Elite Qualifying Results from the Loudenvielle DH World Cup 2023

 The young man has really improved this season. Exciting to watch!

 And he was 73rd at the first split! He had to have some super fast lower split times, impressive!

 @BetterRide: 3rd fastest split in Sector 4 and 4th fastest in split finish!

 I watched GoPro footage at home and thought it looked quite spicy. Gets really steep down lower, with a lot of slide off camber stuff and quite a few lines to choose. Some big gaps too if wanted. IMO, looks like a rad course and the dirt looked really good.

 hard to tell steepness from a gopro, its almost like they don't listen to what the riders are saying. This is going to be really good.

 Yeah, watched one of the vital raw videos and saw how steep and loose some sections are currently.

 I've heard riders are digging it, the pits and other things + the trail riding around is pretty good.

 I was adamant that is was going to be a great track after seeing Loic and Millies footage but it's even better than I expected.

 hell ya brother top 10 for team norcal lets go

 Who is that intruder?

 @Hazab I think it means he pooped on the track...

 Those NorCal steeps…

 @abueno: The loose dirt will be right up his alley

 Agreed, he's so damn good and fast and always at the top. Would love to see him win. Was hoping he'd take Andorra

 @wolftwenty1: that’s interesting because all the other French riders like Loic and Amaury always talk about how amazing Benoit’s cornering ability is when it come so up in interviews, like they’re in awe. Someone needs to let him know he sucks

 @wolftwenty1: 3 times this season?

Coulanges hasn't been out of the top 10 at any race this season other than with his mishap last weekend. His consistency is ridiculous, and mistakes seem very rare.

www.rootsandrain.com/rider22061/benoit-coulanges/results

 @wolftwenty1: totally disagree with you on that. He's been consistent and top riders last season and this year. Also, did you mean Pom Pom(Myriam Nicole)? Who's been 1 of the best the past few years

 @TEAM-ROBOT: lol. People get so mad but it’s just fact. if he wasn’t 6’5” he would not get away with that body position IMO. Watch clips of him and look at the elbows….then look at the rest of the top 10 guys. I’m not denying his (or Pom Poms) talents. They are clearly amazing but pay attention to how both of them always lose the front when things go poorly….that only happens for one reason…not enough grip on the front.

 @dougfs: yea. The other day in finals, and in semis twice before that.

 @wolftwenty1:

Bro he's f*cking tall and lanky. Ya he's gonna gonna look a bit different on the bike. But to say that his body position / technique is causing him to wash the wheel is up there on the list for top "dumbass comments on pinkbike.

For some pinkbike punter to pontificate that Benoit isn't on the same level as the other top riders due to technique is f*cking astounding. How many top tens and podiums does he have?

 @skimtb1: lol, easy bro. Watch on Sunday and look at the elbows. it’s clearly working for him, but perhaps holding him back from the top step…? I don’t know, shit at least it’s interesting to think about instead of nonsense complaining about Discovery, commentators, etc.

And Of course I’m spouting nonsense opinion…just like everyone else here.

 @TEAM-ROBOT: This is a great track for riders with good cornering and tech ability's. Some of the slowest parts of a WC I've seen in a while are those tight "bike park turns" where the rider like is actually pretty flat and dusty. Then the steep look off camber speaks for itself.

 @wolftwenty1: Okay but he is 6'5 so everything you've said is irrelevant. He's faster than Ben Cathro who has really good riding position and is also a beanstalk so idk what you're tryna say

 @wolftwenty1:Same level? Fnished No. 7 last year, 2x Franch National Champ (I guess those other Frenchies must be crappy riders) and 2nd by .002 sec behind Minnaar in 2021 at World Champs last year. Yeah, I guess you're right, he's not the same level.

 @neimbc: speaking of Minnaar, iirc he rides with pretty low elbows, too. I heard he had some success two during his carreer. Seems like different people ride differently.

 @neimbc: gulp…washed the front, had to unclip and slid out.

Dude is an amazing rider but seems the body position and lack of grip struck again

 @wolftwenty1: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tg6e2Y3IEUk

 @TEAM-ROBOT: lol. It’s almost as if I predicted it…did you see his elbows…watch it again, especially at the top it’s very clear, nobody else’s rides like that. I find it interesting. Bummed, would have been sick to see him sweep all three.

 @wolftwenty1: You're killing me man. Okay, I think you put a curse on him. Be positive!

 @wolftwenty1: looks like you nailed it...

 @wolftwenty1:

Dude, 18 riders washed out there. Do they all have bad technique?

 @wolftwenty1: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confirmation_bias#:~:text=Confirmation%20bias%2C%20a%20phrase%20coined,example%20of%20a%20cognitive%20bias.

 @TEAM-ROBOT: y’all hilarious. Issue is… not weighting the front causes front wash outs. So it’s not correlation. Bias…sure…this went exactly like I predicted ironically. Oh BTW…you watch semis? See him lose the front there too?

