Did a dropper post save Jolanda Neff’s Olympics?

On Monday, Mathieu van der Poel crashed out the the men’s Olympic cross country mountain bike race in dramatic fashion. On Tuesday, Jolanda Neff won her – and Switzerland’s – first gold medal in the women’s Olympic cross country race. But her race almost ended in the same fashion, at the same place.

Neff rode it out. Van der Poel crashed. Both athlete’s are phenomenally gifted technically. The difference could come down to the bike.

Mathieu van der Poel – high post, high consequences

For van der Poel, a ramp was removed between practice and racing, making a roll a drop. There’s debate about whether the Dutch medal favourite knew – or should have known – the ramp would be removed. Whatever the sequence leading up to the event, van der Poel pushed down off the rock instead of pulling up, ending his race on the first lap.

To save weight, van der Poel was not running a dropper post on his Japan-edition Canyon Lux.

Jolanda Neff – seat down to the top step

A day later, Jolanda Neff was chasing French world champion, Pauline Ferrand-Prevot. Just as the duo were separating themselves from the field, they approached the same rock. A change in the weather overnight led organizers to change plans and leave the same ramp in place for the women’s cross country race. Ferrand-Prevot slowed slightly, taking the safe option to roll down the ramp. Neff, behind, couldn’t slow fast enough and veered left, creeping off the rock drop, but not toward the landing. Neff landed very front wheel heavy, and on nearly flat ground. But, improbably and impressively, rode it out. Later on, Ferrand-Prevot would crash and Neff would ride solo to her first Olympic medal.

Neff was running a short travel dropper post on her Trek Supercaliber.

Is the dropper post the difference maker?

So, did Neff’s dropper post save her race? Did van der Poel’s fixed steatpost end his Olympics? It’s hard to say. Since the situations were slightly different, it’s not as simple as saying van der Poel wouldn’t have crashed if he had a dropper post.

Why? Well, for one, van der Poel could easily have cleaned the rock drop if, high post or not, if that was his plan. But there is a good chance the Dutch rider didn’t know the ramp was gone until he was already pushing down and expecting it to be there. At that point, it would have been nearly impossible for him to avoid crashing, no matter what bike he was on. Once you’re pushing down, it’s really hard to reverse course and pull up, especially if your front wheel is already in the air. As it happened, he went nose heavy into the rock ledge marking the top of the landing and crashed hard.

Neff, on the other hand, knew something was not going to plan before she left the ground. While her trajectory off the Izu rock drop was far from ideal, at least she knew it wasn’t going to be good, and could adjust. Neff pulled up, and braced for the landing. The late correction meant Neff still landed very nose heavy. That she rode it out is yet another testament to her incredible technical abilities on the bike.

Had Neff not had a dropper post on her Trek, it probably wouldn’t have ended as well. So it is safe to say the dropper – and Neff’s incredible skill – were key to saving her Olympics. Would van der Poel have fared better without a dropper post? It’s possible, and hard to say without knowing what exactly happened, but unlikely.

Either way, dropper posts have arrived in cross country, and are here to stay.