[UPDATED] Elite Finals Results & Overall Standings from the Andorra DH World Cup 2023

 Less riders in finals means more chances to have the same conditions for all of them. Pretty sire Bruni would have prefered 30 riders in finals and a run in dry conditions

 @pasteque51: yea but then we wouldn’t have gotten that sick drift from Kolb.

 @pasteque51: not necessarily too much difference. I believe the gaps are larger for finals than what we witnessed today.

 Asbolutely - this is a full scale assualt on riding and our intelligence. I absolutely love watching DH and I'm sure a full day watching on the slope is amazing. Semi's are too long, dangerous for riders and far, far, far too much content for anyone to consume, even on a day off.

They'll finish it out this year for sure. The riders "union" which looks to have imploded, should've said "no semis - period" and stuck on it. Guarantee there would've been no semi's this year. Who's got time? Even among riders. Its probably the dumbest thing I've seen in DH riding ever.

 @pasteque51: I can guarantee Bruni isn't that stupid. Sometimes weather plays a factor and that's an inherent part of racing. Anyone who has raced enough understands this.

 Yes to this!

And, #GasToFlatGotRobbed!!

 @pasteque51: don’t think that’s the issue here. We’ve always had qualies to make sure the best riders come down on similar conditions. It’s actually quite rare that the weather ruins just the top 10 runs. And if it goes like that then it can happen with any number of riders in the finals. It’s just bad luck

 @pasteque51: But they would have still have had to run the semi, which would have started earlier and it still would have rained during the final. It's been raining in finals since the sport has started and Bruni has won a shit load of races regardless.

 @scott-townes: I think I remember Bruni stating earlier in the year that he doesn't like the format and is struggling with figuring it out.

 @scott-townes: eh, Bruni seems pretty upset about it judging by his Instagram post and comments

 @forecast01: I don't watch the semis either, but I want to scrap them officially so we all get to see everyone at their very best in the final. I'm less interested in seeing exhausted riders trying to pull off two runs at race pace.

 @bikes-arent-real: Bruni actually benefited from not running a semi today as far as points for the overall. Danny, Kolb, Jackson, Jordan etc would have made into a semi through being protected or having the speed. Since they didn't and finished where they did they missed out on Top 30 points and he got a few for finishing 22nd with his run

 Did PB post the link to FF yesterday? I think not: www.youtube.com/watch?v=reQM3E0N1Xk

Cheer up!

 @scott-townes: weather always affects fastest qualifiera, it is surprising we never found a way to try avoid it!

 @Mtn-Goat-13: Absolute True! The semi finals format is the stupidest thing the UCI has done in a while & that is saying something. The semi format is not about making the racing better or to make it better for the fans. It is about money! The UCI could give 2 shits about the racers they are just a means to a end. Their actions prove that over & over.

 @forecast01: What's not to get! Im writing in English. Riders aren't- even - getting - UCI - points for semis's... hence Adam Brayton getting booted from Andorra entirely. Im not gonna stand around thinking that's brilliant - thats f*cking retarded

Danger still stands - and it's a massive waste of an otherwise baller race day.

But yeah: it's unbearable to watch, makes no sense, doesn't even allow riders a chance to keep UCI points AND does not at all uplift or support racing or attract more viewers.

I have no clue what it's for; what, "the love of it?" Effing please... and yeah, cant watch. Tried paying for GCN just to watch & its celery. In fact - celery is more interesting now.

 @Darknut: Watching Discovery this year is like slow mon watching someone steal all your bikes. It's a joke. Again: all respect to the riders... they supposed to just quit? Nah: but that doesn't mean I or you or anyone has to PAY to watch Discovery learn on the job. f*ck that & f*ck them. UCi is a joke.

 @forecast01: Correction: mis-typed "!" when I tried "?". FYI, I up voted and did not down vote you.

While we disagree, I literally despise downvoting and those who do it, just totally Russian and Chinese. I'd rather see visceral and logical disagreements, heated arguments and whatever – it's just words on a screen, rather than trying to hide peoples viewpoints.

 @eckljkr: Check check on all that. And here's another kicker – no one gets any UCI points at all for the semi's, which is why Adam Brayton was forced not to race... dude was 55th overall and didn't get 40 pts by 12 months so BYE says UCI. So basically two race runs per day – and you don't even get points for the first one. Who made that rule & how could that possibly benefit anyone or even UCI?

 @Darknut: They had semi's back in the day when Greg started racing, he even mentioned it in a pit interview earlier this season. This is not some new thing.

 @Mtn-Goat-13: After listening to the "Post Race Show Podcast" it sounds like Brayton maybe wasn't aware of certain rules about his points situation and didn't realize he should have asked for a national jersey sooner. Just reading between the lines of what Mullaly said. Rule changes happen and it's the riders responsibility to know them, period. It's unfortunate but it is what it is, bitching about something that doesn't effect you or change your day is pointless.

 @MikeGruhler: You're actually right (and I'm not spewing here just to read my opinion & gloat). I see this as a spot to say what you think & take in others views too - so I'm open. So yeah, he should've known that being the seasoned vet he is.

