*ck or what?

this may be a blip and we all expect him to get hold of it (including myself to a degree) but if the blip goes on to the end of the season someone is going to be asking questions.

fail to prepare - prepare to fail.

 You do not go from being fast to where he is now overnight.
Something major changed.... mmmmm let me think.
When he was at his best he was on:
Funn bars, maxxis tyres, trek session, air 40 ahead of everyone else.
He has changed bars, tyres and frame in the last couple of years.
The bars and tyres brought the rest closer, closer than the ownership that was the previous season.
Then others changed frames, were not injured, did not crash, changed to tyres that did no puncture all the time, changed fork etc.
And the gap was closed, then Gwin changed a fundamental without enough testing, for the money, for making tld make oversized clothing for him, for the worse it would appear.
Gwin had a winning formula, why change, just because Sam went to CRC and Spec panicked p, opened the cheque book and signed what they thought was the man..... but the man was a recipe, not 1 ingredient.

We have seen the same thing in golf this year, world no.1 with ease to not making the cut by just changing clubs.

Sport is about fine lines and balance, move to far in 1 direction and you might fall.

 Imagine that golfer not only changed his clubs, but practiced for the majors at the local pitch and put....

 Really pulling for Peaty on to put together a clean run Sunday.

 Yeah I think part of it is that Manon was already familiar with the track from the Catalan cup... Athertons just arrived and had like one day to practice a rather high-precision track. I've got Manon on my fantasy team though, so hopefully she can stay on top!

 Yeahh Pardal

 Carrega !!!!!

 Brutal

 Lindooooo!...so faltou o Pombo!

 YEAHHHHHH PARDAL ON TOP 15!!!

 SAM FOREVER !

 We all know he probably won't brake in to the top ten. He's a awesome rider and all, just not that fast.

 i dont know if the top 10'ers touch their brakes mate...

 how can you say a proffesional world cup dh racer is not that fast you confused human being

 Breaking the top 10, he is super fast but there are so Many other good guys gunning for that spot.

 he also managed 9th with a flat, id expect him to improve on his time

 would be stoked to see brendog on the podium, idk if I'd call him a racer, he's more just an awesome guy and a good rider like ian morrison and cedric gracia

 The riders you compared brendawg to are really spot on man!

 if that's sarcasm then I guess you do have a point, Brendawg has a chance of winning a world cup, the others don't whatsoever...

 I think My comment set of a small shit storm. Brendog been struggling there last few seasons and a Of is don't think of him as racers racer, while that might be wrong, people been upping Their game in these last couple of seasons too. It doesnt take anything a way from Brendog, if he is doing Good it just makes him even more rad. Enjoyeble rider to watch for sure and he makes the wc a bit more fun to watch.

 what does that advert say for the phones? the future is bright, the future is Orange...

no my mate you got it wrong, the future is British get used to it lol

 I don't think that's quite fair. The Spesh looks better than the Nuke, it just goes slower. Much slower. heh.

 Im gonna be even more patriotic and say i hope Gee takes the win. Big Sam fan though

 I think they're still waiting for his longer chainstay to cross the finish line.

 Then it appears he that he needs a shorter chain stay.

 everyone's a critic

 Specialized is where DH racers go to die.

 So Aaron, what happened? -" Yeah, so i was cruising along, just having fun, thinking about Cali summer, wondering how cool my new bike looks with that new Chainstays on, you know... "

 @thepwnstar - gold mate, pure gold hahahaaa

 This is a disaster Gwin. Step it the f up.

 He just wants to make sure that on Sunday, he's sitting in the hot seat as long as possible, watching every other rider cross the line in the red with a big smile on his face.

 until the top ten come along and smoke him...

 @thepwnstar39 LMAO. and i'm a spesh fan

 The Reply of the Year is awarded to ------(drum roll)---- @thepwnstar39 !!!

 @donch15 - you might just have a point there.

 2 days to find out donch15.....

i expect he will be up there somewhere - if he isn't will you get off his male area?

 Don't judge to quick....Gwinner had a crash. lol

 Because his bike feels like a darn Rodeo bull

 Gwinner had a crash....did his bike cross the line before him?

 He can totally take the win, he is a hell of a rider and had a lot of time to work with his new bike. A lot of people is acting like he is dead, but he is definitely not.

