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00:02So I'm not trying to sound like a jerk.
00:04World Cup racing isn't an easy quest in the first place.
00:06If your life was a book, what chapter are we in?
00:14How would you define the word...
00:16Romance?
00:17Isn't there like a beef between you two?
00:19Sleep deprivation is worse.
00:21Isn't that the guy who was winning back when I was a typist?
00:25From what looked like a dumpster fire,
00:27I've been through so much.
00:28I'm picking up some weird vibe.
00:31This man, talking to me, is...
00:33Ain't nobody else here.
00:35Definitely getting...
00:36Super pretty...
00:37Weird.
00:40Crocky.
00:48World Cup is the pinnacle of mountain bike riding.
00:50The UCI Mountain Bike World Cup has eight rounds.
00:53And you get points for each race.
00:55What's at stake is being the overall championship winner.
00:59At its essence, what downhill is all about.
01:02Just go as fast as possible, beat the clock, win the race.
01:04Look how fast he's going down here!
01:07I won!
01:07How do I even explain this?
01:08Why is this hard?
01:09It's steep as fuck and the jumps are huge.
01:14Cross-country World Cup circuit.
01:15It's a different beast.
01:16You've got anywhere from 30 to 130 riders side by side within inches of each other.
01:22It is cutthroat.
01:23And if you're not on your game, you won't be there at the end.
01:26Come on, Amy, get there, get there!
01:28The riders, more than anyone else, know how hard it is to show up every single race and perform at
01:34that level going kind of all or nothing.
01:38It's dramatic.
01:42All of a sudden that level that we thought we might have hit before and plateaued is now at a
01:47whole new height.
01:53But it's going to take some stop at Nespa in the day.
01:59You're good.
02:00You're good.
02:01You're good.
02:02You're good.
02:02You're good.
02:02You're good.
02:03You're good.
02:04Best in the world really are truly world-class athletes.
02:07And the riders just make the stories.
02:10I wouldn't be on the start line if I felt like it wasn't possible for me to be in the
02:14mix.
02:14This is the coach on track!
02:17He's always got the pace in him.
02:18You can never count him out.
02:21Expectation is definitely hard to deal with.
02:26I think downhill is all confidence.
02:30Rachel Afford, no one expected to see her here.
02:33It wasn't quite enough.
02:34Like I did need more.
02:36I knew I wasn't done.
02:40You're nothing if you have no competitors.
02:43The battle that's always interesting for everybody.
02:46But at least get it off.
02:49The UCI World Cup overall points leader.
02:52I need to figure out how to keep consistent over the whole season.
02:55You don't have to go in the race thinking, I need to win.
03:00You're racing in the same kit as everyone else, but it's not like you can really help each other.
03:05And A.B. Richards has had a difficult season.
03:07I knew something needed to change.
03:19So I'm joined here by Yolanda Neff.
03:22So Yolanda, the first race of the 2023 mountain bike world cup season is just about to get underway here.
03:28What mindset are you in?
03:30I'm really happy to be here.
03:32I've basically been counting the days for the last eight months until we get back to racing.
03:37So yeah, I'm really happy to be here.
03:39And yeah, I just want to enjoy this season.
03:42I'm in a good position.
03:44I have everything I need.
03:45So yeah, I'm just really glad we get the season underway and we can race again.
03:51So you won here in short track last.
03:56So between the ominous music and the look on your face.
04:00Oh, mum, picking up some weird vibes.
04:03How did the season actually start for you and the team?
04:08Do you want me to be honest or do you want me to be honest?
04:11How are you?
04:13Novomesto Namorave in the Czech Republic sees a fresh season begin with new opportunities for glory along the way.
04:21Big changes this off season for Trek Factory Racing.
04:24Team principal Mad Shriver is starting with a clean slate having brought in a new performance coach with a whole
04:30new team of mechanics.
04:34If you were to look at the landscape of cross country world cup space, a team like Trek Factory Racing
04:39would be the standout team.
04:40A huge American company and then they have some of the biggest names in the business.
04:45Avie Richards, the 2021 EXIO world champion.
04:49Yolanda Neff, Olympic cross country gold medalist.