Its also possible to simultaneously state (and push) that BS rules like this, of which there are plenty, only harm. What did it really matter w/ Brayton sitting there at 55...b/c outta 180 (or is it 200) qualifiers, that's killer. Rules are just that and they can be updated & changed. This one's dumb and pointless..rules for the sake of rules.

 Thanks bro! 3

 Thank you for this, I've been paying for GCN+ since the start of the season and wanted to support them but after the quality of the streams and the absolute shambles of the World Champs I refuse to give them any money for the rest of the season.

 @curtiscycles: will also help bring the viewing numbers for the payed stream down so they will hopefully give up putting it behind a paywall if nobody watches it!

 Quality is real good today

 They're showing the first five seconds of each run, and then the last 30-35s... I hope this changes as they get closer to the top 10 riders. Otherwise, why would anyone actually pay for this coverage?

 @stevemokan: yeah, fingers crossed…

 @stevemokan: Normally does but with the weather they might not want the long gaps today

 @stevemokan: I think my GCN subscription was £46 for the whole year. Hardly bank breaking, people spend that on coffee in a week! Coverage isn't great but it's still significantly better than not watching it and well worth the small subscription fee.

 @stefkrger: don't be so self righteous, the coverage for this race is hot garbage. Hardly exciting

 @hi-dr-nick: agree to disagree. Commentary is controversial, but I think the production work is actually better this year.

 @stevemokan: Just like Red Bull did... at least for the last 10 they show the full runs, more than RB ever did. The videoproduction is better than it ever was with Red Bull.

The commentary, race format and subscription model etc. are dogshit though.

 Its now blocked

 @stefkrger: yeah I especially liked the part where the womens leaderboard was full of mens names & times lol

 @stefkrger: They're literally showing 30 seconds of racing per rider... That's crap

 @Nuss-95: production is not better not sure how anyone can say that are we watching the same thing?

 @waxed: You are clearly looking back through rose tinted glasses. Go rewatch a race covered by Red Bull. They didn't even show the full course for the top 5 riders. They didn't have cameras on the whole track.

 @hi-dr-nick: Full track for the top 10.

 @Nuss-95: I agree this

 Big ups!!! Cant adjust image quality aside from other issues mentioned already. Website sucks too. They also had ed masters and taylor vernon on the elite womens start list

 @waxed: What else are you judging the video production on? They have more cameras covering the track, the drone footage is better (at least last race, today it was hit and miss), video quality is better (on desktop, I heard it's not as good on the TV app). What else is there to judge?

 @curtiscycles: same here

 @Nuss-95: Really? OK
--late start
--six week gap between points cups
--setup designed specifically to end privateers
--season desgined to directly conflict w/ Crankworks
--points set to exclude riders from qualifying once the season has begun (Adam Brayton this week)
--late season end = likely snowfall / freeze-hit tracks
--semis at all, much less same day as finals - absurdly dangerous to all riders and far too much content to enjoy
--laughable commentary
--plastic bags in front of lenses
--rain-covered lenses in views
--not providing the W-Champs even for subscribers
--major viewership loss of core fans
--inability to draw massive tv audience as they claimed

I could go on.

I'm happy to pay for viewing and support - a few months GCN subcritpion = the cost of a rotor, but this is a joke.

Discovery are Shark Week parasites w/ cornball vs. core rider commenters. All respect to the riders but Discovery is doing everyone wrong and what choice do riders have but to keep on going.

But lets agree - its DH riding on film. Fine, but that doesn't mean we all have to pay for it, fall in line & no continue to be vocal about what looks to be effed up. We vote w/ our money - I vote this is a joke.

 @Nuss-95: ^^^^^^^^^^^^ this... thank you @Mtn-Goat-13 i couldn't be bothered..

 @Davec85: those are rookie numbers

 @Mtn-Goat-13: it really is shocking, not sure how anyone can defend it. I feel like it should be mandatory that the top 10 riders that go down the track have to wear a GoPro or Insta360 or whatever action cam. That way we can see full runs of the riders hauling ass + if there's issues with the livestream all isn't lost. We still haven't seen our World Champion's full run this year, or Reece's full run a few years back. Infact I think the only full winning run we've seen this season is Jackson Goldstones in Val De Sole. It sucks so bad as a fan of DH not being able to enjoy race weekends like we used too. Proper depressing.

 @Mtn-Goat-13: Thanks for saving me the time to write this. The women's cat coverage I just watched was an absolute joke. 30 second run snippets for 90% of riders then watched dozens of mid-pack mens "full run" The drone footage was terribly produced, terribly flown and vomit inducing too.

 @waxed: Yeah everything it is shit. Not even close to RedBull

 @Mtn-Goat-13:

Can't believe you missed the "No Replays" issue!! No replays after each run, barely even a brief one if there's a crash, means no time to digest and analyse what happened for each rider.
I actually started to feel sorry for the commentators that they don't get a chance to look back on any runs, it's just straight on to the next one as soon as the previous rider crosses the line

 @dontrideontheroads: Did I imagine the replay of Goldstone hitting the stump that caused that flat? Or Kolb's slide out that caused him to crash?

