New UCI ruling...

[ajay]

I couldnt see it here on Farkin so I thought I'd post it up...

From Transcend Magazine...

"World cup downhill rule change


AIGLE, Switzerland (transcendmagazine.com) -- The UCI has implemented a rule change to the way downhill finals are run that should avert the heavily weather affected nature of the first 2 world cups of the 2007 season

From here on out, starting at the Mont Ste Anne World Cup, all of the top 20 ranked riders will leave one after the other.

Martin Whitely pointed out how this change will effect future races.

1) The main players are racing the same track.
2) Teams like mine cannot play rain tactics.
3) TV will always have the winning run recorded, as they don't film all 110 riders.
4) If rain does hit, we may have an odd winner, but the integrity of the overall title chase is not compromised.

The idea is that the main contenders for overall (top 20 men and 10 women), will always start at the end, in the reverse order they qualified....therefore, the worst qualifier of the men ranked in the top 20 of the current UCI World Cup standings for that race, (regardless of whether his semi is a top 80 result or not), will start first of this group at the end of the field.

It is important to note that this is not a knee jerk reaction to the situation in Champery and to a lesser extent, Vigo. It appears that Whiteley was instrumental in these changes.

It was discussed "last year, again in Vigo, and again in Champery. It seems there is a software change that needs to get done, and it will be ready for MSA" he points out. "

What are your thoughts?

 

[leitch]

so wait...

effectively, what they are doing is now racing a top-60 field from riders not in the top 20 overall, and then the overall top 20 after that in the conventional bottom-up format?

so for example, regardless of the qualifying positions, peaty will be last down the hill, sam second last etc..?

seems quite a good way of doing it to me.. i guess the only way to effectively judge it is to see it in practice...

 

[Booost]

What I thought it said was the the starting positions of the top 20 riders is still based on there qualifying time. So if Peaty or Sam had a poor qualification and came last out of the top 20 riders, then Sam or Peaty would have to do his final run before all the other top 20 riders but not before the other 100 or so riders.
Am I right?

 

[Ryan]

While I guess this makes racing fairer in practice, it also means that no randoms will win World Cups and subsequently get busted for smoking pot / crack / meth / injecting heroin into their eyeballs, which the sport will be poorer for.

 

[ajay]

I understood it the same way as Leich did...
top 20 overall will go together at the end, while the top 60 run as per their qualifier.

however, im not sure if it means that if you qualify 79th, and there are 2 top 20 riders who didnt qualify in the top 80, then you'll be kicked out to make room for them.

Also, what happens at the start of the series? is the standing based on the end of the previous series?

Im sure it could work quite well, but I suspect there will be some technicalities that dont favour everyone.

 

[willy_c]

I think boost has it right.

If you are a top 20 ranked rider as far as UCI points go then you will be run seperate to the other 60 qualifiers.

The better riders who are consistently good and can make a run for the overall title will all be racing the same conditions. The point of all that being that you dont want random riders (although they may deserve a win) winning races just because they manage to predict the weather correctly and win that way.

You cannot argue that Peaty, Rennie, Kovarik, Atkinson, are not the top runners and it would not be fair (although it is possible) that they lose an overall title because they consistently get caught in the appauling conditions because they qualify well. Some punk who manages to qualify back of the pack at every race could end up winning the overall because he avoids the rain at every race. He is smart for winning that way but he cannot truly call himself a winner because the field was not equal for all riders.

Was that enough???

 

[floody]

Seems like a reasonable idea, because rain tactics are bullshit.

 

[emcgough]

however, im not sure if it means that if you qualify 79th, and there are 2 top 20 riders who didnt qualify in the top 80, then you'll be kicked out to make room for them.

As far as I understand, the top 20 riders run in a group by themselves, but... if you don't qualify in the top 80 then you don't make the finals, same as normal. So; Out of the qualifying 80 riders, the top 20 overall ranked will run in a group by themselves. is that right?? That's my take on it anyway....

EDIT: so in answer to your question, nobody gets kicked out of the 80... as far as I can tell. Would be abit poor IMO if they did.

 

[Hobzai]

An excellent idea that hopefully will result in a worthy overall World Cup champion.

With regards to the top 80 rule, I read it that if you are ranked Top 20 in the world, you just have to roll down the hill to qualify. So, even if it takes you all morning, you still start first rider in the Top 20. That's my take on it, anyway.

"the worst qualifier of the men ranked in the top 20 of the current UCI World Cup standings for that race, (REGARDLESS of whether his semi is a top 80 result or not), will start first of this group at the end of the field."

There's a bit of a motor racing formula being applied - walking the line between racing fair and catering for the fans. After all, people want to see all the best riders battle it out both on the day and during the year to see who's the best, on as level a playing field as can be provided.

 

[Northern Hemi]

With only 5 races on the calendar, it makes sense to control the variations weather can have on an event.

 

[Pete J]

What i don't understand is why can't the top qualifier get to go down the track first in the race runs... Can anyone explain to me why it goes the other way around?

 

[Viv92]

Yeah that does mean that rain shouldn't have so much effect on everyone, or there's a lot less chance of it.

 

[wombat]

What i don't understand is why can't the top qualifier get to go down the track first in the race runs... Can anyone explain to me why it goes the other way around?

Suspense for the spectators I'd reckon.

If they did run the race runs fastest to slowest the results would be more or less decided by the time the first 10-20 riders had made their way down the hill. How many spectators are going to hang around for the next 60 runs, just to hear the commentator say "and there we go ladies and gentlemen, a new slowest time, only one tenth slower than the last runner!".

It wouldn't be quite as exciting as wondering whether or not the next guy (or girl) down is going to pip the current quick time.

 

[Pete J]

Suspense for the spectators I'd reckon.

If they did run the race runs fastest to slowest the results would be more or less decided by the time the first 10-20 riders had made their way down the hill. How many spectators are going to hang around for the next 60 runs, just to hear the commentator say "and there we go ladies and gentlemen, a new slowest time, only one tenth slower than the last runner!".

It wouldn't be quite as exciting as wondering whether or not the next guy (or girl) down is going to pip the current quick time.

True, i didn't think of that...
I just thought that track deterioration would put the fastest riders at a disadvantage, that's all.

 

[leitch]

True, i didn't think of that...
I just thought that track deterioration would put the fastest riders at a disadvantage, that's all.

ill bet it does, but then it tests them more and makes the hiding they give the slower guys less extreme. track deterioration would be far more of a disadvantage to the slower guys than the top guys - sam proved that at Champery.

 

[timmo]

Yeah, that seems like a good idea to me, if rain tactics have been a problem. Stops the fast guys sandbagging in qualifiers so they can get an early race run.

The one bit I don't get though is, does this mean that all top 20 ranked guys (and top 10 ranked ladies) get a free run into the final if, for some strange reason, they don't actually make the top 80 in qualifiers?