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As the Olympics draws ever nearer, the WHOOP UCI Mountain Bike World Series continues its Tour of the French Alps this weekend, with another riveting round of racing action from the Haute-Savoie region. It’s only a short commute north from last weekend’s stop in Megève and Combloux to Les Gets, where the Endurance and Gravity stars will do battle once again. We look at everything you need to know about the Haute-Savoie, Les Gets round of the WHOOP UCI Mountain Bike World Series races, including when the UCI Cross-Country Short Track (XCC), Cross-Country Olympic (XCO) and Downhill (DHI) Worlds Cups are scheduled to take place, who is racing and how to follow the action. WHEN? Due to the latest weather forecast from Météo France, indicating continued Vigilance Jaune status because of storms, heavy rains, and potential flooding, the existing schedule for the UCI Downhill World Cup on Saturday, 6 July 2024, will not proceed as planned. The revised race schedule is as follows, based on the latest weather forecast review: 11:00 AM CET: UCI Downhill World Cup – Elite Final Women, followed by Elite Final Men. Final start lists will circulated through the official channels. The Finals of the UCI Downhill Junior World Cup are cancelled. Following the article 4.11.010 of UCI Regulations, if the final cannot take place due to unforeseen circumstances, the last qualifying round determines the final result.  Further updates will be communicated if there is any deterioration in the weather that affects this revised schedule. Sunday, July 7 09:00 – UCI Cross-Country Olympic World Cup | Women U23 11:00 – UCI Cross-Country Olympic World Cup | Women Elite 13:30 – UCI Cross-Country Olympic World Cup | Men Elite 15:30 – UCI Cross-Country Olympic World Cup | Men U23 WHERE CAN I WATCH? You can watch all the action from the WHOOP UCI Mountain Bike World Series round in Les Gets (Haute-Savoie) wherever you are in the world. There will be live timings on the official WHOOP UCI Mountain Bike World Series website and highlights on the WHOOP UCI Mountain Bike World Series’ Instagram and Facebook channels, with top stories from the race weekend to be published on the YouTube channel. Both the men’s and women's UCI Cross-country Olympic World Cup U23 races will be broadcast live on the WHOOP UCI Mountain Bike World Series YouTube channel, but for all other races, tune in to one of the below channels or streaming services: EUROPE: Austria: discovery+ Belgium: HBO Max, Eurosport 2 Czech Republic: Max, Eurosport 2 and Czech TV (only XCO) Denmark: Max, Eurosport 2 France: Max, Eurosport 2 and La Chaine L’Équipe Germany: discovery+, Eurosport 2 Hungary: Max, Eurosport 2 Ireland: discovery+, Eurosport 2 Italy: discovery+, Eurosport 2 Netherlands: HBO Max, Eurosport 2 Norway: Max, Eurosport 2 Poland: Max, Eurosport 2 Portugal: Max, Eurosport 2 Romania: Max, Eurosport 2 Slovenia: Max, Eurosport 2 Spain: Max, Eurosport 2 Sweden: Max, Eurosport 2 Switzerland: Eurosport player and SRF UK: discovery+, Eurosport 2   CENTRAL/SOUTH AMERICA: Argentina, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Uruguay, Venezuela: Staylive Puerto Rico: Max  AFRICA: Staylive  NORTH AMERICA: USA: Max Canada: Flosports ASIA: Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Maldives, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Palau, Philippines, Russia, Sri Lanka, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan : Staylive China: Zhibo.tv Indonesia, Macao, Malaysia, Mongolia, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand: Eurosport  OCEANIA: Australia: Stan Sport New Zealand: Staylive REST OF THE WORLD: Staylive U23 UCI CROSS-COUNTRY OLYMPIC RACES: YouTube LIVE TIMING: live.ucimtbworldseries.com   RIDERS TO WATCH Women Elite UCI Downhill World Cup leader and UCI World Champion Valentina Höll (YT Mob) didn’t have it all her way last time out in Val di Sole, Trentino (Italy) but she’ll be back on the slopes looking to show she remains the rider to beat. Another strong performance from her closest rival and the most recent UCI World Cup podium-topper Tahnee Seagrave (Canyon CLLCTV FMD) could put another decent-sized dent in the 229 points that currently separate them. Marine Cabirou (Scott Downhill Factory) is breathing down Seagrave’s neck in third place - she won here in Les Gets last year so has reason to believe she can go higher. The Men Elite UCI Downhill World Cup winner in Val di Sole last time out was Amaury Pierron (Commencal/Muc-Off by Riding Addiction). Pierron broke the C5 vertebrae in his neck a year ago, and the win, he wrote on Instagram, weighed “1 ton of doubts, 10 ton of pain [and] 100 ton of work.” No-one expects him to stop there. Despite his falling to a (relatively) lowly 5th place in Val di Sole, Pierron and the rest will still surely see Loïc Bruni (Specialized Gravity) as the man to beat on the fearsome Alpine descents with his team-mate and closest rival Finn Iles hungriest of all to take a bite out of Bruni’s massive overall lead. Benoît Coulanges (Dorval AM Commencal) has struggled to get going this season, but his victory last year tells us he knows and likes this course and must be seen to represent a threat. The Les Gets cross-country fields will be without both Men Elite and Women Elite UCI World Champions, Pauline Ferrand-Prévot and Tom Pidcock (both Ineos Grenadiers). That opens the door in the Olympic (XCO) races for rivals to take a confidence-boosting win ahead of Paris 2024 - now just three weekends away. The male name on everyone’s lips will be that of veteran Nino Schurter (Scott-Sram MTB Racing Team.) Schurter powered to victory in Val di Sole and came in a creditable 4th place in Crans-Montana (Valais, Switzerland) - despite crashing several times on a single lap. Right behind the Swiss great in Val di Sole and in the same relative position in the overall standings is South Africa’s Olympic hope Alan Hatherly (Cannondale Factory Racing.) If Hatherly arrives in Les Gets at the peak of his strength and confidence he could see himself on the top step of the podium for the first time. No stranger to that same position - albeit on the shorter distance XCC course - are Victor Koretzky (Specialized Factory Racing) and Sam Gaze (Alpecin-Deceuninck). Both have taken two wins apiece in the short track, while XCC leader Koretzky hasn’t fared too badly over the longer XCO races either. Gaze seems to have lacked the endurance and has finished both the last two rounds in the 30s. His Alpecin-Deceuninck team-mate Puck Pieterse has only been getting stronger throughout the season, clearly with the aim of hitting peak performance in time for Paris. Despite competing in just three out of five rounds of the UCI Cross-country World Cup, last year’s Les Gets winner finds herself in fourth place overall and hasn’t been off the podium in a single cross-country race. The leaderboard is headed by Alessandra Keller (Thömus Maxon) who finished second in Val di Sole and has been similarly consistent through 2024. A first XCO win of the season could be just what the Swiss rider needs ahead of the Olympics. In the absence of Haley Batten (Specialized Factory Racing) Keller will want to keep Loana Lecomte (Canyon CLLCTV XCO) in her sights. Lecomte found her form and her flow in Crans-Montana two weeks ago, and from one win so often comes another.   Racing gets underway on Friday, July 5 in Les Gets (Haute-Savoie, France) Full schedule and event details are available HERE