 @JonnyTheWeasel: Pinkers falling over one another to whine the loudest, that's what this thread is. I loved the racing and thought the coverage was fine. I could pay for this if I weren't such a cheapskate (and if tiz-cycling didn't exist).

 @Nuss-95: the live redbull feed was very laggy and buffeting and low speed so made watching live unbearable sometimes here in nz. if you exclude the drone shots. I don't think they have more cameras. and the far away drone shots dont add much after seeing the shot twice. but can look good if not overdone. in a previous round i watched redbull and disco back to back. redbull showed more track but it wasnt by much , same length of time per run.
imo the only improvement are the drone shots, streaming quality, enduro and junior coverage.
Ric does a great job in interviews and non live commentating like enduro where I think he is fantastic.
Get the old crew back and have Ric do the roving reporter part.

 @gcrider: Yeah to me the only difference in riding footage itself was Redbull used to build a little platform that was up high enough that it got a better angle of riders and showed the detail of the track better, and was above spectators and padding/fences. They'd also put them in really good spots that could get a lot of riding into one continuous shot.

 @MikeGruhler: please learn there their and they’re are different. Thank you.

 @Mtn-Goat-13: Ok - here is my perspective on GCN from a viewer in Ireland - my first year of subscription
- DHI needs a lot of work in terms of the production and commentary - but it is not unwatachable
- XCI is good - I have been more than happy
- We had full world champs coverage for every discipline and it was fantastic seeing all the other disciplines and I am glad I didnt have to put up with that woeful comentator for the DHI from BBC as per last year
- Got to watch the cyclocross at the beginning of the year - fantastic
- Had full tour de France coverage - which was great (as well as all the other road cycling events which I ordinarily would not watch - but might well now)

I hope they will take feedback from the community and improve the DHI coverage in time

If it is only downhill you are after and the fact that you did not get worlds then I understand you might be annoyed (but you never used to get worlds with redbull anyway - well we never did here) - but if you are interested in all disciplines of cycling - then it is great

 @ravens-outdoor: Doing my best to snipe & be hyperbolic when I can! Jokes aside, I could sit down and watch this but it's insulting to me so I refuse. I hope tens of thousands of other Corps fans also refuse until discovery pools there big boy big girl pants up and treats this like something legitimate instead of losing its core audience

 @dontrideontheroads: My bad! I had a longer list but only so much time... will add that next time...

 @mi-bike: Falling over to point out amateur coverage & flawed design easily dunks on Pinkers bending over to take it for UCI & Shark Week TV

I was at least willing to pay for coverage, and I did until I saw what a trash product it was. Ended up covering three months before realizing I was getting duped... so at least one of us coughed up $$$ and gave it a shot.

I don't remember anywhere in the PB or UCI terms and conditions where we have to pay regale sophomoric attempts at learning on the job

 @stretchza: Fair enough, and good points. I don't care or watch cross country or road at all, just not my jam or interest but I get that others do.

I do think it's ironic however that paying a GCN subscription would exclude the world champs. There's simply no reason to do that and foist it off onto some platforms that people have to dig around to even find, it just doesn't compute

I gave it a shot, I paid and bled up until I realized my subscription didn't even cover the world champs and that was all I could stand - the 1.5 min official UCI "highlights" of the Champs race told me all I need to know & Whoever devised the porn sex wet slap laugh-tracks over dub on those Fort Bill jumps should be hung upside down backwards on the whaling hook

I'm just not gonna cover pay for learning on the job coverage like this. Maybe in a few years when their sophomoric skills become more expert and until then I'll just check out the highlights and ride my bike more.

 @Mtn-Goat-13: I think the fact that you could not watch world champs was more of a licensing conflict issue with a provider in the US as opposed to GCN's fault. I dont think people in the UK could watch it either because the BBC bought the rights for the world champs. There was no national broadcaster conflict here in Ireland so we were able to watch through GCN

I get what you saying though, and yes, I would prefer it was still on Red Bull...but I will persevere!

 @Mtn-Goat-13: I assume you know this, but you could have just used a vpn + your GCN+ sub to watch world champs for no additional fee. That’s what I did.

 @nvranka: Did - had to pay a months worth (1st) to get "free" trial but it didn't work. Did it last year. One of my buds here to watch is a tech dude - also couldn't get the VPN to work. Diddled w/ support for an hour then said f*ck this, lets ride. Had to be a VPN issue but - just one more reason none of this had to happen. Why would any core fan, who were 99% of people trying to watch, even messing around w/ finding other viewing platforms when GCN could've just carried it? Makes no sense. Just another reason for me to despise them. They could've done it differently this year.

Ultimately this is no biggie - its just f*cking bikes. But for UCI to bid it out & then have to kinda start over - just doesn't compute. to me. Literally none - no one - of my DH loving buds I've watched with for 15 years are even bothering. Just easier to focus on things you don't have to solve rubiks cubes to watch.

 @nvranka: As long as you capitalize the first letter in your sentence, and put commas between there and their. Funny that's what you decided to nit pick about my comment, but you can't use proper punctuation or sentence structure.

