Tom Pidcock May Miss Out on the Olympics & 4 Other Things We Learned From the Albstadt XC World Cup 2021

May 10, 2021
by James Smurthwaite  
Kate Courtney was one of the first to congratulate Haley Batten on her ride to the podium.

Albstadt's brutal climbs and soaring temperatures proved to be a rude awakening for riders at the opening round of the 2021 XC World Cup series. Their suffering provided one hell of a show for us at home though as four thrilling races unfurled through the weekend. Here are our five key takeaways:

Tom Pidcock Delivered on the Hype but Still May Not Make it to Tokyo

As a British cycling journalist, of course I'm going to concentrate mainly on the Ineos Grendaiers rider and ignore all the others in the race. I'm kidding, sort of, but this time I'll have to indulge myself as there's no denying that the story of this weekend was the debut of Tom Pidcock. The 21-year-old cyclocross phenom entered the elite level of the sport along with the world's richest cycling team on a wave of hype, but I doubt many truly believed he would be able to deliver quite in the remarkable fashion he did.

Coming into the race weekend with a low ranking, he started on the 11th row of the grid but found himself leading the race by the start of the third lap. His fight to the front definitely included some hairy moments and he won't have made many friends as he at times wall-rode past competitors on the climbs, but it was thrilling stuff watching him battle forwards. In the end, a combination of his furious start and a slow rear puncture, which led to him losing a few places on the penultimate lap as he stopped in the tech zone to re-inflate it, meant he settled for fifth and one of the most incredible elite debuts in the sport's history.
Tom Pidcock clawed back 90-something positions and by the second lap was sitting in sixth. He d finish the day one better and on the podium.

Pidock will be looking to go even better next week in Nove Mesto with a much-improved grid position and the benefit of having won there twice as an Under 23 last year. However, despite all his heroics, his chance at an Olympics position remains precarious. Unfortunately, Great Britain doesn't currently have a spot due to its low UCI ranking of 32nd but there's a possibility it could still snatch a spot when the rankings are updated thanks to Fraser Clacherty's 14th place at the 2019 Under 23 World Championships. Basically, it's complicated, and Pidcock is relying on other riders' results to ensure his place despite clearly being one of the strongest riders on the planet.

A New Wave of Young Women are Coming for the Top Spots

Pidcock is just one of a huge wave of young riders who continued to prove themselves at the races in Albstadt. Loana Lecomte, another 21-year-old, delivered a totally dominant performance in the Elite women's race and won by nearly a minute over Pauline Ferrand Prevot. From the first full lap, it was clear the Lecomte was the pick of the field as she rode away from the pack with one of the only two sub-14 minute laps in the women's race. From there, she managed her lead successfully to the end and gave herself enough of a buffer to cruise the last lap home to take victory over Pauline Ferrand Prevot.
Mona Mitterwallner was in a different league to her competition this week taking the win by over 2 and a half minutes.

Looking slightly further down the results sheet, Haley Batten moved up a year early from the Under 23 category and took third in her first elite XCO race. It was clearly a hugely emotional moment for the young American as she crossed the line cheering like she had won and it's testament to the strong base of racers being developed in the USA thanks to the NICA program.

Finally, it's worth looking at the U23 results and Mona Mitterwallner. Despite beating a field of elite racers at the Swiss Bike Cup last weekend, she chose to race in the U23 category at the Albstadt World Cup. However, based on the timesheets, it looks like she will have no problem stepping up to the elite ranks if she chooses to do so, as her best lap time of 14:08.7 was beaten by only three women (Lecomte, Neff, Prevot, McConnell) in the elite race. It's worth saying her total race distance was less than those in the elite category, but she still put in some impressively consistent times throughout her race.

Dropper Posts Are Getting More Popular but There Were Some High Profile Issues

Dropper posts aren't ubiquitous in cross country yet, but they are definitely becoming increasingly popular. On a track like Albstadt, where the focus is on prolonged climbs with short, sharp descents, there was a mix of riders opting between the lightweight simplicity of a traditional rigid post and confidence-inspiring droppers.