04:53And a third elite woman has been added to the roster, the USA's Gwendolyn Gibson.
04:59You would look at that team as one of the most dominant teams coming into the season.
05:03We showed up to the first World Cup with so many new staff members that had never even done the
05:08race together.
05:09When you just change one person, it's easy to integrate that one person.
05:13But if you change like ten people, then ten new people need to start to work with each other.
05:18You can see the call up boxes starting to fill up now.
05:21Some of the riders on the rulers turning their legs on.
05:24Getting ready for what promises to be an absolute thriller.
05:29We had one race on the calendar like early April that was meant to be a team race and then
05:35it got cancelled by the team management like three days before the race.
05:38Of course that doesn't work.
05:40Like you need to start racing as a team and with all the staff in February or March to dial
05:46things in.
06:06And they are going, go, go, go.
06:11And it is the Dutch rider, it is Pat Peters leading the way at the front of this one.
06:15Evie Richard slotting in behind her.
06:18High speed immediately from the start on.
06:21Come race day in Novaneso Namurave, they come down from the hills.
06:2530,000 people expected to be in here today.
06:31Excitingly for us, it is the first race of the season.
06:34It is anyone's guess as to who has got it in their locker to take the win today.
06:41Evie Richard from Trek Factory racing to the front now.
06:44Richard's digging deep.
06:47Gwen Gibson struggling.
06:50Yolanda Neff buried deep in the pack now.
06:55What a push by Richard's to create a 20 second gap to her chasers.
07:02Great to see Evie back on form.
07:04The last couple of seasons haven't been the sort of caliber that she would have hoped for.
07:08New nutritionists and some new coaches, it seems to have turned the corner for Evie Richard's and it is starting
07:13to click again.
07:16Evie sends his blood here a wee bit far, she's starting to pull away now at the front of this
07:20one, just checking over her shoulder.
07:24Here we go, this is mountain bike racing, look at this.
07:27Very technical descent.
07:33She has a flat tire.
07:35Oh no.
07:36Is that rear looking soft?
07:37Yes.
07:37Rear is looking soft.
07:38Yeah.
07:38Rip Powd quickly can track factory racing, turn this bike around and get her back out into the action.
07:46You get a flat tire and you're in 5th or 10th or 20th or 30th, you can be a little
07:50bit more relaxed.
07:51Evie was leading.
07:53There is no more stressful scenario.
07:55That's where that weight of pressure comes in and we see it time and time again and the mechanics have
08:00that same expectation and pressure.
08:02She can't look at it, she's staying calm, takes it down, takes the opportunity.
08:06Try to stay calm.
08:07And here comes Peters.
08:09Here comes Paran Prevost, they'll smell blood in the water.
08:12And that back wheel not looking like it wants to go in.
08:18The mechanics, when they're hustling and trying to get that little 5mm bolt back through the through axle and the
08:23rotor in and the cassette in and get it all right, so many little things can go wrong.
08:30And unfortunately they did.
08:32Oh no! Oh!
08:34Shane now has slipped.
08:36Yep.
08:37Yep, that will be the bike bin, the rear mech bin in the wrong gear.
08:42What can she do now?
08:45All that work for Evie Richards, heartbreaking.
08:48She was leading.
08:50It couldn't have a more catastrophic scenario happen to her and the team.
08:53And when you stand around for a minute after redlining for an hour or 45 minutes already, that's a difficult
08:59scenario to recover from.
09:01Buck Peters is about to take her debut UCI mountain bike cross country Olympic elite level World Cup victory, the
09:10Dutch Roman.
09:13Most athletes have very few chances to win a World Cup.
09:17First to fourth here today means Evie Richards and Trek Factory Racing have got to be leaving the Czech Republic
09:24wondering what is.
09:28A team like Trek Factory Racing has a lot of moving pieces in the cross country circuit, the company itself,
09:33there's so many people involved to get that team to the starting line on race day.
09:38So that pressure is always there to perform because we know they can perform and we expect a certain level
09:42of performance from them.
09:43It's all there but all the pieces aren't quite meshing.
09:47Oh, here we go again.
09:49The yellow set.
09:52I'm Matt Shriver.
