Finally the time has arrived when all of the off-season bullshit finally stops.
It’s time to let the riders put the times in and to see who has been working hard since the weather affected opening round at Lourdes.
Big Dave is Team Wideopenmag’s Manager. He loves racing and he loves World Cups. Here’s what he thinks about this weekend’s race and what he’s getting excited about.
Take it away Dave!
After the drama that unfolded when Mother Nature unleashed an almighty storm for the last 10 riders at Lourdes, the drama is set to unfold on the classic track situated on the slopes of Aonach Mor, Fort William.
The track.
This track is a classic, it was first raced in 2001 and there is barely a racer on the circuit that hasn’t ridden down the fast, rough, loose track that has been there for the last 16 years. It’s one of the British national tracks and these races held 3 weeks before the World Cup often bring in a large amount of top World Cup guys to get some testing done and put in a timed run ahead of the main event at the beginning of June.
This year, there is a new section that has been put in just after the deer gate and dropping in to the woods just above the road gap. This was put there to give the woods a ‘break’. With so many tyres rolling through every year, the roots are super exposed, and also to follow the UCI directive of having a fresher track for the racers. There is a limit to what they are able to do at Fort William due to the classic nature of the track, but we had a look at the new additions on the track when we were up there a couple of weeks back and they look like everyone is in for big berms, big exposed rock beds, fresh loose words and a biggggg jump. Rumours that people would have to mind their heads on the gondola were flying around…
Who went well last year?
Men
Greg Minnaar. Never ever bet against the GOAT here. He has raced here no less than 18 times and won 6 World Cups here and out of those 18 times, he has had 4 results out of the top 5, you would be bonkers not to put him on the podium here.
Aaron Gwin came second here last year, but that was 3 seconds off the time of Greg, and his stats when you look at them aren’t as strong as Minnaar’s, with only 8 races here with only 1 World Cup win and 6 results in the top 5.
Danny Hart always puts on a good showing at Fort William. Third last year, and first at the BDS 3 weeks ago aboard his 29er Summum. He stayed up in Fort William for the week following the BDS to get some extra testing done ahead of the world cup, so don’t rule him out this weekend.
Women
Rach won here last year as part of her ongoing winning streak and if we look at the stats here, she has raced here 20 times, won 3 world cups, and only been out of the top 3 twice, so overall, pretty consistent in our eyes! However, as always, it was a tale of what could have been last year.
Rach was up at the first split, but then Manon who was the fastest qualifier crashed towards the bottom section of the track which took her out of contention for the win, but still managed to bag the third step of the podium. Tracey Hannah showed her endurance with the fastest final sector over the motorway jumps, which was solid enough to take the second spot on the box.
Who surprised us last year?
Eddie Masters. Second fastest qualifier which in turn led to the wildest, loosest and scariest run down Fort William that you have ever seen. There were crashes, top tube riding and big grins, but man it was awesome!
Adam Brayton. Qualifying 5th, he managed to back it up with a 4th on the day. It was a hell of a run for him on what turned out to be a bike barely hanging in there at the end with spokes hanging out of his wheel! He has been flat out in the gym or on his private downhill track and when he hasn’t been doing either of those, has been catching all the Pike in the Lake District.
The topsy-turvy world of World Cup DH.
The almighty storm at Lourdes has turned the World Cup overall on its head, literally. The guys that you would expect to be in the top 5 (Bruni, Hart, Gwin, Vergier, Brosnan) are bringing up the back of the rankings, with Alexander Fayolle holding the leaders jersey and the coveted number 1 plate.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BTer8xLjTPC/?taken-by=alexandre_fayolle88
You would expect this to change, but with most of the big dogs not being protected, there is a chance that a sniper rock could cause a puncture on your qualifying run and that would mean weekend over. Greg punctured in Quali last year and went onto win in, however, this year, that would likely mean that he wouldn’t qualify going on the strength of all the competitors and this being one of the most popular World Cups.
Pit Gossip.
I guess it isn’t gossip anymore. 29ers are here and they are here to stay. Trek brought one to the BDS which has now been released as an official bike, Santa Cruz had theirs at Lourdes and going on their qualifying results it went super well, Danny won the BDS on his 3 weeks ago and there is a raft of other teams that are supposed to have been testing on the track in the build up to the World Cup.
Who/what to look out for this weekend.
It’s a bit of a case of who is on a 29er this weekend. A lot of teams will have one, so made to be 29ers, some will be Frankenbikes with wagon wheels squeezed into the frames.
Main one to look out for is in the womens’ category. At the BDS a couple of weeks ago, Manon and Tahnee put in times that would have been faster than Rach’s winning time at the World Cup last year (yes, they were on a slightly different track), but it shows that the pace is catching up to Rach’s and I think that there is a chance that her winning streak could come to an end this weekend.
Who do we think is going to win?
We had a strawpole survey here at Wideopen and have come up with the following predictions:
Dave
Minnaar, Hart, Vergier
Carpenter, Atherton, Seagrave
Pete
Hart, Vergier, Williamson
Seagrave, Atherton, Carpenter
Vero
Hill, Hart, Buni
Seagrave, Atherton, Hannah
Jim
Minnaar, Hart, Bruni
Atherton, Hannah, Carpenter
Scout
Hart, Minnaar, Vergier
Atherton, Seagrave, Carpenter
Rich
Hart, Minnaar, Vergier
Atherton, Seagrave, Hannah
Hutch
Minnaar, Hart, Bruni
Atherton, Carpenter, Charre
Where to watch the race
You can watch the race live on Redbull.
We’ll publish the link on Wideopen’s Facebook page on Sunday. If you want to bookmark it now, the page is below.
Redbull live World Cup DH coverage.
Coverage will start from:
USA: 5am (PDT) 8am (EDT)
British Summer Time: 1pm << UK viewers
Malaysia: 8pm
Australia: 10pm (Sydney)
New Zealand: 12pm (Auckland)