We're into the thick of the 2022 race season with the third round ticked off the calendar after another frantic day of racing in the classic venue of Nove Mesto na Morave. It's been dry and dusty on course with the returning fans treated to some fast and frantic racing after the U23's got us underway on Saturday. Line Burquier and Martin Vidaurre Kossmann continued their dominance with yet another commanding win, making it 3 from 3 for both respectively. Puck Pieterse and Giada Specia returned to the U23 women's podium whilst Simone Avondetto and Dario Lillo rounded out the men's.
You'd have been brave or maybe even foolish to bet against Rebecca McConnell given her start to the season and so it turned out to be with the Aussie taking her third win of the season. She is seemingly unstoppable at the moment and it's fully deserved. No one can seem to get close. Loana Lecomte ran her the closest, albeit 40 seconds back with Jenny Rissveds a further half minute or so behind her, Jolanda Neff and Caroline Bohé justled for the final 2 spots on the podium with the Olympic champ coming out on top. The men's race was a little more open with a gaggle of riders all in the mix until late on in the race. Vlad Dascalu and Tom Pidcock went bar to bar down the final straight, the young Brit taking another win with the Romanian agonisingly close to that first win once again. Nino Schurter fought back impressively after a rear flat into third with Anton Cooper and Alan Hatherly rounding out the top 5.
The XC racers now have a few weeks to rest and recuperate before round 4 in Leogang, Austria.
www.pinkbike.com/photo/22587433
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Maxxis - (black and white photo of nino) - looks like a new but same tread on the aspen. The center ramps that kind of almost look like an arrow from above that are in groups of 3 look like they are now in groups of 5 or more.. It' also could be the blur of the photo. Also, in that last black and white photo of him on the ground you can see "maxxis test pilot" on the stamp of that rear wheel.
Specialized - Both Sina Frei and Laura Stigger are riding a tire with the name of "captain" on the side. Which is actually a tire they used to make like 10yrs ago. I think it's name was actually called "the captain". Looks like Spesh is resurrecting that name?
Yes, it was "The Captain" back then.
If they are bringing it back it's just in testing/team use at the moment.
It hasn't been released to the public yet. (Not on their website anyway.)
Aspen SS. Pro-only tread which has existed for a few years now.
Nmnm: "Line Burquier was happy to sit back at the start and let the race come to her."
Caption for the whole season?
And you really don't see much feed zone attacking in pro road racing. When you're out there for 6+ hours the food is too important to risk by messing around. I'd say it's much more an XC / CX thing to attack in a tech/feed when all it means is an extra 5 minutes before you get your next half a gel.
Start finding a forum of your liking in Reddit or one of those sites, and take it from there, you can find one that feels like the old times.
: Lecomte 2nd and Rissveds was 3rd.
bikerumor.com/spy-shot-nino-schurter-racing-prototype-maxxis-aspen-race-xc-mountain-bike-tires
That said, it is fun to watch riders doing several types of racing a year-it used to be common and I'm glad it's come back.
Sure, you need a LOT of saddle time to be an elite athlete, but the (fitness) goal is high sustained power output. That doesn't come from more km beyond a certain point.
Both of last year’s Olympic champs broke bones and were forced off the bike only weeks before the games. Evie Richards was forced to rest due to a knee injury before her 2021 surge. Recovery matters a lot.
And yeah, hard to tell exactly what kind of road rider Nino would have been, but seems like an Ardennes specialist would have been a good bet. Alaphillipe-like profile with high power/weight, great bike skills, and a strong kick.
Nino stuck to MTB because he loves MTB. Not because he couldn’t make it in road.
But true they are generational talents.
Nino was super strong and super impressive but he blew once he caught the front, told my wife as much. Still he had to catch and put on the show. Excellent show it was.
Plus pidcock had a mechanical
The reality is no one knows.
She has definitely lost a lot of leg speed, means she is not anywhere near the front in short track. Has not shown a single reel with her spinning above 100 RPM ever.
In xco her training has served her well this season given her weight gain from 2019. Slow cadence doesn't matter as much as long as lactic doesn't build
Kate has been very public about being a high-intensity, high-volume trainer, and there’s direct evidence that she has been too fast, too early in the season. I used to live quite close to her, and in February 2020, when we still thought it was an Olympic year, she put up a 21-minute QOM effort on King’s Mountain Road, a famous local climb that’s a common pro benchmark. That’s a near 6 W/kg effort, way, way too fast for 5 months before your season target. All signs point to overtraining.
And of course Nino was blown getting to the front. That was an insane, historical effort, whereas some of the guys at the front were managing their efforts. But if you watch closely, Pidcock is gapping when Nino is on the front, early in the race. And seems like Pidcock didn’t have “a mechanical” in the sense of a broken bike, he was just not happy with his suspension setup.
Anyway, Pidcock is a huge talent. But he’s at the beginning of his prime, while Nino’s prime is over. Remember that Nino thrashed MvdP for several years after van der Poel was already a CX World Champ. But age caught up with him.
Anyway, there won’t be many days where Nino is stronger than Pidcock. Not at 36. but Sunday was one of them. I don’t think even Pidcock would argue with that.
The results you're pointing to are two years old - no one knows what she's doing now training wise.
She's a notorious data nerd and relies on Miller's interpretation of it and she has historically relied on it. That hasn't worked out too well the last 2 years
Huge difference in the base training required. Huge.
If your suspension isn't working then effectively it is a hardtail. That's a huge mechanical failure
That's not quite right so I corrected it above
Btw this sort of compulsivity is indicative of a mental disorder.
She's clearly extraordinarily smart in some ways, super dumb in others.