The day when XC Pros decided to use dropper posts

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At least two of the top ten cross country riders rode the dusty and technical Cairns track with a dropper post. Should this be the headline of our race report from the first round of the XC 2016 worldcup, or maybe the one that Nino Schurter won a strategically perfect race?

Tiberi in azione. — Dust and heat. Andrea Tiberi from Italy.

It’s quite strange to see Julien Absalon and Daniel McConnell fighting for the top positions and using a dropper post, adding 2-300 grams to their bikes to be able to pin the downhills fast.

L'inizio di una nuova era per il xc? Due atleti di punta con il reggisella telescopico, qui McConnel. — McConnell. Notice the seat.

We think that this is the right direction though: the worldcup tracks are becoming more technical, and Nino Schurter showed the world that he could win races in the downhills, beating Absalon twice last year because he was faster riding down.

Absalon inseguitore a causa di una foratura. — Absalon had a flat tire and managed to finish third. What if the Frenchman could race without mechanichals?

This year Absalon decided to fight the highly skilled Schurter with a little help from a dropper post, as we saw already once a couple of weeks ago at the Swiss Cup (Absalon’s bike check here).

Manuel Fumic ha avuto una giornata storta, malgrado la nuova Scalpel. — Manuel Fumic had a bad day at the office, despite his new ride (the new Scalpel).

Is this the future of cross country riding? We hope so. Especially for the many amateurs that don’t feel confident like Nino in the downhills, a dropper post can make the difference between having fun (and being fast) or pushing their bikes. And you know, if the pros use it, the others will follow.