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Hi there,
Before the Enduro World Cup finals this weekend in Châtel, France, we’re looking back on a bonkers week in Les Gets.
From intense racing on a fast and furious track to good vibes at our pop-up photo exhibition and hang out, last week was unforgettable.
Thank you to everyone who stopped by the shop to say hi, drink a coffee, check out the photos, buy any of our products and put a few euros in the jar for Wyn’s Privateer Project (over 700 euros raised).
If you weren’t at the event or didn’t have a chance to drop in, stay tuned as we had so much fun that we want to do it all again soonish.
Anyway, we’ve just about recovered from all the excitement of Les Gets and we’ve made some notes below, with photos by Boris Beyer and Sven Martin.
Cheers,
James and the Misspent Summers team
DUSTY notes from Les Gets DH World Cup R6
and the Misspent Summers pop-up
- We think downhill looks more professional than ever – big team buses, custom kit for every race, vivid on-site branding, F1-style VIP areas, etc. But wander into the pubs of Leogang and Les Gets after a DH finals and you’ll find the world’s best riders letting their hair down alongside their teammates, sponsors and fans, with no barriers, no egos, no nonsense. The sport is growing but fortunately the riders at its core are as down to earth and inspiring as ever. Love it
- Satellite Coffee mornings were probably our favourite part of the week: from 7-9am daily our temporary HQ became the hang-out of choice for dozens of riders, team staff, media and anyone up early enough. Great coffee, historied people and good times
- Hearing reactions to classic photos was brilliant – from Tim Flooks saying he wrapped Dave Cullinan’s shoes in gaffer tape (to keep out the rain) which Cully then scrawled ‘Europe Sucks’ across, to Eliot Jackson’s hysterics at learning the guy with shoulder-length hair and a green skinsuit was his Red Bull co-host Rob Warner, to almost everyone’s awe at the Brendan Fairclough foot-out drift on a shiny silver Honda. It was a reminder how certain images have influenced so many people. That’s the power of photography
- Also, the surprise at seeing Malcolm Fearon’s (Bliss Images) classic 1990s downhill shots printed big on the wall. Many of our visitors either hadn’t ever seen the photos or hadn’t seen them in a very long time. And even for those who remembered them well, seeing them in big frames on the wall brought back a flood of memories
- As Rob Warner commented on the shot of John Tomac ripping down a fire-road set against a bright blue sky, wearing PVC go-faster boots and full skinsuit, ‘If that isn’t the best photo ever in mountain biking, I don’t know what is.’ That was moments before he turned towards THE legendary image of Shaun Palmer head-on in Château-d’Oex in baggy motocross kit, razor focus and beartrap flat pedals – maybe that one’s the best after all
more below…
Dust storms and danger ruts – a quick recap of the race:
- Les Gets’ course was parched from a dry summer and its rutted corners weren’t to be trusted. There was no safe line and a fast run relied on fast but smart riding. Hit a turn too hard and you could be in a world of trouble
- Remind yourself of the madness by watching the race highlights. Women’s racing here, men’s racing here
- We must take our hats off to Charlie Hatton and Myriam Nicole for adding insight to the live commentary. Will fellow injury club member Aaron Gwin be back on the mic for the North American rounds, or will Hatton get a last-minute call again?
- Talking of Hatton, did you hear him mention shin dingers? Earlier this season he bought football shinpads to save the pain of whacking a lower leg on the new-style low-flying course marker poles. How many MTB protection companies are rushing through production of early-2000s-style back-to-the-future knee and shin pads?
- Red Bull’s after-race show, Beyond the Line, analyses each DH and XC World Cup round in a light but informative style, with Rob Warner, Emily Batty and Eliot Jackson following all the action and breaking it into interesting chunks. We were stoked to see our books on the shelf in the film studio. Watch every episode of the show here
- Marine Cabirou’s return to race-winning form couldn’t have come at a better moment. Cabirou has suffered injury after cruel injury in the last few seasons, but nothing can keep a champion down. All season she’s been promising something big and in Les Gets everything lined up for her to put down a race-winning run in front of an adoring, wild, chainsaw-wielding home crowd. Wow, just wow – what a comeback. It’s stories like this that make downhill and sport in general an absolute pleasure to follow. Thank you, Marine, for inspiring us
- Commencal is having a tough time with its A team, Commencal Muc-Off, missing all its elite riders (Myriam Nicole, Amaury Pierron and now Thibaut Dapréla are out with injuries), and its other A team, Dorval AM Commencal, down one star rider after Camille Balanche’s terrible Andorra crash. But the company and its teams keep coming back with banger results. This time all eyes were on Benoît Coulanges, the rangy Frenchman who’s been verging on victory for a few seasons:
- At the last round in Loudenvielle, Coulanges set the fastest qualifying and semi-final times before crashing out in finals. He wasn’t going to let that happen again. In Les Gets, Coulanges went fastest in qualis and semis and carried the momentum to finals, eking milliseconds out of the lower parts of the course to take one of the most celebrated wins ever – tens of thousands of fans stormed the finish arena to carry a crowd-surfing Coulanges into a long night on the town
- To top it all off, Coulanges’ teammate Monika Hrastnik took a career-best second place in the women’s. Commencal boss Max Commencal was ecstatic, and he led the all-night celebrations from start to finish
- The elite men’s top-five was separated by only 0.655s – probably the tightest margin ever
- Experience the chaos from Jackson Goldstone’s point of view in his finals full GoPro run here. How noisy is that crowd?!
