Overall Standings After the Snowshoe DH World Cup #1 2021

 Dramatic last WC race brought to you by Enve

 if nothing else, season enders at snowshoe at least seem to be interesting!

 Carbon DH rims strike again?

 @mtbmaniatv: looked like he peeled the tire off the rim and then the rim failed. Either way it was massive.

 @adrennan: Objectively I thought the track looked good on camera, flat in a few places but steep or technical in others and the rocks are insane. Made for an exciting race, looking forward to seeing the track 2 changes in person on Friday, here's to the next.

 It makes up for the wash out race that is part of the reason daprela was so far in front

 @russthedog: potentially unpopular opinion but I agree. He is an excellent rider who is often at the tip, but he really benefited with the weather in Les Gets

 I wanted to see him get beat, not have a mechanical end his day. Glad he isn't hurt. Great rider, just not who I'm pulling for this year.

 I couldn't work out if he punctured - and then buckled the wheel; or if the wheel buckled - and it then lost air. Anyone got any better videos?

 He doesn’t get enough credit for the way he is riding and his consistency. Warner calling him “crazy” is not helping either. Thibaut himself said that he shouldn’t have been were he was (in the overall) because he got lucky, all the way back in Maribor. Nonetheless he still achieved regular podium results and is always in the mix. Him still leading after this mechanical just shows what kind of season he is having. Also, getting up from this crash and bitting through most of your tongue and still winning afterwards… This guy is an absolute beast!

 @AyJayDoubleyou: I grabbed these stills from the replay. My opinion is his tire was already coming off and then the wheel went down into that hole and detonated. m.imgur.com/a/9Faz4vJ

 That's not meant to be sarcastic is it?

 @pen9-wy: No, not in the slightest - decent points on the board considering.
Wishing Ben the best for the next race and next season!

 This horse has been beat to death but I’ll hit it a few more times! Carbon rims are a bit lighter, their stiffness and flex can be designed and tweaked in a way that aluminum can’t, they have a nice ride feel and tend to stay true longer. In my anecdotal experience, they are more durable. I used to replace an alloy rim every season at least. Usually because of stupid little dents preventing the bead from being able to seal. They weren’t expensive to replace but they were a pain. I’ve been on carbon rims for about ten years and I’ve replaced only one rim (and it was an enve, ha ha). Carbon rims don’t dent like alloy. Of course they can crack but I’ve been amazed at the hits my rims have taken with no sign of damage. My We Are One agents have been worry free for five years. To me with the lifetime warranties, carbon is worth it. Lastly, I have been able to work in the industry over the years and have never paid full price for a set. So that’s a huge factor. I’m not sure how much I’d be willing to pay. Probably not much more than $1000. Why won’t any alloy brands offer a lifetime replacement? If they did, maybe I’d go back?

 @BiNARYBiKE: My wheels look like scalloped pie crusts from all the stupid little dents that keep the bead from sealing...until I bend them back with an adjustable wrench and they seal up just fine again. They have stayed remarkably true, too--i think the 30mm internal width must give them some lateral strength, because to be fair my last 23mm internal Al rims were irreparably wobbly after 2 years. I paid 200 bucks for the current wheelset, used (ARC30s and literally the worst hubs ever, but at some point YGWYPF), so if I do manage to fold one in half, I'll lovingly recycle it and buy a new one off craigslist and do that about 10 more times before I've hit the price of an okay carbon wheelset. Thanks for coming to my TED talk, and if you thought THAT was good just wait for my speech about buying beater cars!

 @BiNARYBiKE: Aluminium rims are consumable items. Carbon ones *might* not be, but they are very expensive to take a punt on (because they might not feel right to me) and I'm not sure how many brands offer true lifetime warranties anyway?

 @ryetoast: Fair enough. Every time I’ve tried to bend back one of those dents the aluminum has just cracked. Arc 30s were probably the worst rims I’ve ever had. Seems like I was riding on toilet paper. Maybe it’s user error though? Like I said, in my experience carbon has been worth it to me.

 @BiNARYBiKE: that's interesting, I've had good luck with the ARC30s - lots of dings but no cracks or warps, knock on wood. Then again I'm 140lbs and my local trails aren't very rocky, so my set are probably leading a much easier life than many.

 Same said for Loris

 I mean it’s pretty clear the wheel failure caused the crash, so it makes sense he was still holding on. Is this being debated? If the crash were caused by the tire blowing off and he bailed quickly enough, I doubt the rim would blow up after his weight was off the bike. Of course want do I know? Trail is gnarly, he was charging, looks like a package deal to me, but I’d love to know if the tire peeled off or the rim buckled first.

 @BiNARYBiKE: @PTyliszczak on the results page posted this helpful link: imgur.com/a/9Faz4vJ

In my (non expert) opinion, it looks in the first photo like the bead of the tire is off the rim... before the wheel comes down and blows to pieces.

 Yeah it's been awesome to see the races not effected by weather in huge ways. Really allowing people to just race. Juniors has been interesting too. Goldstone blowing my mind.

 @onemanarmy: except les gets which was a wash out. Awesome season, the women's has been super tight

 @russthedog: True. Last 2 seasons it's pretty much rained for every race. So this season has been awesome.

Women's racing has been incredible this year. I'm really hoping Atherton has the desire to get back into it for a couple of seasons.

 @onemanarmy: I would love to see Rachel back as well - she is alreayd back riding so im sure she is thinking about it

 And rain is forecast for Saturday!

 @jamessmurthwaite: Yeah he definitely does well in the rain.

Only 54 points between 1 and 2. Gonna be a good race on Sat. Stoked. Women's is close now too.

 @onemanarmy: 46 points

 @Arnaudevinci: Thanks. My math is clearly strong! HA!

 Finals only.

 @schwaaa31: but I think the final have the extra point incorporated, so it worths more than usual.

Not sure why and not sure I like it.

 @schwaaa31: Thanks!

 @fautquecaswing: Agree. I guess it's maybe to crown a definitive winner and leave it all up to race day to decide the series? In this case, since it looked like there's 2 alternate sections used between the 2 races that maybe qualifying would basically repeat itself?

Now, riders can deliberately tank qualifying for the final race to save some energy and wear and tear on the body and go full hard for race day. It's a close series for everyone.

 Does this mean his season's a success after all?

 @mi-bike: I dont think gwin is done. He is injured this year. I bet he comes back strong and shows the gwinning again. Just like Sam Hill being 24th on the season dont count him out.

 @weebleswobbles: A lot is going to depend on this off season. How focused is he going to be on being in shape. He was starting to look pretty good on the bike so I still have him as a top 6-10 rider and that's pretty darned good. I think he's got a win or two left in him for sure. Especially now that he's a couple behind Minnaar. Maybe he'll be more driven now.

 @onemanarmy: 2 top ten riders there for sure