This is our race journal from the 4th world cup race of the 2019 season in Vallnord/ Andorra. We will update the journal every day with the latest news and pictures of the day. Stay tuned we keep you posted!
DAY 4: FINALS
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- fully focused in her world cup comeback race.
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- Eleonora managed to get 5th with a clean run.
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- First world cup podium in 2019.
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- enjoying the good times.
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- Laurie on the very smooth run- not at his limit yet.
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- Brook was really happy with his run and to be just 0,7 off the podium.
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- boys celebrating... team spirit at its finest
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- hot seat from a different perspective.
This was a pretty cool race for us and we can’t complain at all: we have 3 riders in the top 10, we got a podium and we finished 2ndin the team of the day ranking. Eleonora had a good run and finished in 5thposition, which meant her first world cup podium of this season. Mike was again unlucky and suffered from a mechanical, which led to a crash. He managed to get down and finished 48thplace. Laurie came down with a good run, but was a little bit irritated by dust swaths in the woods. He finished in 9thplace and made up some positions in the overall. Brook finish in 6thplace and was just 1,3 seconds of the podium. He also made up some positions in the overall and sits now in 7thplace.
Day 3:
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- Eleonora back to speed- P6 for her in qualification.
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- Mike Jones building up his form curve again P27 for him
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- Brook hasn't had a good run- a few mistakes cost him some sections- he is happy though P7.
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- Mike Jones in one of the more natural wood sections.
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- the track in Andorra offers a good mix of different conditions.
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- Thibault Laly crashed in quails and could qualify for the race- P 83.
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- Laurie into P8 with an easy run as he called it.
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- Thibault introduced Brage to our Normatec recovery system... pretty sick tool if you are burned out after days like this.
We can’t complain after qualies. We had a good time and got 3 riders into the top 10 and 4 of 6 riders into the finals… there is not a lot more you can ask for. Eleonora qualified in 6thplace and is back on pace after her longsome infection, which is why she missed the races in Fort William and Leogang. Brook didn’t have a perfect run- a few little mistakes summed up to 1 or 2 seconds, but he finished in 7th, which is pretty promising for finals. Laurie had a smooth run and didn’t pushed too much- P8 for him. Mike is keeps building his form back up and finished in 27th.
Brage had a solid run and just missed finals 0,7 seconds in 64thposition. Unlucky Thibault felt good and had a good run until he crashed- 83rdplace for him.
Day 2:
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- Stefan is checking the balance of the the Michelin tire.
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- Eleonora leaving the pits for the first run of the day.
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- the boys take the opportunity to share lines on training runs- pretty hard sometimes.
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- "what you reckon is the best line?"
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- Brook sending it.
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- track is pretty dusty- Laurie can tell.
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- Brook said that the hot weather and the dust makes this track the most physical demanding so far.
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- Mike in attack mode.
Andorra is another level this year- the hot weather in combination with the deep dust makes this track thy most physical demanding. The boys and girls got some good training runs in and feel ready for the qualification.
With a 5thplace of Brook, a 14thplace of Laurie and a 18thplace of Mike we had 3 riders in the top 20, which is pretty promising considering the fact that most of the riders already went up to race pace to see what is possible on this track.
Day 1:
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- good mix of natural sections...
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- with man made sections...
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- high speed section with loose gravel.
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- cofactory pilot Brage Vestavik following the factory riders like being their shadow.
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- Finish jumping the arena of La Massana.
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- Brage Vestavik tries to look sharp...
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- pit life... hanging out after lunch and sharing impressions from course walk.
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- little rain in the evening after course walks... thunderstorms expected for day 2.
Here we are back in Andorra, a mini state in the Pyrenees between France and Spain.
We connect very good memories with this place: double podium in 2018, podium in 2017, victory in 2016 and the win of the team overall in 2016…
This season hasn’t been that good for us so far, but we hope this will be our turning point. The track walk didn’t show any major news to us, which means the track is basically the same like last year.
One major change for this race is, that Laurie as well as Brook will test a new bike setup with mixed wheel sizes. This setup was tested first at Crankworx Innsbruck and now we will test the setup under world cup conditions.
