Anyone watching the World Cup downhill at Losinj may have been surprised that fastest qualifier Brook MacDonald wasn’t last man down.
In previous years, racers would qualify on Saturday and then would race on Sunday based on the order that they qualified. The slowest qualifying rider would start first and the fastest would go last with excitement and intensity building throughout the day.
Pete takes a look at why things have changed for 2018 and why the fastest qualifier may still not make the live stream.
Grab a brew, this one gets complicated!
Increased protection.
In the past, top 20 riders in Elite Men and top 10 in Elite Women were classed as ‘protected’. This means that they had an automatic pass to finals as long as they broke the timing beam at the top of the hill in qualifying.
If a top rider had an issue in their qualifying run, such as puncture or a crash, they would lose points but they wouldn’t have to sit Sunday out. These riders would usually be slotted into the running order between the top 40 and the protected top 20, ensuring them live screen time and a chance at taking a good result.
All of that has changed however for 2018. The UCI have now introduced a system of permanent protection for last year’s top 10 riders and a ‘standard’ protection for the remaining 11-20th. This affects the running order as we saw in Croatia.
Everyone who hadn’t read the small print of UCI rule changes must have been waiting for a charging Brook MacDonald to hopefully take his first World Cup win since 2012 as the last man off the hill. They were however, as you know, disappointed.
Photo courtesy of Red Bull Content Pool.
Protect your investment.
The thinking behind the rule change is that it protects the investments of those big teams that put large amounts of money into the World Cup series. Everyone in the permanently protected top 10 is on a factory team and can finish the season safe that they’ll make finals the following year.
What it does mean though is that anyone qualifying well who wasn’t in the top 10 in the previous year won’t be seen on the live stream. If you appear from nowhere as a first-year elite, smoke the field in qualifying and get a surprise blinder result… Your mum won’t be seeing it on the Live Stream back home.
To put this into context. Let’s apply this rule to last year’s opening round at Lourdes. The sharp end of the Elite Men’s race was effected by some stormy conditions. Eventual winner, Alexandre Fayolle qualified 52nd on the Saturday, giving him a dry run in finals. He would take the hot seat early on and stay there for the rest of the day. That’s something the new rules have been designed to eliminate.
Photo courtesy of Red Bull Content Pool.
Big break.
Imagine, for a second though, that you’re part of the UR Team and your rider wins a World Cup. The the new UCI rules mean his winning run never sees the light of day. He’s a factory team rider and he’s won a World Cup, but the sketchy, rain-soaked top 10 runs are what you see on the Live Stream. Not exactly the best advert for World Cup Downhill.
The top 30 in Elite Men is a very fast place to be, so this rule change doesn’t bode all that well for anyone who is hovering around the top 50, waiting for all the chips to fall into place.
To me, this seems like a move motivated entirely by money. Yes, people need to put food in the fridge and commitment to investment goes hand in hand with commitment to protecting it… That’s how businesses work.
But…
The amount of riders on big teams are the few and there are plenty of hungry riders looking to break through. It’s going to be harder to get noticed for having a standout result that attracts the eyes of those big teams as the move has been made to secure their riders’ positions.
“There are now only 60 qualifying spots too, which again is surely down to streamlining for TV coverage. 10 of those spots now can’t be raced for, 10 are protected at every race, so you’ve got 50% less chance to qualify than last year.”
To me, part of the excitement of downhill mountain biking is that riders have shockers. Shockers create excitement which is part of the reason we have amazing mountain bike racing.
Take Minnaar’s battle with Gwin over the last two years. Minnaar fell foul of both, but you can bet your bottom dollar that everyone stood up, threw their hands on their head and walked about in a circle before taking their seats again.