In terms of wins, it was an even split with riders using droppers winning the men's short track and women's XCO, but rigid seatposts taking the women's short track and men's XCO. However, there were also a couple of very prominent issues for riders using dropper posts that will no doubt continue the debate as to whether they are the best choice for XC riders. Firstly, we saw Linda Indergand leading the women's short track by 18 seconds at the end of lap four, but having to reach between her legs to operate her dropper. Then, Mathias Fluckieger, who looked to be one of the strongest riders in the men's XCO race, had to pedal the last one and a half laps stood up after he broke the cable on his dropper. Both riders still finished on the podium, but will no doubt be wondering what might have been were they not running droppers.
Mathias Flueckiger was showing teeth today and pulled through good enough for third.

Ultimately, these failures are the exception rather than the rule, but when a dropper does malfunction its consequences are arguably more serious in cross country than any other discipline.

Riders Struggled With Hot Conditions for a Change

At Albstadt in years gone by, wet conditions have turned this largely tame track into a limestone slip and slide with bodies and bikes strewn around its slick slopes. This year, it seemed to be business as usual in the short track, with a rainy morning and temperatures below 10°C, but that totally reverted by the time Sunday's XCO rolled around with the sun shining and riders suffering through 27°C heat.

There was no time to acclimatize to the severe spike in temperature and we saw some riders, such as Van der Poel, go off too fast and then fall off as they attempted to get their heart rates and core temperatures down.
Jolanda Neff is always one of the most exciting riders to watch when wheels are pointing down the hill.

But it wasn't just the heat that was an issue, the conditions heralded super-high pollen counts for the area, and riders with Hay Fever struggled with respiratory issues. Jolanda Neff, for example, set the second-fastest opening lap time but was apparently struggling to fill up her lungs properly as the race went on. Other racers, including Erin Huck, apparently suffered from allergies too and will be hoping for a cooler, wetter race in Nove Mesto next weekend.

Nino is Back at Challenging for Wins But Lost his Fourth Sprint of the Year

It's a sign of the greatness of Nino Schurter that his 2020 season, which included two podiums from two World Cup races and a top 10 at the World Championships, is considered not very good. The truth is, Nino did look out of sorts last year in the late-season conditions, but he showed he has managed to turn that around in the offseason and leaves Albstadt second in the overall standings with two podiums under his belt.

However, Nino will no doubt be frustrated by his string of second-place finishes this year. So far, he has finished within seconds of the win at rounds 2 and 3 of the Internazionali D'Italia series, the Ötztaler Mountain Bike Festival and on Sunday's race. Nino has always been a prolific sprinter, but he hasn't yet won one in 2021. No doubt this is an area he'll be building up for the Olympics and we've no doubt we'll see him back at the top and equalling Julien Absalon's all-time World Cup win record soon.
Nino Schurter is looking for win no.33 as he takes the start.


  • 102 0
 I learned that I really don't understand how the olympic selection process works at all.
  • 124 3
 all you need to know is: Dick Pound
  • 4 0
 Its more of a selection, and not a collection of the best rides.
  • 4 0
 @adrennan: Hulk Smash.
  • 5 0
 Summary: The Olympics ranking used to be updated on Tuesdays HERE (before the pandemic). If the UK reaches 21st place after Nové Město na Moravě, then Tom will go to the Olympics.
  • 5 0
 It's stupid. Too exclusive. F that.
  • 3 0
 Agreed - when you have Olympic folks starting at the back - a) 100% of them don't get a fair shot b) If they do make that monumental effort - they can still get hosed - both the US has riders starting in the back and have great results head to head against top end athletes - but starting in the back - eh' thats tough. John Tomac had the same issue wayyyy back when.
  • 3 0
 @TOflat: UCI & IOC = Puny Gods.
  • 1 0
 @adrennan: never gets old
  • 3 1
 @CantClimb: Well... It's the Olympics. Offcourse it's exclusive. Pidcock would deserve it though.
  • 3 0
 @adrennan: it's more of a PidCock Vs Dick Pound showdown.
  • 3 0
 @preach: I was hoping someone else had a 16-year-old brain to make that joke.
  • 47 0
 Great write up James. Love the cross country coverage!
  • 42 1
 I am probably not making the Olympics either.
  • 6 0
 Apparently, one person thinks you have a shot.
  • 8 0
 @rrolly: my mom believes I can do anything.
  • 2 0
 You never know, in a couple weeks, you will be posting something like " I am stoked about joining The Canada olimpic team. woow such a ride "
  • 22 0
 This type of 'what we learned from... ' is a great wrap up to the weekend of racing. It's nice to get the follow-up on the stories that played out during the race, but may not have had any answers yet. Please keep them coming!
  • 20 0
 It makes you wonder if British Cycling should have got behind MTB a bit more. I can see why track cycling might offer a better return on investment, but we're going to look a bit stupid if we have a rider like Pidcock who we can't enter
  • 8 0
 Nail on the head. All the money goes into track. Shame really.
  • 4 0
 BC have acknowledged they dropped the ball a few years ago in regard to Tokyo qualification, and are behind where they should be. They also only have 1 women's slot for XCO. Qualification is a 4 year process, and they were not on it quick enough. Good news is the work they are doing now on securing points means they will be in a better place for the next Olympics.
  • 20 1