09:54I'm the Trek Factory Racing cross country manager and this is my second season.
10:03It's definitely been a lot of changes this year.
10:07Most of the staff in the team this year is new.
10:12So we did a lot of looking at where we needed to improve and it was start over here.
10:16Let's do clean slate and start from the ground up.
10:19So it's been a rebuilding year for sure for Trek Factory Racing.
10:25I couldn't find my jewelry anywhere and it was really stressing me out this morning but now I found it.
10:30I think in 2022 for Evie it was a challenging year.
10:34We couldn't dig the hole deeper.
10:35We needed to take a reset and the goal was to get Evie back on track.
11:10Our performance manager Paolo is a new addition to the team.
11:14That wasn't a role that we had in the team before.
11:17And for me when I started in 2022 that was really lacking.
11:24We really needed someone to help the riders at the races.
11:28So now we will meet Evie.
11:31We didn't have that role to give the riders the feedback on their performance.
11:36And Paolo is that direct communication with the rider but also their coach.
11:40So he's been a huge step up for us this year.
11:43And Evie's definitely benefited a lot from those changes.
11:47When you change coaches initially there could be some teething problem.
11:51But we are still learning each other.
11:53Do you want this?
11:54Was there something in there like a pump thing?
11:57A white pump thing?
11:59With gel?
12:00It had my conditioner for my hair.
12:03No way.
12:04No way.
12:09It's out.
12:10Where has it gone?
12:11I don't know.
12:15No!
12:16It's expensive!
12:17I will buy another for you.
12:20all right um moving on um but no i really like paulo and i'm not going to be doing this
12:27forever
12:27i always want to be getting better and sometimes i need a fresh set of eyes to push me and
12:31to
12:32change things up so if i don't feel like i'm making progress i'm going to make a call quickly
12:37and change coach this training is providing us the power that she's doing is okay or not
12:4421 was my year where everything was just kind of incredible and then 22 just came crumbling down
12:51okay so we'll start now
12:54evie richards britain's first ever world champion looking like that back is causing her some problems
13:02i really felt like i had something to prove going into the 22 season i think i just pushed too
13:08much
13:10and evie richards has had a difficult season i don't think anyone knew how bad it was towards
13:15the end of the year but my anxiety was just horrendous and then i knew something needed to change
13:29i think that was maybe 500 but i didn't look at the end
13:33the way okay maybe i think yeah i think it was yeah this year i found the spot back in
13:41me that i
13:41haven't had in a long time and i think paulo could be the one today she did better numbers than
13:47the
13:47other day previous days so yeah it's good
14:00before being a team manager my role at trek was a technical director for one of our professional
14:06road cycling teams i've definitely implemented some of the past learnings being in a different
14:11structure in the road it is a team everybody's working for either one individual to achieve a
14:18goal or for the team to achieve that goal and the plan is to create that same kind of atmosphere
14:24i think it's a nice idea but it's like two different worlds you're racing in the same kit
14:32but it's not like you can really help each other
14:39it's definitely a challenge you have different personalities some people are really stubborn
14:45and so it gets a little bit chaotic but we'll get there to where we're definitely a little bit
14:50more structured a lot more structured
15:00something new this year that we're doing that we do a team lap so in the training we go with
15:05the
15:05men and the women the whole team they go together and we've definitely gotten into that this year
15:10especially with the team environment that we've been trying to create all season
15:16we'll be here all day
15:18i think there might be a bagel shop just there and that's the crate that we just stopped there
15:27we gotta get going soon i gotta get rested for sure
15:31yeah let's go we're going
15:52we're just doing a lap
15:54the girls are already out there
15:57you're late
16:08hey paulo you know where the boys are have you heard from anton or vlad
16:12okay if you see them let me know but we're gonna send the others out now on course so
16:19they should be here and when they get here i'm gonna you guys need to give them some shit for
16:24being late i get it that track wants to have a big team because after last year where we were
16:31at the world cup with only two people racing they were like right we need more people and we want
16:36to
16:36have a big team but for sure it makes everything a lot more work evie's obviously another amazing
16:44talent but she's a bit of chaos in the day-to-day and then it's just a different rhythm but
16:51it works
16:51for evie all right i'm just going to give you a spin to see the british boys
