Pidcock wins on MTB return in Andorra with EPIC comeback ride 🔥 | The B Line – UCI XCO World Cup

Double Olympic champion Tom Pidcock celebrated his eighth UCI cross-country World Cup win at Pal Arinsal, Andorra, as he returned to mountain bike racing for the first time since last year’s World Championships at the same venue.

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[Music] The sun is out in Pal Arensal. The storms have passed. The racing is complete. Welcome to the Beline. We have got, as you can see, two special guests in the studio with us. Lucatan in second place today in the XCO. Charlie Aldridge finishing in third place. Our winner, Tom Pigcock, we will hear from shortly. But a great moment to get the chance to chat to these two guys, two Canondelle riders on what they’ve achieved today and over the course of this weekend. Luca, it feels like this weekend has been a a massive step up for you. Is that how it has felt from within your your brain and your legs? Yeah, it’s very massive. Uh after the win uh Friday, I think I switch uh and I want to ride on the front today to put uh the on the table. And uh yeah, when I see Shal when I flat tire, I see Shi coming, I’m like, oh, so nice. And I’m like, oh, problem. I need to to push hard. And but yeah, at the finish line when I see Charlie, like, yeah, we the week is done and so nice for the team. I’m very very happy. Yeah, we love seeing the two of you celebrate on the finish line like that. Were there obviously the flat was um a bit of a challenge and quite quite a lot quite a lot of time there. How are you feeling about that in retrospect? Yeah, it’s hard to stay calm and focused, but um yeah, I need one lap for that, but after I just u push the most of possible and um yeah, no uh I learn a lot and this is to learn like special learn. Yeah. So, we saw how much it meant to both of you to finish both on the podium together. We can see it’s such a a cohesive team and how much you work together and enjoy each other’s success. It’s really good to see that we’re stepping up through the season. How do you think the team’s going to work for the rest of the year? I think that um it’s we’re on the way upwards and we’ve had a great few results recently. To see Luke on the front of the World Cups as a first year is super impressive. Um, and I’m I’m hopefully following in his wake and um, yeah, we’ve got some big races to win. And I think for you both you guys as well, this is PBS, right? Best position for for both. Yes. So, a PB at the same time, same racing as well. And I think as well, we saw that when Top Pigcock attacked you. Um, I don’t think he had it easy, right? Before your flat tire, you thought you had the beating of him possibly today before the flat tire. Is it right? We never know. Uh but yeah, I’m feel good and uh I think on downhill I’m more fast and um but yeah, I’m pretty tired and the race is done, you know. Like yeah, nobody know that. I was so happy you managed to stay in second place, you know, like you deserved it so much. You attacked the race, you took it on, you deserved it. And coming through for third place as well, Charlie, you fought with Azara. Big fight. Yeah, it was a proper fight, but it was it was a fun race actually. I mean, it hurt, but me and Aar were kind of switching positions and I thought, “Right, I’m going to drop him now.” And then he kind of clawed back. Um, and then I sat on his wheel for on the third last lap and then attacked him on the second last. Um, and then I saw Lucer in front of me. I was like, “Right, I’m going to catch him.” And I didn’t catch him. He he sped up again. But, um, yeah, no, it was good good to be at the front of a World Cup. Yeah. and any and any teammate, you know, riding as a team. So, if you had Luca in front, did you ever feel like you couldn’t drag Aaro with you? You had to attack and go alone or not didn’t overthink it that much? A little bit. The f the first lap I Luke was on the front and then, you know, once I kind of caught up like saw pickup was coming behind me, so I kind of let the gap go and made him kind of ride back on just a little bit, not like proper minutes, but just a little bit, a few seconds here and there and save a bit of energy for me. That’s cool. and Luka gets an advantage. Yeah, nicely done. And Charlie, you’ve been kind of there or thereabouts. You know, we’ve seen you at fourth in fourth position, but this is it’s your first third place on the World Cup circuit, and it hasn’t actually been that great start to the season for you, has it? Um, how do you think something’s changed over the the course of the last few few rounds? Yeah, it’s been a bit of a rocky year so far. Um, it’s been a lot. I mean, I’ve had some great races, but