I don't know how the etiquette works in top level XC but if you have a problem with being overtaken, surely you just press harder on the pedals?
  • 15 0
 About the dropper post failures. Is was it from contact with another racer, or a tree? I didn't see anything on the replay. I know this will probably sound odd, but perhaps an external routed dropper would be better for xc. Like the old fox transfer ones where, if the cable/remote broke, one could twist the mechanism on the post to raise it. At least they wouldn't have to finish a race with it down. Fluckieger, out of the saddle for that long was an amazing effort.
  • 9 0
 Slammed Seat Worlds
  • 5 1
 Crazy that there were several failures on something that is so commonplace in other disciplines. Very rare to see issues with regular riders or Enduro racers.
  • 2 1
 I also don't understand it. If a good dropper is tested and serviced, the probability of failure during a race is extremely low. Also it is a part where stresses during the race are similar to any other usage.
  • 1 0
 @IluvRIDING: I was wondering if cable snapped equated to cable pulled through at the point where it is tightened? I have had a grub screw fail to get enough purchase on the cable and had an intermittent problem that eventually failed. Otherwise yes, you wouldnt imagine there should be an issue more than there is in every day life
  • 3 5
 @paulskibum @llluvriding: LIkely silly Batteries. Battery Powered derailleurs failing in road races, likely a battery powered dropper in XCO. Why take the risk?
  • 2 0
 @salespunk: if it was from contact with another rider, as @kcy4130 speculates, then that's not something that would happen in Enduro.

I once broke a reverb button remote in a crash, which meant I was stuck with a dropped post for the back half of my ride. That was a few years ago and I haven't had an issue since.
  • 2 0
 @paulskibum: I was thinking he pulled the cable through the knarp/stop.
  • 4 0
 @IluvRIDING: thats racing. shit breaks
  • 5 0
 Hands up if you’ve had a dropper post fail
on you while out riding? I certainly have and I’ve seen many a riding buddy experience the same thing... In fairness, I don’t have my own mechanic preparing my bike before every ride, but I bet most mechanics aren’t bleeding and thoroughly checking the droppers either as they are generally pretty low maintenance.
  • 5 0
 @sea2skybiker: ironically both droppers that failed were cable actuated
  • 3 2
 @Augustus-G: Yep, in the excitement of the race, he could have accidentally pushed the lever too hard. Also makes me wonder if they use thinner cable/housing to save a little weight.

Also there's 150 racers, the probability that a few of them will have mechanicals is pretty high.
  • 5 0
 @mtb-thetown: a reverb can be broken from contact with air alone
  • 4 2
 @salespunk: Maybe because XC riders spend more time in the saddle under power? Or they choose the lightest design and sacrifice durability?

