Results: Windham DH World Cup - Finals

 "If it ain't got wheels I ain't interested"

 Wtf with the replays? ! Is it that hard?!

 Thank you wc dh riders...your intensity and awesomeness keeps my heart healthy by making my blood pump as fast as it can during race day. Big up to aron and the rest of the riders.

 What a run! So gutted for Loic though... What a race! Amazing run by Vergier to

 Gwin literally left nothing on the mountain, that was on/over the limit the whole way down, how he held that between the tapes i'll never know, utter brilliance!
I'll echo Ride12 statement, so gutted for Loic! i'd love to see him take his first win, but regardless puncture or not i dont think he would have beaten Gwin, but still he just need to get to the bottom without drama for once!

 Loic still put down a pretty damn good time for doing half the run with a flat

 Yeah gutted for Loic. Probably the worst track to puncture on too. With it being so short there is almost no way your going to get any points even if you try to ride it out.

 Gwin's run was the most bike abusive run overall !!!

 And Troy! OTB and still into 6th.... hard to imagine what he could've done if he kept it upright. Theres some serious pace waiting to be unleashed.

 btw guys any chance we see the GoPro helmet on his run? i saw Rachel and Gee mount their GoPro tho

 My son came down to see what all the yelling was about. I told him Gwin won, and he sighed and said "What did he break this time...?"

 Came here looking for a comment from Protour about the horrible inadequacies of the Demo... He must be so frustrated and screaming at his computer in his basement right now.

 ok so companies invest a ton of money on plastic dh bikes but cant keep air in the tires of their riders ???
Las year was gwinn losing his chance for wc overall at leogang now bruni. yeah supermegahitech forks shocks and blabla but invest money where races are really lost.

 Magic

 Skill

 Jesus magic

 Jesus

 Magical Jesus Skill

 It's literally like he has a 450cc engine in the back of that bike. Unreal suspension set up, and the strength to hold onto it, plus the eyes/cojones to find reedonkulous lines. Gwin is on another level. No way Bruni was going to go 3 sec faster! Flats suck tho

 God only knows

 according to his mechanic, old worn-out brake pads and WD-40 on the rotors

 The gap between Gwin and Minnaar is the same as the gap between Minnaar and 15th place

 thank you vital mtb

 I like how Warner said "at least Bruni can take solace in the fact that Gwin would have smoked him no matter what".

 Gwin won cus he's the best and the crowd was going wild. Could hear them from the top of the mountain as he went down.

 those arms and shoulders combined with a stiff fork = fast times ahead

 As the commentators said, Minnaar knows how to ride at 95%. Gwin knows how to ride at 150% and hold it together.

 He was probably just pretending his chain fell off...

 @SeaJay thought people would like to know on Pinkbike.

 He's a terminator sent from the future to protect Troy Brosnan, the future leader of the human resistance. This bike racing thing is just his cover.

 "Dear lord baby Jesus or as our brothers to the south call you, Hey-Zues, we thank you so much for this bountiful harvest of Domino's, KFC and the always delicious Taco Bell. I just want to take time to say thank you for my family: my two beautiful, beautiful handsome, striking sons Walker and Texas Ranger or T.R. as we call him and of course my red-hot smoking wife, Carley who is a stone-cold fox. Who if you were to rate her ass on 100, it would easilly be a 94. Also wanna thank you for my best friend and teammate, Cal Naughton Jr who's got my back no batter what."............Holy Hell does Gwin ever know he's one of the worlds few that can just let go and be damned what's in the way between corners and keep it together...DANG!

 @loopie - lol

Seriously, if he does at Val di Sole what he just did yesterday, it's going to be ugly in regards to the time-gaps.

 To be fair Minnaars only weakness would be that his riding doesn't suit short tracks. In that dirt-statistic thingy his heatmaps always sucked in the first split. Somehow is slower but steadier in getting into it.

 @tabletop84 that's a good point

 He had no idea where to stand, etc. That was awesome to see him get 3rd!!

 Standing there with his arm around Gwin was awesome...That kid was fast as hell and he deserved every moment of that podium.

 Yeah except for one or two little mishaps and he could have finished even higher. Must feel good to him. Sense a level of intensity, even worry, to his bearded demeanor now.

 She should get on the Syndicate for the women's team!

 nice to hear that she is racing again

 that's what i believe she rode a rental bike if she had a proper Santa Cz....

 Santa Cruz won't put a woman on a V10 because of Juliana Bikes. Juliana needs to come out with their proprietary version of a v10 then sponsor a few women.

 how was she able to get into the World Cup without competing in any races leading up to it?

 She did compete in a race leading up to it... In 1994....