Riders faced a ten-stage race, covering over 56km, including grueling liaisons and 2,480m of fast descending. The six stages that made up the UCI Enduro World Cup would return, with the additional of two power stages and one stage newcomer, Jaillet Superior. After a deluge of rain throughout the evening, the changing trail conditions would play a huge part in deciding the fate of riders in today's race.   STAGE 1 AND STAGE 2: POWER STAGE ONE & COL DU JAILLET  Putting the emphasis on the ‘e’ in e-enduro, riders started their day with a power stage. Only 0.2km in length, this steep, purpose-built section of track felt like it was made for Sofia Wiedenroth (Specialized Enduro Team), who took the stage win by +1.406, with teammate Estelle Charles following suit in second.   Overall series leader Flo Espiñeira (Orbea Fox Enduro Team), finished the stage in fifth, but was back on top at the end of stage two, having put just +2.572 seconds between her and second place Italian, Alia Marcellini (Haibike). Estelle Charles remained steady, taking third place on the second stage of the day.   Meanwhile in the men’s field, Irishman Gregory Callaghan made his UCI E-Enduro World Cup debut and had a clean start on the first stage of the day, slotting into the top ten. But it would be the French that dominated the stage one results, taking six of the top 10 spots. Levy Batista (Rocky Mountain Gravity Racing) secured the stage win, fellow countryman Adrien Dailly (Lapierre Zipp Collective) would take third, with Portuguese rider Tiago Ladeira (Miranda Factory Team) splitting the two, taking second, only +0.254 of a second behind Batista.   Riders who competed in Friday’s UCI Enduro World Cup proved that their double-efforts would pay off on stage 2, Col du Jaillet, as they collectively took the three of the four top spots. Kevin Marry (Lapierre Zipp Collective) in fourth, Martin Maes (Orbea Fox Factory Enduro Team) returning to pace in third, Antoine Rogge (Lapierre Zipp Collective) finished the stage in second, with Cecce Endu (Specialized Enduro Team) taking the stage win.     STAGE 3 AND STAGE 4: CHRISTOMET & CABANE DU TETRAS  The mix of freshly cut raw trails offered up in stage three, Christomet, combined with the natural ruts and roots of stage four, Cabane du Tetras, created a mind-boggling mix of both dry and extremely muddy conditions. It didn’t seem to bother Espiñeira however, who took the stage win on three, and third place on stage four.   Opting for a riders right high line to avoid the carpet of roots, Estelle Charles made herself at home on stage four, Cabane du Tetras, to take the win, placing the French athlete in overall lead of the race as they head into stage five.   In the men’s race, Cecce Endu & Antonie Rogge switched up places as they crossed the line at the end of stage three, whilst overall series leader, José Soares Manuel Borges (Canyon Collective Factory Enduro Team), continued to struggle, placing 14th on stage three and 18th on stage four.   Alex Marin (GasGas Factory Racing) struggled to hold on with a crash on Cabane du Tetras but was still +3.439 seconds ahead of Australian Ryan Gilchrist (Yeti/Fox Factory Race Team), finishing forth on the stage behind Callaghan in third, Damien Oton (Oolab Team) in second, with Rogge making it two stage wins in a row.   STAGE 5 AND STAGE 6: COMBLOUX & POWER STAGE TWO  With only one stage to go before riders visit the technical assistance zone (TAZ), stage five was a beast. Full of chunky chunder, flat corners and snaking, switch back turns, it brought the full speed of bike park trails to the riders.   In the women’s race, George Smith (Yeti / Fox Factory Race Team) took a surprising stage win in her first ever E-Enduro, ahead of Estelle Charles and Espiñeira, and kept her form on the following power stage to come out second, and up to fourth overall.   Rolling into the last four stages of the day, Estelle Charles led the pack, followed by Espiñeira and Marcellini. With such close racing, there is everything to play for and no guarantee of the top step for Charles needed to fend off the overall series leader to secure the race win.   The men’s race saw Frenchmen Hugo Pigeon (Scott Sr Suntour Enduro Team) take the stage win. Rogge showed he’s keeping pace, taking second place followed by Ryan Gilchrist (Yeti / Fox Factory Race Team) in third, his best result of the day so far. Then came some tactical tire changes in the Technical Assistance Zone (TAZ), with at least Yeti / Fox Factory Racing and Orbea Fox Enduro Team both changing from dry to mud tires, a sign of the conditions that lie ahead.   The fans were out in force on stage 6, the second and final power stage of the day, giving all their encouragement to Cecce Endu, who suffered a broken chain, forcing him to push up the steep switchback climb and ultimately resulting in a dead last stage finish for the French local. Portuguese rider Emanuel Pombo (Miranda Factory Team) took the stage win, with Rogge not taking home any points on this stage, but retaining overall lead of the race, ahead of Kevin Marry, who gathered a crucial eight points on Combloux, to keep him in contention.     STAGE 7 AND 8: JAILLET SUPERIOR & MEGÈVE  If there were two stages that would determine the heroes of this race, the technically challenging terrain of stage 7 and 8 would be it.   Estelle Charles took her third and fourth stage wins of the day, ahead of Flo Espiñeira who followed up with second place in both stages. Although she finished third overall on stage seven and eight, a huge mechanical on Megève with a suspected motor issue, ended Marcellini’s race, a second heartbreaking finish for the Italian racer after her DNF in Saalfalden Leogang – Salzburgerland. Another big loss after she was on-track for a podium here in Combloux, Haute-Savoie.   In the men’s race, Cecce Endu’s broken chain on power stage two would cost him a time penalty, moving him out of the top ten elite men, and there was drama for Michael Hannah (Yeti/Fox Factory Racing) who ended up off course on the 2.3km of the rough, wild, and rocky singletrack of the Megève stage. But it was Adrien Dailly (Lapierre Zipp Collective), who stopped his teammate Rogge from taking his third stage win of the day. Rogge had to settle for second place on stage seven, and the same on stage eight, where Damien Oton claimed the stage win.  STAGE 9 AND 10: ROUGE DES FRASSES & COMBLOUX  The all-natural 1.7km Rouge des Frasses may be a short stage, but it offered no respite for the riders as its big, mature roots were time-zappers lying in waiting. A second shot on Combloux would be the final stage of the day, with George Swift hoping for a repeat stage win.   Flo Espiñeira and Estelle Charles continued their battle, and it would be the overall series leader Espiñeira who would find enough gas in the tank to take the final two stage wins.  But the Chilean would have to settle for second place in the overall race, as Estelle Charles took her first UCI E-enduro World Cup win. George Swift, who brough home her best World Cup result to date, finished the race in third place.   Stage nine in the men’s race saw Ryan Gilchrist find his form to take the stage win. He’d go on to win the final stage of the day, a re-run of Combloux, securing him the third-place podium spot. Antoine Rogge’s third and fourth finishes on stage 9 and 10 respectively allowed him to maintain a comfortable 22-point lead, to take his first UCI E-enduro World Cup win. Damien Oton’s steady pace throughout the day was rewarded with the second-place spot on the podium, his best result since the 2018 Enduro World Series round in Finale Outdoor Region. Despite a huge crash on stage 10, Hugo Pigeon stayed in the points to secure fourth place overall, followed by Greg Callaghan in fifth.   THE RACE FOR SERIES LEAD  Flo Espiñeira remains top of the overall standings as Ryan Gilchrist regains the overall series leader jersey after some hard-fought stages in Combloux, Haute-Savoie. Gilchrist’s team, Yeti / Fox Factory Race Team also remain untouched in the team standings, with two races left of the 2024 season. The UCI Enduro & E-enduro World Cup returns in mid-July (12-14), when the WHOOP UCI Mountain Bike World Series rolls into Aletsch Arena in Switzerland, the seventh new race venue on the 2024 series calendar.   The WHOOP UCI Mountain Bike World Series continues its stay in France next week (4-7), with the series’ biggest weekend on the calendar in Les Gets, Haute-Savoie.

