DH World Cup thread

[Tubby G]

We rarely watched it live on Red Bull TV as we’d be out riding ourselves, so only ever watched the highlights on the evening. My partner has Sky TV so we’ve just set the box to record the whole World Cup series on Eurosport

 

[Husky430]

Still trying to work out what's the best way to watch it down under here in Oz. Used to go to a mates place in the middle of the night to watch it all live on RedBull TV. Think that it's now on Discovery which is part of Amazon Prime here in Australia. Can anyone confirm that for me as will get reamed and pay to watch it live again as enjoyed it so much

 

[Tubby G]

Still trying to work out what's the best way to watch it down under here in Oz. Used to go to a mates place in the middle of the night to watch it all live on RedBull TV. Think that it's now on Discovery which is part of Amazon Prime here in Australia. Can anyone confirm that for me as will get reamed and pay to watch it live again as enjoyed it so much

Well I didn’t even know we can get Discovery on Amazon Prime but just discovered we can here in the UK after you posted this.

In the UK we need a Prime account, and then have to pay extra for a Discovery+ subscription, which costs the same as the GCN subscription.

 

[Husky430]

Of course it does, the old saying, you get what you pay for. Thinking it still may be worth it as it's on this next weekend, at least we can still watch Erzberg on Red Bull TV which is another NOT TO MISS event on the calendar.

 

[yorkshire89]

The DH semis and finals are on Saturday according to the UCI website.

Thanks for this! Schedule is here:

Race Programme 2023 | UCI MTB World Cup Lenzerheide

Keep track of all races at the UCI MTB World Cup from 9 to 11 June 2023 in Lenzerheide, Switzerland and never miss a highlight.

www.mtbworldcup.ch

If you go to tiz-cycling-live.io website there's a link for live streams where they show the GCN+ races, it looks like the finals will be shown here

 

[VWsurfbum]

This link should take you to the finals ?

discovery+

www.discoveryplus.com

 

[RustyMTB]

So it works out at £42 for the season. Sticks in the craw a bit after ten years of Red Bull, then I look at the What did you buy your Ebike thread this week? thread & you know, things look a little different.

But, for many, it's synonymous with Rob & that's a loss no matter how slick the production. It is for me anyway. So it boils down to cough up, watch the Youtube highlights or dodgy streams.

 

[RustyMTB]

And we still have all the build up, like no other international sport, so whoop!

 

[Spin]

Still trying to work out what's the best way to watch it down under here in Oz. Used to go to a mates place in the middle of the night to watch it all live on RedBull TV. Think that it's now on Discovery which is part of Amazon Prime here in Australia. Can anyone confirm that for me as will get reamed and pay to watch it live again as enjoyed it so much

Just buy one month of GCN+ , that will get you the first 3 rounds this month at least. Most of the other races are in September , so repeat then.

 

[Jay29er]

For those in the US which route you going? Seems as those the article I read I can watch the finals on GCN+ or Discovery+. Is this correct or do will I need the GCN+ to watch the finals and the rest?

 

[Husky430]

Bit the bullet and shelled out $65 AUDfor a 12 months subscription, will let you know how it all goes

 

[Spin]

Bit the bullet and shelled out $65 AUDfor a 12 months subscription, will let you know how it all goes

If you have any interest in roadie stuff , you'll have plenty to watch haha.
I did the same back in March , watched the Atherton film and scrolled past endless amounts of non MTB content.

 

[Mabman]

For those in the US which route you going? Seems as those the article I read I can watch the finals on GCN+ or Discovery+. Is this correct or do will I need the GCN+ to watch the finals and the rest?

I also watch road and CX as well so the GCN+ programming covers all the bases. I also maintain a FLO Bikes account but it really only provides CX content that I watch and it is spendy but I do it anyway. Also pay $4.95/mo. for a Peacock access as they have some road coverage, especially the tour. So all in my cost is like $22/mo. which is cheaper than any 120 channel TV scam.

RedBull is still producing other content for free as a bonus as well as YouTube highlight reels.

 

[MadTurnip]

We rarely watched it live on Red Bull TV as we’d be out riding ourselves, so only ever watched the highlights on the evening. My partner has Sky TV so we’ve just set the box to record the whole World Cup series on Eurosport

Just looking at the eurosport TV schedule I don't see the Mens or Womens elite DH final live up there. Only Fridays XC short track along with some replays.

Watch live sports - Streaming now, TV Guide & schedule

Find out what's on today and live stream your favourite matches, replays and highlights on any device. Your go-to source for live sports.

www.eurosport.com

"Free highlights of all broadcast races will also be available on GCN+ (account needed but no subscription required). "
Looks like there is live broadcasts of junior DH finals, elite DH semi finals and elite DH finals. Junior and Semi-finals can be watched on GMBN Racing on youtube.
Only Elite finals need GCN+ or discovery+

 

[yorkshire89]

Just looking at the eurosport TV schedule I don't see the Mens or Womens elite DH final live up there. Only Fridays XC short track along with some replays.

Watch live sports - Streaming now, TV Guide & schedule

Find out what's on today and live stream your favourite matches, replays and highlights on any device. Your go-to source for live sports.

www.eurosport.com

It's not shown live on Eurosport, they are showing it on Monday.

 

[yorkshire89]

Bit of rain yesterday gave some tricky conditions for everyone, looked like it dried up by the end of the day but there's a chance of more rain...