Just thoughts

I find it odd to question a dropper because of a couple mechanicals. Nobody is seriously questioning pneumatic tires despite regular failures in races. Derailleurs sheer off but I don't think there are any single speeders on the circuit...
  • 5 0
 Perhaps the idea of cutting weight on the dropper got too carried away when the cable was replaced with dental floss.
  • 9 0
 Now I've had a dropper post fail mid ride before, however it was a 6 year old Reverb that I'd never serviced so I couldn't be too annoyed about it. These bikes are race prepared by professional mechanics and are sponsored by big name brands. Dropper posts are hardly new tech, surely something else is going on here, whether it is untested prototypes or a mistake by a mechanic.
  • 4 0
 Yup. A broken cable? When was the last time that happened on a shifter? Yeah, I know they're pretty much all on electronic now, but still, don't recall a lot of broken shift cables costing races. Because, as you said, they're pretty much fresh builds, of the very best bikes & components, for each race.

Why was Indergand raising and lowering her dropper it the remote was broken? Just leave it up. Unless she ran one of the under-the-seat-level posts and nothing was broken, that was just normal operation, which means someone left out some details in order to make droppers seem bad.
  • 3 0
 I agree. What is going on here? I imagine that they are not even using the post for a long time.
  • 5 0
 Everyone is forgetting about Yana Belomoina's dropper post failure at last year's Worlds (Leogang), she was closing into podium position when it happened. Like cls6677 said: they're all in the Big Dropp Industry pocket.
  • 6 0
 I’d suspect in an effort to save 50-100g over a regular dropper post you or I run they use special lightweight designs that are turning out to be less reliable.
  • 1 10
flag sea2skybiker (May 10, 2021 at 15:40) (Below Threshold)
 @mcvittees: or battery/signal failure. Use a cable!!!
  • 6 0
That's what I think is most likely, perhaps some xc mechanics are like the Colin Chapman of cycling
  • 6 0
 @DC1988: I think that reference will fly over many peoples heads around here...
  • 9 0
 "three women (Lecomte, Neff, Prevot, McConnell)"

Someone can't add to four Big Grin
  • 6 0
 So that sprint with Nino and Koretzky... everyone going on about how Nino was out sprinted, but he was out cornered. The moment Koretzky passed him on the inside just before the sprint, it was over. Stroke of brilliance really. Can you imagine how wild Rob Warner would have gone if Nino put down an aggressive block in that corner! Would have made an amazing race even more impressive. I feel for Nino, really want to see him on the top of the podium again! Good to see him in the mix, chasing down the break aways, making XC great again
  • 2 0
 i like this block pass from Koretzky too !
It was kind of a revenge on the pass Nino did on carod at the European champs ! Smile
  • 5 0
 What we learned..... Pidcock has landed and there will be some scared top riders, or will he scare them?

As more roadies train or use MTB for fun over the winter and XC racing is about the climbs, especially the non-technical climbs, the lower ranked roadies may see this an an opportunity to raise their profile a little.

... the real statistic is in the pay of a roadie/Cx rider compared to a top MTB rider, some road riders may use MTB XC to help their CV, but they know if they want a high paying career that Road then CX is where the wages are if you are not the very top dog for a long time.

Nino - Net worth $5M
Peter Sagen - Net worth $30M

Tom Pidcock - Net worth could be as high as $5M (Already worth the same as Nino and he is just a young lad) -

Peter earns the same in a year as Nino is worth!!!

So what is the point of this post?

The up and coming roadies/Cx who do all sports can mix it at the top end of MTB, show the top riders how powerfully they can climb on an XC track, make it technical and that may not change that much as these youngsters can out shred 99.9% of the PB faithful. But I dont think these riders will be here to stay, XC will be the have a go, training, CV bolstering part of their riding, they are mainly interested in where the big money is, Instagram, Youtube and the Tours with the big teams.
I would bet that Toms life goal is the Tour, that is where you immortalise yourself on a bike to the masses. Good luck to him in everything he does. Would love to see him win the tour in a few years time and play on the XC scene too.
  • 2 0
 Why doesn't MTB bring in the big money? That is the issue - and, only 6-7 World Cups per season, that's simply not enough for a global sport.
I'd love to see a time when a talented MTB rider isn't tempted by the road, because the money in MTB is just as good; I maybe waiting a long time.
  • 1 0
 @Starch-Anton: I think its a participation or perceived participation thing.
There are lots of road clubs around where the people riding like the latest kit.
I would guess that most shops make their money from roadies and not mountain bikers. I know that the 1 man band bike service providers make their money from roadies then normal bikers before mountain bikers. The mountain bikers they make money from are mostly.... roadies.
You can see large groups of roadies out all the time all over the place, but not the same volume of mountain bikers.
Racing for roadies is also more accessible than it is for mountain biking mainly due to the costs incurred to put on an Enduro or Dh race over a 10 mile time trial. Also that 10 mile time trial lasts for 2 hours or so for someone rather than all weekend away from the family.
The sponsorship available for the main stage races is also huge as the riders who follow the sport tend to have more disposable income than mountain bikers, not only for the bikes but for their cars etc that sponsor the main tours.
The general public attraction of the TDF etc is far greater than any MTB event or even the whole WC and Enduro season. The caravan that follows the tour is a big part of it too. MTB as a sport just does not fit that model by the nature of the sport. The TDF also comes to the people far more than Dh or Enduro comes to the people.

