Voyage of Discovery

Why the post-Red Bull World Cup era calls for cautious optimism

- Guy Kesteven

"Red Bull’s World Cup racing coverage wasn’t perfect, but Rob Warner alone was enough to give its broadcast wings. Picking similarly crazed French DH race icon Cedric Gracia as a replacement for Rob was a smart move, he’s certainly not short on passion and volume. With a background in magazine media and several years under his belt as the voice of EWS, Ric McLaughlin is an experienced commentator too.

So, with the dust settled on several rounds of EWS and XCO/DH/XCM racing, how has the Discovery/Warner Brothers coverage been, after taking over the rights for the 2023 season?

Not great, is the short answer. To be brutally honest, Cedric and Ric’s repetition, clichés and vagueness were certainly shown up by Rob Warner back on the mic for Red Bull at Crankworx. Bart Brentjens hasn’t upped his XC MC game for Discovery either and the insight, tech knowledge, explanation and engagement of Oli Beckinsale and Ian Findlay’s commentary on the Euro XC champs was in a different class to the World Cup coverage.

The ‘on the spot’ reporters seem out of their depth too – I’ve never heard a whip called a bum whip before – which hasn’t been helped by some ‘so-comical-it-alsoseems deliberate’ editing, of which the Vali Holl “She said f**king” clip from Leogang is my favourite so far.

WHO IS GUY KESTEVEN?