I’m no fool…could be a million reasons for the crashes and wash outs. And as I noted, he’s sick and clearly talented.

But do you not find it interesting that his riding style is nothing like the other top guys?

 @wolftwenty1: I think Benoit's riding style and technique are both endlessly interesting, but Occam's razor tells me that a young rider on the come up is pushing hard and crashing a lot as he learns how to race at the highest level, instead of interpolating some meta-theory from his elbow position. Thibaut Daprela is another young French rider who's explosively fast but wildly inconsistent because of crashes, often front tire washouts. Does that mean there's some achilles heel in Thibaut's riding technique, or can we settle for the much simpler explanation that he's young and likes rolling the dice?

Also, from a coaching perspective, Benoit's riding style is very, very, very similar to the other top guys. I've heard this argument a million times, i.e. "their riding style is completely different," even from very strong pro racers, and I've always hated it. If Benoit and Loic and Thibaut are doing a thousand little things with their body position on their bikes, 990 of them are the same. It's true that we can identify differences between riders, and those differences are super interesting because they can create wins and losses (although they often don't). But nonetheless, everyone in the top 60 at a World Cup is doing *almost* everything the same because technique and knowledge have converged and there aren't that many different ways to win a downhill race. Watch a World Cup, then watch Friday Fails, and once you're done watching both try to tell me with a straight face that Benoit's riding style "is nothing like the other top guys."

 @TEAM-ROBOT: I agree with all you’re saying. But just watch the top part of the course again - him, Loic and Daprella. Look at his elbows. It’s not the same….anyway…im done here. Thanks for the thoughtful answer finally - this is the stuff I wish people were discussing not Cedric’s English. 3

 @wolftwenty1:

What ya gonna say now dumby?!

Looks like low lanky elbows do alright in loose conditions afterall! Based on wolftwenty1's expert analysis this shouldn't be happening. The elbows were nowhere near pointy enough

 @skimtb1: Exactly! He rides like another tall dude who kind of did (and is still doing) alright - Minnaar. Considering he WON the last 5 out of 6 races from the past 2 events, I think he's pretty damn near perfect.

 hell yeah she s seems to get better and better.Good luck for the rest of the season

 And crashed during that quali run as well. Hopefully she gets a podium next.

 Nina Seagrave or Tahnée Hoffmann? Ask Karen!

 Jackson ok?

 @forecast01: 21 seconds back? Likely a flat or went off course. He's protected through though.

 @ridedigrepeat: had a good sized crash

 @bgoldstone: Glad to see he rode out the run, with decent pace at that! Hope he's all good for Sunday!

 Her post (and people's discussions around it) seemed to indicate that she may be out the rest of the season working on concussion symptoms.

 She is in a neuro rehab centre in Switzerland for a few weeks to recover from moderate head trauma and contusions in her chest (no broken bones though)

She is out for the remainder of the year she said.

 @Basketcase889: thanks for the feed back Bro.

 @Basketcase889:
: (

 curious to this as well? there were a lot of times that are 15sec back or so for split 3, I'm wondering if there was a big crash and it slowed down a bunch of riders after it until it was cleaned up?

 Not sure about Jordan, but Jackson crashed in the lower section. He was lucky today and isn't hurt.

 It's the kit and the bike. You gotta put up numbers if you turn up looking like that.

 Ah come on... the whole world is gonna hate us again

 @danstonQ: Loic Bruni and other leading French athletes should use their fame to support the international promotion of cooking Coq au Vin, so as to help use up all the apparently surplus French wine that no one is drinking. It would be a government funded program of course.

 @danstonQ: what do you mean again?

 He said his shock had a malfunction.

 @ABhardtail: give the man a break...so many mechanicals lately, it's really sad.

 His issue was a big crash. He's ok, luckily.

 @ABhardtail: Definitely the kinda track that will make you blow up if you get something wrong. Williams is down there with him, Iook;s like Jackson had a slow first split and then started hanging it out in the steeps. Williams was struggling though, maybe not his track. This is a real test of skills.

 that is brilliant! :-)

 Not sure who you're referring to exactly, but some guys are protected remember. Mark Wallace and Tuhoto probably the biggest names to miss. Not much surprising outside of that.

 @adamkat: Suarez...

 @Costigan76: Protected. All he had to do was roll through the gate, which it looks like he did based on the DNF, not DNS.

 Why? He wouldn’t be competitive at this level anyway?

 81st

 @markcorrigan: I unfortunately agree with that, but he’s cool to watch riding.
Also where is Sam Hill? Did he stop his season as he was not excited to fight for a spot in semi-finals only?

 @blazekelly: POINT PROVEN. Didn’t even know he was racing

 @markcorrigan: yup I only knew because I saw his vid on the homepage where he follows Jackson for a practice lap. And Jackson dropppps him hard

 He has a nicccceeee bike dood

 Oops now they're posted