Finals Results - XCO World Cup Round 3, La Bresse

 too many free bikes going to motivational speakers and life coaches brah. Or these girls could be getting free bikes but they are not part of a UCI registered trade team

 That doesn't mean that they are unsponsored. It means they aren't on a UCI team or a world cup team.

 @yerbikesux: I think you are grossly underestimating van life.

 @WhatAboutBob: some of the vans now-a-days have a bed and a stove inside!

 @rockyflowtbay: and an expresso machine.

 More importantly is Nino. Wagon wheels.

 I do actually believe they are sponsored.. its just that they are not part of a world cup/UCI official team

 @bonfire: If you were to look at the two main forms of racing, XC and DH, XC bikes are way closer to the bikes that are being sold. Never mind that if you actually looked at sales numbers you would see that XC bikes are a huge percentage. Also I think Catharine closing a minute half gap after getting pushed into a fence at the start is damm impressive. With a clean start she would have won that race by a significant margin.

 @bonfire: dh being the smallest segment of the bike industry... but carry on.

 XC still sells bikes, you watch this coverage, see what the pros are riding then hit up your local bike shop selling said brand to check it out. Same as tthe Tour de France, Giro, other pro sports....

Why did people buy Jordan Sneakers? becasue then wanted to be like Mike.

 EWS and #enduro are a bike seller's dream

 @killerb09: next time you're in a bike shop ask the staff member who came 3rd. If you worked at a bike shop and you ask a customer who came 1st on the weekend at XCO. You'll get a blank stare. DH is an even smaller segment of racing, but gets tons of coverage. Trek had a marketing guy saying in the China market, their big category is XC race bikes but they only use DH marketing material.

Customers had a much better chance of knowing Aaron Gwin and they just want to see the 'extreme' nature of it.

Downhill bike sales are a joke.

I've worked in bike shops for over a decade and the number of times a customer has mentioned anything about a bike in the tour while trying to buy one fit on one hand.

XC race bikes are an incredibly niche product these days.

 @bonfire: Don't assume what is true in your local area applies every where. Like you I have worked in bike shops for many years. In some places nobody has a clue about any kind of racing, others people follow DH and in others people follow XC.

I do agree that in western Canada XC bikes are niche, but step outside of western Canada and things change.

 @bonfire: The Tour is the reason Trek in on the Map, Remember Armstrong? if you don't he won a few titles and put Trek on the world map for Road bikes. Many people come into Trek stores exclusively because of it.

Niche markets exist all over the place, DH sales are falling since there is fewer places to ride but still exist.

XC/trail/Enduro bikes are increasing due to being 1 bike for multiple disciplines, I ride a Enduro......and then race that bike in XC events(badly).

Just because your current bike shop doesn't sell a particular type of bike doesn't make it the example for ALL of the industry. There were years where the shop I worked at didn't even inventory a Dual suspension mountain bike, just had no demand for it however we had $5000 road bikes flying off the hooks.

:-)

 Now it make sense. I never seen Nino place lower than third. I thought I was because of his new set up. And what's up with Jaroslav, he seems to be struggling this year.

 It wasn t the most apropiate day for trying new stuff(29er) nowing it would be the most difficult day for beating Absalon... Marketing sucks...

 @bartender: he broke his arm a month or two ago, probably didnt get back in shape yet

 True, but what comes around goes around. Julien had the same thing a couple weeks ago. Both deserving.

 Ditching the gold chain was the real reason why nino lost. It wasn't wheel size ????

This is mtb racing. Punctures, crashes, broken chains, etc. come with the territory. Maybe the next round will give us an exciting race between the nino and julien. Congrats to the frenchies for getting the top 3. Well done!

Who's leading now in points? Next round's crucial.

Congrats also to nino for coming back and placing 4th... Heck congrats to everyone for braving le bresse!

 @rcexsequor: www.uci.ch/mountain-bike/ranking
still Schurter is leading

 Nino needs to start running a dropper or he's going to keep getting punctures. He can hold any line on a descent without one but what he can't do is absorb impacts with the saddle is in his gut.

 @maybenotaprofile: correct me if I'm wrong but me thinks they're now tied at 650 points a piece. I just computed the points given to them based on rank since cairns.

 If he ditched those tubulars for wide rims and tubeless, punctures and washouts wouldn't lose him races.

 @eb1888: I'm sure it isn't the tubs.

 Evie is on the hunt.

 chasing U23 girls?

 @darkmuncan: too fast for me !

 2nd that!

 @slowrider73: 3rd that!

 He crashed on the last lap and wasn't able to finish.

 I agree totally...there should be more rounds during the year.

 On the past Scrib was bad but know they changed something and I can see the results with no problem

 Right,there's only eight DH rounds, whereas XC has six including Olympics! Shame on XC...

 @Muckal: oh haha whoops, I guess i just adsumed based on the recent coverage.

my bad

 assumed*

 @jaycubzz: Yeah, there just haven't been many DH rounds. Next is fort William soon I believe.

 Fort Bill should be the next weekend. First WC without the chainsaw it will be a tough one to watch ;(

 @JoseBravo: i hear ya on no Stevie. I watched a replay of Cairns the other day and nearly teared up when he flatted! Sad so sad.

On the other hand this years fort bill is also the other Steve's last one. Few stellas going down that yorkshire throat me thinks!!

 Out sick, what he wrote on FB below
Hi All. Well, some unfortunate news. After arriving on Wednesday night in La Bresse I woke up around 3am with a very sore throat. Things weren't any better on Thursday so I was forced to make the decision to head back to Germany on Thursday afternoon and seek medical advice. I'm being looked after very well and I have 100% confidence in my doctors/advisors that we will get to the bottom of this.
After such a promising pre season including power numbers far and beyond what I had ever achieved in only December/Jan I'm left wondering what could have been. I have been fighting a number of symptoms recently which haven't been allowing me to perform anywhere remotely close to my peak. At this stage appears as though I am suffering from over training or probably a more appropriate term is under recovery and there can be a number of reasons for this. A couple of key ones stand out to me but I won't go through all of them as there are far too many 'Facebook' medical experts with their own opinions but I can assure you I have the best possible team around me to deal with the situation I am faced.
Rest and recovery is the only remedy and I will have 2 weeks complete rest with the eye of returning as strong as possible to defend my Under 23 world title on the 2nd of July. I will also target the remaining 3 World Cups following the World Championships. As a young athlete it's hugely frustrating to be in this position but I will take it as a learning experience and move forward. My return to training and racing will be carefully managed.
Sometimes it can be easy to forget there is more to life than racing and so the next 2 weeks I will do my best to get healthy, refresh and take my mind off what has been a very rough start 2016. Once you reach rock bottom the only way is up! A huge thanks to my support crew, friends and family in NZ, girlfriend and her family in Germany, cycling NZ but most of all my team CFR for their support and understanding in these tough times. I'll be back. Anton

 I just watched both men's and women's replay on my Samsung smart tv Red Bull tv app with no issues. The new interface is slow and annoying to navigate but no issues once replay starts unlike years past where it would cut out mid race.

 @lifeofloon: yeah im on a sony and replay no issues either. Same goes for cairns and the german one too ( cant spell it haha )