Pedal. Stop.
We’ve just been over in Lourdes, France, with Trek World Racing’s Laurie Greenland to check out the track that will be used for the opening round of the 2015 UCI DH World Cup as part of a feature you will be reading in Dirt Mag soon… And what a track it is!
We’d heard mixed reports prior to our visit, with a lot of talk of it being ‘slippery when wet’, and that is certainly true. The first few runs in the mud were sideways all the way, with plenty of slick exposed rock and hardpack mud. It’s also steep from top to bottom, rough as hell (especially in the lower sections) and has pretty much every type of technical test imaginable. You can pretty much guarantee that it’ll be wet when the World Cup circus rolls into town in April too.
The ‘unknown’ section of track in the middle will most likely be a brand new line cut in, with promise of loam, roots and turns. The course build will also involve felling a lot of the upper trees for better spectating, and should give a great view down the track from up high on the hill. The finish arena can be seen across the final road Laurie drops onto, and will be a high speed dash across the steep field to the finish line. It’s going to be bonkers, trust us when we say that.
Pedalling? What pedalling? We got Laurie to take a run down at full-chat with the GoPro on and to signal just how little pedalling there is on this beast he shouts ‘pedalling’ and ‘stop’. Count the pedals… Who is your money on for this promising season opener?
Stay tuned to Dirt Magazine for more.
Many thanks to the riders, organisers and the event’s official accommodation Hotel Alba for taking the time and effort to show us around. We’ll be back in April!
