Absolute Insanity in France | Story of the Race with Ben Cathro 

I want to say so many things about how amazing these recap/informative videos are...I don't have the words...so instead...to cover all I can't say...I'll just always say....always...."Thanks Ben. X."

This race looked insane. Thanks for the great coverage as always!

Loving these race review videos. I remember Ben commenting many years ago that he didn’t think this sort of video could ever happen due to the cost of using the live-stream footage. So kudos to pinkbike team / discovery(?) for making this happen.

Crowd crush was absolutely the first thing that came to mind when I saw that overhead drone shot. It just takes some subtle changes to density at that point for a crush to occur.

The drone shots in the forest blow.

I love the concept of the drone, and sometimes it looked amazing, but often not. However I think we need to give the time to get better. A POV live from rider would be rad. Split screen styles.

This is the best way to recap a race weekend. Excellent job telling the story!

Love these Ben! The passion, detail, and story telling is just epic!!! Keep these coming

Hey UCI, this is called highlights!!!

Great review as always Thank you Pinkbike and Ben!

thank you Ben!!! Keep these coming!!

These videos are head and shoulders above any other race coverage out there, thank you to everyone involved

Cathro! we need more videos. Love your perspective on DH racing and work.

The French slow loris tuck part at 11:16 has me absolutely dying😭😆 Great vid!

Another great recap from Mr Cathro ! Thank you !

I like that they're trying new things like the drone... Don't see that many in other sports. Definitely need to work out the kinks... If they could setup a guide wire cam angled upward 30° or 45° so the rider chases the cam down would be cool. Lots of setup effort though. Maybe a drone pilot + camera man to fly a more stable route? Lovin' the videos Ben...Happy Trees 🌲🏔

Great recap Ben! As a track side spectator, seeing and hearing the drone behind the riders felt weird, and I feel it may be annoying for riders. But when I watch races on the broadcast, I kinda appreciate it (at least when the video editing/feed switch is done properly 😂)

i really like the overhead droneshots from further away above... as for the follow drone i always joke with my gf that it s someones nephew that is "really good with this stuff" that got the job even though i know its probably hard and part of the fault is also with the people deciding to show a shot that s not really good instead of just a steady camera angle

love this content laddy, keep it coming

I was so irritated at the drone shots. I actually like some drone shots for sections that are more open, like that stretch at Loudenvielle. When they try to run the drone through twisty tree sections it’s useless for showing what the riders are doing, not to mention disorienting. I hope they listen to the fans on this stuff especially now that WE’RE PAYING FOR IT!

We need more videos like these! 🔥 Awesome job! 🤘

Happy to see your back racing, Ben! Also happy for any additional footage, even if it's not great.

CATHROVISION IS ALWAYS THE BEST RACE ANALYSIS, THANKS GIRAFFEMAN ❤❤❤

I love the drones because it really shows off the speeds these guys are going at.

Well when Pinkerton uses his middle finger for breaking his pointer gets in the way and he can’t even stop. Perfect

yeah that drone seems genuinely horrific.

I love the behind the rider drone shots - really make it more exciting to watch.

This is exactly what we need, cheers chaps 🍻

Its funny you mention worrying about crush dynamics, I had the exact same reaction when I saw that drone shot

Ben, we need more videos with the team!! Last season's videos were amazing!!!

Thanks Ben. X.

We’re loving the drone. Gives you a bit of an idea of how fast they’re going. In Val di Sole they had the cable camera as well down the big drop out of the woods. Great they’re trying all these things

controversial but I like the drone shots it def shows the pace of the riders better than any other static camera and if it means we get more course footage then another win. great recaps as always, what a race!

drone videos can be epic , its all about the pilot . a friend of mine can even keep up with my cross in the woods

Love your videos!

my 2¢ on the drone: i think the production team are using it well enough - it's not too often but the occassional shot adds to the mix. as others have mentioned, they work best in smooth flowing sections rather than super twisty forest sections where it gets too confusing

Big up Ben Cathro giving us far better coverage, analysis and insight than discovery/gcn. Keep doing these videos Ben, I'm sure everyone enjoys them, it's solid content The drone shots are novelty, it doesn't add anything and doesn't showcase the unbelievable technical ability. All i want to see the drone do is chase someone down a straight and then let the camera operators film the techy sections. The best drone shots/riding footage are the urban races in Chile, i think in those scenarios it makes sense to use it like a follow cam. I'd still prefer proper static cameras on key sections though.

With a little knowledge, the crowd crush issue is definitely a concern that needs sorting out. The drones need stabilisation, fast and better quality to even be part acceptable. I guess they can fill in sections where the budget can't have proper cameras? Still not great. These are amazing highlights,. actual context, insight and telling a story, not just two runs with nothing else! ❤ CathroXPB

Ben, Sweet video. I loved the side-by-side comparison. My son raced this Les Gets race in the Men's Junior Expert Category. I understand way better how to take a split second off here and there watching your analysis.