 @MikeGruhler: lmao, I suggest you just do what I said please.

 @Mtn-Goat-13: do you despise the UCI for bidding out world's or GCN for not having been awarded it? From what I've read online, UCI farmed out the rights as a whole, with geographic limitations/exclusivity, so if you live in a country where a broadcaster has successfully bought the rights & blocked out all others, that's not the fault of the outlet who don't have it.

 @andyrm: I actually defended UCI (and a bit blindly for years) until this seasons DH. I have argued back & forth here for years w/ people...but I'md one with them and everything they direct.

Yeah, bureacracy. Yeah, crazy rules, yeah some old guys and desk jockeys not necessarily in touch (but some who are). Pros & cons. There's always something to gripe about and I won't apologize for that - its part of the f*cking point of these comments here so if that curdles yr milk, just move on. The cons far outweight the pro's this year (pun intended!) in every facet of DH coverage from structrue, rules, intent, pay, coverage, and planning.

Point being - UCI could've just rolled Champs into the GCN package & been done with it - but surely it mustl've been viewed as more "product" to sell - I get that. I own a biz (35 yrs now).

Point being: this was lame. UCI has gone nuts w/ the DH rules, Discover are Shark Week interlopers and the coverage for W-Champs was hysterically unwatchable - that porn-sex, over-dubbed, laugh-trax SLAP they cut into the jumps section was easily the worst & crappiest move I've ever seen on film with bikes.

So yeah - once I realized I was STILL cut off from Champs - like every other year (I've been watching DH since it began & can say Redbull had its share of horrors too) - I just couldn't support Learning On The Job that Discovery is pulling.

Its laughable - and it is not me. I know about 20 DH riders, many for coming up on 20+ years now and some newer ones - NO ONE is interested in the Discovery coverage. We used to have bike parties every race - that's over. Its a joke and we're just gonna focus on riding and outer-coverage. UCI and Discovery do not deserve and will not earn our $. Not til they get shit right.

 @stretchza: I'm fully - entirely - aware that UCI has always farmed out the Champs race most years - and I've been in the herds of livestock mooing and baa-ing about it. UCI & GCN gave every indication this year that ALL DH races were gonna be in GCN+ this year.

I even tried to use a VPN - didn't work. Got a tech buddy to try & figure it out - didn't work.

I shouldn't have to go strip-mining and off on wild goose chases to watch a f*cking race. UCI says they want to "bring DH to the world" - but this is handily and exactly how not to do that. Core fans - are falling off the map.

 @Mtn-Goat-13: I would have to think UCI packages World Champs separate because it's all cycling disciplines, not just mtb. Still dumb though, can't argue that.

 @MikeGruhler: Its always more complicated than I (or most of us) think... but I can also gripe w/ the best of them and this helps me get the anxiety out.

 Man he came so close to winning the rain game, pretty damn good result either way!

 Thought he had it over Thibault after the 4th split. That duel was the best of this race for sure!

 I wonder if Lyle swapped Greg’s rear wheel for Jackson’s when no-one was looking…;-)

 To rush down a mountain, then realize you've got a goat biting at your heels... Never count the man out. He might just take another win this year.

 @Bollox64: Hahaha

 @vinay: Yeah it was a really aggressive run too, hell it's good.

 She also won't be wearing the rainbow jersey

 @JonnyTheWeasel: of course not! There's a problem with them putting someone on the TV commentary team, that knows f*ck all about the sport they are there to commentate on! I used the term "female" as I don't know the lady's name - please don't bait for some sort of sexist bollox!

 It's like watching tv in black and white and one shitty mono speaker. Rob, Eliott, Tracey are all part of the mtb comunity, they know the riders and the riders know them. From the vlogs, one can tell that they do appear in the pits and chat to people. Emelie Siegenthaler did the commentary for the championship in fort william and lenzerheide in german, and she knew actual details about almost every rider, and she knew the tracks every detail of it. Nothing against Cedric, i grew up watching him ride rampage etc, but that doesnt make him a commentator, neither the other guy.

 Glad I missed that rainbow jersey comment!! There is a GCN+ feed that just has the race and not all the fluff/BS. The UK bloke is fine but Cedric wasn't made for this.

 @JonnyTheWeasel: you’re aware that using descriptive factors to identify a person isn’t inherently negative, right?

 Can someone please post a clip of this goof, just have to see it.

 @blissindex: youtu.be/RoigaJShxGg?si=bctpagoAkPFIOvpk

 @mtbcyclist: haha yes that was hilarious. What did she even mean with wearing the rainbow jersey tonight?? That comment made no sense front to back

 @Bushmaster123: Idiot

 @mchacker: that is something I can’t I unsee. I immediately cringed.

 @suspended-flesh: the “UK bloke” is fine? Are you deaf, dumb or both? Lmao!

He just repeats his same few braindead lines the whole race. If you actually listen to what he’s saying, it’s awful.

 @JonnyTheWeasel: yes you are! a*shole...

 @Bushmaster123: Lol - I see I'm dealing with a 5 year old.