After a week of unsettled weather, the athletes racing the 100 km UCI Mountain Bike Marathon World Cup (XCM) were faced with some gruelling trail conditions coupled with high humidity as they completed the Mont Blanc Ultra Somfy at the first of two weekends of the WHOOP UCI Mountain Bike World Series in Haute-Savoie, France.   Athletes endured an intense course that had over 5,000m of elevation gain to conquer before reaching the 70km mark, including summiting Bellastat. The course consisted of a mixture of climbs and descents, including steep sections like the Chemin des Granges climb and offered a diverse and rugged terrain, making it a suitable battle for even the most experienced of mountain bikers.   A TOUGH RACE FOR LOOSER 2023 overall winner Lejla Njemcevic started strong alongside 2023 UCI Marathon World Champion Adelheid Morath with the pair leading by two minutes at halfway point, whilst the French National Champion, Margot Moschetti couldn’t keep pace and was a full ten minutes back at the same point. It wasn’t to be for Morath, who dropping out at the 70km mark, or Moschetti, who managed to cross the line in eighth.   Meanwhile, there was early drama for Nové Mĕsto Na Moravĕ winner Vera Looser when she suffered a technical problem, which led to a hard push from the Namibian to come back to catch Njemcevic. The pair broke free of the pack, leaving American Hannah Rae Otto in third place, ten minutes behind the duo.  But the difficult race for Looser didn’t stop there, as she suffered a puncture and dropped crucial time behind Njemcevic, allowing the Bosnian to cruise the remain kilometres to the finish line in Megève, taking the UCI XCM World Cup win.  Looser somehow managed to hold onto a third-place finish behind Otto, in her first UCI XCM World Cup outing since winning the final round of the 2023 season in Snowshoe, West Virginia (USA). Speaking to the overall series leader about her thoughts on the race, Njemcevic said:   I just wanted to ride a steady race from beginning to the end. I was riding with Adelheid, so we were bouncing back and forth, but I was always sticking to my plan. My racing plan wrote my own race, and in the end, everything worked out. With the final race of the season taking place in Mt Van Hoevenberg, Lake Placid later this year, Njemcevic has her eyes firmly set on the 2024 Overall Series Champion jersey:   It's really exciting, but I think I'm the best. I know I'm the best. First race, I was better, made a tactical mistake, but this race is the hardest race we ever did.I was the best by far, so I don't expect anything less than winning an overall in the USA. I can't wait for it. A BATTLE OF THE GREATS  In the elite men’s field, it wasn’t to be a repeat victory for Fabian Rabensteiner as he finished fifth overall - just behind Roberto Bou Martin (Kilmatiza Toteemi Cabberty) in fourth and Italy’s Samuele Porro in third - enough for him to remain in overall lead of the series.   Frenchman Basile Allard lipped to finish 22nd whilst Martin Stošek (Canyon Sidi MTB Team) suffered with a rear flat tyre whilst only two minutes from the lead pack.  Upfront it was the battle of the World Champions, as 2019 and 2020 UCI Cross-country Marathon World Champion Héctor Leonardo Páez stuck like glue to Andreas Seewald (Canyon Sidi MTB Team), the 2021 UCI Cross-country Marathon World Champion. Paez’s strategy to leave enough in the tank for the last crucial uphill allowed him to take the lead and secure the race win by over one and a half minutes.   Héctor Leonardo Páez said:  I did a very smart race. I knew it would be a very tough one, and I had to save the energy from the beginning and test the last uphill and take care in the last downhill as there was a lot of mud.  Race was as I expected and very happy with this win. The last downhill was perfect for me as I tried it before, so it gave me some confidence to have a gap and win the race. The final round of the UCI Mountain Bike Marathon (XCM) World Cup event will take place in a new debut venue for 2024, Mt Van Hoevenberg, Lake Placid. This iconic venue in northern New York State is famed for hosting the Winter Olympic Games in both 1932 and 1980. Racing takes place on the weekend of 27 – 29 September 2024.  

The village of Combloux in the Haute-Savoie region of the French Alps might have been making its first appearance on the UCI Enduro World Cup stage, but this corner of France’s status as the beating heart of the format makes this weekend’s racing something of a homecoming for the sport. Its debut WHOOP UCI Mountain Bike World Series course wasn’t welcoming riders with open arms though, providing a stern test across six stages featuring 2,530m descent, while the total course (including liaisons) would see competitors tackle a 39.2km with 1,685m elevation gain. Combined with a slick track from rain earlier this week and baking hot conditions, and the field had their work cut out for them just to make it to the finish line without succumbing to time penalties. STAGE 1: COL DU JAILLET The opener saw riders take on Col du Jaillet, a 2.4km stage packed full of slippery roots, and tight, narrow alpine singletrack. Pivot Factory Racing’s Morgane Charre came out of the gate hot, laying down a 5:31.117 on home soil to show she’s still got a part to play in the UCI Enduro World Cup overall standings despite not yet reaching the highs of last season. Cannondale’s Ella Conolly was second on the stage, 2.95 seconds back, while series leader Isabeau Courdurier (Lapierre Zipp Collective) had to settle for third – 5.84 seconds behind Charre – after suffering issues with her rear derailleur. Courdurier’s closest competitor in the overall series, Harriet Harden (Trek Factory Racing Gravity), finished in 6th, 18.4 seconds back on the stage one leader. The men’s competition meanwhile saw a new name at the top of the pile – Downhill specialist Luke Meier-Smith (Giant Factory Off-Road Team) taking to the Combloux trails with an eye on 2024 UCI Enduro World Championships selection and recording a 4:35.857. Familiar face and series leader Richie Rude (Yeti/Fox Factory Race Team) managed second, 1.445 seconds down on the Australian, while Rude’s teammate Slawomir Lukasik was the best of the rest at +5.036. It wasn’t all plain sailing on stage one though, with Marco Osborne suffering a huge crash that left him more than 3 minutes down.  STAGE 2: CHRISTOMET After a punchy liaison, riders faced a 2.8km trail that paired a tight woodland middle section with a wide, open start and finish. Charre did enough on the stage, leading a French top three – Courdurier and Mélanie Pugin in second and third – and extending her lead over her closest compatriot to 6.259 seconds. Conolly’s fourth on the stage was enough to keep her in third in the day’s overall, with there a sizeable gap forming between third place and Pugin in fourth (+18.22). The home crowd were given something to cheer in the men’s too, Alex Rudeau (Commencal Enduro Project) bouncing back from 17th position on the first stage to take the win and move himself up to 7th on the day, 10.377 seconds back on race leader Rude. The ever-consistent American lost just 1.215 seconds to Rudeau on the stage, with Micro Vendemmia sandwiched between them.   STAGE 3: ROUGE DES FRASSES The all-natural 1.7km stage three might have been the race’s shortest, but its big, mature roots meant it was a trail when riders could lose substantial amounts of time. And so it would prove in the women’s field, where no one could get within four seconds of the on-fire Charre. The Frenchwoman’s gap was now over 11 seconds on second place Conolly, while Courdurier found herself in the unfamiliar position of third, 12.329 seconds behind Charre. It wasn’t just Charre who was coming to life in her home UCI EDR World Cup though, with Rudeau securing back-to-back stage wins to propel himself up to fourth position. The in-form rider – who finished second in Saalfelden Leogang’s UCI EDR World Cup three weeks ago – was laying it all on the line, and no one could get within 1.5 seconds of him. While Rude still led, his advantage was diminishing.   STAGE 4: MEGÈVE The hot conditions and tight liaisons were starting to take their toll on the riders, but by the midway point they still had several difficult stages to overcome before the finish in Combloux – starting with the 2.3km of rough and wild, rocky singletrack to Megeve. Charre was absolutely flying, extending her 100% record by putting more than 9 seconds into second place Conolly. Her lead was now more than 20 seconds, and it would take disaster for her to not record her first UCI EDR World Cup win of this 2024 season. Rudeau clearly got the memo too, taking his third stage win on the bounce and cutting a further 3.952 seconds from Rude’s overall lead. There were now just 1.796 seconds separating the pair, and with two stages remaining, anything could happen.   STAGE 5: CAMANE DU TERRAS While nothing is a given in Enduro, Morgan Charre was onto her victory lap by the time she dropped in on the 1.8km Cabane du Terras. But no one appeared to have told her she could take her foot off the gas. The Pivot Factory Racing rider cemented her top spot with a fifth stage win, Harriet Harnden putting some poor results behind herself to finish second, 2.2 seconds back. The biggest shift in the result was Ella Conolly, who lost time on Courdurier, which saw the reigning overall series winner leapfrog the Brit into second. In the men’s, Rudeau’s hot streak was broken by a resurgent Jack Moir (YT Mob) – the 2021 series winner pipping the Frenchman to first by 0.167 seconds. Rude meanwhile dropped more time on Rudeau, with his lead at the top of the overall now just 0.052 seconds. With Meier-Smith sat in third and more than 11 seconds in arrears, it was set to be a straight shootout between Rude and Rudeau for the podium top spot.   