I love Ben's Story of the Race.

I love these update videos

Both Luke Williamson and Dak Norton had a small knick of the riser pad and had catastrophic crashes. With a normal track pole they would have been fine or at le ast just had a low side slide

Thanks to Ben and PB. Keeping the excitement in downhill unlike the UCI and GMBN.

Drone shots are like 240p and I get motion sickness from the swooping. They seem to work better as a follow cam on motorway sections, though. Still, the drones were not as egregious as the 5 second push in focus on the Whoop and Oakley advertisement boards (whoop at start, Oakley by the lake/tarn) on every single semi final run. They started to reduce that in the finals so maybe somebody had a word. I'm enjoying Ric on the comms and while Cedric could do with his gain being reduced he is improving. But then I wasn't a huge fan of screaming Rob Warner or Tracy Hannah (starting every sentence with " I mean ..") while Elliot Jackson was a bit milquetoast.

Man, this kind of video makes me want to drop everything and get on the trail

That was so lame for the police to drag the winner out immediately. Absolute mood killer.

I’m a big fan of the drone. It may not always be perfect but it’s a tough job following through the trees at that pace. I’d rather keep it and tolerate some not so great bits. If we need it to be perfect we’ll need to stick at the same angles for a long time. Great recap show, thanks

Drone makes me seasick, I remember redbull tried one a few times too but seemed to go away from it, always wondered if it was because they got negative feedback about it making people crook.

Way better than watching it live on Eurosport.

The fans went crazy. Did not look good for me either. Love love the race highlights, Ben is just awesome an so is the coverage. Cheers legends 👍

Great coverage thanks Ben! I'm with you on the drones. Can someone explain why the drone footage is so grainy and poor quality? If the drone clips were a bit shorter and clearer and used on the right parts of the tracks it would possibly be ok. Oh how I miss the good old Red Bull days.

SUP LOVE THE CHANNEL KEEP IT UP

I like the drone shot at a 45 degree angle from the rider so you can see the preload

Regarding the drone - it works well in the urban DH races but in the WC races, not so sure. Could be the pilot of the drone but more over, where the drone follows. IE, lots of turns with lots of jumps and drops, not so cool unless they have a double pilot, one controls the drone and the other controls the camera, like in Top Gear Africa Special. My thoughts. I must say, the racing was amazing this weekend, loved it.

This is just the best...

The drone on the XC are pretty cool but its at a slower pace. You get to see far more of the racing this season withvm the drones. Maybe not ideal on a fast downhill track tho👍

Agree the drone isn't good, the lighting is often bad and never really provides a good view of the rider. I do like the stationary drone shots when the riders are on an exposed section of track it gives a good perspective, though there have been several times where the drone is too high to find see where the rider is.

To me the drone not keeping up just adds to the awe some (all) command.

don't care about the drone , but get Rob W. back in the game announcing......(not that its up to PB). Great Job as usual Ben C. very much enjoy your contributions!

The way they insisted on zooming in on the Whoop sign every single time a rider passed it was not just annoying but also an example of the crass commercialism that UCI is allowing to take over the sport. When you're only giving the first 2/3 of the field of riders about 30 seconds air time each, interrupting that tiny bit of exposure to make sure a sponsor gets noticed is depressing.

in my opinion the drone is best used when it doesn't have to do turns, it would be better utilized on a long open stretch rather than a tight twisty turny forrest. Also, where does one watch these races in full ?

The follow drone cam in downhill could be way cooler and useful, if the pilots could fly more powerful* / responsive drones and if better steps were taken to optimized the digital signal. I would guess because of the proximity to people and obstacles, many compromises had to be made to the drone's agility for safety concerns. IE prop guards. The pilots are most likely flying under powered drones for the equipment needed to transmit a digital signal at resolutions even worth using. There are ways to boost the signal to get better penetration through the trees and interference so that there is more clarity in the drone feed. Perhaps they were bound by local restrictions? But there are ways to get "permission". I would suspect the UCI people are hiring a team that is doing all the tricks to improve signal quality...but just looking at the smudge fest seen in this video i can't help but feel some improvement could be made. Hard to say when you aren't there, radio waves are funny.

I am a drone pilot myself, I think they should use them in the open areas but not the trees. It is not about the skill of the UAV pilot thought the tight trees , a few stationary hover shots in key areas could be just as good in that area . The follow shots in open areas are fun to watch and different views we normally can not see so I like those.

I dislike the drone footage also. The filming is Awesome just like Ben and Pinkbike. Thank you

We need hardtails Enduro World Cup !

Awesome coverage as ever🙏 But two criticisms that go against the grain; Although LGets is absolute mayhem when it’s goes off, the crowd are basically cool and everyone is looking out for everyone else, that passion is gold dust..no other place will the winner crowd surf like that. Unless the numbers get bigger I think it’s ok. And the drones are ok I reckon. Before, there would have been little coverage through those bits, now they’re showing a lot of the track, also gives the viewers an idea of the speed too. An improvement from not seeing it at all.