 @JonnyTheWeasel: That dude is on the brink of getting suspended again.

 @nvranka: He can string a coherent sentence together. It's 2023 - this is what we get. Freedom from choice.

 That’s was sooooooo bad it was cringetastic

 @mchacker: hahahahahaha omg

 Yeah, congrats to Nina and particularly happy for Tahnee after such a tough time with injuries.

 Good to see Marine Cabirou up there as well after a rough year or two of injuries

 If only I knew which one was which. Is Nina the one in the rainbow stripes?

 Nah mate Thibaut is a top guy, he nearly won at VDS, well deserved win. Great to see Greg on there too, you still have to turn up. They still beat guys like Laurie Greenland in the same conditions.

 It’s almost like afternoon mountain storms are a common occurrence that could be planned for…
Race in the morning. Ditch semis for good!
Juniors on Friday.
Elite Women on Saturday.
Elite Men on Sunday.
Get everyone off the hill before 1pm.
Adjust for incoming weather the day or morning before as necessary.
Let the racers RACE on a similar track.

 ski is like that and it has a lot of tradition.
also it can bring a nugget rider to the top 10 and give the extra boost in his/her career and confidence.

 Well they could have run everyone in same conditions. They moved it up then moved it back. Based on what Dean ans Ed said it would have been wet race for everybody if they ran it at the time they gave everybody last night but they want to keep playing with start time. I bet they wanted to get best show for top riders, that failed miserably.

 Four protected riders in the last five places, so it was pretty extreme today. But that's racing, congrats to the winners.

 Pretty much every single start racing sport is like that, no? Especially those that take place in mountains...

 @snomaster: Sunday is for the coveted xc

 Get over it. It’s called “mountain” biking for a reason.

 @pisgahgnar: as xco starts at the same time with the same conditions, and it’s almost always only on the lower mountain, [by my logic] they can have their mass start at 1p on Sunday

 @snomaster: there's like 20 elite women, shouldn't take too long in the morning to get them done first.

 @bikes-arent-real: Greenland quali'd 18th. That why he had similar conditions to Thibaut.
Look at times top 10 were posting and they didn't have a chance.

Nothing to do with Daprela being a top guy or not?! It's not his fault. Weird you took that from my comment.

 @mfoga: Yeah but you can't really say that's anyone's fault. It's weather it's incontrollable and it's a fact of racing. Jackson won at VDS in the wet. I remember Nina saying they woke up at 5am just to be mucked around all day, some riders would have been disadvantaged and tired by that.

 @puukkopedro: Yeah they didn't have a chance, but guess what, there is next race and it's DH racing, it's always like this. Laurie is one of those elite riders, he's been at the pointy end all year and Daprela beat him, the winner is fair. A bunch of guys missed out but you know what the sport isn't a free ride for the best riders. It's a Downhill race and if it rains then it rains.

 @bikes-arent-real: it’s is not something they can control but if you are going to move the start time up to super early at the last min don’t change your mind again unless it was unsafe(didn’t sound like it was) or if you are going to move it for rain to later you better be right it was be equal when you could have run everyone when they thought it was gong to be. Instead they moved it for let’s be honest for the show , every single decision this year has been for the show and they failed. At least the show got everyone’s names right, oh wait never mind they can’t even do that right.

 @mfoga: they moved it up but the storm came in faster than expected.
Was unsafe with high winds. People there were told to get off the mountain and seek shelter.

 @bgoldstone: give up on it. Keyboard warriors on the other end of the world obviously know best how to run a race. Not that the decision to shift the schedule was mainly based on the ability to fly a rescue heli and run the cable car..

 Alpine sport. Deal with weather or GTFO

 @stefkrger: Your using logic, stop that. We only discuss uninformed and illogical opinions based on no experience here on PB...lol
Guess they forgot the debacle of getting brook off the hill after breaking his back. Just imagine that, their actually considering the safty of the racers and people still want to bitch. Nothing but a bunch of childish people complaining they can't get free shit. Bunch of Karen's in here.

 @bikes-arent-real: He is a top guy but was lucky to have a bad quali.

 and the other guy´s accent., jesus. cant understand a word when he starts speaking faster

 We gave you Cédric Gracia for the English commentary to get Flo Letondeur in replacement, and that's the best thing that could happen this year for the French speaking viewers. His knowledge is fabulous.

Anyway, I miss Rob's punchlines.

 And today was a little better. Less screaming.

 Geez, the commentary is fine. People are just piling on week after week and it's getting old. Rick and Garcia bring their own energy and had a few good one-liners. Is it exactly like how it was with Rob? No. But it's not horrendous, terrible, awful, or holy crap bad.

 @eckljkr: they did a great job today. I’d wear a silicone wristband supporting them.

 @eckljkr: can you monkeys please figure out that it is Gracia and not Garcia??? Jesus.

 @maxnomas: Ric is worse than Cedric. Not even compared to Rob. He’d just be an average to bad commentator for any sport. Doesn’t help that he’s not confident on a bike and let’s you know that every chance he gets.