Basically... road is far more marketable than mountain biking.

Maybe Cx which attracts big crowds is more of a relevant model, but Cx and XC share some similarities, jus that Cx is more relatable to roadies than XC is!

Probably and incoherent ramble there, sorry.
  • 5 1
 Without sounding too harsh here, but isn't it Pidcocks fault too ? If he'd entered more UCI sanctioned MTB races then GB would be higher up in the rankings and he'd have been able to play ? OK, with CX season and Road stuff that clearly is a simplistic view of the world, but you can't blame Olympic selection for a guy who clearly is fast but very rarely races at MTB. If there's a finite number of places and a massive number of potential riders you can't just say "well he deserves it because he's fast", some people will have worked years and years at this specific discipline just to get a shot at the Olympics. They deserve their place as much as Pidcock, or anyone else.
I do hope he gets there as he'll clearly be worthwhile an entry... but don't forget, he's got to replace someone, who's been working equally as hard..
  • 3 0
 Good point - Covid and his first year riding Elite have largely created the problem, but it's not like he wasn't trying to race MTB last year: after global spring lockdown he spent the summer racing MTB in Europe (before baby Giro and the road worlds), then rode and won all 3 top level U23 XCO races that took place in 2020 (2x Nove Mesto + World Champs).

Designing a selection process that's fair on everyone is nigh on impossible - especially at the moment - but there's definitely something amiss if it's not possible for a top medal contending athlete to gain Olympic qualification during an Olympic year. Any which way - Nove Mesto is gonna be one hell of a battle this weekend!
  • 2 0
Isn't the issue the small field sizes for the Olympic XCO races?? So instead of the usual field of 80-100, we get a tiny number of entrants. It's something the UCI should be addressing with the IOC....
  • 2 0
 @Starch-Anton: Yeah, it's something like 50 riders at the Olympics - maybe have a qualifying heat to get in the final, like other Olympic sports? That said, expanding XCO would probably mean reducing budget for other Olympic cycling disciplines, so depends on how much IOC prioritise XCO - less than track and road I suspect...
  • 4 0
 Haley Batten!! So great to watch her this past weekend. She has ridden with youth cycling groups locally in the past and is such a great person. So awesome to see.
  • 4 0
 NICA and Utah making some strong contributions to the womens Elite. Both the short and Sunday race are a good watch. redbull tv.
  • 2 0

PFP won the women's short track, and you can clearly see her sporting a dropper post during both the XCC and XCO races. Heck, you posted her "bike check" just yesterday showing it.
  • 3 0
 Any one know why Van Der Poel chose the new Fox 34 sc? I know its 100mm but why not choose the lighter 32 sc like every other racer there.
  • 10 0
 Probably because of the awesome power he can put out and the torsional stiffness of the 34 vs 32. Likewise for Nino, he is using the 35 SID vis the 32 SID. Cink was on the 34 as well. I was surprised that Koretzky was on a 32.
  • 5 0
 According to an article on PB, Fox isn't going to produce the 32 chassis anymore. The updated 34SC is going to be their premier XC fork.

