Results: EWS 2016, Round Three - Ireland

 yewwwww so stoked on that

 wooooooo sammy

 #flatpedalswinmedals

 Actually looks like the whole CRC team did pretty well, even Page!

 magic Sam !

 What the Sam Hill!

 Sick!! So close to winning it

 He was speed everywhere. squashing the jumps others were launching, just speed all over.

 Never tought Sam Hill would be able to kill it in enduro...Hope he is exited for Fort Bill! ahahahha

 @xTwoSnakesx: F*cking Yeah Chain Reaction!!Joe Smith 9th, Neigel Paige 3rd Master and Mr.Gonnaschoolyouinflats 2nd!!!! Lets celebrate!

 Sam Hill, the legend. And yet a completely unexpected finish. What could be further from his usual one-World-Champs-run-per-season-for-all-the-glory modus operandi!

 Sam does no enduro, but when he does...

 Hope this gives his a boost of confidence to get in the top 5 at Ft Bill

 No one praises 29?

 @kabanosipyvo: WTF? I take exception to your comment, Sam has always been the absolute ultra competitor wherever and whenever he races, maybe you're too young to know of his earlier career prior to his series of injuries. When I saw him on the EWS round 3 intro photos at the bottom, black and white shot, I had a little think to myself and thought, you know what? Riding for an Irish team he's probably spent some time on the tracks there, he's such a killer rider and everyone always totally underestimates his pedaling, I reckon he's in with a chance, and I meant to edit my fantasy team, which would have given me him, Callaghan and Rude.... I think in the coming years he'll focus more on enduro.

 @ColquhounerHooner: Chill out. No need to take exception. I am a huge fan, but Sam is a smart guy who knows when it is to his benefit to take major risk at a WC DH race. And he knows when it is not. Just a somewhat surprising finish, not because he isn't capable, but because it is outside his usual M.O.

 I'm with ya. Totally was not expecting that.

 Richie is on fire. 11 stage wins so far out the 19 total this year.

 Did I read that correctly? If he hadn't had flatted, he would've won by 29 seconds?

 @diegosk: well when you say it like that it sounds like hes Rachel Atherton-ing the EWS!

 unbelievable!

 Yeah stoked for everyone, but Richie would've destroyed everyone. 5 stage wins, holy crap!

 @shawnca7: totally agree. the guy is a machine but you got to keep the bike working as well, its all part of it. It was a great days racing.

 Maes was right behind him as well. I believe he also punctured on Stage 2 damaging his wheel which let go on Stage 3. He won Stage 5, but was penalized 5 minutes for the wheel change. Looks like it was a crazy day!

 I am reading this that he fixed a flat in 30 seconds. Damnnnn

 Not just winning...dominating! 1st on every stage but 7 and only 13/100's off a clean sweep.

Just amazing!

 Is she in retirement or put of retirement?

 I'm sort of not surprised! She's amazing!!!!

 155th 6 minute penalty. don't know why.

 @diego-b: here's why

"Well I'm getting pretty tired of this race update. Sitting nicely in 4th early in the day, then a rock decided to slice open my tyre. I limped through the rest of stage 3 and 4. Took big time penalties to get some new parts, but got back out there after lunch to have some fun and experience the insane Irish supporters some more."

 hahah well said Langer : ) delighted for Greg

 Finally the world notices..........

 @mikeep: 27.5", flat pedals, alu frame and no local knowledge. Sam Hill showing us whats what

 No. works for some not for others. Just look at the remaining field.

 Blew up his wheel after a flat. Took a 5 minute penalty.

 @arnoldtm2: thanks and ouch...that sucks...potentially takes him out of the overall picture.

 @arnoldtm2: he completely demolished his rim on stage 4. It was in pieces.

 Woah, I just checked Maes' stage times. He had a 1st, two 2nd's and a 4th. Still going hard!

 Can confirm that Hill was rocking flats

 2019 Enduro may have a longer wheelbase after Graves' input? Current geo may be fine at my speed but maybe not Graves'? Unfortunate for him, hope he rallies and posts some solid results later this year.

