Xcmtberbill

This article allows those of us who have folloewd this sport for years to have insight on who is on their way out, and who is on their way in, and what teams are actually in the hunt for a world cup win or title or podium win as well as world champs. It also give us insight on how the olympics will be affected . As well las those of us who are fans of particular ridrrs or bike brands to know who will be riding what rigs this season. It also shows anyone from the Unired States just who are the top dogs from the states in this sport as wel as fans of certain riders form certain countries.

Lecompte is with Canyon still. They aren't going to giver her up without a fight. She'll definatey be on the hunt this season.

lol I thought so to when i saw the photo. Not too excited about their kit maybe? They do have some members who could pull off some podiums on a very good day though. Anna Tauber leaving kind of surprised me. but she is with Orbea amd maybe the change will do her good. She came so close to winning a world cup a few years back. I m not sure of her age, but I hope she can win one at least before she retires. she is interesting in a simpel and honest way when they interviw her after a race.

@Madfella: XC gets tens of thousands of fans turning out to watch, downhill not even close in most cases.

Yeah, I agree completely as that's their house brand. But I have heard some great things about the Pirellis ( spelling?) and look forward to see how they do, since they are gonna be on more riders' bikes this season. Also, Continental is pushing their tires . Julian Absalon used Contis and it got him world championships. I'm not sure if he got all 5 of his world championsships on Contis or not though. The conti race Kings have a very ow rolling reistnce too. Im not sure why they have been out of the forefront of racing the past 7 or so seasons. Would be interesting to find out why but I know Maxxis brand is everywhere and Nino's success with them propelled the brand to the stratosphere. Variety makes the racing more interesting in my opinion, so I'm stoked to see some changes even in tires used.

If Mathieu Van Der Poel comes back to XCO as expected, he will be a very high contender no doubt, as he has appeared very strong in cyclocross so far this season. Tom Pidcock on the Grenediers team, probably will be right up there with Mathieu Van Der Poel, and I wouldnt be surprised if Mathias Fluciger is in the top 5 after aa few outings. Filipo Colombo , a new member of Scotand of course Nino, Scott Sram should have some very good results. If last years results are any indication of this year, watch a guy on BH racing squad, and the tallest guy out there I believe, his name is David Serrano . I think he won a bronze at the olympics and last world cup season he has finished number 2 to Nino and maybe had one win, or two second place finishes I can't remeber exactly. Other riders to certainly watch in the men's elite class are Victor Koretsky, Sam Gaze, Ondre Cink, Of course Alan Hatherly from South Africa on Cannondale, Vital Albin, who performed well on a few outings last year, Sebastian Fini will be up there too I think. There's my list of men I think will be being consistantly and at the front of the pack at the end. I have some opinoins about the womens field as well and if you like I could share those with you if I havent bored you to death here.

Lars kept declining each season he was with Scott Sram. HE was in best form the first two seasons with them and won a European title with Scott-Sram, and also one Cape Epic as Nino's partner. But he had injuries and his performance kept geting worse for the most part instead of better. HIs performance atthe Cape Epic last time was aAndri F. and Lars were friends before he joined the team and even traiwful. He looked tired and couldn't keep up with the fastest guys on most of the days, especially after Nino put forth such A hstrong effort to tryto make up ground after suffering two flats on the first stage out. that wore Lars out and he never recovered. Andri F. the teams manger's son, knew Lars and trained together with him when Lars was still with BMC. Lars and the team had no falling out. He simply was performing less and less consistantly and not showing signs of improvement. Scott -Sram did well to pick up Filippo Colombo , as he is a very young and very talented rider to build up for the team's future. He's also Swiss so that helps the chemistry as well. Already at the Stellenbosch Cape xco race on February 5th, the Scott team took 1st, 2nd , and 3rd , which is pretty tough to do even though it was not a very deep field. There were people there who certainly had the potential to snag one or even two of the podium spots. It will be interesting to see how Colombo develops with Scott-Sram. I seriously doubt whether Lars will have better results at Thomus Racing. I hope he does as he's a genuine nice fellow and gets along with everyone pretty well. Thomas F. wrote a nice goodbye statement concerning Lars too. With Mathias Fluckiger 's ban lifted, it should be interesting to see these two teams race each other but I only see Scott being the stronger team .Mathias comes back after the ban ranked 24th whereas he was ranked number 3, so a third row starting postion instead of a front row position for at least the first world cup he enters.

@nattyd: That's because world cup races are held on the side of ski slopes and they often include steeper amdrops than the courses I normally race on. I've been racing xc the past 7 years and been in over 50 races in Thailand, colorado, Utah and Arizona and only three courses included long seriously steep

Me too.

Well said.