16:59where did evie go okay i think we can go
17:04just go
17:07she's probably waiting she's probably waiting for you guys
17:09she said she's going to be back in four minutes but she's probably just fogging
17:13i'm not happy they're late
17:18those guys they went on course already
17:20i just stayed with the boys
17:22what's that i missed the girls so i stayed with the boys
17:25okay um you guys are late
17:31what we said yesterday there's no team laughing
17:34no only only for riley and it's definitely a challenge getting the group to understand that
17:39they can be a team and work together and still accomplish their goals
17:43i think we need to revisit the purpose of the team lap everybody just took off
17:53then we were all doing our own thing so girls were a little bit bummed because they were ready
17:58to go on time and then i think mostly it's just communication that we need to fix it's team lap
18:03right as a team you know help each other with the lines a little bit
18:07it's only one lap so it should be a 30 minutes well spent that's my view
18:14no that's true okay welcome to pal aaron sal the atmospheric pressure here may be lower at this
18:21altitude but for track factory racing the pressure to kick this season into gear finally has never
18:27been higher and they wait for the lights to go green
18:36clean clean start from everyone away safely up this climb to begin with
18:41it goes up immediately just how brutal cross-country olympic is
18:46five full complete laps yeah big lap here in andorra as well four kilometers in length but it's
18:52here's who doing the digging
18:59yolanda again further down the path that she might have hoped for
19:05gwendolyn gibson starting to show why track factory racing added her to their stacked roster
19:11she had some difficulties for those first couple of laps but is now picking up the pace
19:16look how slick it is through there
19:18fuck peterson is just off the bike is this the opening evie richards is waiting for does she have the
19:25legs to seize it evie richards leading the charge of this chase group 18 seconds behind the leaders
19:33the olympic champion yolanda nev makes the move in the 18th just off the front group the trek factory
19:43racing riders are all in good position here despite the challenging conditions team of the day honors are
19:48now within their reach
19:56look how glassy those big rocks look absolutely horrible from the handlebars of a mountain bike
20:02but evie richards leads her teammates on track factory racing not quite enough for the win today
20:10but perhaps proof that they're on the right path the last two laps i just like grit my teeth and
20:16just like
20:17pushed so i'm like really happy with like the fight i had today but
20:21yeah the legs just felt i don't know if they're cold or tired or i have no idea but yeah
20:25i really felt
20:26like i pushed so i'm pretty sure we're team of the day also really yeah so can i quickly go
20:35back
20:36yeah we have time for that go back but i'll i'll radio okay yeah so matt from what looked like
20:44uh
20:46a shitshow can i say that a dumpster fire to a team podium does it feel like a reward or
20:52a relief
20:53yeah um it was really a breakthrough for for the team and it's great confirmation that we are on
21:00track and it's great momentum for us how do you guys think your season has gone so far for me
21:14it's
21:15been like each race been improving a little bit more and more like i think i was like 26 at
21:21the first
21:21world cup now i'm racing for top 10. and it's good for the team when you are competitors because the
21:27level improve yeah when you're training together your level is improving i don't really see it as
21:32a competition with a team and i think that's a really good that's the nicest environment to be
21:37in is when you are teammates and you want to do well for each other i think that's so important
21:41also now that we can like we're in a position where we can get the yellow plates like best team
21:45of
21:45the day i'm thinking about that when i'm racing too i'm like oh if i finish one position higher that
21:51can help all three of us yeah stand on the podium so so in a way that's where it's still
21:57a team sport
21:58wait what are the yellow plates all about so every race there is a team of the day and then
22:03there's a
22:03ranking at every race how many points you get and then there's an overall that keeps running throughout
22:09the years and the team that's leading the overall gets yellow number plates it's been a battle we're
22:16still holding on to the team overall but still just missing that a little extra to be on the top
22:22step now everybody has to be focused on the team and some people respond to it better than others some
22:29people don't but at the end of the day no one is bigger than the team i felt like the
22:39season was long
22:40and everybody was getting tired and at one point i even thought i was not even going to make the
22:45trip
22:45to america anymore because i was so far off but i came to snowshoe really wanting to make the absolute