 I think a Juliana DH bike would be a silly thing. Rachel Atherton alone proves that there should be little distinguishing the genders at this level of the sport! Can you imagine Missy & Ratboy on the Santa Cruz videos together? Insane!

 Juliana has a DH bike already. The SHE-10 see it in whistler all the time. Its just a sea-foam green V10 with Juliana decals.

 Would she be able to even leave the country with a criminal record. Wouldn't really make much sense to put her on a race team

 Getting into the states with a criminal record is problematic. The rest of the world does not care as much. Ya just have to pay a fee sometimes.

 The chick is 43 years old … and looking and riding sweet!

Yes … Most PB dudes she is old enough to be your mom!!!!


Melissa "Missy" Giove (born 1972) is a professional downhill mountain biker. Her nickname is The Missile.

Giove was one of mountain-bike racing's first mainstream female superstars, did some ads for Reebok, is the all-time leader in NORBA downhill wins with 14, and is second on the World Cup list with 11. Giove's other accomplishments include three overall NORBA downhill crowns, two World Cup overalls, and the 1994 world championship title. Prior to cycling, Missy was also a nationally ranked downhill skier.

Early in her career, Missy raced for the highly respected boutique Yeti Racing team along with other top downhill racing stars such as Myles Rockwell, Jimmy Deaton, John Tomac, and Johnny O under the management of industry veteran and former owner of Yeti Cycles, John Parker. After establishing herself as the top US women's downhill talent, Missy moved to the larger corporate financed team of Volvo-Cannondale USA cycling team. Together Missy Giove and Myles Rockwell dominated many of the US downhill races under the Cannondale badge in the early 90's. Missy was always known for being colorful and fast talking.

She announced her retirement from full-time racing in August 2003, and in March 2004, she appeared in an episode of the cartoon Rocket Power titled "Missile Crisis" (the title referring to her nickname), giving one of the characters a compliment. After retirement she helped finance the travel and fees for several up and coming downhill cyclists.

Giove was noted for wearing the desiccated body of her deceased pet piranha Gonzo on a necklace when racing. She is openly lesbian.[1]

In June 2009, Giove was arrested in Wilton, New York on charges of conspiring to possess and distribute 384 pounds of marijuana. Giove pled guilty to the charges.[2] On November 23, 2011, she was sentenced to the time served, six months of home detention and five years of supervised release.[3]

 I'm not a Missy fan, but it's a shame she has a "criminal record" associated with her name all because she "conspired to sell something people actually wanted. Thanks nanny state war on drugs that does way more harm then good. I'd rather see her riding a bike.

 I'd rather see her racing as well, but, she was a selling major quantities of weed for some rather big dealers- it wasn't a case of a few bags here and there. There are a few articles about this online.

 Missy was on a YT Tues CF Comp, unlikely a rental.

 Missy's Tuesday was provided by the Zink Bros. Props and Daps to them!

 She had raced two pro grts and was granted. Spot on the U.S. TEAM so she could petition to compete. She went down HARD in practice and her arm and shoulder were all fucked up. I was surprised she even raced.

 Rachel throwin' the wrench in the Boxxer contest. At least 3 or 4 seconds faster than most thought possible.

 More like Bruni's flat, if he went second I'd have gotten the 1,2,3

 Shit! Forgot to enter the GT frame Contest.

 Seriously, my predictions would have been 100% correct both men and women if not for a flat tire.

 And how would you know what he would of placed without a flat

 He was up through the splits before the flat, but slower than Gwin, it's likely he would have gone second.

 Missy would be good competition...
At 4:20 in the afternoon of course...

 Is it just me that thinks missy looks like the b#stard love child of ratboy and......well.. ratboy...?

 Thanks to an unexpected time travel incident, Ratboy is actually the b*stard lovechild of Missy and Ratboy.

 @Codypup he was referencing her affinity for and legal charges regarding cannabis.

 What did she place?

 Sherlock? My name's Andrew, dude.

 That was simply amazing for him to be in the hot seat for so long , and look at the quality of the riders that did beat his time , he must feel like he's in a dream world right now.

 Hope he's relatively ok after that gong-show of a run. He got rag-dolled pretty hard going over that left-handed "berm". I'd guess he rang his bell rather well based on his comments at the finish.

 he seemed a little bit knocked out after his first crash...^^
glad he's ok tho!

 Lucky he made it over the berm though and not into it.

 Brosnan covered in dust claps his hands to shake it of the gloves and they talking about arm pump ...

 Well it make sense... After gwin came down Brosnan had said he went over the bars but no one had seen it. That's why he was clapping the dirt off. I can see where they were coming from when they were confused by why he would be clapping.

