richhall77

@TonyFlynn: pretty sure it's because that's where Alan Milway (Team Manager/all round guru) is based. He certainly tests out of University of Birmingham sport science labs... Guessing it doubled up with team testing/meetings etc.

Best. Videos. Of the season...

Not sure about Rampage, but I did see an interview when he said he wants to compete in a DH World Cup at some point. Might need to win a Grand Tour or 2 before Ineos let him do that though He grew up riding in Morzine every summer, there's some vids out there of him on some of the DH tracks. He's got some skills!

Always enjoy listening to @paulhaysom, and miss the vids! The segment on Influencers vs Racers was fascinating for me, and the argument around influencers taking sponsorship $$$ from racers. For me it just highlights that 'Pro' MTB is mainly smoke and mirrors - especially when you look at the Pinkbike poll and see how pathetically little racers generally earn outside the top 10/big hitters who CAN do very well for themselves. If they had a minimum wage like in road cycling, it would be interesting to see how many brands 'pro' teams would be on the circuit - would they all fold, or would teams find the cash? One thing that interests me is we keep hearing that marketing budgets are limited, but surely the Scotts/Treks/Giants/Shimanos/SRAMS etc are posting profits in the millions?! (Maybe it's not them underpaying!) To me, some brands have just got away with paying athletes peanuts because they are just grateful to 'be sponsored' and noone is allowed to discuss salaries. Let's hope the Discovery deal can help attract out of industry sponsors in the long term (!) - this seemed to be the big difference in the glory days of DH sponsorship with Mtn Dew/Volvo etc etc in the 90's. Paul seemed like he'd figured out his value to brands at least,