I’ve also had some a few It’s a few few problems here and there. It’s been up and down, hasn’t it? It’s really hard to be super consistent. Yeah. The whole year. Um, I’m not sure how Nino did it back in 2018, those eras. But, um, yeah, hopefully I’m kind of building up and then the rest of the year is going to be a bit more smooth sailing. But, um, you know, you have an off day and then you have a mechanical and then you’re back in 44th overall. So hopefully I’m cing back up and I’m in the top 16 cuz that would help for short tracks. But yeah. No. Yeah. And of course Luka, this is as we said is a it’s a real breakthrough for you. But now there’s a break in the in World Cup racing. I know it’s very soon after this weekend to start thinking about the next 6 weeks or so. But do you have a sense of are you just going to enjoy it? Are you just going to be on a high for a few days or where are you at? Where’s your head at? Yeah. First I think I ride my motor bike when I come back. But yeah, I take some good time. I think it’s good. You’re riding your motorbike? Yeah. Is that allowed? Motor trial? Yeah. But like, you know, you got to you got to stay healthy. You got to not get any accidents. No, but it’s nice. And some good restaurants and some good wine. The most technical training. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Advanced technical training for Luca Martan. I think I can see how this all plays out in Canada. I like it. It seems to definitely be working. Thank you guys. It’s been brilliant to chat to you and enjoy the break. We’re going to hear now from our winner here in Pal Arenal. It’s Tom Pitcock. Perfection from Tom Pitcock. We’ve been missing you on the World Cup circuit. It’s good to have you back. You said to me before the race, I’m just here to test a bit of equipment, see how the bike goes, but you’re walking away with a win. How satisfied are you with that? Well, I can’t be unsatisfied, that’s for sure. Um, no, it’s super nice to finally win here kind of at home and um after a few years coming here. So, uh, yeah, it’s nice. Not not an easy place to race, that’s for sure. You were fourth row on the grid. You managed to navigate your way through some traffic at the beginning of the race, but once you did get to the front of the pack, how much was it about just staying out of trouble? Yeah, I mean, uh, I think we well, we we went on this I think my tires were a little bit hard in the end. um you know just that kind of lack of um yeah experience in the races this year and but I think yeah it certainly played into my favor. I didn’t puncture. I didn’t really have any problems. Um yeah I was most nervous about the start getting a good start cuz obviously if I went backwards from the fourth row I would have been really far back. So yeah I think um yeah my start was was pretty okay and I managed to just get in the rhythm a bit. I think I went a little bit hard midway through the race but um yeah. Well, you wanted to impress the fans, but also your family. Chestnut and Acorn are here with you as well today. Yeah. Yeah. I don’t think they they’ve got any clue what’s going on, though, do they? They look pretty happy to me. And you look very happy. Do you think the fact that you are local, you you’re used to the altitude did play a part today? Um, possibly. Yeah. I mean certainly hasn’t really helped in years previous but yeah I think um it’s hard for everyone you know racing racing this high it’s um yeah it’s not like you can find uh more oxygen anywhere. Very quickly will we see you back on the World Cup circuit at all? Uh I don’t think this year but uh yeah next year I want to try and do a few more races. Happy to hear that. Well done today. Thank you. Tom Pickot claiming the win here in Pal Arenal in front of this adoring crowd and his adoring pets and and his family and his friends. Uh and one thing he’s famous for is managing to win the most recent Olympic games off the back of a 27 second penalty after he had a puncture. Well, in the women’s race today, Sammy Maxwell managed to come back from something even more extraordinary than that. 49 seconds in the end was it that she had to make up as a result of her puncture. Then she had a couple of crashes. Uh Annie, where does that rank in terms of the races that you’ve seen, the the the confidence, the calmness, the achievement? It’s really really high up there. She’s had four second places and two wins this year. So, she’s been so consistent and she’s just shown that she has got the maturity and the head on the shoulders to keep delivering and to keep um to keep level. She didn’t win that first World Cup at the start of the year and just lose her head a little bit. She she stayed focused. She’s kept delivering. But