Photo Epic: Coming to Grips with the New Leogang - DH World Cup Qualifications
Let's face it. We've all sort of taken the piss out of Leogang these last few years. The track has long been considered to "bike park," and aside from the amazing backdrop has never been a favourite of riders or the press. Things like #notschladming are frequently used in social media to describe the general dislike of the track. This year, there were some changes made, and while it still might not be Schladming, it has the riders on their toes. Watching them struggle to come to terms with the new woods section, the comment was made, "with all these sh*t tracks these days, have they forgotten how to ride roots?"
Aaron Gwin came out and smashed it in qualis today. Connor Fearon and Remi Thirion both had banger runs as well. Rachel Atherton dominated the women's field. Manon Carpenter didn't have the run she was hoping for, but is confident about tomorrow. Loic Bruni was fastest at split one and second fastest at split two. If he can hold it together tomorrow, he could edge out Gwin. Bernard Kerr finished tenth, including a crash in the woods that sent him into the pain cave with some top tube riding action. Connor Fearon took second place on flat pedals. Mike Jones slid out at the bottom of the rock garden, but could still be a contender tomorrow. Brendan Fairclough was inside the top ten. So now the big question is, who has what it takes to master what is now a proper track here in Leogang tomorrow?
Check out all of our World Cup DH pics here.
Aaron Gwin came out and smashed it in qualis today. Connor Fearon and Remi Thirion both had banger runs as well. Rachel Atherton dominated the women's field. Manon Carpenter didn't have the run she was hoping for, but is confident about tomorrow. Loic Bruni was fastest at split one and second fastest at split two. If he can hold it together tomorrow, he could edge out Gwin. Bernard Kerr finished tenth, including a crash in the woods that sent him into the pain cave with some top tube riding action. Connor Fearon took second place on flat pedals. Mike Jones slid out at the bottom of the rock garden, but could still be a contender tomorrow. Brendan Fairclough was inside the top ten. So now the big question is, who has what it takes to master what is now a proper track here in Leogang tomorrow?
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 Clouds and the threat of rain in the morning eventually cleared out to give us another scorching hot day. |
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| Oh, sorry are you trying to work here? |
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| Full speed into the dark tunnel during the early morning practice. |
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| Atherton heading out on her first run of the day. |
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| Tahnee Seagrave continues to step up the pace and the shapes get better and better... Third-last lady down the mountain tomorrow. |
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| Tracey Hannah tried to keep it a secret that it was her birthday today, but the Polygon UR team surprised her with with the closest thing to a birthday cake they could find in Leogang. |
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| Emmeline Ragot qualified second today, but she will have to find a good chunk of time out there tomorrow to beat Atherton. |
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| U.S. national champ Jill Kintner qualified fifth in her first World Cup of the year. |
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| Andrew Crimmins is on a mission to regain the leaders jersey in the Junior category. He would set the fastest time in qualifying. |
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| Jacob Dickson is looking to make up for his crash last week in Fort William, and stormed down the track just 1.5 seconds back from the leader in the Juniors. |
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| Laurie Greenland qualified second today. He wasn't fully on the gas today and knows where to get those seconds in his race run. |
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| Shark attack on track! |
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| Atherton sets the pace once again, this time by over 5 seconds. Of course the woods make Leogang far from a done deal for Rachel and it's all still to play for. |
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| There was a big delay between practice and qualifying, but luckily there was a beer stand half way down the track that allowed the media to refuel and carry on. |
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| On a red flag, Smith and Wallace scope the upper loam section where riders continue to chop and change lines as the track erodes. |
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| MacDonald got mighty loose in the cascades section on his quali run. If he can hold his Session in a straight(ish) line tomorrow, we should expect big things. |
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| Markus Pekoll is as close to a local in Leogang as it gets some of the loudest cheers no matter where he finishes. |
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| Never count Greg Minnaar out. Sitting in 5th after qualifying he is very much in touch with the leaders and could become the winning-est rider ever if he finds a few more seconds in tomorrow's final run. |
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| Connor Fearon has had some solid results at Leogang before. Today the Aussie was on a ripper and qualified second. |
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| Ratty qualified sixth today. Lets hope that Bryceland goes off like an atom bomb tomorrow. |
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| He simply stares and the rocks part. Is Aaron Gwin a wizard? 3 minutes and 35 seconds top to bottom for the number 1. |
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| Marcello dipped outside the top 10 in qualis, but the way the Colombian looks on track gives us the idea he has plenty more in the tank. |
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| Top 10 today for Bernard Kerr. |
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| Gee Atherton has been riding aggressive all weekend and landed himself 4th today. |
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| Stevie Smith qualified seventh today. Could Smith make his big comeback tomorrow? |
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| George Brannigan is an angry man. Just outside the top ten with team mate Brook, look for them to boulder their way onto the top steps together just like last year. |
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| Brook MacDonald getting that rear suspension compressed on his quali run. Brook qualified twelfth. |
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| Remi Thirion was looking brutal out there today. Remi had a minor slip up and still qualified third. |
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| There was a fair amount of carnage out there today. The track is rowdy and for many, hard to tame. |
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| Aaron Gwin never looked super fast in the sloppy and tech woods but his speed everywhere else on track has been incredible. With a win today for Gwin and a crash for Loic Bruni it means he has opened up the points gap a bit more going into tomorrow's final. |
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| Brendan Fairclough isn't known for his power, but he has been making time in the new tech bits of the track to hold down a top 9th today. |
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| If Loic Bruni can hold it together tomorrow he will be the man Gwin will have to worry about most. |
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| They call him the Ratboy... The defending champion here in Austria showed some teeth this afternoon with a rowdy 6th. He certainly remains a top contender. |
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| Aaron Gwin has been taking his time in practice, stopping to look at lines. In practice he never looked up to full speed, but once the clock started ticking, it was clear he had things dialled. |
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| The Madison team go over some track sections after qualifying this afternoon. |
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| Sam Dale gets a new shock, and the tools to install it himself. |
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| The World's fastest mechanic, John Hall, sips on a cold one at the end of a top-banana day at the big 'S' camp. |
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| Andrew Neethling had another tough day at the office. After riding solid all weekend he had a massive crash on the fastest part of the track and would finish 19 seconds behind the leader and outside the top 80. |
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| As thunderstorms roll in this evening, we wait with baited breath to see how it shakes down tomorrow. |
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Haha, missed your killer punchline due spelling. TOO "Bike Park".
nevermind
"TO" instead of "TOO"
and
"FORM" instead of "FROM" ("aside 'form' the amazing")
“Watching them struggle to come terms...”
These guys are probably typing this on the lift or in the pits with sun-glare on an iPhone. I’ll cut them some slack, annoying as it may be.
;-)
Props pinkbike for taking me back to the most gorgeous country on earth. Local boy Rat FTW
Check out cdn.coresites.factorymedia.com/dirt_new/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/MensQualifyingLeogang2015.pdf .
jfkusa is right though, it gives protected riders incentive to push it a bit in their quali run, and also to help avoid tactics like stopping on track to get an earlier start time for finals (as Matti Lehikoinen famously did in Champéry '07 to avoid the rain).