STAGE 6: COMBLOUX For final showdowns, they don’t get much better than stage 6 to Combloux. At 4.24km, its chunky chunder, flat corners and snaking, switch backing turns would be a challenge when feeling fresh. But throw in hours of racing in searing conditions, and the stage would push riders to their limit. One rider who didn’t have to go all in was Charre, who sat up (slightly), and missed out on a 100% stage-win record – Harnden taking the honours instead. It would have no bearing on the overall though, the Frenchwoman finishing more than 23 seconds up on her compatriot Courdurier, with Ella Conolly third. Harnden (fourth) and Pugin (fifth) would complete the podium. Speaking after the race, Morgane Charre said: “It was so good today. I love these conditions when it’s drying a little bit. I was so happy with my riding. [Riding at my home race] makes you stay a bit more positive and fight a bit harder. A lot of my family and friends came to watch and it was really cool. [My favourite moment was] probably stage four – I had a few loose moments, but I just kept going and was so excited.” While the women’s race was a foregone conclusion, there would be drama until the last in the men’s field. Both Rude and Rudeau were clearly on the limit, and both would end up on the deck after pushing too hard. It was Rude who was able to recover though, breaking French hearts by finishing three seconds up on Rudeau on the stage. The disappointment was compounded for the Frenchman – Meier-Smith winning his second stage of the day and snatching second place in the final standings. Lukasik finished fourth – his fourth podium of the season – with Moir fifth. Speaking after the race, Richie Rude said: “The thing that kept me going is knowing that the conditions were really good today. It was a lot drier than yesterday for practice. I was stoked for every stage. It was tough having the lead but having it chipped away at every stage. That was a bit stressful but I enjoy the battle and having done it a bunch of times, I know that I can do well in those situations.”   GOLDSBURY RECORDS BACK-TO-BACK WINS WHILE MAXA SHOWS MAXIMUM CONSISTENCY IN UNDER-21 EVENTS A blistering stage 3 and 4 was enough for New Zealand’s Winni Goldsbury to blow the competition away to win the Women’s Under-21 by more than 50 seconds over Simona Kuchynkova. Third place was Lily Boucher of Canada. In the Men’s Under-21 event, Czech Republic’s Adam Maxa showed that consistency – rather than stage wins – is key in Enduro. While he didn’t top a stage, his lowest position was 4th, which allowed him to build an unassailable 14.6-second lead over series leader Jt Fisher (Yeti/Fox Factory Race Team). Round one and two winner Bailey Christie (Theory Racing) finished third. In the open racing categories, 185 amateurs raced four of the same stages as the professionals. Tomorrow (Saturday) sees the turn of the Endurance athletes as the UCI Mountain Bike Marathon World Cup makes its debut in Megève, Haute-Savoie, while the Gravity action resumes on Sunday with the E-Enduro riders taking to the Combloux, Haute-Savoie course, completing two loops and 10 stages. Can anyone stop Florencia Espiñeira (Orbea Fox Enduro Team)? And who will come out on top in a super competitive men’s field?

The 30-year-old Frenchwoman was one of cross-country mountain biking’s rising stars before her world came tumbling down. After battling with injuries, an eating disorder and juggling training with a part-time job just to make ends meet, she has found her calling in the Cross-country Marathon (XCM) format. Ahead of her home race at the UCI Mountain Bike Marathon World Cup in Megève, Haute-Savoie, the French XCM champion shares how her career highs and lows have shaped her outlook and her ambitious goal for 2025. Margot Moschetti is happiest when on her bike in the big outdoors. In fact, it’s how she got into cross-country mountain biking.  Growing up on the outskirts of Nice in the south of France, she was an avid swimmer and practised judo, but she longed to explore her Côte d’Azur surroundings rather than be confined to the pool or judo hall. Her father, a keen mountain biker, suggested she join him for a ride. Her path was set. “It's a freedom to be outside and have no planned training period,” she says. “You can go whenever during the day and enjoy being free and outside.  While the 30-year-old has been on the professional cross-country circuit for more than a decade and riding and racing mountain bikes since the age of 13, clipping into her pedals to go and train still puts a smile on her face. But it hasn’t always been this way. A RISING STAR From the outside, Moschetti’s early career follows the trajectory of most of the sport’s rising stars. After a string of impressive results at Junior and Under-23 level – including numerous UCI Cross-country Olympic (XCO) World Cup wins and silver at the Under-23 2014 UCI XCO World Championship in Hafjell - Lillehammer (Norway), she signed with an established team – 1996 Olympic champion Bart Brentjen’s Betch.NL Superior-Brentjens – for the 2015 season. “They were enjoyable years because there was quite a lot of success and I enjoyed having those victories and that recognition,” she says. “It gave me the opportunity to join a big, organised team and learn a lot from that experience with Bart [Brentjen’s] – how to be more professional, what it means to be a high-level athlete, how to get ready for a specific event.” Her final season as an Under-23 saw her record more UCI World Cup podiums and a silver at the European Championships, but when she progressed to the Women’s Elite class in 2016, she went from being in contention for victories to struggling to break the top 30. It wasn’t a case of the Elite class being a step too far though. Moschetti had been suffering from an eating disorder for more than two years, and her body was at breaking point. A VICIOUS CYCLE It all started in 2013 when she was sidelined with a serious knee injury that would take six months just to recover. “I didn’t get the best advice and was told that, because I wasn’t able to do sport, I might put on weight and then not be able to perform at the same level after that,” she says. “It clicked in my head that I couldn’t put on weight, and I had to be careful with my eating. I almost stopped eating to try and manage it.” When she did resume training, she continued being incredibly strict on what and how much she was eating. Despite the imbalance, she achieved some of her best results – reinforcing the negative approach to nutrition. “I lost a lot of weight, trained a lot, and had huge results. But eventually it took a toll on my body and that was the start of the end.” Moschetti developed mononucleosis – a viral infection also known as Glandular fever where symptoms include extreme tiredness, high temperatures and swollen neck glands – and couldn’t shake it for a year. On returning to racing, the results still weren’t there, and by 2019, her contract with Brentjen’s outfit wasn’t renewed, meaning she had to join a smaller team, where a pay cut forced her to get a part-time job to make ends meet. “When you have all those successes in the XCO, and you have been in the front all the time, it's difficult to step back. Everything goes into a vicious cycle – you must leave the big team you were in and join a smaller team with less means. I had to have a part-time job, which meant less time to train and less time to recover. It was difficult to live and cope with it. REBUILDING FROM THE BOTTOM Moschetti credits her family with helping her overcome her eating disorder, providing the support and care she needed to focus on herself and understand that she had to take care of herself. Her part-time job – where she helped disabled children get physically active – gave her a reality check too. “I thought ‘Maybe I have to calm down about watching what I’m eating and just think about how I feel’.” She’s quick to point out that she’s still not ‘cured' – “I can still feel the devil on my shoulder and have to make sure that I’m not falling into that vicious cycle again” – but she’s confident that she has the right team and support in place to ensure she’s making the best choices about eating. MASTERING THE MARATHON It’s clearly working for her too, and Moschetti is getting back to her best. She decided to focus solely on the Marathon format from the 2023 season – “it was a natural choice because of the long distances and the opportunity to be in a more open landscape rather than lapping on a short track as you do in XCO and XCC” – and narrowly missed out on a top 10 place at 2023’s four-round UCI XCM World Cup season. This season, she has signed with E-Fort, and has been able to train as a full-time professional once more. Her only objective this year has been to train and get better; Moschetti’s main focus the 2025 UCI XCM World Championships. But her win at last weekend’s French XCM national championship show that she’s on the right path. “I’m very happy to wear the French jersey again. It gives me a lot of motivation for the future and shows the level of training and recovery that’s necessary to perform at the highest level. I’m putting everything together to get back to my best and where I belong.” She adds that she’s happy to race at home at this weekend’s UCI XCM World Cup in Megève, Haute-Savoie with the jersey on and that she “will give the best of herself” to secure a result for the local fans. But ultimately, if her highs and lows have taught her anything, it’s that she doesn’t want to take the opportunity for granted.  “The difficulties have freed my mind of some the constraints that I had earlier in my career and made me more conscious of how lucky I am to be back as a full-time pro – getting paid to do what I enjoy.”