22:56best of it we had a good break between the races so riders had a little bit of time at
23:02home to get
23:03ready and they came in fresh and motivated dan say hello hello what are you doing today um just
23:11setting up some wheels and getting your bike ready to race tomorrow i need a better let me get a
23:16better
23:18and we see me too is over here this is dan's work then it's not very tidy to unfortunately
23:26he should never have thought we had to use this camera sometimes it comes down to trusting the
23:31process so that's when your team really comes into play having good people around you to support
23:36that who have been there done that race that they've had those lows have had those highs
23:40and help manage the the up and downs of professional mountain bike racing
23:44for tomorrow everything okay no yes like in like andorra i felt like calm and super strong
23:53i think i should have attacked better yeah i know but yesterday i just felt like let's go
23:58i just felt i feel like if my legs feel good i can push okay nice well that was the
24:03most professional
24:04meeting we've ever had amazing yeah good job amazing don't get used to it
24:12everybody is making steps forward and yeah i definitely feel like the momentum is on our side
24:20every race we get better with the team lap so we've improved a lot today was good everybody was on
24:25time it was ready we were leaving you know just after 11 so that makes me happy
24:36trek the biggest u.s bicycle company still looking for their first win of the season can they get it
24:43at tonight's short track short track racing is very powerful very spectator friendly it's on a much
24:50shorter track it's usually only a couple hundred meters long or a kilometer long the other thing about
24:54short track racing is that it offers points only 30 riders qualify for the short track race off their
24:59overall ranking and the lights are red and we wait for them to go green
25:21and green they go laris digger in the center off your picture with the white sleeves leaves the line
25:27they're all the way safely who is going to win the drag race up to the first corner
25:34yolanda neff passing the current overall uci world cup leader to end up right next to her teammate
25:40richards if you can win a race like this you can go to bed knowing you are the best rider
25:45on the planet
25:53that's me looks more lengthy than the net of old eyes up game face on wendland gibson now with her
25:59eyes
25:59on the front of the pack
26:03there's the battle at the front then it's the top richards peters here
26:09well we said the number seven trek was looking strong at the start of this one
26:16well evie richards looking good here on lap three out of four for track factory racing
26:21and she has the strength the power that you need to have for short track racing
26:28i was just happy i could push and i could try and chase back on and it just felt so
26:33fun to try and get
26:34back to the front of that race an attack that evie richards here look at the effort evie richards
26:41pouring into this one she wants her first win of the season come on evie get there get there
26:47richards now alone at the front reminiscent of the very first race in nova mesto namurabi isn't it
26:56to look at richards go down there
27:04richards that smile starting to spread through the pain looks over the shoulder there's no one there
27:09evie evie richards for track factory racing checks out and takes her first win of the uci world cup 2023
27:17free season
27:18good job
27:34it felt special for me just because i found the ability to push again
27:47and that's what I'd missed.
27:49I'd missed that adrenaline of racing with the girls.
27:52Just seeing where we were and then where we've come.
27:56For sure, it's been a challenge
27:58to get everybody to work as a team,
28:01but the future is to be more of a unit.
28:0812 seconds before you. Come on, Yolanda.
28:11Come on, Yolanda.
28:12Great to see her right back at the sharp end
28:14of a UCI World Cup bracelet.
28:20I'm so, so happy that I could really finish the season
28:24on a high note and just, like, being a good feeling now,
28:27going into the off-season, knowing I can still race.
28:31They have their individual wins in the race,
28:34but they're still working towards a team goal.
28:38When we can do that every weekend, then we're a team.
28:43This year was for sure a roller coaster season for track.
28:47But there is for sure also some good points to take.
28:50We did have some wins,
28:53but we didn't quite crack the code yet this year.
29:01I would say that Finn has always seen himself as a top rider.
29:05Three points!
29:06Three points!
29:07There was so much conversation around,
29:09can you beat your teammate Loic?
29:11You know, Finn's always been trying to reach him.
29:13The Canadian finds himself in a must-win situation here.
29:17He wants to claim the overall title.
29:19Oh, he goes.
29:34I'm feeling that heat in the night.
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