Lucky underwear and post-race analysis
In early June, Finn Iles was wearing his lucky race-day underwear and socks when he crossed the line at Fort William. The downhill rider’s time sealed a fourth-place finish at the World Cup event in Scotland. About two weeks after that race, Iles was in Copenhagen with a friend. The second-year elite Dher discussed his superstition.
He has lucky underwear and socks for qualifying and another set for race day. They are different colours but the same styles. The superstition has been around since Iles was a junior. If his luck changes, such as a crash at the junior world championships, he’ll pitch his gitch and start anew. The current batch has been in service for roughly two years. “I only wear them for racing, so I’ve only worn them 18 times,” he stressed. “And, obviously, they do get washed.”
After Fort William, Iles competed in the Leogang World Cup. It’s a track his team manager says is for surgeons: if you’re not on line, you are losing time or crashing. Iles went down during his race and finished in 34th. Instead of blaming his luck, he had a very analytical take-away. “I knew that I didn’t have the edge that day to do super well,” he said. “I should have just toned it down instead of pushing to get a good result. If I was a little bit slower and more consistent, I would have had a top-20 or top-15 result. Instead, I was going for another podium. I didn’t have that sharpness, and I crashed because of that.” The rider’s focus for later in the season was on the World Cups in Val di Sole and Lenzerheide, as well as the world championships in MontSainte-anne. “I really like that track,” he said. “It’s pretty long, really fast, rough. My style of track.”