This weekend marks the return of the UCI Mountain Bike Marathon World Cup (XCM) in the WHOOP UCI Mountain Bike World Series, as riders line up in Megève, Haute-Savoie, France, for the second long-distance Endurance event in the format’s three-race season. After May’s opener in rider favourite Nové Mĕsto Na Moravĕ, Czechia, the Megève event poses a new challenge – the venue making its WHOOP UCI Mountain Bike World Series debut. But it’s not a complete unknown to fans of long-distance off-road racing – the 100km XCM race joining the iconic Mont Blanc Ultra Somfy, organised by the MB Race, a legendary event regarded as the world’s most difficult one-day mountain bike race. CLIMB-HEAVY COURSE The stunningly beautiful foothills of the Mont Blanc massif are the setting for the race, but riders will have little chance to admire the views with 5,000m of elevation gain to tackle across the 100km course. The climbing starts on leaving the race village in Megève with an ascent of the Col du Jaillet to Tête de Torraz – a gruelling 16km mountain pass packed with 1,200m of elevation gain. Riders return to Megève at 70km having summited Sommet Bellastat, before a final 30km loop with a jagged profile that finishes with a descent down to the finish line. RABENSTEINER AND LOOSER OFF TO A STRONG START The three-race nature of the UCI Cross-country Marathon World Cup means every position and UCI point counts in the contest for the overall series win. Fabian Rabensteiner got his defense off to the perfect start, taking maximum points with a strong final climb in Nové Mĕsto Na Moravĕ that enabled him to build a small but unassailable lead on his fellow breakaways Alex Miller, Samuele Porro and Marc Stutzmann (Canyon Sidi MTB Team). The Italian has only raced once since the opening XCM round – a DNF in the Dolomites where he retired due to stomach issues – allowing him to focus on this weekend’s racing in France. Porro and Stutzmann will also be in contention in Megève with Miller not racing in France, while Wout Alleman (Buff Megamo Team), Simon Stiebjahn (Singer Racing Team) and Héctor Leonardo Páez Leon have all recorded strong rides in the intervening weeks after missing out on the podium positions in Czechia. In the women’s field, Vera Looser continued her impressive UCI World Cup form, adding another victory to her first and third place in the two races she competed at in 2023. Last year’s overall winner Lejla Njemčević couldn’t keep up with the Namibian’s pace on the second lap in Nové Mĕsto Na Moravĕ, settling for second, with Rosa Van Doorn (Buff Megamo Team) third. All three and Van Doorn’s teammate Janina Wüst (Buff Megamo Team) go into this weekend’s race as contenders, while recently crowned French National Champion Margot Moschetti, is the best chance of a local victory. HOW TO KEEP UP WITH THE ACTION You can stay up to date with all the action from the WHOOP UCI Mountain Bike World Series round in Megève, Haute-Savoie, France wherever you are in the world. There will be live timings on the official WHOOP UCI Mountain Bike World Series website and highlights on the WHOOP UCI Mountain Bike World Series’ Instagram and Facebook channels, with top stories from the race weekend to be published on the YouTube channel on Wednesday 3 July. The UCI Mountain Bike Marathon World Cup gets underway in Megève, Haute-Savoie at 6:00 (UTC+2) on Saturday, June 29 with the Men’s Elite, followed by the Women’s Elite at 6:05 (UTC+2) – full schedule and events details are available here.

France’s Haute-Savoie department is hosting back-to-back weekends of UCI World Cup racing, with all six WHOOP UCI Mountain Bike World Series formats competing over three venues and two jam-packed race weekends between Friday, June 28 and Sunday, July 7.  The first weekend (June 28-30) sees the UCI Cross-country Marathon (XCM) Endurance format take to the trails of Megève on Saturday, while there will also be Gravity action setting off from the neighbouring village of Combloux on Friday and Sunday – Mont Blanc’s extensive trail network playing host to the fourth round of the UCI Enduro (EDR) and E-Enduro (E-EDR) World Cups’ six-round series.  While Richie Rude (Yeti/Fox Factory Race Team), Isabeau Courdurier (Lapierre Zipp Collective), Manuel Soares José Borges (Canyon CLLCTV Factory Team) and Flo Herreros (Orbea Fox Enduro Team) lead their respective series, it’s still all to play for with this weekend set to be an intriguing contest.    Demanding, elevation-packed course  While the Haute-Savoie region has become a steadfast host of the WHOOP UCI Mountain Bike World Series this is the first time that Combloux will host the UCI Enduro and E-Enduro World Cups.  This means that, like May’s Bielsko-Biała round, it will be the first time that many athletes will have raced on the trail network. Unlike Poland though, this corner of France has a world-renowned reputation, so it’s likely that it won’t be riders first visits to the region.  The UCI Enduro World Cup will see athletes take on six stages during a 39.2km course featuring 2,530 m descent and 1,685m of total elevation gain (including liaisons), while the UCI E-Enduro World Cup has ten stages across a 57km course with 3,039m descent and 2,480m of total elevation gain (including liaisons).  Open racers in both enduro and e-enduro will take on a similar course to the elite professionals.     Rude and Courdurier not having it all their own way  If you look at the standings, last year’s overall series winners Richie Rude and Isabeau Courdurier appear to be in commanding form at the top of their respective enduro tables. But neither have truly dominated any of the three races this year, even if both have secured two wins from three.  Courdurier’s biggest challenger has been Harriet Harden (Trek Factory Racing Gravity), and the 23-year-old Brit has pushed the Frenchwoman at every single race, narrowly missing out on first place in Bielsko-Biała and Saalfelden Leogang. Another Brit, Ella Conolly, has also been incredibly consistent, recording a podium finish in each of the first three rounds, while there’s surely more to come from last year’s overall series runner-up Morgane Charre (Pivot Factory Racing).  Rude meanwhile has faced stiff competition from his teammate Slawomir Lukasik (Yeti/Fox Factory Race Team) and Charles Murray (Specialized Enduro Team), while Jesse Melamed (Canyon CLLCTV Factory Enduro Team) has been the most consistent rider outside of the top three – even if the Canadian has only managed one podium.  Other riders to look out for are Alex Rudeau (Commencal Enduro Project), who is on an upward trajectory with results of 18th, 9th and 2nd, and Jack Moir (YT Mob) – the 2021 Enduro World Champion’s season yet to truly catch alight.    Gilchrist and Borges resume their title fight, and can anyone stop Herreros?  Saalfelden Leogang witnessed a switch up at the top of the Men’s Elite e-enduro competition – Manuel Soares José Borges finishing fifth to leapfrog Ryan Gilchrist (Yeti/Fox Factory Racing) after the latter slipped to 24th on the day. The pair have been the most in-form riders to date, with one-off entrants Lukasik and Martin (Orbea Fox Enduro Team) keeping the regular e-enduro athletes off the podium top spots in Bielsko-Biała and Saalfelden Leogang. Expect Borges and Gilchrist to resume their battle for supremacy in Combloux’s draining, 10-stage UCI E-Enduro World Cup race.  Despite her dominance to date, Herreros struggled by her high standards in Saalfelden Leogang – the Chilean only winning four out of nine stages. But with her closest competitor Tracy Moseley not on the start list and the rest of the field unable to put together consistent performances stage after stage, few would bet against Herreros making it four wins from four.  How to watch the Enduro action unfold  There will be several ways to watch the action unfold at the first of France’s two UCI Enduro and E-Enduro World Cups of the 2024 Series. For Friday’s Enduro and Sunday’s E-Enduro racing, there will be live timings on the official WHOOP UCI Mountain Bike World Series website and highlights on the WHOOP UCI Mountain Bike World Series’ Instagram and Facebook channels, with top stories from the race weekend to be published on the YouTube channel, before Monday, July 1.  

