Yeesh. Looks like they weren’t just busy updating the XC course. The level goes ever upwards
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Two points of interest to me:
A) interesting that it seemed Blevins was the only one on a HT when, I assume, you’d be allowed to swap between XCC and XCO here given they are separate events.
B) good to see a large portion of the women’s field lined up for the XCC (maybe the lack of qualification races made the difference)
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Wow, great rides! Evie looked good! But for one or two moments she looked the goods to win. Congratulations to Sina!
I wonder if this is true. That’s interesting. I noticed he rode a FS in the relay race and HT in the XCC. If they do allow a switch, i bet you’re right, he will grab the Epic.
I had the same thought. Since these are not part of a World Cup series, I’d assume bike choice is open for each event and not tied together.
Makes you wonder why you didn’t see more hardtail bikes?
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Yeah, Bart and Rob confirmed this on the Red Bull broadcast.
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I bet a lot of these guys are doing almost all of their trail training on the full suspension bikes, so the familiarity with set up evens out the HT advantages. Especially since most events force the same bike and they are used to racing short track on their FS.
Has anyone got the results for the E-MTB? Blevins is the class of the field from what I saw.
He’s a revelation for American men’s mountain biking. It’ll be interesting to see if he can deal with it tomorrow.
Looks like he came third.
https://www.instagram.com/tv/CTEbObGAkrp/?utm_medium=copy_link
Course looks awesome!
Man I hope it’s not raining on race day! I want to see the riders all riding the tech. That off camber root section would be pretty treacherous in the wet.
I hope there is rain, I like to see them challenged and look like mortals.
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Women’s race already blowing up on lap 1. Will be interesting to see if it comes back together or keeps spreading out. Kate looking good!
Edit: getting exciting! Tune in now if you can.
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What happened to Kate?
Looks like Kate went out too hard. She was top 5-6 for the first 10min or so, then quickly dropped back after that. Good for her for trying but I assume her form just wasn’t there.
Speaking of pacing, super impressive race from Terpstra. She was not at the front at all for the start lap, then slowly upped the pace.
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Wow. What a race
Go Evie! 
Would love to see her ride a full season of CX now, with that form.
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That was a sensational pair of races!
Congratulations to Evie and Nino!
Terrific races to watch. I was on the edge of my seat for the men’s and am stoked for Nino to get another one. Also, an immensely impressive race for Sam Gaze riding from 79th to 6th!
Fantastic winner in Evie, she looked so confident and proved she can win on any type of course!
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Flueckiger is pretty miffed about what he terms a “risky move” on a teammate in the last corner. I haven’t watched it back yet (I’m looking forward to watching it again tomorrow on the trainer) but I didn’t think Nino’s dive into the second last corner was dangerous or unsporting.
It was tactically perfect and from the angle we were viewing I thought clean.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CTIbDEHMYo9/?utm_medium=copy_link
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Pretty hilarious of Flueck to talk about “risky moves”
That guy is the king of sketchy moves!
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I went back and watched it. The move was clever and clean. Unfortunately just sour grapes, I wouldn’t be surprised if he modifies the post in the morning after cooling down.
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Nino himself said he had to try something sketchy if he was going to win. And in his post race interview Fluckiger seemed mostly disappointed he got outsmarted at the end.
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