Juniors race today. 1:15pm for girls and 2pm for boys (UK time I think!)
Will be shown live here

https://www.youtube.com/@uci_mtbworldseries

 

[yorkshire89]

Actually I was wrong again! it's CEST. Less than an hour to go until girls race

 

[Zimmerframe]

Actually I was wrong again!

You were right this time though !

Blimey, the junior women are flying !

 

[RustyMTB]

Ric McLaughlin.

 

[yorkshire89]

Ric McLaughlin.

Yeah not keen on Ric replacing Rob at all, there's definately something missing from his hype on commentary...

Some great racing from the juniors though, it's a nice addition and good that they are showing it for free!

Rach 2nd in quali's!!
Men going down the hill now

 

[RustyMTB]

Valli Hol & Phoebe Gale tearing it up, first year in elite, that's no mean feat for Phoebe.

 

[Mabman]

So far I am giving GCN+/Discovery an F for coverage. First off there is no sound coming through here in Oregon at least....I watched the juniors on the GMBN YT channel with sound.

Second is the camera placement and picture clarity is off? Looks like they have sprayed hair spray on their lenses, especially with the drone footage. An American junior took off and half way through what was his run it started showing a French kid.....Early times for them I suppose but hopefully they will get with the program. Especially GCN+ that I am paying money for.

 

[irie]

Just looking at the eurosport TV schedule I don't see the Mens or Womens elite DH final live up there. Only Fridays XC short track along with some replays.

Watched the Mens and Womens Elite XC short track and almost fell asleep.

 

[Spin]

My experience: Went to the UCI YouTube channel , their stream didn't start after the countdown timed out.
Went to GCN+ , the stream wouldn't load on that page.
Went back to the UCI YouTube page where thankfully someone in the chat said the GMBN racing channel had the stream running ok. A few hoops to jump through but whatever ...

Great to see the juniors live , thumbs up there.

Junior womens stream stopped abruptly after the last rider came down so had to go back to the channels homepage to start the junior men's stream......

Room for improvement......
If the elite finals stream doesn't load on GCN+ I'll be pretty pissed.

 

[Husky430]

Same problems here in Oz, the sound DIDN'T marry up with the visuals, very annoying and there was some definite problems with chopping and changing of riders runs.
And how do you watch the qualifying and semi finals of the elite men and women???? Can see the finals are scheduled on GCN+ but after paying $65 for a years subscription would have thought that I could see the LOT on there.
Anyway as Spin said "Great to see the juniors live , thumbs up there."
Oh and I'm really missing Robs commentary plus some of the camera placement and pictures of just dirt left a lot of room for improvement. Though the drone footage was great and different, just not enough of it.
I also thought with the subscription we would get to see each riders COMPLETE runs and that is why they had narrowed the fields down to only 10 jnr women and 15 jnr men.
Hopefully with the elites we get to see their complete runs top to bottom.
Overall mixed feelings about it all, and like I said, plenty of room for improvement.

 

[Spin]

UCI MTB World Series | Live Timing

live.ucimtbworldseries.com

No broadcast of qualies but I guess we're getting semis as well as finals so there's that , plus the live timing seems to work pretty well , bookmark that link. Think of semis as qualies ?
How much we see of each run comes down to the time gap between riders. Looking at mens semis , the first 50 riders have 1 minute gaps , then the last 10 have 2 minute gaps.

https://chronorace.blob.core.windows.net/webresources/20230608_mtb/lenz_dhi_me_startlist_semi.pdf

In finals , I'm guessing there will be a 3 minute gap allowing the entire run to be shown at this track , assuming there are enough cameras.

Agreed on the commentary , I've always liked Cedric and I think he's doing an OK job but they both need to turn it down a bit. Less is more kinda thing. I remember hearing an interview with Warner years ago where he spoke about being trained in the craft of commentary early on in his time with Redbull. It's a bit of an art form.

 

[Mabman]

"I remember hearing an interview with Warner years ago where he spoke about being trained in the craft of commentary early on in his time with Redbull. It's a bit of an art form."

Problem is that Rob set a pretty high bar. I already am sick of "free speed"......

 

[RustyMTB]

Semis a bit of a damp squid? Felt like most of the top riders raced within themselves as they would for quallies & no real jeapordy for the protected crew, although that's been true for years.

 

[Mabman]

I had an issue with my GCN+ login that prevented sound after the Juniors ran on Friday. So I just watched without the talking heads and quite frankly enjoyed that experience.

So cool that Rachel won on her comeback. Rad Mom alert! I wonder if she will do more now as it sounded the other day like she did't plan to.

And that Williams boy is fast.

The Eddie Masters channel is funny.

 

[Spin]

So the stream ran pretty good for me on GCN , quality was automatically flipping from I'm guessing 480 - 1080p but at least it was steady. Turned the commentary off for the womens , I needed a break from the Ced-Ric sideshow . Quite a long session on the couch , 5.5 hours of viewing I think it was ?!

Rach stole the show for me , what an achievement ! It was one of those moments that will stand out for a long time , like when Gee , Dan and Rach all won at Andorra years ago.
Jordans run was nothing short of mind blowing and the two run format is no doubt a whole new challenge for the best downhillers in the world.
I'm just hoping that new format and the intense schedule (3 races in 4 weeks) doesn't push them so hard that the quality of the fields becomes depleted through injuries.