Results: European DH Championships 2023

 A lot of the big names tend to stay away to give room for other riders and give them the showlight. At least this has been the case for the last couple of years.

 They just don't want to have to wear that minging jersey for an entire season

 @michaelheinrich: I'm a bit skeptical about that - it would be an unusual attitude for competitive athletes

 @yeah-nah-yeah: I like the jersey. I'd wear it

 @tigerfish50: It actually happens in many other sports. It's not uncommon that elite athletes leave some space to their connationals in minor events like nationals or europeans.

 sureee... the internatational DH racing calendar is oversaturated... or maybe it became a too risky sport to take the risks for the win and we are moving to like UFC fighters/athletes...

 Top riders probably don't want to take any risk before a decisive 4 weeks period including 3 WC stages

 There are some pretty good ones attending too. I still think Eleonora Farina could definitely take a WC win on a rough track. But yeah, for those competing against the worlds best it is always a question whether they can be bothered to also compete for their national or continental title. Athletes take a very different approach there. For the continental jersey, it may also matter for sponsors. The rainbow or WC leaders jersey carries enough prestige, but otherwise many athletes rather wear their regular jersey with room for their sponsors than wear another jersey with little room for logos. Now that for national titles riders could suffice with just a sleeve, they've found a compromise. But for the continentals, I don't think they have a sleeve so (iirc) riders will have the continental jersey unless they also have the leaders or rainbow jersey.

 Only French riders had information that euro champ race exists.

 @HenkkaK: here's a link from the UEC official Swiss based website www.uec.ch/en/calendar

 @HenkkaK: or it was held in August.

 @michaelheinrich: Recent winners have included Balanche, Vergier, Kolb, Williams... I'd say in recent years the Euro Champs have grown in prestige, prior to Baptiste Pierron winning it I don't think I'd ever heard of them.

Similar to national level races, it probably just depends on how they fit in to schedules around more important races. This year people have probably prioritised a training block between Worlds and Andorra, so those chasing ranking points have needed to race.

 @big-sally: Also how many WC riders are real pros (with a monthly salary that pays the bills) versus only sponsored riders, especially in the women ranks?

 and the top junior man set the fastest time of the day...

 That can be explained easily. National federations have little budget to pay for travel and accomodations for juniors, it was in middle of august, when you are in a family of 4 or 5, maybe not everybody want to drive to another bicycle race and pay for hotel in the mountains while they could go to the beach. I know that my siblings weren't too keen spending their summer going to places when I was a teenager road racer, my parents were passionate cyclists, they may not have dedicated so much time to it had I been the only one in the family interested in racing.

 

 European not EU. If you don't know the difference, you can Google it.

 @carlitouk: I thought the second sentence would have made it clear I was talking shit. Plus the Australian flag.

 I was going to say the same thing GB is still part of Europe? I though they voted to leave.

 @carlitouk: haven't they moved the island after Brexit?

 Those flat corners just before the finish were so wide and fast, he was flying when he lost grip. Hopefully someone caught it on camera.

 The riders do the race, not the course.

 @opignonlibre: lol

 That is funny pal. Every nation needs to provide/promote such competitive curriculum in school. The French are cool.

 @flaflow: maybe, but not just the school solves it