Regardless, XC racing is about power divided by weight and, these days, bike handling. MVdP has got the numerator in spades, so why not sacrifice 200 grams for a better handling bike?
  • 6 0
 possibly because he is no fly weight and the 32sc rather noodlish
  • 4 0
 Lots of Fox sponsored riders on 34s there.
  • 1 18
flag vegankidd (May 10, 2021 at 12:26) (Below Threshold)
 he is sponsored by fox and they made him run it you dummie
  • 3 3
 @mrkkbb: What does power to the rear wheel have to do with the fork's torsional stiffness? More to do with how hard they ride on the (finally!) increasingly technical descents on the courses.
  • 4 1

You can’t wrap your mind around how an incredibly powerful acceleration out of a corner can be benefited by a stiffer front end?
  • 4 4
 @hllclmbr: "out of a corner", you said it.

I know these guys are strong, but they're not putting down max power with the bars turned hard over while the bike is still in the process of turning. Max power is going down "out of the corner", as you said, and the bars (and thus fork) are going to be relatively straight by that point. If they were turned in hard, those little XC knobs on the tires aren't going to hold on enough to really bring out major flex in the fork, anyway.
  • 4 0
 @justinfoil: so need for torsional stiffness on the front as you sprint?
  • 1 0

Yes, I said out of a corner.

One starts to accelerate as close to the apex as is possible, and that’s always before the bike is upright and in a straight line, just as it is in any other wheeled racing event, and just like every other event, that’s where time can be made.

What argument are you trying to make here? That a flimsy fork is an advantage?
  • 3 10
flag hllclmbr (May 10, 2021 at 14:47) (Below Threshold)

Eat a burger, kid.

It’ll put some hair on your chest.
  • 1 0
 @hllclmbr: trying to make the point that the answer to "why not sacrifice 200 grams for a better handling bike?" is "because it's 200 grams that doesn't add much to handling in the context of raw pedal power"
  • 1 0
 @mrkkbb: it does matter, but at some point, considering the courses and where the sprints happen (often on pavement or quite smooth gravel), there are diminishing returns to adding stiffness, so the weight savings may bring more gains outside of the finish sprint. I mean, you see people not spending 200ish grams on a dropper and high posting for the same reason: where can the most gains be found? At Albstadt it seems to be the climbs, since the descents are relatively tame. Could easily see someone also pick a lighter fork to gain an advantage on those big climbs, since it's not going to have as big of a deficit in the flat, smooth, sprints.
  • 1 0

Well, the funny thing here is that you think you know more about setting one’s bike up for WC XCO than MVdP.

That’s your argument, right?
  • 1 1
 @hllclmbr: and no, you don't go full power while the wheel is still turned hard, in any motorsport (excepting maybe drift or rally, but those are quite different). Yes you can roll onto the gas before the end of the corner, but in general you're going to be limited by traction before you're limited by fork flex, and going full power with the wheel\bars turned in hard enough to need that much extra stiffness is going to result in an loss of traction and an off.
  • 1 0
 @hllclmbr: well, actually, I do know more about setting up _my_ bike.

But that's not what I said. I never said that the specific fork was the wrong choice, just that your justification for it (do you know better than him?) maybe didn't hold water.
  • 2 0
 @hllclmbr: Eh, this argument is tired. Pros make dumb equipment/setup choices all the time. Partially it's being limited by sponsorship, and partially it's because a lot of pros are superstitious or traditional. Kate Courtney's bike is covered with voodoo stickers to damp vibrations. Emily Batty ran more suspension and tire pressure last year than male teammates that weigh 20 kg more. Half of the pro field is on 700 gram dropper posts when you can get equally capable models that weigh half that much. MvdP's bike has a 70° head tube and he used Maxxis Ikons long after most other pros moved on.

And if you think this is bad, you should look at road, where half the riders don't use aero frames or helmets even after study after study shows that they are faster.