 Nah man, he's not winning anything, forget that.

 yea where is stevie

 steve smith 21st

 Crash or mechanical?

 He's 21st

 dunno why i'm getting negative props, just want to know what happened with the rider I root for

 @piks , cuz there are some weirdo's out there man, dont sweat it....

 Piks, it could be neither, maybe other people were just faster than him

 you still think so? he's consistently been on the podium since his win last year

 He and his bike didn't go so well? yet again.

 Aaron Gwin: 53rd. 4:41.579

 A crash perhaps?

 Naaah , he s just running a SiGNATURE frame now !

 Aaron just tell specialized to buy you a damn sessh back !

 Gwin had a mechanical, specifically he had a FSR.

 @barbarosza i can totally picture gwinn rolling out on session with ducktape over the logos and specialized sharpied on

 oh man that FSR comment just had me in stitches. gold. c'mon sam!!!!!

 On twitter he said he crashed.

 @Wilkey - true - like the companies did with Intense back in the day.

 excuses, excuses everywhere.. stop calling him a gwinner ffs.

 @wilkey , yes man thats what I said too !

 sroemmich (4 hours ago) - "On twitter he said he crashed." Jay-Z - "We don't believe you, you need more people"

 Gwinn is still listening to WU-Tang..."cash moves everything around me, get the money, dolla dolla bill yo!!!"

 hahahhahahahhahahahahah )))))) Honestly Id be happy for him to get a podium as well ! No matter how much I only love Hill

 Hope he does alright got him on my fantasy team.

 nice. was racing with him this weekend in uk champs - kid is so damn quick.

 he s franch man ! Sam COULD DO it !

 Yeah Loic! ..he's on my fantasy team .. get a podium young Nico!

 Is that good? Looser mentality.

 fairclough is looser than most of us and yes will have a looser mentality to go with it.......

 Ok it's super Good, But at this point I was hoping he would be à sure top 10, if not top 5.

 He's def. Not à looser. Rad style of riding, super fast and all.

 if you actually think about, it brendan is really fast! He got 9th in pro qualifying

 9th... with a flat. That's pinned.

 he had a flat!?!

 Yeah, video here www.vitalmtb.com/videos/member/Andorra-World-Cup-Friday-Qualifying,22204/joebo,1905

 Oh damn. He got it late or did he do the last jumpy With à flat? Wtf. I hope i get proven wrong about My earlar statments even though it's not his efforts on the wc that makes me à fan of him.

 Watch the video, he hucks the last stepdown with a flat and what looks like hardly any speed. He's a champ.

 That is one sick kid!

 That's funny. Mine would be 1. Gee 2. Sam 3. Josh B. I would like to see ratboy take it to the next level.

 sam gee steve ! never happening like but that would be cool

 yeah you better spell it american

 So you know what I mean?

She's British, they are her colours to fly. Doubt she'll forget the u, I just put the translation in to help

 ah no worries! i lived in aus for a while i learned your crazy over use of the letter u. or maybe that was just them that use it in every other word?

 You never know, Manon and Morgan have been getting stronger and stronger. Even if it's not this weekend sooner or later one of them is going to get a World Cup, then it's on. As a side note I hope Madison are paying Manon properly, there must be some mighty big names waiting in the wings if they're not.

 nah, we love it too! We have laboured long to honour the flavour and colour of the neighbour's rumour, but don't forget the centre is a metre from the theatre and we don't realise that z is awesome. Rachel's biggest danger is herself at the moment. She's learning to hold back a bit at least. It would be good if she had some proper competition from Manon to keep things interesting and push her further.

 Would love to see Manon win it, but I think she had a bit of an advantage in qualies having already raced this track. We'll see come Sunday!

 Ratchets winning streak is over.

 Rachels*

 Touché, lol

 Brendog qualified 9th with a rear flat !!!! pinned.

 hehehe , you might as well be just right ! But STiLL , HiLL was CROWNED by PalmeR !

 Canada?

 At the my beach thongs out

 hahaaaaa. good 1...prepare to duck

 Casey Brown is injured – broke her collar bone at the Canadian Nationals a few weeks ago.

 that girl is sick with syle...

 Don't know - yes he's well protected. And where is Stevie Smith????? Hart?

 I believe he has a shoulder injury.

