Stoked for Isabeau's win, especially since she's been ill for a few weeks. Clearly brought her A-game today!
The women's series will be so much more interesting if she can keep challenging Cecile thruout the season.
@Linkpin: What do you mean by that? Isabeau won at least 3 of 4 stages as far as I know. It seems as a well deserved win to me. Congrats to both anyway.
@jxxw: I mean that all the pre-race coverage said that Cecile looked a lot faster than any of the other women but things didn't turn out that way. I'm pleased the field is opening up, don't get me wrong, just thought it was strange.
@jclnv: No 26" here. Just look at the championship wining bike. From last year. And the year before. And the year before. And the year before. Should I continue?
@enrico650: Didn't Moseley win every race she entered on a 130mm 29"?
The fact is until recently the fastest guys have been riding for brands that don't make long travel 29" so it wasn't even an option. Graves was leading this race until two stages to go, what you gonna say if he wins the overall?
People said this shit in XCO. Don't accelerate, clumsy on the downs etc. Now anything but 29" is an obvious disadvantage.
@jclnv: Some idiot on a Specialized camber 29 that was going too slow in front of me wouldn't move because he was convicted that his bike was faster. Or it was an Enduro 29? Oh well, same thing i guess .
Worst results article ever. Less than half the stages shown. Link to more results is to a website that uses a needlessly buggy and overly complex presentation. It's pretty much impossible to look at the results on an iPhone or ipad.
Seriously. How hard is it to show a simple table of data? Not a photo of a table. Not a buggy program. But a simple table.
Can someone at the EWS explain to me why Lewis Buchanen was given a 5 minute penalty for dropping his water bladder? Id hate to see the time penalties for larger infractions made at one of these events.
i dont the details of what lewis did so not sure of this is exactly what he was penalsied for. but at Rotorua the ews made a big song and dance about the fact that you couldn't carry stuff and ditch it during the race. you have to take out what you take in. Lewis was present at that briefing and its has also been reiterated the respective of race books for Rotorua and Tasmania, i would have expected that they probably also discussed it at the Tasmania briefing well. so if that's the rule he broke and that is what he did, then he is pretty stupid.
Such a great feeling finaly to have a home representative on the EWS circuit, Noga Korem did an amazing job, 4th place! wow i really didn't see it coming. Huge respect!!!
What's the thinking behind giving out 5 minute penalties? (given out for being 5min late for your start, changing a marked component or stashing gear/food) There's no way any (senior male) rider could still salvage reasonable points in the overall with that sort of penalty.
That's the point. You don't want people calculating how to bend the rules vs. how much time they save, you just want breaking the rules to be out of the question.
Sometimes it sucks when riders don't think they are breaking rules, but its meant to keep the sport about biking, not about who has the most parts to spare, or best gear-drop strategy.
@bikekrieg: So why don't they just DQ if it's that SERIOUS?
A 5min penalty in Mens is the difference between a podium position and 100th place ie. 400points vs ZERO. A 5 min penalty in Womens and you could still be top 15 and go home with hundreds of points.
I wonder what conditions where like for Masters Men vs Pro Men... Karim Amour was 7 seconds faster than Dailly.
And Nigel Page was 8 Seconds faster than his team rider, Sam Hill!
The locals killed it! Kaine Cannan, Harry Nichols, Ewan Ferrier, Tom Booth, Edwina Hughes. Really proud of you all! What a surreal experience it was to have an EWS round in Tasmania of all places!
Who even really knew there were trails of that caliber in Tasmania before EWS? I don't think many at all haha. yewwwww
Crazy how Dailly can get 45th on a stage and still take the win, he must have been hauling ass in stage 6! I can't wait to see what happens this season
Whooohoooo Frenchiesss ... Dailly is rocking it... he could have won NZ too if not crashed... first year with the pro's... Europe will dominate EWS and DH... mark my words...
@bohns1: hahaha.... I hope so... the top 10 is really competitive... but Dailly had very much rain and mud in NZ and still was almost #1.... only his crash kept him away... Maes is on speed too ... very nice guy btw... Hill is like OMG... Graves... Galaghan... Rude... This season will be sooo awesome... But what I like most.. is that Rude is getting nothing for granted... he has some great competition for his podium this year.. Same goes for Cecile... she got hammered today ... This is nice for the rankings...
I got abuse for saying the Masters bros and others that did well because of the weather would be nowhere to be seen the next round... guess I wasn't wrong.
@kerberos: If you bothered to read the report about the last race you would know that lower ranked riders got a drier run than the top guys which is why some of them did so but are nowhere to be seen today.
@Racer951: nah that's not true at all. It's a different race different country. On that track and on that day they were the fastest. All super talented and riding local tracks no surprising they did so well.
@thenotoriousmic: So you are saying the fact that it rained before the top guys came down in the last round is not true at all? It made no difference?
