“Being in Loudenvielle and watching Luca win his first Elite World Cup after 12 years of chasing it was incredibly special. Seeing his dedication and perseverance pay off is what makes this sport so rewarding. It was one of the best moments I've ever experienced, and I couldn't be happier for him and what he's accomplished.”
RACE-DAY MIX: IAGO GARAY
When EDR was EWS and riders roamed the transfers chanting "No Pisco, no disco," Iago Garay was never far away—speaker on his hip, music blasting, keeping morale high across the entire field. While the speaker may be gone, his knack for curating the perfect vibe hasn't gone anywhere.
Crank the tunes, grab your favourite riding buddies, and let Iago's playlist set the tone.
“I HAD A ROUGH LEAD UP
TO THIS RACE, SO IT
WASN'T EXPECTED,
BUT I KNEW I WAS
GOING TO COME AND
GIVE EVERYTHING I HAD.
IT'S NICE TO END
THE DAY LIKE THIS."
TO THIS RACE, SO IT
WASN'T EXPECTED,
BUT I KNEW I WAS
GOING TO COME AND
GIVE EVERYTHING I HAD.
IT'S NICE TO END
THE DAY LIKE THIS."
“Between here and South Korea, we did go down quite a lot in the suspension pressures, just because it was quite a slower speed track. Here it is a lot faster, a lot steeper. So you're probably going to be a bit more on the front. We've gone back up to his regular kind of pressures and higher compression settings for that extra support, which he'll need when he's going fast.”
“Luca was, basically, the one that was really pushing towards getting a lighter lever feel. So they kind of developed the new SwingLink with Luca and ended up where it is with a slightly smaller piston in the caliper as well, which, just for modulation, gives it a lot easier kind of feel and modulation when you get a bit tired.”
“We usually stick with the 9 degrees on the Ochain. But if it's like a more pumpy, flatter track, it's nice to turn it down a little bit or even lock it out. Just gives you a bit more kind of feedback to push on when you kind of need to gain a bit more speed in places where you feel like you're needing to.”
“Luca has been running the XX DH now since January. We first put it on at our Portugal test camp with SRAM/RockShox and since then, basically haven't touched it. It's been indestructible. He loves how easy it is for shifting, smooth under load. It's just been super reliable and kind of just jumped straight on it and not really had anything to adjust or complain about, which is always a good thing.”
“He's running 165 cranks, pretty standard for downhill. We did mess around with 160s for a little bit when we were in Tasmania. But I think proportionately for him- he was surprised at how much difference it made, and it wasn't really something he was a fan of. So, yeah, stuck with 165. He felt more comfortable with that and proportionately, he's quite a tall guy, so it kind of makes sense”
