Lenzerheide’s World Cup track may be man made – as we keep banging on about – but that doesn’t mean it is in the slightest easy or any more forgiving than other, more natural venues (such as Lourdes earlier in the year). In fact, if anything the wide open sections only serve to reel riders in and give them a sense of security that can lead to all manner of woes…

In practice we saw dozens of flat tyres and dinged rims, bikes beaten to the point of frame swaps and snapped handlebars and all manner of massive crashes all along the course. We’ve been pondering the eventualities and what riders will be looking not to do when the clock’s ticking. Qualifying is kicking off so things are about to get wild!

Here’s a gallery with our 8 ways to ruin your run (Tip: read the captions):

There is a bit of a serious point to this though, and that’s that with times so close (the top 35 men in timed training were separated by 10 seconds), this really could be anyone’s race. Aaron Gwin and Rachel Atherton may be firing on all cylinders at the moment, but with one slight slip they could be right down the results table… It’s going to take ultimate concentration and focus to stay on track and in contention here in Lenzerheide.