What a fantastic wrap-up once again. One thing though: Any chance we can fix what appears to be a frame rate mismatch between the Pinkbike videos and the UCI footage? Clearly you guys must have some kind of agreement with UCI to be allowed to repurpose the footage. So maybe switch frame rates to whatever they are using for the wrap-up videos? Just a thought to improve otherwise perfect reporting! 🤙

i like the drone when it's not over used. shows a good topo and elevation of the area and a good sense of the riders speed when chasing

Epic race, the French can sure put it on!! Ditch the Drone. Check Lenzerheide footy where the drone nearly smoked Finn in the head. Doesn't add anything to the footage if anything makes it worse.

The drone cam is bollocks

haha, this is better than the actual UCI highlights

Drones shots are getting better each weekend. Let's see how good they can get before we gas it.

I think the drone works really well in open motorway areas like at Leogang and Fort Bill, where they're just using it as a slightly lower and closer chopper cam. Chasing riders through the trees is just silly and, I agree, not super informative. (And an accident waiting to happen)

Are the markers causing crashes?

The drone would be sweet if it could keep up and was image stabilized.

I loved the drone at the start when the pilot seemed to be on their game and tracked every turn perfectly, but by the end of the race it was just an absolute mess. Seems to work better on tracks where it's not quite so twisty and it doesn't have to pitch as hard.

Your commentary and observations are spot on. The crash bits… 😅. I am not a fan of the drone footage and angles. Wonder if the riders hear those things and are potentially impacted by the buzzing?

The chase drone sucks, bin it. All we need is Cathrovision.

Agreed Drone footage so annoying

the drone stuff is not for me (kinda ironically ig) it's obvious they used just the fpv video link (the one the pilot uses to fly) rather than a dedicated broadcast system for higher resolutions although with better setup it could be awesome for shots outside the trees

GMBN Racing showed a semi final run of Valentina Höll without crashes and a first place. Did I miss something?

The drone pilot should establish a path that eyes the track from 30-40' away and is clear to fly and track the rider smoothly through forest while keeping the frame on the rider, like a camera on a cable.

Good work! I got my money on Jackson. He will win one soon. 🏆

Is there somewhere where we can petition for Pinkbike to take over coverage?

They can drop the drone follow-cam footage. It is often blurry and misses the rider half the time. Drone footage has its place at the races, but I don't think the follow-cam is it.

Drone pilots want to be video game heroes. Drones are ok as long as the shot is not what you described. And I also agree, some consistency in cutting live shots please.

7:58 el mejor

I'd rather they used the drone from further out for wide shots rather than up close behind the rider for similar reasons you mentioned Ben

The drone shots added nothing to viewing pleasure, I reckon they only use it 'cos it's cheaper than having enough decent cameras along the course ... Great synopsis, Ben, detailed, funny, interesting, many thanks. ;)

I complained to British Cycling about the high up drone footage of the top half of the World's in Fort William - not being able to see any of the action, just a little ant on a bike going down! They corrected me and said it was the UCI and broadcasters running the show, my bad - I should have complained to them! But I also complained to them (BC) about in the future letting riders wear helmet cams, with a feed from them going to the broadcasters, and using this footage instead of the follow me drones, which are good but are there better ways of following the riders? BC answered saying they have nothing against onboard cameras, but I guess they're talking there about bike mount cameras (which the footage as we all know, can look bad). But I was talking about body or helmet worn cameras, as we all know and love from our favourite riders practice runs! The footage recorded can then also be given back to the riders for use in their social media, at some point after the races.

The drone is only needed at the tail end of the run up until they cross the finish line. Usually that's where most of the crowd is at and it gives the viewer a better perspective and anticipation of the run. That's my opinion as a viewer I know nothing about drones.

Drone is great on straight sections where it’s not flying so wildly that it can’t follow the rider.

We’re those trees cut for this event??

Agreed, the Drone doesnt add anything to the broadcast, i also hate it..

Have to agree, the drone shots are not great to watch through the trees, too close quarters and not smooth. Drone best for following at a bit more hight and distances in the open sections. Multiple static camera angles are better in the woods.

Drone shots are class 1 pish

Amazing race! Go Benoit, he’s on fire right now! I really dislike the drone footage can’t see what the riders are doing, trackside cameras are way better!

ya i vote no on the drone

I don’t mind a drone view every now and then but don’t like it on long sections in the woods. Seems like most of the stationary cameras are blocked by vegetation and miss the action. It’s difficult to watch a full race at over 5 hrs for men and women.

Agree, the drone stinks. I'd rather it be used in a spot without a fixed camera and used as a rotating camera, not a chase camera. Thanks for the great video series!