Last weekend saw the first downhill world cup of the season in Fort William, Scotland. As usual, Instagram was overflowing in the build up to the event. Probably the most controversial topic has been Fox’s new “speed suit”, a slippery skinsuit-alike that skirts the rule against one-piece clothing, debuted by Tahnée Seagrave and a handful of other Fox-sponsored athletes and the subject of at least one official complaint from a rival team. But the second most controversial topic, with angry comments racking up likes under countless posts, was the coverage.

In 2022, UCI sold the rights to broadcast all world cup mountain bike events to Warner Bros. Discovery. After years of being broadcast for free on Red Bull TV, the world cups would disappear behind a paywall onto the obscure Discovery+ and (now defunct) GCN+ apps, with live broadcasts on Eurosport for the half dozen people who still pay for live TV. It also meant the loss of the commentary team led by Rob Warner, the voice of mountain biking for more than a decade. Known for his rambunctious enthusiasm, outrageous soundbites, and consistent inability to pronounce anyone’s name, Warner was a massive part of what made downhill racing so entertaining to watch. But behind all the shouting he was a consummate professional and a master of his craft. Every race week, he’d spend hours poring over results on Roots and Rain in his hotel room and hours more chatting to riders and staff in the pits, ensuring he was thoroughly stocked with titbits and anecdotes for every rider on the hill.

As the 2023 season rolled around it became apparent just how much had been lost. Semi-finals were introduced for the first time and universally reviled by racers and fans alike. The now-paid for coverage was garbage. Camera placement was poor, and largely moot as only the bottom half of the track was shown. (Unless you space riders out by the full time of a run, you obviously can’t show the whole track for every rider, but the new directors did a consistently crap job of managing that fact.) Technical issues abounded. Podiums were not shown or were prematurely cut, most gallingly in the case of the historic Irish one-two of Oisin O Callaghan and Rónán Dunne, which was cut away from to show a VT. But worst of all was the commentary and presenting. Lead commentator Ric McLaughlin did a decent job, but his co-host Cédric Gracia – despite being a legend of the sport and an experienced French language commentator – was rubbish, with astonishingly banal contributions for an ex-racer, and a cringeworthy lack of chemistry with Ric. Even worse was the new anchor, professional sports broadcaster and cycling outsider Kate Mason. In one particularly disastrous post-race interview she managed to shred all credibility in a matter of seconds, indicating that she thought the rainbow jersey was awarded at every world cup round and not just the annual world championship (in common with every cycling discipline for almost a century), and mixing up Tahnée Seagrave and Nina Hoffman, two of the top riders in the tiny field of elite women, to Tahnée’s face. This was halfway through the season: you’d have to actively avoid learning anything about the sport to make those mistakes.

On to 2024. Semi-finals are still a thing, but they’re no longer broadcast. That sucks for the riders and sponsors who don’t manage to make the cut for finals, but as a fan they were a bit exhausting and diluted the experience of the finals, particularly as they took place on the same day (they’re now the day before). I would have watched them for the first round at least though, and due to a lack of communication, fans were left scrabbling around for a broadcast that didn’t exist, apparently bringing down the organisers’ website.

2023 saw a lot of top riders out with injuries, and the organisers experimented with putting them in the commentary box and in front of the camera. This worked well, with front-line insights reminiscent of the Red Bull days, so it was great to see that return this year with Aaron Gwin signed up to be in the box for the first four races, and Myriam Nicole and Tahnée Seagrave popping in for the first round. Cedric’s back on the French broadcast, where I assume he does a better job in his first language, finish line interviewer Ashleigh Wilmot continues to impress, and there’s a more prominent role for the enthusiastic and knowledgeable pro enduro racer Josh Carlson on the presenting team. Kate Mason still leads the show and doesn’t seem to have gotten much better at doing her homework, and there was an unfortunate graphical issue where semi-final winner Vali Höll was cut off the start list for finals – I suspect the designer was told there were always 10 names, failing to account for protected riders. Overall, though, coverage was much improved. More of the track was shown more of the time, with the camera placement doing a better job of representing the gnarly sections. The podiums were shown, albeit by picture in picture. And let’s not pretend that the Red Bull broadcasts were perfect: there were technical problems all over the place, especially with timing, and it was always a little jarring how they’d abruptly switch from preamble to race coverage once it got close enough to the top riders.

The race itself was a banger, and if you’re hungry for more you can also watch the junior races for free on YouTube; personally, I see enough annoyingly talented kids at the bike park, but it’s got to be a good thing for the sport, and the junior field has never been more stacked.

There is still much that could be improved. It is difficult or impossible to access coverage in many countries. The organisers’ apparent drive to make the sport more elite and push out privateers remains controversial. The bike industry is struggling, with budgets slashed and companies and race teams folding thanks to a glut of unsold bikes in the wake of the COVID boom. Nevertheless, the racing is as good as it’s ever been, and the coverage is looking substantially better than last year. So, whether you’ve been boycotting or have just given up, I think now is a great time to jump back in. Unless you follow enduro. RIP.