 @succulentsausage: Cedric is terrible, even factoring in that English is his second language. Ric is bland, but at least what he says generally makes some kind of sense. When Cedric starts yelling "LOOK AT THE BIG ANDLEBAR" or whatever, I cringe and feel embarrassed for our sport. For someone with his level of success and involvement in mountain biking, he should be able to come up with something at least slightly insightful. Even Claudio had some good feedback occasionally in between his babbling.

 @leon-forfar: I always hope they will pick up things that are happening on the track but they never do. I'll see riders start taking a slightly different line into a berm to avoid the bomb holes created, what does that mean for their entry or exit speed? Rob would walk the side of track during practice, usually a couple times, and would bring in some points about how lines developed in certain sections. He wasn't perfect, but he was way better than these two.

 @pisgahgnar: That's exactly what Flo Letondeur does now in the french commentary. When Gracia just shouts "Look at the body language !", Flo will explain precisely what this language is, what are the signs of confidence or tiredness in the rider's stance. Same for the line choices. French commentary are definitely better now, whithout CG !

 "we have Nina Hoffman here with us"

......

"I'm Tahnee Seagrave"

 Yes, I thought it was so out of our sport mentality.

 I understand she's done this kind of sports hosting before, but this "random person in fancy clothes not knowing a whole lot about this specific sport" thing just doesn't fit too well at all in DH. She just looks (and sounds) so out of place compared to everyone else on and off screen when on location.

That's why I always choose to watch the race options without the "live show" on GCN+, and actually watch the podium ceremonies and rider interviews instead of those often rather awkward chats she has with guests (lately injured riders as they're available aplenty). Thanks to this I'd actually missed the Nina-Tahnee f*ck up completely, had to go now and check it, oh dear lord.

 She called Aaron, Allen during the pre race commentary too. Just get an ex racer in there already.

 Cool to see gwin becoming more of an ambassador to the sport. Not in a way of stepping away from racing, but recognizing that he loves the sport.

Early on there were all the rumors of him retiring early and trying something else, and maybe it’s just owning a team and having a stake in intense, but seems like he’s very invested in the sport and not just his own racing, and that’s pretty cool to see.

I’m oddly more of a fan of him these days than in his winning days.

 @Longroadtonowhere: Man he would be a good commentator tbh. He's not super emotional but is very passionate and knowledgeable. And ofc it's Gwin so anything he puts his mind to he is going to do well at.

 Edit*

 A legendary run for the history books.

 Yeah, Bruni's run was definitely the best run of the day for me, incredibly impressive.

 have to imagine cedric has been getting coaching. was relatively restrained & coherent this round. perhaps there's hope?

 I think they are seeing what people are saying and both seemed to have improved. Not great but still much better first races.

 @eckljkr: As if Claudio and Rob weren't making mistakes or not full of silly hype/ People are exaggerating the quality difference.

 How about we cut Ric and get someone who can add even just the slightest bit of value?

Dude could be replaced by AI.

 The race commentary has definitely improved. The post-race interviews could use a little work though

 It was less irritating but not better.The sooner the replacements come in the better.

 I watched it with the German commentary for the first time in my life. It was much better, than the English! Real enthusiasm and insights. Definitely recommended for German speakers.

 @dizIzib: I guess we were scarred by the red bull German commentary which wasn't exactly great in comparison to Rob (*wipes tear)

 This didn’t last long. Daprela is a mad man.

 @pisgahgnar: if it had stayed dry be a different story 100%

 Ric is a braindead ape who repeats the same canned general bs the whole time and has zero knowledge about the riders or how to ride. It’s crazy.

 @nvranka:Really? He worked for Red Bull for almost 10 years, writes for Cranked, Misspent Summers and MBUK and commentates on the EWS. Never met the fella but I'm guessing he has some tales to tell.

 He utterly smashed his back wheel into a tree stump. That was a clear riders error. No wheel would have survived that.

 I thought the Vuelta was organised by ASO?

It was a ludicrously poor decision though. Also fair to point out that the UCI is not really popular in other disciplines.

 Add some frost delays and snow flurries though.

 What would you gain from live commentary of the podium scene? "And now, ladies and gentlemen, we see 4th place finisher Vidal raise the bouquet to raucous applause from the crowd!!"

 There are two separate streams, although if there's some other race like road stuff going on at the same time, the other option isn't necessarily at the top of the list. The one that "includes the live show" has the post race chats and whatnot without showing the podiums at all (the issue not being just someone talking over the ceremony), the other version shows the podium ceremonies and top rider interviews. Why of course the live show one is the default offered first.

 Agreed. Ultimately commentary is not the riding itself but its become a major part of the experience - which is what Discovery is selling. They are selling a mediocre commentary experience. Couldn't even watch this race and won't pay for this after trying the 1st 3 races (then getting shut out on W-Champ).

Only way to even match Rob is to get some actual f*cking core insiders in the box - and trained instead what looks like Fog-Commentary from noob commenters (and yes I realzie Cedric is a longtime rider & Rampage ex). Doesn't make it legit.

 @BenPea: Thats racing. Sometimes you get the luck, sometimes you don't.