Look at the results, Masters was outside the top 15 in the last two stages in Round 1 when the regular top guys started to claw back the huge time advantage the lower ranked riders like him had in the earlier stages.
You don't need to agree with me, this race was proof the guys that did well last time made the most of a good situation.
@Racer951: You are right about the weather factor. But saying that they 'only' got lucky because of the weather is a bit off. Wyn might be way below the ranks here in Round 2, but you can't judge a rider based on ranks alone. You have to look at how far by seconds a rider is from the leading. Justin Leov's 20th finish in Stage 7 does not mean he suck, specially if he's barely 4 seconds off from Sam Hill.
@Racer951: I'm not saying he was gonna win. But wyn had a solid crash in the rocks. And in rotorua ews 2015 he came 3rd. Eddie wasn't racing this summer weekend. Wyn has also had a few ews top 20's. I agree that the rain timing in round one had an influence, I just think you are overstating some things.
It rained for every one and besides wyn and Eddie race world cups looking at the standard of riders at the EWS that definitely makes them one of the top guys. Guys that race at a much higher level on local tracks end up winning... where's the upset?
@thenotoriousmic: Did you not even look at report from the first round? Have you looked at the results at all?
It didn't rain for everyone, it states in the write-up that it didn't rain until racing had started and that the top 20 guys had much wetter and blown out tracks than guys that started earlier, this gave the early starters chance to pull huge time gaps.
Look at the results rather than just stating your opinion, clear to see that most of the time for the guys not normally in the top 10 was made up in the first 3 races (weather) and when things became more even they fell way, way back (Wyn to outside top 15 in last 2 races with Sam, Richie, etc back up to winning / top 5)
I am not saying Wyn is a bad rider, nor am I saying he isn't capable of pulling a good result but I doubt you will ever see him get on the podium at an EWS again, let alone win it, he was miles away this race, literally out of the back door, crashes or not.
@Racer951: that's how racing works the fastest riders get the worse track. I've heard contrasting story's it's all down to who's saying it... doesn't change the fact that the fastest rider on the day was wyn and it's quite common for a rider to win a race and gone on to have a stinker.
No hypotheticals here.
Just look at the championship wining bike.
From last year.
And the year before.
And the year before.
And the year before.
Should I continue?
The fact is until recently the fastest guys have been riding for brands that don't make long travel 29" so it wasn't even an option. Graves was leading this race until two stages to go, what you gonna say if he wins the overall?
People said this shit in XCO. Don't accelerate, clumsy on the downs etc. Now anything but 29" is an obvious disadvantage.
Still no championship.
What do you think is the best 150mm+ bike on the market?
Or it was an Enduro 29?
Oh well, same thing i guess .
I'll be in touch if Graves wins the overall. Prepare your excuses.
And if he doesn't?
You said Graves
It will be interesting to see in wich tracks the bike performs better.
Seriously. How hard is it to show a simple table of data? Not a photo of a table. Not a buggy program. But a simple table.
There's no way any (senior male) rider could still salvage reasonable points in the overall with that sort of penalty.
So why don't they just DQ if it's that SERIOUS?
A 5min penalty in Mens is the difference between a podium position and 100th place ie. 400points vs ZERO.
A 5 min penalty in Womens and you could still be top 15 and go home with hundreds of points.
Looking at it that way. Hardly a fair rule is it?
What a surreal experience it was to have an EWS round in Tasmania of all places!
Who even really knew there were trails of that caliber in Tasmania before EWS? I don't think many at all haha. yewwwww
Maes is on speed too ... very nice guy btw... Hill is like OMG... Graves... Galaghan... Rude... This season will be sooo awesome...
But what I like most.. is that Rude is getting nothing for granted... he has some great competition for his podium this year.. Same goes for Cecile... she got hammered today ... This is nice for the rankings...
www.enduroworldseries.com/live/live-results
Look at the results, Masters was outside the top 15 in the last two stages in Round 1 when the regular top guys started to claw back the huge time advantage the lower ranked riders like him had in the earlier stages.
You don't need to agree with me, this race was proof the guys that did well last time made the most of a good situation.
It didn't rain for everyone, it states in the write-up that it didn't rain until racing had started and that the top 20 guys had much wetter and blown out tracks than guys that started earlier, this gave the early starters chance to pull huge time gaps.
Look at the results rather than just stating your opinion, clear to see that most of the time for the guys not normally in the top 10 was made up in the first 3 races (weather) and when things became more even they fell way, way back (Wyn to outside top 15 in last 2 races with Sam, Richie, etc back up to winning / top 5)
I am not saying Wyn is a bad rider, nor am I saying he isn't capable of pulling a good result but I doubt you will ever see him get on the podium at an EWS again, let alone win it, he was miles away this race, literally out of the back door, crashes or not.