 Those tracks are not as pedlley as the size of the hill suggests. Carrying speed is the name of the game on them and Sam Hill is the jeddi master of that.

 Greg’s cousin

 That's Greg Callaghan's cousin. It runs in the family!

 @Arev: Also known as the Ham

 155th with a 6 minute penalty. Without the penalty he would have been 35th or so.

 Said it was his cousin on the Race feed and I think Top Chief was 15th

 ACC is by far the winningest mountain biker of all time w/55 UCI victories to her name. No one is even close!

 @Golden-G: she is by far the winningest of all cyclists, not just MTBers. BMX Gold doesn't come easy. It would actually be cool to see her win EWS series next year.

 @WAKIdesigns: yes! She is amazing! I hope she can rally for a solid comeback on a race that suits her style! Steep!

 Courses had a lot of sniper rocks. Most of them are running full DH casings and still getting flats. Maes and Graves both destroyed wheels I believe.

 Carrick may look a bit tame and flat in the photos but it's a bike killer. Stage 6 is the National DH track for Carrick and it claimed three bikes from our group of riders in the space of 6 weeks. It snapped the rear triangle of a Santa Cruz Butcher, snapped the head tube of a Commencal and snapped the seat tube of a Norco Sight. Weird rocky hucks to flat and steep chutes into sharp sniper rock fields is the name of the game. Ride there, it's amazing, bring spares.

 Wasn't Maes running procore tires?

 They can't even get enough cameras on most WC DH trails due to cost and access.

 I hope redbull never covers the EWS, they'd probably ruin it. Dirt TV used to do fantastic 20 - 25 min round up videos of each event with good interviews and footage but they finished up in 2014. It'd be nice if the EWS stayed rider run, but doing such coverage would obviously be quite expensive. Shame, as I miss what DIRT used to do a lot.

 I though Richie was out of the running after the second stage, but he made one almighty comeback to get on the podium. Fair play to Greg though.

 @Damo6-6-6: Yeah, massive comeback for Rude.

 3 in the top 20, it's finally coming together for the Canadian men in EWS.

 Have seen him at a few enduro race recently ripping it up.

 Aging? He's 31 this year haha

 @makripper: Sam hill is my favorite DH rider of all time but let's be serious. Dude is not the racer he used to be

 @regdunlop38: he's coming back. thats what everyone said in 2014. he's a wildman, but also calculating. He wants a win at fort william and I could see that happening. Never count the guy out. Your comment was about aging. He's not old by any means. Gwin's only 3 years younger than him.

 Aging ? Lol.
As for the local comment. All the competitors have been to the location and ridden it extensively last year. Not much changed. The big teams have been walking the course since last Monday.
Many top DH'ers have raced enduro and not done as well as Sam Hill. While its a different discipline to race it's the closest to what most MTB'rs do on bikes all round the world on a weekly basis.
Just as a side note Stage 6 was mostly the Irish national DH track with a bit tagged on the end to make it longer.

 5 minute penalty for replacing a rear wheel.

 Punctures ruined the race for a lot of riders today.

 I do believe it was a five minute penalty for replacing a rear wheel.

 Busted rear wheel.

 !!!

 Cant blame Specialized/Sram for punctures and whatnot. A lot of riders went through carnage today with punctures and busted wheels.

 @Kamao: I know... but he is def slower on the new bike. but its too early to tell. his times on the spec/sram enduro sworks are def slower than the yeti sb6c/fox

 @ArMyN16: Its like we are watching a deja-vu of when Gwin moved to Specialized. It won't be long before they re-design the bike for him as they did for Gwin

 Graves was running in 4th when he got a flat.

 @panaphonic: i know. but what I'm saying is his pace are slower. maybe bec so new to the spec/sram combo. maybe nxt season he will dominate! as I said, its too early to tell

 Except for every other rider in the top 30.

 It's pick a pedal system and be a dick about it. (but it only seems to go one way)
Callaghan and Moseley win on 29ers and nobody really cares. If there was a way to make frames pedal-specific you can be sure 2016 would be the year of the pedal wars.

 Flat on stage 2.