brownies

@leon-forfar: It's an interesting point actually about how it's so unique to MTB... I did some quick research and found this fascinating article about the 5 person podium: https://marathonmtb.com/2017/04/06/mtb-5-person-podium/ TLDR for those who don't want to read the article: at a World Cup in Cairns 1994, race organisers requested the UCI to expand to a 5 person podium so that a young Cadel Evans could stand on the podium at his home race (in an effort to boost the popularity of MTB in Oz). And it's stuck around ever since!

@bgoldstone: Yep true but as Kolb said, it wouldn't be surprising if they move to a 3 person podium for the races next year too. Hope that's not the case though!

Love Andy Kolb saying it how it is - the 5 rider podium is iconic! I get that most other sports use a 3 person podium but I've always thought the 5 person podium is one of the things that makes this sport great - so often we see riders get a 4th/5th on the podium that becomes a career-defining result, these ones come to mind straightaway: - Reece Wilson's 4th place on home soil in Fort William (his first podium, which also helped him land a spot on Trek) - Troy Brosnan's 4th place at Val Di Sole at 18 years old (when the juniors raced in the same category as men) - Ronan Dunne's 4th place last year at Snowshoe - Josh Button's 5th place at Cairns on home soil And so many other results that could be listed... and to cut the overall podium to top 3 without any warning feels pretty harsh on Finn and Andy. Could've at least kept that for the year to be consistent with the top 5 podium at all the races!

Humble guy with still many years ahead at only 25 years old, so good to see him really hitting his stride. Love that both he and Kolb bagged a big win this year, they seem to be a great pairing together.

So stoked for Benoit, that was a long time coming! 6 races with 6 different winners so far, the racing this season has been some of the best we’ve seen in years.

Watch out for Laurie and Daprela, both have good form on this track (at last year's world cup Thibaut was 2nd and Laurie 3rd). After Thibaut's wild run at Val Di Sole, I have this feeling he's going to lay one down...

I love that we have these guys who raced in the 90s like Sean and Rob still hanging around the scene. And only 20 seconds off the pace isn't shabby either, though it's mindblowing that the bloke who won also started racing in the 90s!

1 - Brett Rheeder (CAN) 2 - Brandon Semenuk (CAN) 3 - Tom Van Steenbergen (CAN)

All these runs were sick in their own right - Max bringing the street technicality, Fedko with steeze/big combos, and then Rogatkin sending his huge spins. Refreshing to see some variety in course builds this year!

I know what you mean, I'm normally a huge fan of Clay Porter too - he's one of the OG mtb filmmakers. I totally get that creatives evolve/refine their craft over time (I'm a graphic designer myself so I can't talk), but I sorta wish I could've seen this done in the style he started with in the 2000's that just gets you pumped up to go and ride. Take this classic Sam Hill section from F1RST: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_S_7Nv1Hc-U&