- After Les Gets, Loic Bruni leads the elite men’s series standings from Jackson Goldstone in second and Loris Vergier in third. It’s tight at the top though – Benoît Coulanges sits in fifth with 1112 points to Bruni’s 1330 and two North American rounds still to go
- Despite crashing out in finals, Vali Höll holds onto the elite women’s series lead by more than 400 points to Nina Hoffmann in second and Marine Cabirou third
- Ryan Pinkerton and Valentina Roa Sánchez lead the junior standings
- Les Gets results: Elite women; Elite men; Junior women; Junior men
- Full series standings here
more below…
- There’s been a bit of talk about crowd safety since the finish area got stormed in finals – a few people we spoke to were trampled, including filmer TJ Smith who lost his camera bag in the ruckus (it floated through the crowds and eventually made its way back). Would restraints dumb down a brilliantly free-spirited sport or are they necessary as the sport grows?
- A Les Gets highlight was seeing Mariana Salazar back between the tapes (poles?) after battling cancer. Good to have you back, Mariana
- Jamie Bestwick was in Les Gets! Sorry, bit of pure fandom here: Bestwick is one of the style gods of bike riding with his silky twisty BMX vert riding. Another convert from small wheels we bumped into was Scott Edgworth – the OG of the UK trails scene. Mountain biking is so acceptable these days
- Lawyers at dawn: Is someone taking the World Cup organiser to court for cancelling the junior race in Loudenvielle?
- DH = F1? is it OK for racers to fly in private jets from one race to the next? Several highflyers skipped the long drive across France from Loudenvielle to Les Gets, favouring airmiles over time on the road. Is cycling really a green sport?
- Ryan Pinkerton is a hard-charging junior who’s won the last three World Cups in a row and challenged the elite times in the process. Could his middle-finger braking be the key to going fast? Try it for yourself to find out (but please don’t blame us when it doesn’t work for you)
- Long waiting times have always been a problem on Les Gets’ Mont Chéry mountain due to its slow upper chairlift. Queues in practice forced a group of elites to freeride down the mountain when they arrived at the top after their official practice session had ended. Fewer riders, faster lifts, more practice time – what’s the solution?
- Coulanges won the race, but he went second slowest through the speed trap in finals. What’s that all about? Coulanges explained to us that riders largely ignore the speed readings as they rely on sensors in two locations a couple of metres apart to calculate speed. The sensors span the width of the track and aren’t usually set up parallel to each other – so cross the lines on the inside and you’ll get a much faster speed than if you cross on the outside
- Despite the tens of thousands of fans and festival vibes all week in Les Gets, behind the scenes there’s a lot of uncertainty in the bike world. But it isn’t all bad – read on:
- Coffee chat rumours of teams and brands folding after this season seems confirmed by riders announcing their early retirement and big media houses up for sale
- On the flipside, other brands and teams are searching for riders to sponsor and looking to put serious new money into racing. Are they being overly optimistic, or did they ride the Covid wave right?
- We usually send out these emails before the race, but we’re trying a post-race notes this time. What do you think? Let us know by replying to this email
- Thank you to everyone who helped put our show together: Marcela Bonells, Archie Bromfield, Morgane Charre, Loic Delteil, Chris Hall, Romain Paulhan, Dan Roberts, Mike Rose, Richy Taylor, Paul Vines and everyone else who chipped in. Cheers
- If you like downhill and enduro photos and want something epic for your wall, check out our print store (new additions soon)
- Thank you for reading!
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Misspent Summers is an international group of journalists, photographers, designers and dropouts producing mountain biker stuff positively and responsibly. Visit us online at misspentsummers.com or in person at Finale Work Space.
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