today she obviously had the legs because of she won the race whilst getting those 49 seconds back, recovering from the crash, recovering from another little mistake. So she had the legs, but she also had the mindset and that mindset meant that the setback, each setback was forgotten about instantly and she moved on and you could just see the focus and the drive in in the face, in the eyes. She was looking forward. She wasn’t thinking over the mistake or kicking herself for it. She’d let it go and she’d gone forwards and it’s a winning mindset. The start of the year was already a massive step up for Sammy Maxwell and now this, what does this represent? I mean, never on a podium before. Wins the first round and then you think, “Oh, she’s just come out absolutely firing. There’ll be a dip.” She hasn’t dipped at all. If anything, she’s got better. Today was I think the best performance I’ve seen her all year. And like Annie said, she had a load of issues and problems. And I mean they weren’t bad luck you know if you crash that’s you know but she her head never drops like you said and just you see some riders they get this focus and they don’t we used to see it po Pauline from PVO a lot she got this right robotic mindset and was just like whatever happens and then they only look at the start finish at the clock right at the cross the line from the start to the finish they are just locked in it’s like robotic like some terminator thing going on and I think that’s what forces like real scrappy, real focused and just making the best of everything you’ve got on the day. And um I think for the flip side to that, we see some like Puck maybe not having a but when she was leading had an issue, crashed on the same rock garden and then didn’t just get back up and go at it, Terminator. It kind of got really cross, couldn’t put her computer on, not Terminator, more human. Yeah. and like responded to it and got cross, you know, and then as a result, you don’t kind of make the best of what you’ve got when you behave like that. But it’s so easier said than done. And I if I looked at me when I was racing, not this level and winning world cups, but you you have some days where you’re like, I’m in and some days where you get distracted by the smallest of problems and I think you just got to capitalize on those. It was such a good race, Josh, because uh we had the four we had the four women out in front battling, really battling the lead, changing all of these different narrative lines. One of the most exciting ones I think I’ve seen this entire season. It was a special day, wasn’t it? Super special. And and the way she overcome those bits and pieces. You mentioned the focus, Ollie, and and when we saw her in the start uh warm-up area, usually Sammy’s pretty chill. She’s good to have a giggle. You can step in and get something a little bit wild and a bit of character out of Sammy. today. Uh that semi was not there. She was pretty locked in. She was locked in and focused. I was going to talk to her and I noticed how different she was. She was very focused. Her answers were short. She was uh in she was playing with her seat and there was just an air about her that was different. She mentioned earlier in the week that she really enjoys this course. She enjoys the longer climbs and uh I think that longer climb here kind of changed a few people’s perspective because the climb starts down by the bridge. It doesn’t start just here at the finish zone. So that extends all the way to the upper rock garden. She fell off at the rock garden. We heard the girls afterwards, herself, Alisandra, and Martina giggling. Um that Sammy just needed a break. She just needed a breath. She needed to get away from the girls for a second and reassess, which was pretty cool. It was a strategic timeout. It was a strategic timeout. She gave herself a timeout. Sammy, hang five. Ready, set, go. But um you know, that that was a really good indication of where her head’s at. She mentioned at the start of the year that maybe she was just a one-hit wonder. She was actually struggling with this instant success and struggling with performing and she was nervous that well what if she was a one- hit wonder. And to Rebecca Henderson’s credit she actually said well Sammy it’s better to be a one hit wonder than a no hit wonder and then it kind of calmed Sammy down and then she’s went on a tear from there and today I think we saw the actual class of her how much fight she has how much work she’s put in. She also said how she gets into a space that she just turns her body off. She had no comprehension of how hard her legs were pedalling, how much pain she was in. She hit the deck a bunch. She heard one of her buddies yelling at her from the sideline