 @BenPea: Yeah and at VDS it effected the guys who were outside the top 5 more and the top guys had a drying track. Its racing, get over it or go and watch indoor ice skating.

 Finn had to warn him about the cameras

 I would've loved to have caught what he said...

 @bikes-arent-real: chill buddy, I know how it works. Still a bit frustrating though.

 At least scrapping the semis showed us what a great final could look like - more than 10 women, fierce competition for the top slot. The 10-women final is a disgrace on the regular schedule.

 Wtf?

 You wear rose tinted glasses. People kept complaining the same way about RB broadcasts. They are different but no, they aren't worse.

 Drone operator was dogshit today, which is weird, because he was so fucking good in VDS. No, people complained about Red Bull all the time too.

 @Nuss-95: I'm surprised that they didn't ground the drones because of the high winds. It doesn't matter how good the pilot is when the thing is getting blown sideways by 80kmh guests. They're never going to keep the rider in frame

 after watching most of the race again I'll correct myself, comments are bad. One is an ex racer with zero stoke and the othe one a clueless generic sports commentator. Still better than gcn, tho

 I'm curious to know how much money Redbull was loosing in order to not continue doing WC's? If it was making them any kind of real money they would have stuck around, they were most likely breaking even or just making a small profit. WB/Disco figured out to be profitable that they have to charge something. Makes sense really. This idea of free content has to stop eventually, everyone's been sucking that teat to long.

 @MikeGruhler: Unless you're privy to the bidding process, that's a lot of supposition on your part.

 @commental: Yep, and here's some more...It's not hard to understand how money works. If Redbull was making money hand over fist they would have stuck around, it's a good assumption. Redbull market value is believed to be 19Billion, Disco is around 31Billion. They both have money to spend so it's interesting that Redbull walked away after so many years of investment and time. Wouldn't be surprised if UCI raised the amount of money it costs to bid for the contract. Redbull probably makes a better return doing Crankworks then WC so I could also see that being a determining factor as well. Either way it's really interesting to think about.

 @MikeGruhler: How do you know they walked away and weren't simply outbid?

 @commental: I don't know, but generally when you're outbid it's because it won't profitable if you go above a certain amount. Unfortunately at the end of the day it's about money not MTB'ing.

 @MikeGruhler: exactly this. If putting all that $$$ into DH didn't move the needle in can sales, what's the point in all that marketing expenditure?

 @MikeGruhler: Thing is we don't know how the bidding system worked. Were they sealed bids? Was there any room for negotiation once bids were submitted? Maybe RB submitted what they thought would be a winning bid and got it wrong. Unless you're party to all that information it's just speculation.

 @commental: Absolutely, great points.Thx for pointing out those kind of things. Would still rather speculate about this then jumping on the "bash the broadcast" bandwagon. I f'n love DH and can't ride anymore due to back injuries but absolutely love the fact I can watch the races and all the awesome auxiliary race week coverage.

 @MikeGruhler: Yes, the vlogs from the riders add so much to the event. I'm not a fan of the double headers as we miss out on the great DH coverage provided by MoiMoi and Eddie. I think it also dilutes the EDR coverage.
Sorry to hear about your back.

 @commental: Ehh, no worries on the back man. Just adding some context to my experience with it all. Definitely a lot coverage but I don't mind it to much. I wake up @5am every day regardless, race days start @4:30am. I watch semi's with a coffee in the garage, poke the web and just relax. Doesn't really dig into may day to much.

 Top qualifying riders go last to create a level playing field for the rest of the field. Slower riders get a slightly better track to try and even up the field and create tighter times. As well it helps build up excitement as each rider generally gets faster as the race goes on. Imagine 1st place qualifier going first and so on. Everyone would switch off 10 riders in. All common sense really.

 From checking the weather forecasts it should just be wind and light rain. There was a prediction of thunderstorms for this time earlier today but let's hope that doesn't happen.

 @edspratt: We'll see. It'll take a direct lightning trike to stop Vali winning this though.

 Or Nina Hoffmann lol. No bloody way.

 @BenPea: don't hassle the Hoff

 @BenPea: Couldn't help imagining some cartoonish madman on a trike chasing Vali down the mountain, shooting lightning bolts in all directions. Vali is quicker, but the lightning trike is straightlining and doesn't care about the taping. Could Rocketman stop him?

 Why do they keep the 2 or 3 minuts gap between riders when rain is likely to come ?

 @pasteque51: Because people complain all the time when the gaps are smaller.

 @Nuss-95: always better than seeing top riders 10 sec off…

 Carlson is an absolute fun void whenever he's popped up. Offers nothing of value.

 Coverage is the best we ever had lol. Semi finals and commentary are dogshit though, yeah.

 That drone shot almost did for me.

 They have blocked it off today. All of the riders had a chance to practice with it closed earlier.

 @edspratt: thanks for keeping us all updated with all these posts over the last 24 hrs. Much appreciated.

 There was talk about that at the beginning of this story. Because of strong gusts of wind.

"The road gap that caused a number of issues in qualifying including taking out Camille Balanche has been removed for today's finals".

 @Footey72: yes. At least one dude on it today.