FACOM, a leading manufacturer of hand tools, is proud to announce its partnership with the WHOOP UCI Mountain Bike World Series. The French brand, which embodies the values of innovation, precision, and reliability, brings its expertise and durable tools to the cycling world. This collaboration reflects a shared passion for performance, which is a key factor in the greatest victories. For over 100 years, FACOM tools have been the instruments of choice for skilled professionals in the most demanding technical industries. Delivering the quality expected from a premium French brand, FACOM tools support technicians and mechanics at the forefront of invention and innovation. Already an Official Supplier to the WHOOP UCI Mountain Bike World Series, FACOM is now advancing its commitment by becoming an Official Partner for the upcoming iconic French rounds over two weekends in the Haute-Savoie region. The two-wheeled action in Haute-Savoie comprises three rounds: the UCI Enduro & E-Enduro World Cup in Combloux from June 28 to 30, the UCI Mountain Bike Marathon World Cup in Megève the same weekend, and the UCI Cross-country Olympic, Short Track, and Downhill World Cups in Les Gets from July 4 to 7. Additionally, FACOM will shine as the Event Presenting Partner of the WHOOP UCI Mountain Bike World Series in Loudenvielle - Peyragudes, hosting rounds of the UCI Downhill, Enduro and E-Enduro World Cups a few weeks later. Olivier Catheland, FACOM’s Marketing Director in France, stated: Through our support of the WHOOP UCI Mountain Bike World Series, FACOM reaffirms its commitment to the world of cycling, which is environmentally conscious and promotes active mobility. This is a new milestone for the brand, which also shares the values of high-level cycling competition: performance, endurance, and durability. Wherever there is a need for absolute precision and the highest quality tools, you will find FACOM. Chris Ball, Vice President of Cycling Events at Warner Bros. Discovery Sports Europe, said: True to its commitment to high-level sport, we are delighted to elevate our partnership with FACOM. Their dedication to innovation, precision, and sustainability are the perfect match for the WHOOP UCI Mountain Bike World Series. We look forward to their increased presence at the upcoming French events in Haute-Savoie and Loudenvielle- Peyragudes, enhancing the experience for teams, athletes, and fans alike. FACOM's tools and expertise will undoubtedly contribute to the continued success of the series in France and beyond. For more information about FACOM and its products, please visit www.facom.com

Tom Pidcock (Ineos-Grenadiers) made it two wins from two in Crans Montana, in his last UCI Cross-country World Cup appearance before next weekend’s Tour de France Grand Départ. A strong but not perfect ride saw him out in front on lap two, and that was where he stayed for the duration. In the Women’s UCI Cross-country Olympic (XCO) World Cup race Loana Lecomte (Canyon CLLCTV) made all the right moves with a dominant performance on a tough course in difficult conditions. LECOMTE BARELY PUTS A FOOT WRONG IN CHALLENGING CRANS-MONTANA CONDITIONS “It’s a proper course. Not a cyclocross course.” Loana Lecomte (Canyon CLLCTV) said at the start of the week, revealing her taste for the more challenging, technical Crans-Montana circuit. The French national champion went on to prove it, leading the Women’s Elite UCI Cross-country Olympic (XCO) World Cup race from start to finish, with only a few short spells off the front. The absence of the overall XCO leader Haley Batten (Specialized Factory Racing) and third place Savilia Blunk (Decathlon Ford Racing Team) had presented possibilities for swings in the overall standings on a treacherous day. Several riders were looking to move up. Lecomte and Laura Stigger (Specialized Factory Racing) shot off the start line, as Allessandra Keller (Thömus Maxon) went bar to bar with Puck Pieterse (Alpecin-Deceuninck.) Saturday’s UCI XCC World Cup winner leading around the corner and onto the start loop’s tight asphalt climb. Keller pushed on into the woods, but it was Kate Courtney (Scott-Sram MTB Racing Team) who took over ahead of a short off-camber downward dip. Onto the longer wooded descent Loana Lecomte went full send to take a sizable 15 second lead over the startline. Keller, who struggled on the downhill, led the charge behind, with Courtney and Gwen Gibson (Trek Factory Racing - Pirelli) in her wake. Puck Pieterse left to the front of the chase group on the course proper. Everyone was obliged to walk through the next forested section as the field thinned out on the technical uphill. The race was all over the track, but Pieterse was able to gain a bit of ground on Lecomte, while distancing the rest. The Frenchwoman was not hanging about. As Lecomte opted for the challenging constructed timber garden centre, Pieterse took the wide line, costing her a couple of seconds, while Keller in third place also played it safe. After fifteen minutes racing, Lecomte was going from strength to strength, 17 seconds to the good over Pieterse. Into the rock garden, Lecomte went for the middle, balanced line and was followed by Pieterse. Onto the second lap where Pieterse at least had Lecomte in her sights - just - with the Dutch rider in Keller’s. Already a minute further back a battle for fourth place was unfolding between Laura Stigger (Specialized Factory Racing) and Jen Jackson (Liv Factory Racing.) On the steep muddy climb Pieterse was practically back to the front of the race, her cyclocross dismount and remount skills working to her advantage. Pieterse took the lead a minute later, as she pieced together the different parts of the course slightly better than Lecomte, with Keller seemingly coming back herself. On the next climb, Lecomte was able to stay on her bike as Pieterse had to run it. Lecomte immediately stomped onto the pedals while Pieterse’s struggled to clip back in cost her several seconds and forced her to relinquish second to Keller. Through the second tech zone, Lecomte spun the gear and pressed forward. Keller was able to find a great rhythm and comfort as Pieterse looked increasingly labored. After half an hour of racing and onto lap three Pieterse seemed to be slipping out of contention for the win. The battle for top spot looked more and more like it would be fought out between Keller and Lecomte. More than two and a half minutes separated 1st on the course from 10th. A slip for Lecomte over a root, her first meaningful mistake, allowed Keller to close the gap; the Swiss rider made a great line choice moments later to put her right on the Frenchwoman’s wheel. Lecomte shook it off and continued to ride her own race. She was particularly confident and competent on the descents, gaining a few metres here and there. Pieterse, meanwhile, was unable to find any parts of the course to favour her. Deeper into the race, Lecomte was able to increase her advantage over Keller to the double digits. Sixty seconds behind Pieterse, Laura Stigger looked like she had 4th place sewn up, as another minute back Evie Richards was looking the better of those battling it out for 5th. Loana Lecomte had her head held high over the start-finish, for an impressive 14’30 lap while Keller began to bob, still able to see Lecomte but barely as she completed her own third circuit in 14’50. The course was drying out even as the more it was ridden increased the depth of the ruts. By the fourth attempt, Lecomte had the more technical sections all figured out and could make them count. At the bell, Lecomte had 35 seconds in hand and was odds-on to become the second French winner of the day in Crans-Montana. Keller, roared on by the home supporters, hadn’t given up. Nor had Pieterse, but it had been a largely lonely race for the European champion. As the course ran out, Lecomte just had to get round, so she took the final technical sections with care. All smiles, she stopped the clock in 1’17 to complete a demonstration. 