Even over the past few years it seems
downhill has escalated hugely in terms of
popularity.
Definitely and I actually think enduro has
helped that out as well. Downhill doesn’t
necessarily bring in the participants, but the
guys who ride enduro will probably come
and watch downhill on the weekend, then go
and ride enduro during the week. It’s blurred
the lines and I think they work well together
to benefit both gravity disciplines. On one
side you’ve got the excitement and the
racing and on the other side you’ve got the
participation and that makes it very healthy.
As a result, we’ve seen our numbers increase
in downhill, which is really good.
At the same time, the technology of the
bikes these days is phenomenal. Have
the tracks changed to match these
technological advances?
I’ve been watching debates around this and
I don’t think the tracks have changed. On
some tracks we race a similar line or a similar
section to what we’ve raced before, but
generally speaking the way we ride now is
way different to how we raced just five years
ago. The bikes can hold a tighter line and we
carry more speed, so we sit on top of things
a bit more. It’s a lot faster, not necessarily
because the tracks have changed, but more
because we’re riding the tracks a hell of a lot
quicker.
There was a section at Val di Sole this year
that I remember going through a few years
ago. Obviously the roots are way more
exposed now, but we’re now going probably
3-5km/h quicker through a sharp right-toleft. The suspension’s got better, the bikes
are longer, bigger, have bigger wheels and
it all equals to carrying a lot more speed on
the track.
When we first went to Andorra four or five
years ago it was the steepest, gnarliest track
we’d ever seen. Now we ride it - and yeah,
it’s steep - but it’s relatively easy and that’s
the difference we’ve seen in just a few years.
If you could snap your fingers and change
something instantly in the sport, what
would it be?
We definitely need more races. We’re
dropping from seven races to six next year,
which is the lowest it’s been in a long time.
I don’t understand that in this Olympic year,
cross-country had more World Cups than
downhill, when the discipline simply doesn’t
get the numbers that downhill does in terms
of viewership or spectators. If anything, I
think that’s what’s holding downhill back in
terms of taking it to the next level. With more
races we’d see more money coming into
the sport. The UCI needs to market downhill
better, rather than trying to package it up
with cross-country. Gone are the days u