just to brush the dirt off your leg. So, she’s just pedaling. She’s like, “Oh yeah, oh yeah, that’s right. I’ve got dirt on my leg.” Carrying dirt. No one needs that. Irrelevant of where she is in the race. She’s just like has this ability to switch off and dig into that pain cave which is not that common and a sign of maybe a sign of what’s to come. Maybe she could be our new Pauline but more a sign of greatness being able to have that. We talked actually a lot in the last few weeks about that kind of champions mentality. Have you been able to articulate or to think about Ollie what you feel has changed for Sammy Maxwell coming into the the start of this season? I remember a comment she made and she said it was her confidence and she didn’t think even after she’d won the first race still lacked a lot of confidence and said that she didn’t deserve to be racing at the front against yeah she was one of Eevee Richards against Eevee Richards and Jenny Rized and La Comp and all these riders with huge Palz and still even though she had the overall jersey still felt that she almost wasn’t part of that club. Um if she doesn’t believe it now I mean like well we have to remember too she didn’t we didn’t see her much last year. She came out of juniors. She was straight into a factory team. So, we didn’t see her much last year. She went through her health battles. This is the first time we’re seeing Sammy Maxwell. Sammy Maxwell when she was a junior, she was incredible. She’s a very young woman. She’s learning how to be a professional. She’s in a team that’s was all French speakaking. That’s difficult. When when you’re a young Kiwi or a young Aussie or a young English-speaking athlete and you step into a team that is all French, it’s very hard and it’s very intimidating. It’s very hard just to be comfortable in that setting for the basic stuff like going to dinner, food, you’re alienated, not on purpose, but just because you can’t speak the language. That’s difficult. Yeah, 100%. Even a new team where you all speak a common language. It’s difficult to learn how your teammates work, how the staff work, how dinner times work, how you work, who are you context, you start to learn, you start to learn who you are, right? But it just takes time to settle in and to get the small little things right. And as soon as you get those little things clicking, you begin to relax and your confidence can begin to build. But you have to build trust with everyone around you. Like is the bite going to be exactly how I want it to be. Are the bottles right? Are we even we said about the language? If everyone’s in French gone, oh, we’re going for dinner and you haven’t understood it. They all leave and you’re running after them. So, it’s just little things like that. Sounds like a story from your past. To be fair, Sammy is hard in the Duolingo. She’s working hard on learning French. She’s doing the courses. She’s putting in that effort. She’s making the effort to the team. They’re making the effort back. I had the absolute privilege of riding their bike this weekend. And you think of a a team that has a sponsor like Dathlon and Ford. They are huge companies that have their eyes and their their pockets invested into mountain bikes. And in that setup, they have a bike of their own called Rock Rider. Now, that bike is not known for a major mountain bike in our world. I rode it during the week and I can tell you firsthand that bike is exceptional. And it’s another added percentage to her performance that I think a lot of people don’t realize just how good that bike is. The pedaling efficiency, the downhill efficiency, the suspension setup that they have, the tires. I was blown away at their setup under their team, and it just adds to all of it. I think there was I don’t know if I’m wrong in saying prior when they came in there was a bit of hesitation towards this brand and Rock Rider people were like ah it’s a it’s a mainstream company it’s a cheaper model bike you can buy the same bike not the same bike as Sammy cuz it’s painted and it’s pretty same bike as that team straight off the showroom floor into Catholic for our sport massive for Sammy and Joshua and that entire team and massive for us to watch as fans and spectators and just in pure admiration of the young Kiwi champion that we’re witnessing. Yeah, it has. She has been a huge credit to her bike and the whole team as well today. What a ride from Sammy Maxwell. Let’s hear what she’s got to say about it. Sammy Maxwell, how did you do that? You are proof you should absolutely never ever give up. Even when everything seems to be going against you, you just dug deep and managed to get the job done. How I I genuinely can’t believe it. I was doing that interview just