Vital RAW - Les Gets World Cup DH Gnar 29

Vital RAW
Big, sketchy gaps, steep, natural terrain and high-speed ski run sections. Is this the best World Cup DH track ever?
Credit: John Lawlor
Related:
UCI Mountain Bike World Cup
Downhill
Vital RAW
Les Gets, France
29 comments

View replies to: Vital RAW - Les Gets World Cup DH Gnar

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dolface
3 years ago
Loic still running that carbon shroud over his shock (see 12:55), any guesses why? There aren't any pedally sections here!
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TSchafer
3 years ago
Probably a prototype shock? The Ohlins adjusters normally stick up through the front triangle there, so a different adjuster setup (especially if it includes lockout or electronic connections) would be super obvious
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Eoin
3 years ago
Looks sick, bless Lawlor for the 12 minutes of 2 wheel drifts
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tcmtnbikr
3 years ago
Was just thinking best track I’ve ever seen and they cut to Rob Warner saying the same thing!
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BetterRide.net
3 years ago
Wow! That was great coverage of nearly the entire track. Looks fun and loose, going to super exciting to watch!
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zuman
3 years ago
Great footage. But how come there's no footage of the Dorval team? they just won and had a podiom last race. Also Cami Balanche just got new monster helmet.
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sspomer
3 years ago
1:06, 10:02 - maybe not the answer you want to hear, but sometimes there's a rhythm of missing riders on track while hiking to sections or maybe they rolled the section being filmed. def not intentional, that's for sure.
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bizutch
3 years ago
Ummm...anyone notice GM come out of the woods at the end like he was shot out of a cannon?
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veefour
3 years ago
This is going to be such a good race, especially if the track doesn't dry out too much. Reece Wilson and Bernard Kerr looked to be flying.
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Batts
3 years ago
Brutal track... Danny, Troy, Remi, Loris, Reece making it look easy. Loic looking fast but seemed to be working more?
Finn getting it down and Dakota putting in a huge effort it seems to make it work. I bet it pays off for all these guys.
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EBlackwell
3 years ago
Man, this is going to be an incredible race! Kade had one drift in there that was other-worldly...
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styriabeef
3 years ago
Well someone has to say it. What´s up with Giant? they are one of the biggest bicyclemanufactures in the world, have one of the smallest race teams in MTB-DH yet one of the most awesome to watch riders on the team that´s always going to be filmed, and their kit is AWFULL. FULL STOPP. Please somebody tell them.
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bizutch
3 years ago
Agreed. Reminds me of when I accidently got metallic grey and gloss blue model car paint smeared together. God awful and a colorless void like black hole that swallows all light and definition.
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dolface
3 years ago
They don't seem to give a shit (we all know this, it's been years since they put any real effort into dirt racing) and my best guess is there's a business team running the business (as one does) and racing isn't adding enough to their margin to invest more in (chicken and egg there).

My guess: someone/s is keeping the racing alive there; underfunded and under-resourced, doing the best they can to keep the stoke. Liv XC seem to have a bit of life still but it's clear they're not really investing there either.

It sucks that they currently have one of the most exciting riders (of the modern era) to watch and aren't capitalizing on him more.
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styriabeef
3 years ago
That may all be true and as long as the riders are well paid and looked after it's all by fair means. If a company does not want to be at the technological forefront and has no need to be in the limelight and is OK if not on the box, that's fine. They support the sport no matter that's even great. It's just that they could have gained a far greater visibility of their athletes with minimal investment. They have never had shiny kits, but as bizutch but it, this year's seems like it sucks up all the light.
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bman33
3 years ago
I have some links inside their DH team....Giant fives ZERO F's about their DH team and puts very minmal effort into it. Sad really. I understand they don't need it. Maybe they should drop it if they aren't going to invest anything into it?
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LLLLL
3 years ago
There suspension design isn’t competitive on anything past a trail bike. Building bikes for other companies probably more profitable.
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bizutch
3 years ago
@LLLLL you are way off base on their suspension platform. What they are currently doing on the DH bikes which are all prototypes. The suspension system itself is just as relevant as DW Link, FSR & any High Pivot.
Giant had been testing all sorts of things that you don't know about.
Just because you aren't an insider and no one is spy shotting their rigs doesn't mean they quit.

Don't talk like you have a clue guy. The guys working there are busting their asses like anyone else.

They're flying their big boys to Snowshoe on expensive flights, shipping their big truck all over the place to get it there for the World Cup, cutting checks to their riders and wrenches and crew like anyone else.

Ugly kits don't equal half ass competitors. Hell, that company hired Eliot Jackson and he hadn't done anything on the World Cup circuit & wasn't going to.

They didn't have to pay him or anyone else but they did.
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bman33
3 years ago
Butch. Up till 2019, they had the same suspension as they always had and their DH bike was a bootleg 29" one off. They didn't even let Jacob keep it between races to ride or practice between races. Very minimal support. Maybe different now, but crap up till now.
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bizutch
3 years ago
Brent, not talking about the old bikes, which they don't sell any more. But the "There suspension design isn’t competitive on anything past a trail bike" thing. It's silly.
Connor Fearon is on a single pivot faux bar for a decade now.
If someone wants to say their retail DH was outdated geometry wise, fine. But the suspension design itself isn't.
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yeshir
3 years ago
most hyped I've been as a viewer and fan for a long time! this is awesome!
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