 Agree...I wondered why they weren't talking about the dust all over him, but then he finished 6th (or 4th or whatever at the time) so I joined in thinking he must not have actually gone down 'cause 6th!

 Quite a run by Brosnan to finish that close with a crash.

 Gwin from split 1 to finish: 1:28.119
Troy from split 1 to finish: 1:28.517 (with a clap)

 maybe he's not human ... but he seemed to be very happy after his run I guess I saw him laughing for the first time

 Or the ground

 The worn out pads and DW40 on his rotors was an inspired move by his mechanic.

 @dingus - I saw that interview and thought he was kidding. Apparently, he was serious. :/

 Yep...his has gotta be the most overlooked run. That's just nuts. He's so fast he can crash, figure out which way is down, and get back on his bike, in less than six seconds?

 On a 2:40 track where even the slightest bobble can cost you upwards of 10 places. Have they checked those Specialized bikes for motors??

 yeah you're right about Brosnan though not sure if he was as fast as Gwin, 3rd fastest through the speed trap. A crash that put him in 39 at split 1 then 10th and split 2 and finshed in 6th. So we was moving and making a lot of time on track.

 Lost just 0,4 of second from 1st split down to Gwin, pretty good considering a crash earlier up. More to put a perspective on Gwins time that to analyze what could have been!

 that .4 was probably in the clap he did

 Was thinking the same, he had an odd eye twitch in his interview, I think he's a prototype superhuman & that's why he knows the limit of grip - he has an inbuilt stability control program & adaptive camber technologies which make him faster...

Or he's just fooking mental...

Or both, for that matter!!! What a rider!

 hey, just been wondering if your hardrock is still for sale?

 The only analogy I can think of is that AG is moving like a lion on the savannah...where everyone else is a scared water buffalo trying to get away. Actively hunting that green number at the finish. Mind blowing.

 I think someone was just taking the piss and played his run on fast forward for the lols

 You should've been there!

 Once I picked my jaw off the floor, all I could do was laugh hysterically. There was so many laws of physics Gwin violated with that run!!

 Yup back seat

 You do know that would probably be nine seconds on you as well. Just let go of the brakes mate...

 thanks for stating that I stated the bloody obvious. very useful replay thank you !!!

 and most WC wins in history. legend!

 Check again.

 Yeah, I saw that, haha. I looked at the juniors by mistake.

 Nevertheless she is unbelievably fast.

 Fair play to atherton but 17th against the juniors! Damn those youngsters are quick!

 Rachel would have finished 73rd in the mens field, which is still an impressive feat in itself!

 yeah whats that all about?

 "You're not gonna sing bro?"

 they cant possibly have fallen out over that?

 There was some reports about a fight between Gee and Ratboy and maybe Sam Dale last week at MSA. It's difficult to know exactly what happened (if anything even happened) because 'reporting' done by the media at World Cups can often be sarcastic or tounge in cheek. It's hard to know what they are being serious about and what's a joke or an exaggeration.

 It was a tounge-in-cheek caption by one of the media guys in a photo slideshow that somehow (it's the internet) got blown out of proportion by the viewers.

 I agree, especially caluori. What was that snarky comment against the British top three women? "Haven't they got something else to do". Totally not on.

 it's the Top Speed not the first sector ! ! ! anyway very well done, superfast..... MISSILE !!! eheh as you said... there are girls that train hard etc etc... and she puts them behind ! TALENT AND MADNESS !

 So, basically, if you're a male elite WC DH racer not named Aaron Gwin, you're likely doing a lot of soul-searching right about now.

 Well put.

 Yeh but the winner's a BRIT!!! Way to go Laurie!!

 This is the finals, not timed training

 Ma Bad Bra.

 Same, in the men's too. Thought Mik was lookin super fast. Wish we could have seen his run.

 We was on at least a 2nd place run up until he got a rear flat. #gutted

 How do you physically overcome a mental barrier?

 By punching yourself in the brain...obviously.

 Minnaar was the only rider able to get within 2sec of that qualifying time.

 Yes, and Gwin was 2 seconds up in qualifying as well. The top 3 would be going for the points in qualifying and I doubt they held much back.

 He rode down and was still whipping the final jumps, so I think ( cross fingers ) that he is fine.

 Gwin by a mile. No disrespect to Rachel or the other ladies, but there's a decent drop-off in overall skills from Rachel to the rest of her field than that of Gwin and the mens field. She would have finished ahead of a portion of the mens field herself, which is impressive in itself!!

 I don't know, didn't he just match his qualifying run?

 His qualies run would have won today as well...against the rest of the field, at least.

 It's not her problem, big respect to the 1-2-3 Brit ladies,