right now and I’m like, “Oh, I won today again.” Um, but coming in today, my biggest like quote was just just because you have a thought doesn’t make it true. And like you said, I got a flat and then I keep cr I crashed on that line and I crashed there and I it was like all within like it felt like 5 seconds. And I was just I literally had one of those thoughts. I was like, it’s going to be one of those days where I just panic and just drop through the rankings. And I tell myself just cuz I had the thought doesn’t make it a fact. I’m a fighter. And yeah, I just reset, chip them off one by one. And yeah, it was yeah, it is all about mindset. Let’s talk about where that was when you had your flat. Uh what was going through your mind? You managed to lose 49 seconds at that moment. Um I don’t even know where I flatted. So I just remember coming around the corner and I felt a bit squirrely and I just looked down and I remember like oh golly gosh it’s um it’s flat. And I just remember my first thought was I don’t know where it was so it’s just going to happen every lap. like I I don’t know what line I need to change or anything like that. And then I got into the tech zone. Like I literally realized it was flat as I was going past the tech zone. That’s why I slammed on the brakes and was like flat flat flat. And my mechanic was like a Like so it was just a bit chaos. But um yeah, I just tried to stay calm and you if you watch the replay, you’ll see me talking to my mechanic. I’m like, “We’re cool. It’s good. Take your time. Don’t worry.” And in in the meantime, I’m like trying to run off with my bike. Apologies for the language there, but let let’s talk about the last I know you’re trying. The last lap, multiple uh micro attacks there. Where did that come from? Where did that come from? You’re trying to win a World Cup. You’ve got to attack. No one’s going to let you just have it. Um what a silly question. No. Um it was just all out. I felt strong. I just kept making silly mistakes on the downhills and I just realized I needed a bit of room for myself to take my own lines. And then I I told myself it’s at altitude. If you attack up that first climb, you’re going to be out of it by the time you get to the back. Um because I learned that the hard way last year. So I waited until that that climb and man that was still still borderline too soon because rolling around the back there. I was saying to Steph, even just not pedaling, my whole body was just screaming. You’ll see me just like drooling and I’m like riding through there and my team man just like enjoy it. And I’m like, I can’t. Like, even if I just stop pedling right now, I’ll be in pain. Just very quickly, I saw you dedicate this win to someone. Who was that? Greta, my little teammate. She’s um she sport is cruel. She she was on a big high. She just won short track Italian national champs. She was like getting back into her groove and then the next day she rode and she just was did a dumb mistake and got her ankle all mucked up and now she’s out for the season and it’s hard. You know, people think what I did the last lap is hard, but it’s it’s actually not. What what is hard is having the setbacks and feeling out of control, but so that one was for you, Greta. Well done today. Thank you team. So for the downhill day, uh there was there was some weather in the air, Josh, as you remember. And ultimately what happened was that you may have noticed that there was no beline yesterday out because we in fact got kind of well evacuated liked evacuated off the mountain before the lightning storm arrived here in Pala and Salur. Now you know that this is the highest point at which we race on the course of the weekly mountain bike world series. So that is one of the reasons for that. Anyway, all of which is to say we didn’t get a we weren’t allowed to just stand out in the rain and talk about downhill, which of course would be Josh and my preference. H So, let’s take you back to that and talk a little bit about what happened. At the start of the day in the men’s race, Jackson Goldstone was on to make history. He’d won four races in a row. The question was, could he win the fifth? In the end, Josh, it was Loick Brun who came through last year’s overall winner and imposed himself on that whole conversation with an unbelievable ride. Unbelievable. There were so many factors to Loic Brunie’s ride in 2024. He crashed at the final couple of corners to lose the World Championships. Here we’ve had this conversation about Jackson Goldstone winning four in a row. And Loic in particular has been just fighting so many demons to learn how to be better and how to beat this young phenom. The way Loick rode today, yesterday, during the week, why he’s been