Val di Sole - Practice Day 1
Aug 18, 2011 at 10:35
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 The sun coming out at a World Cup has been a rare thing lately. Brendawg and his mechanic Dave, take advantage of it and soak up the rays on the roof of the Monster Truck. |
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| It wouldn't be an Italian World Cup without an espresso. Christian from MS-Evil and Nigel from Devinci taking in a cuppa. |
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| The neatest tool box on the circuit. Any guesses as to who owns this meticulous piece of work? |
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| Line choice. It's all about line choice. At a monster track like this, everyone shares. |
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| The track shoots through deep dark woods and into glaring sunshine and back again. Clear vision in conditions like this make the difference between hitting your line and hitting a tree. Goggle choice is just one more key to making the grade. For Troy Brosnan the only lens that seems to work is good ol' clear. "I tried a bunch of lenses, but my eyes seem to like the clear the best." |
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| Greg Minnaar is the only man to beat Aaron Gwin this season, and he has done it twice. He is looking fast here, can he do it a third time? |
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| Old School rider, old school track. Peaty looks completely focused here in Val di Sole--look for a good one from Sheffield Steel. Particularly after the race he had in La Bresse. |
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| So how do you know when a track is steep? Take a look at the tape and see how many times it's been reconnected. This is a right hander at the bottom of one of the chutes here. I wouldn't suggest standing below it. |
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| Can Steve Smith get on the podium here? He's ready for world's and is looking to be on point this week and living up to the Sender nickname. |
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| Luke Strobel is at home here in the gnar and the loam. He's sending up rooster tails all over the joint using the dirt to its maximum. |
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| Andrew Neethling searching in this tangle mass of pythons for the root that sent him shooting off line only moments earlier. But finding a line in this snake pit of roots is damn near impossible. Most riders are tending to simply aim for a general area, look for the exit, and mentally cross their fingers. |
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| Team Giant, lead by Danny Hart, is training it up and getting faster by the run. |
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| Brendawg put away the sunscreen this morning and went to work. Just a few small scrapes on the chainguide - Brendan is keeping Dave's work to a minimum today. |
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| Cousine again. Definitely focused. |
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| Gee Atherton banged out a bunch of runs today. The Overall is all sealed up, and now everyone is going for broke to try and take home a win. |
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| Ragot owned this track last year. With a bum knee this season, she's not been as on it as last year, but she is definitely focused. |
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| How big of a contrast was there between the woods and the open areas today? Enough to be blinding, that's for sure. |
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| Ben Reid... for once the Irishman took only a few runs, preferring to stay focused on the course vs beating his body up for the sheer joy of the ride. Hopefully the respite from the typical pounding he doles out on the track will translate into the run that all of us photo dogs have been wanting to see. |
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| Slugger has a new kit for Thursday's practice and is making the most of it. He won here last year, can he repeat? |
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| The World Cup overall is already in the bag, but Gwin has absolutely zero quit in him. |
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| Guido Tschugg has a novel way to see who's been sitting in on his training runs on the 4X track. |
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| Thomas Slavik racing himself in the setting sun. |
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| Ah, Italian track side course marshal fashion. Milan it ain't. |
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| Grubby Graves. Unstoppable? |
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| Gratuitous boost to end 4X training. |
So Brook MacDonald for win no. 1 here