Pros are great at riding bikes. Setting them up? Sometimes. But often not.
  • 4 0
 Pinarello doesn't have an XC bike. That's the only reason Pidcock wasn't on one.
  • 1 0
 Thanks, thought it looked like he was on a blacked out bike. What an awesome couple of races to watch.
  • 1 0
 @BreezerXCer: It's a BMC with Suntour fork.
  • 4 0
 Love the article! Would be a real shame if one of the best xc racers in the world doesn't get to race in Tokyo this summer.
  • 5 0
 Hot at 27`C?......that's a perfect temp to ride down here in Australia
  • 5 1
 Word, we race in 30+C all summer long here, 27 is pleasant spring weather
  • 6 0
 Try it after you spend 6 months in temps below 10oC or a few months with below 0oC.
  • 3 0
 @mtallman2: I thought that was quite funny. Here in AZ 27*/80* is the bottom end of nice. Anything cooler and we're looking for more clothes to put on. It was 35*/95* here yesterday and I did a 42 mile (68km) XCM ride. Now that was perfect.
  • 1 0
  • 2 1
 Nice winter's day in Perth. They were suffering because they were racing xc
  • 4 0
 as someone who moved from the southern hemisphere to the northern hemisphere. 27 degrees in the north is a lot hotter than 27 degrees in the south
  • 6 1
 Thoma Speed Cock
  • 2 0
 So we had two high visibility malfuctions/failures on the dropper side of things, big deal ... How many flat tires ?
  • 8 10
 RE: Pidcock - Unfortunately, it may not matter.

Japan announced that it would expand and extend a state of emergency in Tokyo through May 31 due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. This decision comes a little less than three months from when the Olympic Games are scheduled to begin.

What separates this decision from other previous times that states of emergency have been called in the area is that the restrictions in place are going to be toughened, as the Associated Press reports. However, there is a drawback to that as the people in Tokyo have reportedly grown impatient with repeated measures implemented that keep things closed, especially as some see it as a way for the country to host the Olympics by any means necessary.

The country is coming off of "Golden Week," a string of Japanese holidays in late April and early May, where Tokyo alone logged 907 new cases of coronavirus infections. By comparison, the city reported 635 new infections in all last month, right when another state of emergency began.

Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga is hoping to keep this state of emergency to a little over two weeks, but experts argue that it would require much longer than that to curb rising infections, which is time the country that wants to host the most famous international sports competition simply does not have.
  • 33 8

Well duh! Everyone knows I can barely put 2 sentences together -

I'm American, therefore I Google.

Pledge Allegiance to Copy and Paste
  • 13 1
 @suspended-flesh: Copy-paste is fine, but attribution takes like two seconds.
  • 1 6
flag suspended-flesh (May 11, 2021 at 7:25) (Below Threshold)
 @nattyd: Ok, Chad.
  • 3 2
 @suspended-flesh: Dishonesty, defensiveness, dickishness. Real winning combination ya got there. Gonna have a fun life.
  • 2 3

Dude - pick an important battle. Nobody thought I typed all that, nor did I expect them to. Life has been nothing short of glorious so far.

Vote Baerbock
  • 1 0
 Not one mention of Riley Amos in 5th, U23 men. Talk about burying the lead........
  • 1 0
 Can somebody show the Olympics xc ranking list updates please.
Who is in and not at the moment ?
  • 2 0
 Ahh ...what about Carter Woods wining the U23 mens race at 19 years old ?
  • 2 0
 What bike is he riding?
  • 14 0
 Blacked out BMC Twostroke with Shimano drivetrain, DT-Swiss dropper, Syncros one-piece wheels (same as Scott-Sram), and a SR Suntour Fork.

Kind of interesting as the choice of BMC either means that he prefered it compared to other brand or that Pinarello may be replaced by BMC on the road next year.
  • 1 0
 @martinaasa: Which fork, do you think? Maybe their Axon?
  • 4 0
 @icthus13: Definetly Axon34 werx, It's the highest end offering from Suntour.
  • 2 2
 Shows Olympics failure if a top rider does not gain a place due to previous riders performance in previous years
  • 2 0
 Would it be better though if spots were determined by previous riders performance in future years? Openin' up a whole other can 'o worms.
  • 5 6
 Please correct Loana Lecomte's name, it's not Leona.
  • 4 5
 And she is the biggest story not piddycock.
  • 2 1
 @CantClimb: They're both on my new improved fantasy team along with Victor.
  • 1 1
 @suspended-flesh: I had both in round 1. Tempier didn't race, killed my score.

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