riding, the team has been working extremely hard. He lives here in Andor. His friends, his family, the team was here behind him. He literally had a helmet painted as Super Brun as we launched Superman this weekend with Warner Brothers. There was a lot on his shoulders and the performance that he gave was nothing short of exceptional. He stepped into that caliber of elite athlete that he is, the champion that he is, one of the greats that he is and overcome everything to to claim the top spot here today. And he beat his rival Jackson Goldstone. He’s self-proclaimed. He mentioned last weekend he loves having rivalries. He loves having that fire. He had an Emmery years past. He’s raced against Aaron. Now he’s got Jackson and it fuels him. And it fueled him in a way yesterday that laid down a performance for the ages. Yeah, we had Aaron Gwyn in the studio with us as well and Finn Isles too and it was really intriguing hearing Finn talk about him as a teammate and Aaron Gwyn talking about him as a competitor. You can of course watch all this stuff back on Discovery Plus if you get a moment. Um, but the thing about that was this idea that he had managed to put down a run. This was a moment when it really counted for Loic Bruy. And this is something that is well you you’d call him one of the greats. Loick is one of the greats, if not about to become the greatest. Oh, here we go. This is what I want. You know, he’s he’s won so many races. The way he acts as a private as a as a professional, as a athlete, as a ambassador, and a represent representative of our sport, he is extraordinary in every single level. He wanted this performance. He wanted this result. And man, you could see the emotion when he crossed the line there. You could see how much it meant to him. and not just to beat Jackson. Of course, there’s that rivalry, but as we mentioned in 2024, he lost the World Championships. He was up until the very end and he crashed. That one hurt. Luckily, he lost it to his good mate Loris Burgier, who was on the podium with them as well. Put down a great run himself, but he beat Jackson. He won at home. He won with the pressure of Super Brun Superman on his shoulders and he proved the caliber of athlete that he is that he is to become the greatest mountain bike downhill athlete we’ve seen. All right. Brilliant stuff, Josh. Well, as Josh mentions, uh he had all of his family in in town because he is a local, uh to this track, and we managed to catch him afterwards. Ashley Wilmont, our reporter, spoke to him with his girlfriend in a lovely interview. So, we wanted to share it with you. The fans are absolutely loving Mr. Loic Brunie, aka Superman, as is Caroline, his partner. So nice to catch up with you both after a race. And after a race like that, I mean, sum it up because your friends and your family are here. Yeah, it’s so good to have all the family here. Caroline’s here. She’s going with her family tonight. So, it was good to finish on the high before a week away. And uh we have a little baby girl. Like a lot of little things happening. So, it’s really cool to to be together for this kind of moments. And she was making me cry because she was so proud. That’s why I’m really happy. Caroline, what’s it like to watch Loic throw himself down a mountain? It is awful, but also really cool at the same time. You’re just so out of control. Like, you can only trust that he knows what he’s doing. And usually he does. So he makes it quite easy for me. But And you’re quite the biker yourself, aren’t you? Because you used to race motocross. Yeah, I used to race motocross. I realized when I came into downhill how different it is, but it’s still this similar mental mentality. So it’s cool to come in with somewhat of an experience in the racing world. But yeah, I had to learn a lot of things getting in to this teaching each other a few things, I reckon. And you’ve got a big adventure on the way. You’re expecting a little boy, which is so exciting. So, are we having a downhill? Do you think Loic? I hope so. You know, I would love to share some of this with him, but uh she’s been so good. She knows exactly what it is to perform and to have pressure and stuff. So, she’s a really good support for me and she she knows how to handle me. I’m pretty annoying and selfish sometimes, but we have to and she can handle it. So, I’m so so lucky to have her and I love her so much. A that’s so sweet. What What does it mean to you to hear that? He tells me often, so I knew that he felt bad. And you were saying to me a little bit earlier on that baby was kicking this morning. Yeah. I woke up at 5:00 a.m. to this baby kicking like crazy. So he knew what was happening and what was coming. So we’re happy. He was cheering. Yeah, he