The race we’ve all been waiting for
The last two World Cups have been riddled with criticism from the riders. Lourdes was too rainy. Fort Bill was too tough. Leogang was too easy.
Thankfully this weekend’s race is looking set to change all that … and finally pitch a track that the riders love. It’s set to be an amazing race.
Wideopen’s World Cup addict Big Dave Konstanz looks at what we can expect this weekend in Andorra.
Where to watch
The race is – as always – being streamed live by RedBull.
Live coverage is RIGHT HERE and will roll on 1st July at midday UK time.
Where is it?
This weekend’s World Cup is in Vallnord, Andorra. Andorra is tucked neatly between France and Spain high in the Pyreness mountains. There’s just 70,000 people living in the tiny principality of Andorra (there’s 2.5 million in Manchester) and it’s known for its stunning scenery and cheap booze and fags thanks to it being a tax haven.
Vallnord has been around since 2008 when it was first raced as a World Cup and won by Gee and Rach Atherton. It’s hosted XC and DH World Cups off and on since then and was the venue for World Champs in 2015 when Loic Bruni took the rainbow jersey.
Photo by Duncan Philpott.
The track
Vallnord’s track has it all. It’s the track we’ve been waiting for all season.
There’s a fast pedaly section up top straight out of the gate that leads into some sizeable gaps. From there we get some of the steepest technical sections on the circuit this season.
In the dry it promises some great racing. In the wet … well, it’s set to be loose and wild. Lucky for us, unlucky for the riders the forecast isn’t looking sunny.
The track builders have already had to adjust the bottom of the track due to storm damage and after the hundreds of tyres rolling over the track last weekend at the Masters Worlds, you can guarantee that the track is already well weathered ahead of the start of practice on Thursday regardless of the weather conditions.
Who went well last year?
Last year the weather turned nasty for the top 5 qualifiers. The track transformed from a dust bowl into a slippery, steep, slippy beast. Similar to Lourdes at the start of this year, that upset the ranks and many of the top riders ended up way down the list.
Men
Alex Fayolle.
Andorra 2015 was one of the first races that people noticed Mr Fayolle on the race circuit. He qualified 21st and then smashed it to 4th on race day.
Proving it wasn’t lucky, Alex put down the run of his life in 2016 to take the first World Cup victory at Lourdes and is now standing 10th in the overall. You can guarantee that he wants to push up that ranking, so keep your eyes peeled for the flying Frenchman this weekend.
Danny Hart.
Andorra was the final round of the series in 2016 and was Danny’s third victory in a row.
Unfortunately for Danny, Gwin had amassed a big enough lead by that point to mean that only a DSQ or DNF on race day would allow Danny to take the series overall. Regardless of the odds, Danny put everything on the line to take it. Danny won by three seconds in the pissing rain … but couldn’t take the overall title.
Women
Myriam Nicole.
The Commencal HQ is at the bottom of the track in Vallnord and you can guarantee that the Commencal team have been out testing on this track. Nicole qualified fastest last year but unfortunately couldn’t back it up on race day, finishing third when it mattered.
Rachel Atherton.
After qualifying third, Atherton went seven seconds faster on race day to take the win.
That marked her seventh win of the season and completed a clean sweep of wins in 2016.
The hot topics of World Cup DH 2017
To 29 or not 29?
The seemingly endless wheel size debate continues this weekend.
A lot of teams have made a lot of claims about the benefits of 29 … but in reality those boasts haven’t quite materialised. Sure, big wheels have done well but the win count so far is 2:1 to 27.5″ bikes.
With the steep nature of the track, some of the smaller riders might swop back to the smaller wheels to eliminate the tyre buzz as they are hanging off the back down the track.
Brendan Fairclough has said in a recent interview that he is hoping that the 27.5 wheels will be just as fast in Andorra, so it is likely that riders will test out both wheel sizes during timed training to see if they can gauge which bike is the one for race day.
The track
There has been no shortage of complaints over social media about the last two tracks and the pitfalls that some riders have seen in them. From past races at Vallnord, there should be little to complain about this weekend we hope. Its steep, technical, fast, has big jumps and has minimal man made features, what’s not to like?
Predictions
… Here’s who WE think are going to smash it this weekend!
Dave: Minnaar, Hart, Gwin / Seagrave, Hannah, Nicole
Vero: Hart, Bruni, Greenland / Nicole, Atherton, Seagrave
Pete: Bruni, Hart, Gwin / Seagrave, Nicole, Siegenthaler
Ti-Springs’ Scout: Gwin, Minnaar, Brosnan / Seagrave, Hannah, Nicole
