NedaSay

Well the youngsters are here to stay and upset the statesmen it seems, first elite race and first win for Williams, Goldstone near the podium not to shabby. The Superteams are looking mighty... The coverage will improve hopefully.

So T.Lap managed to resurrect his 404 crew project. I really thought he was done when the clothing brand went tits up but it seems he was able to keep it going and found new partners to keep his project going. Mavic his spending cash on marketing these days sponsoring multiple teams in XC, enduro, and the cycling world in general.

I like the fact that we'll have the XC U23, DH Junior and semi final for free on Youtube, that is a step in the right direction. However I hope they are going to do a better job than EDR Maidena event cause the coverage for that first race of this new era was from not great to god damn awful.

Jackson Connelly still racing under the Pinkbike umbrella?!

Tracey Hannah still got the speed. Crankworks or whatever she still got it. it would be fun to see her taking part in one UCI event session or two this year, just for fun.

The way I understand it Redbull is an entity and Crankworks is another. Crankworks decided to up the ante and Redbull's media house and marketing arm decided to tag along. That is fair! Redbull did not have the rights removed as far as I know, they decided that they could not align with WBD offer to UCI. That is also fair. Did Redbull do wrong, yup assuredly but Redbull was not in charge of running events from A to Z. when it came to things they had control over, they could have done a better job and help the sport grow more. Also I don't believe Redbull should have been in charge of many aspects of UCI MTB. I prefer that entities like ASO in roadcycling and now ESO now in MTB are put in charge but that is just me.

@officialcrankworx: Thanks for clarification.

Crankworks and Redbull finally officialized what many knew or saw coming months ago. 4 stops only this year, so a series set to grow in the future should year one be a success. The total prize money at 130000 CAD sounds like a nice round number but I would like to know the breakdown for it. The 1199 prize is interesting but the king and queens of crankworks 2022 only got 787 and 926 respectively, so hum... Is reaching 1199 even doable over four events with a stacked field or will that money pot get bigger and bigger endlessly as no rider can pull off the perfect season to get it!? I still see crankworks as a series for privateers but it is sure to gain interest from some factory teams and there will certainly be an incentive for Redbull riders to take part into the events, while for non factory teams it could be a good way to sell a 10 race program to sponsors. The future sure looks interesting.

Unior Sinter will be racing on Trek Session that means Leona Pierrini and Ben Swar and Co. are going to race on a very competitive machine this year. Effectively, it looks like they are becoming a bit of an alternative satellite Trek team. I'm glad for the riders who will also have support from Fox suspension, TRP will provide the groupset and brake system, while Schwalbe will be the tire of choice and should be able to prevent the Silt wheels from breaking all the time. They should not have many issues getting their bikes serviced properly with Unior tools.

Tthey have 7 teams or to be accurate 3/4 supported teams and the others are choosing their frames because they are a known quantity. Just as PBR chose to go the Santa Cruz, while other teams decided to go with Canyon. Canyon is also supporting 3 teams (Cllctv, FMD, Dainese) and an additional 4 teams decided to opt for their frames and. It is a mix of sporting and business decisions on behalf of teams. More teams are poised to join the rank of Commencal, Santa Cruz or Canyon amongst the teams that are listed and haven't confirmed their frame supplier. Come to think of it, it is a bit surprising that we don't have more teams using the Trek Session.