was cheering already. I love that. And you get a few weeks off now. Or do you? 6 weeks away from the World Cup. So what’s the plans, guys? Well, now we have national champs. So, it’s another race to try to do well because it’s a big field in France. Uh, and I go to Japan for a week for another project and then I chill. So, I try I really feel a bit exhausted. So, it’s going to be good to relax and try to prepare for the end of the season. But, feels good to have this boost for for confidence for Leger World Champs and stuff and we’ll see what what we can do. Well, today I hope you both managed to put your feet up and I think we should probably get in cuz it’s just pouring down. Go and celebrate. Thanks for your time so much. Thank you. So that was the men’s race in the downhill and earlier on in the day we had a brilliant performance from Tanisu Grave to win her second race of the season. Now there was a little bit of jeopardy in that one because Gracie Hem Street came down that hill very very fast and indeed she was 2 seconds up Josh and then heartbreakingly she fell but we’ll come on to that. The Tano Crave performance was a biggie. She and she laid it down. She had a great result in qualifying to set the time. It was a very, very fast track that was catching many riders out. But the moment she dropped in, she rode with a level of anticipation. What does that mean? She was ready for the track. She was prepared for what was to come. She wasn’t waiting for the track to come to her. She was attacking every section. Little intricate details like backsiding that triple jump. Not too many women made that jump there, but she made it happen and she pul she pulled that off all the way to the line. We did hear did see Gracie Hem Street 2 seconds up flying but she crashed. So maybe that was too fast. There’s a fine line there of riding that edge and our elite womens are getting faster and faster and faster and it shows just how much dedication they have to this World Cup circuit. Gracie was our fastest qualifier. She’s won already this season. Had a couple of backto backs. She was on the podium in Valdol and then here we did expect her to do well. The corners at the top suit Gracie’s riding style and she was flying. No doubt about that. This very moment just caught her out. She came in a bit quick. She out in the corner and that’s all she wrote. Was it a mistake? Of course it was a mistake. Was it too fast? Probably not. But maybe she had to set up a little bit earlier. Maybe she got a little bit too ahead of herself and just wanted it so badly that it just slipped at the very end of the track and one little mistake, that’s all she wrote. That’s an interesting point, Josh, because my perspective, what I thought might have been happening is, you know, she had those two big wins. She’s then the one to beat. Then she’s getting frust, you know, she’s a very young uh woman, young Canadian, you know, she’s done all these things for the first time for Canada as well alongside Jackson Goldstone. And then suddenly for her, you know, third isn’t enough. A podium is not enough. I got to keep pushing. And do you did you see any of that in her? Absolutely. Absolutely. And what an incredible rise. We saw her we saw her first win and it wasn’t shock but she was just embracing and enjoying and just you know naive to the world that she was in and she was the best then then she won again then all of a sudden she’s third it’s not quite good enough so she comes out here she was the fastest qualifier Tanya laid down a great run and Tan’s been there and thereabouts for many rounds now remember she was there and thereabouts uh was it back in Ludenville she had a huge crash and she’s been fighting round after round after round And so Gracie had to do that today. She had to lay down a heater and really step into it. She can’t be mad because it’s part of racing. Those mistakes are inevitable. But she laid it down. She had a great time. She should be stoked with how she rode. The bike’s obviously in a good place. The team’s obviously in a good place. Um and she just missed out at the very end. Obviously doesn’t take away from Tan’s performance. Valley’s performance. Uh we saw a huge sick as well. She was sick. We saw a huge crash from Nenina. Marine Cabaroo didn’t make the finals. So man, what a swing of this downhill world. Marine Cabaroo won in Valdisol. Troy Broden was on the podium in Valdisol. Here in Endor, they didn’t make it. So what a brutal snapshot of just how incredibly difficult it is to pull it together on race day and how high the level is as as part of our downhill world cup scene. Yeah. And Tanny Crave. Yeah. hu a huge amount of uh celebration off the back of not just her win but also because her