With barely been enough time for the mud to dry it’s race day again …
This weekend is round 3 of the UCI World Cup at Leogang, Austria.
Words by Wideopen team manager Big Dave Konstanz
The track
The track is a controversial one. Classed by many as a bike park it has long straights and big jumps. For years it was criticised as being too straight, too fast and too man-made but last year’s fresh section added in a sea of trumps and caused carnage … especially when mixed with some wet weather.
This weekend promises even more fresh track to answer the rider’s demands to make it even less ‘bike park’. Add in the UCi’s directive that tracks must have at least 30% change year on year and we’re in for some twists to the old classic.
Who went well last year?
Men
Loris Vergier.
Loris had his best result of last season here with a run that put him into the hot seat and on to the second step of the podium.
Aaron Gwin.
Gwin is the most successful rider at Leogang, with three world cup wins in the bag. He has won 50% of the World Cup races at Leogang.
He has however been stung with bad luck here, with a brake failure at World Champs 2012, a tyre explosion at the World Cup in 2014 and then his chain snapping out of the gate in 2015 which led to one of the most sensational runs of all time where he managed to take the win with only a couple of pedal strokes on the whole course – tricky to argue that this track isn’t gravity fed enough when this happens.
Women
Rachel Atherton
Rachel Atherton continued her run of dominance in 2016 at Leogang with a clean sweep across qualification and racing. But with her injury sustained at Fort William, she has left the championship wide open for the rest of the field.
Miranda Miller
Miranda Miller. This was one of only three world cups in 2016 for the Canadian and she managed to land the third step on the podium. This was when she was essentially privateering and brought in standout results which has led to her being part of the Specialized Gravity team for this season.
Sadly she picked up an injury at Fort William, so it is touch and go as to whether we will see her set off on Sunday.
The chaotic world of World Cup DH
After the drama of Lourdes with the weather and then the infamous woods section at Fort William, normality has just about been restored in the overall.
Greg Minnaar now holds the leaders jersey and the majority of the riders that you would expect to find in the top 20 and in turn protected are there.
However, there is one notable exception, Danny Hart. Sat in 53rd in the overall, he has had some terrible luck at the first two rounds with crashes in both race runs. After a standout season last year, he wears the rainbow stripes across his chest, but has the old curse of the rainbow stripes come back or will Hart be able to turn around his season in Austria?
2014 saw the last win on 26” wheels at a World Cup with Ratboy winning on his 26” V10, is there a chance that we could see the last win on 27.5” wheels at a World Cup again this year?
In all reality it is unlikely, but as production times are brought forwards and prototypes are pushed through, it is possible.
Who/what to look out for this weekend
Look out for Bernard Kerr this weekend. He has had some of his stand out results at Leogang and is not afraid to send it as well as put down the power over the traverse to the woods.
Bruni’s 29er. Bruni had a Specialized 29’er in Fort William, but opted not to ride it. Will this weekend be the time that the man that was pretty vocal with his thoughts towards 29ers at Lourdes, eat his words and roll the wagon wheeled Demo out of the pits and down the track?
Gwin. He goes well at Leogang, but will he be able to stand up to the threat of the guys on the big wheels? He was the fastest 27.5 rider at Fort William and could have been the fastest overall if it were not for a slip on an inconspicuous corner before the Hazard Hoofer.
Jack Moir. With a hell of a run at Fort William, the young Ozzy is starting to show his full potential and is a great wildcard for the 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 …
Big Dave Gwin, Minnaar, Moir / Seagrave, Hannah, Carpenter
Pete Scullion Gwin, Minnaar, Moir / Hannah, Seigenthaler, Carpenter
Scout Gregory Gwin, Minnaar, Moir / Hannah, Seagrave, Nicole
Jim Smith Gwin, Minnaar, Moir / Hannah, Seigenthaler, Seagrave
Are you stoked for World Cup racing? Tell us in the comments who your money is on!
