Practice Photo Report: The Snake Pit - Val Di Sole DH World Cup 2018
The deep, dark, forested steeps of Trentino were a treacherous place to be this afternoon as intermittent lashings of rain wreaked havoc on the roughest track of the year. Group B had it toughest of all as the first to dare to put rubber to dirt this morning, without help gaining traction from the ruts that developed later in the day. The search for race winning lines was put on hold as the fierce tangles of slippery roots had riders of every level bursting through the tape and flying over the bars as it turned out no one was too good for this level of anti-traction.
The slip and slide conditions put many riders off their afternoon laps or even heading up the hill to scope things out. Timed training was therefore significantly quieter than usual and few dared to really open up the throttle and risk making contact with the Val di Sol conifers. Monika Hrastnik was the only female to lay down a real hot lap, setting 5:24 as the time to beat, while Danny Hart put to 3.8 second dent in the competition ahead of Pierron, Coulanges and Iles, riding a 3:46.
Sometimes you can't see the trees for the wood.
Luca Shaw will be hoping for a change in fortune after having the pace to win the last couple of rounds. He has access to some great advice in the form of Steve Peat if ever he wants it.
Tahnee chats with personal trainer Chris Kilmurray and Fox suspension's Jordi Cotes.
Dakotah Norton loving life in single digits now halfway through the 2018 season.
Macdonald looked like he was enjoying himself on track today throwing the shapes we've all come to expect and love watching.
The Bulldog is boss. Any questions?
Truth being spoken on the wall of the Intense pits as the boys headed out for practice.
Santa Cruz's youthful duo of Loris and Luca have been knocking on the door of a win for the past few seasons and it's only a matter of time before one of them does it.
Red Bull friends hug it out.
Marcelo Gutierrez diving back into the shadows.
Tracey Hannah preps for a long day of sliding around on one of the most difficult tracks on the circuit.
Kye A'Hern ready to do more damage in the junior field this weekend.
Thomas Estaque popping out of a rut and back into the inescapable roots.
Charlie Harrison's mechanic, Ernie, prepping the big wheeler for battle.
Amaury Pierron is looking to make it three on the trot and seems well positioned to do so, although his final run of timed training ended in a flat.
It was a chilled and relaxed start to proceedings here for Mark Wallace.
Troy Brosnan didn't join in the TT fun today but you can be sure he'll be on it for qualies.
Late afternoon sunshine was quickly shut down by another wave of dark clouds rolling in, further rain overnight is looking likely.
Dakotah Norton blowing up holes left and right and he aggressively made his way down the track right from the get go.
Henry Kerr with hints of Atwill en 'root'.
Blenki is in beast mode this season. Let's see how wild he gets in those root nests.
The old start line fade away signals the riders' imminent arrival into the Val di Sole gnar. Sam Blenkinsop keeping it low but far from slow.
Gee Atherton bowls the Trek 29er through a rock garden up top.
Keegan Wright came up a bit short and found out just how slick those big roots can be.
Some riders went with spikes, some with dry tires, and other with clever little cuts to find a happy in between.
We can't wait to see Remi Thirion right back up there... if not this weekend then the next at his home from home, Vallnord.
Thirion getting airborne right out of the gate.
Matt Walker gets his wrist taped up after re-injuring it at a British National race last weekend.
Max Morgan blasts down what used to be a fresh trail just one year ago. This time around things are quite a bit wilder at the top of the track.
A man who doesn't mind a bit of moisture is Danny Hart who's still searching for his first podium since joining the Madison Saracen line up.
Finn Iles about to be locked and loaded.
Iles looking to find the hero dirt in a sea of slippery roots.
Luca Shaw has been the fastest man on the mountain a few times this year before mechanicals and crashes have dashed his hopes of a win. Could this weekend be the one where everything finally clicks in the finals?
Marine Cabirou on the self-wrenching program between first runs.
Rachel Atherton comes here with the confidence of knowing she has the speed to win once again and has been looking very fast in training thus far.
Tahnee Seagrave was victorious here last year, and could definitely use a repeat performance this weekend to turn her WC season back around.
Every few hours the thunderstorms move in and the skies open up to give the track a nice slippery coat of rain.
Wyn Masters about to lose an ankle in the name of speed and style.
Never a dull moment with Kade Edwards.
Greg Williamson carves through the loam at the bottom of a big chute halfway down the track.
Williamson had some impressive bursts of pace up in the woods today aboard his Unno.
Jack Moir and Bernat Guardia waiting for that Insta-gold.
Myriam Nicole took her first World Cup win on this track and will be hungry to defend her number 1 plate from some stiff competition.
Rachel Atherton looking to bag no less than win number 6 here on Italian soil.
Reece Wilson hanging off the back as he heads into the steep open section filled with turns.
The Keswick Kestrel with the 6th fastest TT this afternoon.
Amaury Pierron has the number 1 plate of the WC leader on the front on his bike and is riding with the pace to match.
One rough day in the office for the race tape as the track got slicker than slick.
Aaron Gwin hitting a rut at Mach 10 with Neko Mulally in tow.
Benoit Coulanges had the ride of his season, smashing 3rd quickest TT and looking pretty convincing on the way.
Today was not an easy day... even for the very best in the world.
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Asking for a friend.
'Plain Sailing' is actually a nautical term more accurately spelled 'Plane Sailing', which is the act of determining a course to follow using fairly simple math (thus the usage, colloquially). This is compared to Mercator or Great Circle sailing, which requires more complicated formulas to determine a proper course line to follow.
See: wiki en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plane_sailing