team or FMD racing become the biggest team of the round. Huge performance from them. Someone else we we spoke to who who are are just so happy with what they’ve managed to put together where Access Intense Racing. I know we’re going to hear you in conversation with the whole team. Every single one of those guys and girls qualified for the finals. That is not a big team and it’s it’s a huge effort. It is a small team. You’re right. It’s not a big team. There’s a lot of hard work that goes into a race result like that. Juan Munos’s he barely speaks English. He’s Ollie mentioned to us earlier that he’s one of the fastest athletes he’s ever seen on a down bike. They had to teach him how to use the brakes. Like they had to teach him one, maybe just use the brakes twice during a run. So what a moment. He qualified fastest over Jackson, over Loick, uh Millie Jonet. Um finished third. Louisie Ferguson, Oscar Griffiths, huge, huge results from everyone across the board. And it was a very emotional scene and a great release and reward for the team to have those results there. Incredible. So, yeah, we did we did hear from them. It was very emotional, I’ll say that. And it was an incredible moment to witness. Yeah, we gathered them safely under our umbrella before the conditions took a turn. Let’s hear Josh’s conversation with Access Intense. One team that excelled this weekend with vibes that were extraordinarily high was the access intense factory ring factory team. Ollie, I can barely talk after such an epic day. I’m sure you’re the same. Please give us an insight into who all these magical people are that have been a part of this incredible weekend. Josh, you sound like how I feel to be fair, my friend. What? Look at these absolute leg. Look at these legends. Look at them all. So obviously everyone knows Luis Ferguson, Millie Yonert carrying the champagne for us today, one the man standing there and Oscar Griffith an absolute legend in himself getting his first elite finals. But I think these guys would say themselves that the most important people are the people surrounding them because they actually make it happen for here. So we have John Stout, head mechanic here. Casey Till, absolute legend. Louise’s mechanic. Andy stepped in and out for the year supporting everybody. Tom Owens, he’s our sport scientist and absolute like desperately need that man. We have next year you have Camden who will be absolutely ripping it up in juniors. We have our media man getting in. Yes, you should be that side of the camera. And finally, Ivan who is run for his mechanics. So, we are stoked mate mate. Stoked is an understatement. All right, let’s hear from the crew. One, tell us how you feel. Yeah. Yeah. It’s good race. [Music] Millie, huge effort to get back to through Q2, through Q1, the finals, and now you’re on the podium. Tell tell me tell me tell me. Honestly, I’m quite speechless. Like the first four rounds I didn’t even qualify for the finals and then last week got top 10 and then yeah, this week top three. Pretty amazing. Amazing. Yourself and Lou. Lou, we saw the emotion from you guys yesterday and today to see Millie on the podium. You weren’t there, but you’ll be there eventually. How does that feel as a team? Uh, it feels like we all got a podium today. just seeing me battle at the start of the season and then it just all come together that you put in so much effort and we’re all super proud and it’s just really good to see. Well, you got to make us all cry. All right, one more word. My man, you had a huge crash in practice today. Tell us about that final run. You were a pretty as wild as it could get in that lower woods. I know. I nearly threw it away right at the end. And uh my practice I hit the deck pretty hard. I had to go back up there and walk my line because I hadn’t even hit it yet. I changed my tires and then just visualized it as best as I could to nail it in the finals, which I didn’t, but I made it down. So, yeah, first finals. So happy. So happy. And the team, I love them all. We love you Ollie. Congratulations. What an incredible, incredible weekend for a team that puts in all the hard work. We’re missing Joe Breeden, of course, who started this season so strong, but incredible reward. Congrats. Enjoy this moment. Yeeha fam team. What a weekend it has been here in Pal Aaron Sal Andor. The highest point on the calendar and it really has been a high point for everybody here this weekend. Some unbelievable racing in the cross country. Some sick wins in the downhill. Uh we’ve got a bit of a break now before we go to Leger, but we know that we’ll see you on the other side of that. You’re all superheroes. They’re all superheroes out there. We’ll see you next time. Take care. [Music]