Entry List for the Glentress XC World Champs 2023

 Zero hate on e bikes. I think they are cool and an awesome way to expand your trail riding. But e bike racing is dumb. Not talking e moto, that'd be cool. But eXC...lame...those riders just can't compete with normal XC pros. eEnduro? Still slower than the pros. eDH? Why. So dumb

 I also have no hate for ebikes, but if someone told me they were a pro racer and this is what they did I would be hard pushed not to laugh in their face. The very definition of lame.

 Presenting readers who expect list of real athletes with a roster of industry Moped-pimps melts the brain. UCI's lust to control new fiefdom enriching the battery & motor sector is revolting.

 I want to see Harrison win the EMTB race. YOB = 1964!!!
That would be something to behold. LOL

 How is it more lame than, say, motoX?

 The uphill "Power Stages" are actually interesting, in my opinion, and I wouldn't mind seeing one short, technical climb stage in the regular enduro format.

 .. and sad to see Magnus White

 @gsbxcmtb9: I am hoping them do a moment of silence for Magnus at the event. Tragic news for all.

 But no Henrique Avancini after his victorious exertions in the Marathon race a couple of days ago.
OTOH Mona Mitterwallner is entered in the XCO after winning the Women's Marathon. Are Austrian women made of sterner stuff than Brazilian bros? Will be interested to see if she shows - and how she does

 @tigerfish50: different people have different strengths, recovery rates, and ambitions.

No need to bring nationality or sex into the question when comparing a rising star to a veteran and their specific goals for the race season.

 And surely one of them will take it out. Me money on Pidcock.

 @pmhobson: This must be your 'Assumption' day .
I imagine if somebody like Wyn Masters put a similar question to Henrique, he'd laugh and agree. After all, he has oodles of Brazilian charm and machismo.
To make things absolutely clear, I unreservedly admire Henrique and heartily congratulate him on his magnificent victory, medal and rainbow jersey. Highly deserved - and the same goes for Mona.
I can fully understand if Henrique has decided on a few rest days.
I can also understand why Mona might make a different decision.
I guess I was being a touch facetious - excuse me, I didn't know we were in church

 @Supermoo: There was a wonderful tribute to Stevie Smith a few years ago, someone on here suggested a silent run and it became reality. I don't think exactly the same thing would work on a longer race format, but surely they could do something similar.

 And Sagan! Funny that Pidcock didn’t do the road race, surely must have qualified for team GB had he wanted to.

 @tigerfish50, @pmhobson;

Good news: You're both wrong! Look under the name "Da Silva Avancini".

 @R-M-R: What a guy! He's as tough as . . . as . . Mona!

 There is an XCC race as well, and MVDP is a big favourite for that one as well. So might be 3 rainbow jerseys this week.

 @Johanissimus: MVDP has won the last eight XCC races he's started. (But none since 2021).

 Very sad news.

 Maybe they left his name up to signify he's there in spirit. No need to get depressed - death is always with us, and some see it as a reason for celebration.

 @tigerfish50: weird comment. Literally zero people are celebrating the tragic death of a 17 year old.

 @pmhobson: Jumping to conclusions based on incomplete understanding can have bad consequences in life. Just as OP, without knowing the exact circumstances, has assumed the inclusion of White's name was depressing - you do something similar although I never said people were celebrating the death of a 17YO.

In actuality I was thinking of the Persian poet Rumi who advised people not to mourn his death - that for him it would be a day of celebration

 @tigerfish50: right. But again, that’s a weird and useless thing to bring up in this situation and hardly a justification for saying “no need to be depressed”. Did Magnus White say that? Does what Rumi said apply to everyone in all cases?

Being saddened by a tragic and untimely loss of life is natural and in many ways healthy response. To borrow your language: no need to tell people their feelings are wrong when they’re not.

 @pmhobson: Look, I suspect none of us know any of the facts here.
We don't know why White's name is still on the list. It could be oversight or a mark of respect.
Neither do we know why OP finds it depressing. It could be because he assumes it's oversight or he's depressed by this reminder of death.
Do you know for sure? I doubt it.
Are you depressed by this? If so, why? (Please don't give me the line about "untimely loss of life" because that happens thousands of times every day)
If you're not depressed, then logically you agree with me there is "no need to be depressed".

 @tigerfish50: I don’t think anyone is assuming malice in the decision to leave his name on the list.

It might very well be a tribute.