 The Union ride Santa Cruz bikes.

 Was curious also, few comments above mention he got caught in the rain ️

 It's a mistake on pinkbike. Greg was 0.121 behind

 Part time home track. Great to see him on the podium but I’m saying with the competition this is his best finish. At his age and his injuries he is a super human to throw himself down the track at that speed.

 @Whataboutism: Nah

 @likeittacky: put $25 on it? Venmo?

 @Whataboutism: Even if he's a top 10 finisher till the day he retires from racing, still gives him (regardless of age) the prowess to finish 1st and for what ever reason which can be many, prevent that win from occurring. Every rider encounters a thousand obstacles and hurdles preventing this achievement, young or old. We're talking fractions of seconds which is butthole clutched up times and for him to return to the elite level as he did after braking his back and securing 2nd, proves to me his resilience, fortitude and desire to win!

1st. Thibaut Daprela: 2:46.455
2nd. Greg Minnaar: 2:46.576
3rd. Finn Iles: 2:48.771

Two seconds ahead of Finn is pretty dam BOSS insane if you ask me. I didn't watch the race and understand the weather situation but still.

 He went out just as the rain started hammering down, didn't stand a chance

 Sorry, dumb idea. You're missing everything.
"Posted this above qualifying riders go last to create a level playing field for the rest of the field. Slower riders get a slightly better track to try and even up the field and create tighter times. As well it helps build up excitement as each rider generally gets faster as the race goes on. Imagine 1st place qualifier going first and so on. Everyone would switch off 10 riders in. All common sense really."

 @MikeGruhler: I get all that I guess. Figured that was going to be the response I would get. I don't think all 10 would decide to go first but who knows, just a thought. But at the same time its a bummer to sit there and watch for 2 hours to watch some of your favorite riders not able to put down the run you know they are capable of. I get it tho, that's just the ups and downs of downhill, not much you can do about weather.

 @Erikbel79: It does suck having weather effect the outcome, but it has also created the most legendary moments in the sports history. I guarantee all top ten riders would go first if given the option, you'd be stupid not to do it. Look at slalom, fastest and slowest qualifier go against each other first rd. At the end you generally end up with the fastest qualifiers in the final rd. Sucks to be the slow one but somebody has to do it.

 Maybe they’re trying to keep things tight with the weather..

 Here we go. Starting to show more now

 Have you ever watched a DH race? It has always been like that for the first 30 riders. They show more for the riders that start later and the full runs for the top 10.

The mens race would last 4 hours if they showed the full run of every rider...

 @Nuss-95: I wouldn't bother trying to explain. People complain about this for every race when it's been like this for years (yes, even when the much coveted RedBull did the coverage!). People want every centimetre of the track covered for all riders even though it'd take like 6 hours to get through or something stupid.

 @Nuss-95: That makes a lot of sense in terms of the coverage time - I need to just focus on the racing instead of heading straight to the comment’s section..

 @JonnyTheWeasel: or they could do something inventive like split-screen or PIP. It’s not hard.

 @JonnyTheWeasel: I agree, the video coverage is much the same as when Redbull covered the racing and to be honest I think its way better than the video coverage of the Crankworx downhill races. I tried watching some of the Crankworx DH races and turned it off more so due to the commentary. I find Tracey is very monotone and says the same thing for every rider.
The semi finals are a waste of time and put the riders at additional risk just for our entertainment and no real benefit when they're only getting World Cup points not UCI points.
The commentators & interviewers need a little improving but that is fixable, I just switch off to it as I am watching for the riding not the commentary.
For people complaining about the drone footage for this race just remember why the road gap was closed off, it was bloody windy........ I dont mind the perspective the drone footage gives, its a nice change. Im fairly confident that this is new to the drone operator so in time Im sure they will adapt to whats needed for mountain biking.
It all comes down to personal opinion with this and everything else in life. Free was good to watch the World Cups but the subscription isnt that much so I pay and still get to watch the racing which I enjoy. Times change and people need to change with it.
Hopefully the riders get together and voice their opinions of the format at the end of the season and even more hopefully the UCI take note.......

 @MTBcrash: anyone with eyes could see the drone footage was awful, so why stick with it for so long?

 @kingtut87: I've got eyes, I know its not perfect, but why not try new things to give people another perspective. If everyone opted to not try new things we'd still be living in caves and you wouldnt have the internet to complain about things let alone things called bikes... Im sure it will improve in time. Not giving it a chance to improve on it is somewhat unreasonable. Redbull took a little while to get things right and sometimes their coverage was a bit average with not many cameras etc.
IWe weren't brilliant at walking when we were a toddlers but we kept trying to improve.......
They have training wheels for kids bikes because they arent good at riding straight away......
Things take time, a little patience goes a long way.

Instead of focusing on the quick easy negatives, maybe people should look at the drone from the perspective of 'at least they are trying something new to give the viewers a different view'

 @MTBcrash: a different, but worse view. I've no issue with them trying new stuff, but if the weather means they can't keep the rider or the track in the shot then maybe don't keep showing it? It's shoddy directing and we absolutely should demand more from a product that we're now paying for.