 Yep he's protected. He just rolled out from start so he could run on Sunday.

 Cool, hope the shoulder's strong for Sunday. He is a wildman!

 Brook is an animal. Hope he's not held back on Sunday.

 Minnar-2nd

 .04 seconds back is hardly second too. The Man is so damn fast and consistent.

 .04 is half a pedal stroke for Greg. Sunday is gonna be crazy!

 Or he will Try a L frame with the new chainstays for extra room

 +20.919

 He stopped to switch frames

 We can read.

 watch nationals and regionals - juniors are always v.close to seniors/elite/whatever

freakin kids nowadays lol

 CG just back from death !!!!! even racing is legendary!

 @daddybear.....shame on you coz u dont know the facts. shut up!!!

 You do know it's only quali's right?

 Facts:
Gwin got beat by Sam and Fairclough (and a bunch of other people including lots of privateers)
Connor is 63rd
and @ jokjok12 don't take it personaly if the first american is 10 (and it s not captain merica)
It's only quali's but comin from 53rd it's gonna be tough...

 You do know that Gwinn crashed right? The track will be in better condition for the earlier riders. Good to see Brendawg and SH up there but as usual, the PB idiots love to hate. Sunday will tell the whole story.

 I don't know about you guys but if Gwin gets on board that carbon Kona, I think magical things are gonna happen...but nevertheless he will get nuked in this world cup round!!

 Gwin on a kona next year...jk. But seriously, fearon was looking fast early, what's up lately, did that face injury psych him out

 Connor was looking way better before the wc season at all the Ausi/Kiwi Champ....Hope the best for him but i just don't understand why Kona don't invest some money on a top10 or 20 rider?...They win some races back in the days
@gaydawg69 see you on sunday

 Imagine the whinging Gwin would do if he was on Kona. They have shorter chainstays than the Demo. Protour would never shutup about it either. As for Connor, I think he said something about an arm injury on his Facebook.

 @Daddybear. Still u keep on commenting u don't know what happened? Do u expect him to be on top if he had a crashed? So shame on u!!! Maybe u can do it bro.....even You had a crashed still u can beat Sam Hill?

 @jokjok12 shhut the f**k up with you're crash !!! Loic bruni got a crash and he is 4 th....!!!!!!!! so shut up and go back to your room for licking your Gwin poster and pray for a win.....
Get used to it : in 2013 Gwin can get beat by privateers

 Now I know why some parents eat their young. Daddybear is an idiot.

 @gaydawg69 you be riding plastik pedals and you talk ishes?!....

 gwinn has lost to privateers this year daddybear is right ! in race and quali trim

 @jmbrit cheers! and some argue that he got a crash but lots of pilotes got crash and they don't finish at this place....(bruni in 4th place) Gwinn time seems to be over... everyone got a chance even privateers..... much more fun

 @daddybear...I'm no fan of gwin...m just telling don't talk like u can beat him. Shame on u if u can't even win a race. So shut the f..k ur mouth.

 @okjok12 it s all right little boy Gwinny is gonna somethin again, don't cry.You can go back to the sandbox play with your gwinner

 He's probably crying, wishing he could go back to Trek!

 hahaaaaaa

 @everardo - Not really, his Spec paycheck helps wipe away his tears. Still must be frustrating having all that pressure to keep the gwins going and then coming up short.

 I'm sure he gets a paycheck, but there's no bonuses coming in from sponsors when he's not on podium. I like to see him win one race before the season is over.

 It's qualifications and really mean nothing. It's Sunday that really matters.

 Jaydawg69, that's a joke if you really believe qualifying results mean nothing. We,ll see what happens on Sunday. If he doesn't place in the top ten, I'm guessing there's gonna be a lot of head scratching coming everyone at specialized.

 Ye we all want à competitive world cup, but there is Some other Guys I rather see take à win, steve Smith, bulldog, hart and for sure Sam Hill. Putting all the hate aside, Gwin on the top, just after Sam, for the reminding races would be Nice.

 He should stop racing like it's qualifying then

 Tell me moar, geeKayy, Gwin qualifed secong in Val di Sole.

 I wonder what the people at Trek Racing must be thinking of all this drama!

 probably laughing their asses off, and then realizing that if they paid gwin more or gave him what specialized gave him (or whatever happened that they'd have two incredible racers and not just one