But the fact remains that seeing a dead 17 year old’s name on this will make people think about all of the potential that kid had. The fact that he’s part of our cycling tribe and died while cycling isn’t a happy thought.

When people say “xyz> is depressing” that’s another way of saying it’s a sad story. Movies, books, even paintings can be “depressing” even if they’re about fictional people. That doesn’t mean they cause or trigger clinical depression.

All this should be plainly obvious. But I guess it’s not.

 I very much like that his name remains on the start list; I think of it as a tribute.

 @pmhobson: when people die, people celebrate the life of the deceased. That is how it should be meant.

 @gsbxcmtb9: Same here. This young man worked very hard to have his name added to that list. I'm sure he felt pride to be on it and I'm sure his parents, family, friends, and cycling community felt the same for him. Removing his name so soon after this tragedy, I feel, would be disrespectful.

 Yes he is retiring from the road by the end of the season and want to target the olympics on the mountain bike in 2024. Hi Rio effort was quite good until his mechanical although he was kind of lacking the world cup races to sharpen his MTB skills

 Good result in Scotland is probably the only way for Sagan to get nomination for the Olympics, because Slovakia does not have sufficient ranking.

 Pauline Ferrand Prevot I think? But nobody in the men category as far as I'm aware

 @theoliver001: Pauline held all three at the same time for about two weeks, but not all won in the same year. Road was late September 2014, CX in February 2015, XC in early September 2015.

 @dougfs: Van der Poel is the first male rider to have both road and CX in the same year. Adding XCO in the same year would be icing on an already impressive AF cake.

 @dougfs: isn't it the first time all uci world champs are at the same place same time ?

 @fautquecaswing: CX was in February, but other than that and Gravel, yes, you are correct.

 He can even do better than PFP. There was no XCC world championship at the time. Still think MvDP is lazy and is taking it way too easy. He could have raced the XCM and some omnium on the velodrome inbetween.

 @opignonlibre: but he can forget about trial

 He never races XCC world champs, he focus on XCO

 He kind of "sucks"[1] at it anyway in the World Cup events, the only reason he is doing them is to not lose too many points for the classification and stay in the first rows if possible.

[1] I obviously mean it relatively to some other World Cup racers who comparatively excel better in XCC, not to the rest of us.

 he's listed for both.

 @11six: ahh thanks for that, I thought I must be going blind! Nino is one for surprises but I'm really hoping tom can get what he deserves!

 Flosports in the US. It's the UCI really wanting to expand cycling by making sure you can't watch cycling without numerous subscriptions. I don't even understand where flosports came from or how they got World Champs though.

 VPN + GCN+

That worked for downhill. Too bad they had to turn this into some confusing math equation mess.

 @Beazy: what if you already have GCN+, does a VPN make a difference? Or will GCN+ recognize your user ID and always associate it with your original country and not allow you to sign on from a different country?

 @taprider: I used a VPN set to UK and my GCN+ worked fine to watch last weekend from the US. I also have Flobikes so I just picked the commentators I liked best.

 @Zak-B: But did you have a VPN before you subscribed to GCN+? So that you never associated your user ID with the USA

 @taprider: no it works fine, signed up for a free trial of VPN this past weekend to watch DH on GCN+, all good

 @taprider: first connect to VPN (example Canada to Germany), then log into GCN+ with your account. Your GCN+ account works worldwide. VPN’ing from Canada to another country (example Germany) will overcome the blackout restriction in Canada

 @taprider: I have a US based GCN+ account. I change IP's even while logged in and refresh the racing page and watch the choices populate with the different races per country IP. It's never given me an error or or a nastygram.

 Isn't he the head of catering?

 @iamamodel: ?

 @ak-77: It was a long shot reference. Eddie Izzard's skit on the Death Star canteen.

 @iamamodel: ah, OK. Don't know that one. And since 'Vader' is a very common word in Dutch (it means 'father') I don't have as strong of a Star Wars association with his name as English speakers might have.

 Yes.

 @hughbm : why do you ask? Do you want to marry one?
@pmhobson : who? I don't see them in the list

 @ak-77: Christopher Blevins is there. Now, wether he is single or not, I don't know ;-)

 @lowgear: Ah, i missed that. Might be time for reading glasses :-(

 Blevins crashed in practice the other day and broke his finger, got facial stitches, and a concussion. They were going to monitor his recovery so there was a chance he wouldn't race