46 seconds later, Keller crossed the line to become the new UCI XCO World Cup leader. The podium was competed by Pieterse, Stigger and Richards. “It’s good to be back!” a jubilant Lecomte said afterwards. “I love this track,” she continued. “Even if we had a dry track, it’s a real mountain bike track, with a lot of technical sections, and very physical. I can’t wait to be back here for the World Championships next year. The secret is just to be happy and have fun on the bike.” It was Lecomte’s 10th UCI World Cup at elite level. ONE MORE WORLD CHAMPION WORTHY WIN FOR PIDCOCK A week before he is set to line up at the Tour de France in Florence (Italy), Tom Pidcock had time for one last battle with his old nemesis Nino Schurter (Scott-SRAM MTB Racing Team).           The lights went from red to green and all hell broke loose. Alan Hatherly (Cannondale Factory Racing) got off to a great start, as did Marcel Guerrini (BIX Performance Race Team) and Luca Braidot (Santa Cruz Rockshox Pro Team).                          Pidcock was shuffled back a few rows behind the likes of Schurter and British champion Charlie Aldridge (Cannondale Factory Racing). Down onto the Red Bull Roots & Rolls lead the Swiss Scott team-mates of Filippo Colombo and Schurter. Alridge took the prime position as the riders swung onto the track proper but the opening five minutes were tight and cagey. Pidcock slid up to sixth place onto the narrow-wooded climb that had presented challenges in the Women’s Elite race. A few of the men had trouble too, including Pidcock, where Aldridge dug in and made his power advantage count. Julian Schelb (Stop&Go Marderabwehr MTB Team) took the lead from Aldridge towards the top and opened a decent gap on the same short descent that worked so well for Loana Lecomte. Schelb entered the timber garden with Pidcock five seconds back but in hot pursuit. Schurter wasn’t going to let Pidcock’s wheel go that early, wrestling his Scott to keep on the men’s UCI World Champion’s wheel. Pidcock closed to Schelb and took over the lead by taking a trickier line before the rock garden. Schelb didn’t like that and shook his head, going back in front with a faster line of his own. Pidcock took a tumble in the tech zone while snatching a gel. That saw him drop into the Schurter group leaving Schelb to enjoy a bit of clear air. The three were joined at the start of lap two by another Swiss rider, Mathias Flückiger (Thömus Maxon) as Pidcock drove it on to regain contact with Schelb. Pidcock had more trouble in the mud than Schurter and Schelb, but the right line was often more a matter of luck than judgement. The lead changed hands and places were swapped several times across the next few minutes. Pidcock sensed that the time was right and put in a muscular attack ahead of an early descent. He quickly turned that into a seven second advantage over Schurter and Flückiger, as Schelb slipped backwards. Flückiger seemed most capable of bringing back the leader and was just six seconds down, well within reach, at the start of lap 3. Schurter and Schelb were on their own in third and fourth, with Luca Schwarzbauer (Canyon CLLCTV) and Maximilian Brandl (Leware Mountainbike Team) battling it out for the remaining podium place. On the technical rooted section Pidcock kept on his bike while Flückiger had to hop off. It felt like one of the thousand cuts that could see Pidcock disappear into the distance. After half an hour of racing his lead was 19 seconds and growing. A rare mistake on the lap’s early descent from Schurter sent him into a rut and over the barriers. It was a soft landing but cost him bags of time, 3rd place, and left him visibly rattled. Meanwhile, Pidcock held a 34 second lead with more than half the race to go. Another controlled off for Schurter on the rock garden effectively put him out of contention. A less controlled one from Max Brandl required medical attention and put him out completely. Onto lap 4 and Schurter was struggling to hold his place on the podium, battling for it with Schwarzbauer and Luca Forster (Canyon CLLCTV.) Seemingly out of nowhere Pidcock was the next rider to take a hit, losing the front wheel on a root. Unlike others he had time to remount, relax and recover. Then Forster lost his own rear on the logged descent, going down hard and giving up fifth place to Schurter. Pidcock continued to motor, eating up back markers. Such was his lead that he was able to take the cleanest safest lines, get round safely while making it count on the power sections of the course. He crossed the line with the sun coming out, having lost just a few seconds to Flückiger, who could take comfort from at least having stabilised the situation. A minute back, Schelb seemed solid in third, as Luca Braidot (Santa Cruz Rockshox Pro Team) joined Schurter and Schwarzbauer in the squabble for 4th. Despite earlier difficulties Schurter refused to give up, rediscovering his shape, form, and rhythm in the fifth lap. He homed in on Schelb, overtaking him dead on the hour. Pidcock took the long asphalt climb out of the saddle and drew out a few more seconds over Flückiger. Schurter looked to make it hard for Schelb in the fight for 3rd. As the course dried out Braidot wasn’t prepared to allow it to be a two-rider affair. Mid-way through the penultimate lap, with first and second places seemingly secured the interest was in the three riders chasing third. The local crowd knew which of the trio they wanted to take it. At the bell the situation was poised, and course conditions were perfect. Schurter applied the pressure on the early difficult climb but couldn’t quite shake his foes. It looked to be going to the finish - at least between Schurter and Braidot, as Schelb’s light slowly dimmed. On the last lap, Pidcock nudged his own lead over the minute for the first time as he calmly eased his way home, before sprinting to the line. Flückiger cruised to second. With the line in sight, Schurter put in one last dig, but couldn’t do enough to stop Braidot from mugging him for 3rd. Schelb was safe in 4th as Nadir Colledani (Santa Cruz RockShox Pro Team) rounded out the podium. Pidcock, who had not practised the course before the race, admitted to early difficulties: “It was really tricky in the first few laps just to find my own rhythm,” he said afterwards. “We were just getting in each other’s way.” He went onto suggest that, after gapping the field he may have relaxed a bit too much considering what’s in store in the coming weeks: “I made a couple of mistakes after getting my gap. I’ve got big things coming up and I don’t think my team-mates would be too happy if I’d binned myself today. New men’s overall UCI Cross-country Olympic World Cup leader Schurter said he “struggled with the conditions - one lap I think I crashed three times.” All in all, he was “super happy with my 4th place.” ONESTI HITS NEW SEASON HIGH IN U23 XCO After finishing a season’s best second in Val di Sole last weekend, Olivia Onesti (Trinx Factory Team) went one better in Crans-Montana. The French rider got quicker and quicker over the four laps, to win the Women’s U23 Olympic Cross-country World Cup race by more than a minute from Madigan Munroe (Trek Factory Racing - Pirelli.) Emilly Johnston (Trek-Future Racing) the winner of Friday’s XCC, was a further 83 seconds down in third. “It was a really hard race, with a lot of rain and mud,” said Onesti, afterwards. “I like it because it’s different, but it was difficult. I’m so happy because it’s been a lot of work.” In the men’s U23 UCI Cross-Country Olympic World Cup on Saturday, Riley Amos (Trek Factory Racing-Pirelli) romped to his most dominant victory of the season to date. On lap three, Amos kicked clear of compatriot Bjorn Riley (Trek Factory Racing) and Rens Teunissen van Manen (KMC Ridley MTB Racing), quickly building a 16 second lead before going onto win by a comprehensive 37-seconds. “I think that was the hardest, most difficult race of my entire career today,” Amos said afterwards. “Everyone knew it was going to be an absolute war, I went all out from the gun to try and get out front early, make the race my own and make as little mistakes as possible and just try and stay off your ass, it was one hell of a day out there.” Next weekend, the WHOOP UCI Mountain Bike World Series heads to Haute-Savoie, in the heart of the French Alps. The Alpine town of Combloux will host a new round of the UCI Enduro & E-enduro World Cups on June 28 and 30, respectively, while Megève will host Round 2 of the UCI Mountain Bike Marathon World Cup on June 29.

A day after his toughest win of the season, Riley Amos (Trek Factory Racing-Pirelli) romped to his most dominant victory in the U23 UCI Cross-Country Olympic (XCO) World Cup at Crans-Montana, Valais. Amos was pushed all the way in yesterday’s U23 UCI Cross-Crountry Short Track (XCC) World Cup race and crossed the line just two seconds ahead of Bjorn Riley (Trek Factory Racing) but it was a different story in XCO as he enjoyed a comprehensive 37-second margin of victory. Amos took the bull by the horns on the starting loop and only Bjorn and Rens Teunissen van Manen could live with the pace, the Dutchman leading the field onto the first lap for KMC Ridley MTB Racing. Riley and Teunissen van Manen were able to just about stay in touch with Amos in the opening two circuits, but the overall leader kicked fully clear on lap three, putting 16 seconds into his compatriot whose race soon got more exciting. Teunissen van Manen’s afternoon came unstuck when he dropped a minute to the leaders on the second lap and would go on to finish ninth, promoting Luca Martin (Orbea Factory Racing team) onto the podium after he’d previously been the clear best of the rest behind the top trio. As Amos continued to set the pace up front, Riley suffered a crash in the muddy conditions, then chain and handlebar problems and hemorrhaged almost a minute to Martin, dropping behind the Frenchman having looked set for second from the moment Teunissen van Manen fell away. But Riley responded magnificently, using the A-Line in the drier sections to hunt Martin down and eventually retake second place. But it was still a strong result for Martin in his battle with Finn Treudler (Cube Factory Racing) for third place in the overall standings with his rival finishing seventh, and Cole Punchard recorded his best result of the season in fourth for Pivot Cycles-OTE. I think that was the hardest, most difficult race of my entire U23 career today,” Amos said afterwards. “Everyone knew it was going to be an absolute war, I went all out from the gun to try and get out front early, make the race my own and make as little mistakes as possible and just try and stay off your ass, it was one hell of a day out there.  “I tried to stay calm, get off the bike early and run rather than falling over halfway up the hill, and just riding your own race, slow and steady today was the race for sure. While losing ground to Amos, Riley further solidified his own position in the top three of the standings but was made to work for it due to those problems on the fourth lap. I literally just couldn’t find my line, it was a comforting crash in a sense, it didn’t hurt but it was a wild ride,” Riley explained. “I was pretty p****d after that, my bars were turned, then my chain falling off and maybe that p****d off energy gave me a little more gas. “I was like ‘I’ve been second the whole race, I don’t want to crash and be off the podium’, I knew I could go a lot quicker so I just bided my time and tried to go a little above VO2 then settle back into threshold when I could. “It was a fun race, I don’t know if I hated these conditions, I do good in them, but I just want the sun! The women’s U23 XCO World Cup race kickstarts Sunday’s action in Crans-Montana, as the weekend climaxes with the men’s and women’s elite XCO events on the penultimate round before riders turn their attention to the Paris Olympics.

Tom Pidcock (INEOS Grenadiers) was dead last after the start of the Men’s Elite UCI Cross-country Short Track (XCC) World Cup race, but provided a champion’s response by storming through the field to take victory by two seconds in Crans Montana, Valais.  However, knee problems consigned world champion Sam Gaze (Alpecin-Deceuninck) to 36th out of 37 finishers and prevented him from closing in on overall leader Victor Koretzky (Specialized Factory Racing) who missed the round due to illness and injury.  In a pulsating Women’s Elite race, Puck Pieterse (Alpecin-Deceuninck) enjoyed only a slightly more straightforward afternoon as she distanced the favourites with a ferocious attack on the final lap to win a second consecutive XCC round. PIDCOCK OVERTURNS 23-SECOND MARGIN FOR STATEMENT WIN On his final weekend of mountain biking before heading south to the Grand Depart of the Tour de France, then defending his Olympic title in Paris, Pidcock showed he’ll be a force to be reckoned with on all fronts with a scarcely believable comeback from worst to first. The INEOS Grenadiers slipped a pedal after starting on the second row and sunk through the field like a stone, then collided with a rival as he attempted to recover on the descent. Nino Schurter (Scott-SRAM MTB Racing) eventually led the field across the line to start the second of six laps after a merciless first circuit that saw a four-wide bunch sprint up the opening climb in the battle to lead into the technical descent. Gaze was the holeshot but quickly lost touch with the leaders with eventual fourth-place finisher Christopher Blevins (Specialized Factory Racing) later admitting they ‘shot themselves in the foot’ by going too quickly from the off. A whopping 23 seconds ahead of Pidcock after the first lap, Schurter briefly broke away with Luca Schwarzbauer (Canyon CLLCTV) but the pair couldn’t make the move stick as a washing machine effect at the front also saw Blevins and Thomas Litscher (Lapierre Mavic Unity) kick on to no avail. However, a lull on the third and fourth laps allowed the Olympic champion to fight his way back and he dragged a rested bunch with him when he finally made contact, quickly ascending to the podium positions alongside Schwarzbauer and Schurter. Finally making his first attack from the front at the start of the penultimate lap, only the Scott-SRAM pair of Schurter and Filippo Colombo could live with Pidcock’s pace initially before Charlie Aldridge (Cannondale Factory Racing) joined the party and made it a British one-two to start the final circuit. The national champion was a spent force though and the most patient man on the course got his reward at last with Julian Schelb (Stop&Go Marderabwehr MTB Team) punching past Aldridge, Schwarzbauer and the tiring Swiss riders to slot into a second pace that he’d never relinquish. The fastest finisher down the last descent, the German was even visibly closing on the win but left it too late to make the difference as Pidcock could post up before the line and celebrate what seemed like the unlikeliest of victories in the opening minute of racing - less than a week after he was sixth in the Tour de Suisse general classification. “I didn’t make it easy that’s for sure,” Pidcock said afterwards. “At the start I unclipped then I was at the back, and I was actually getting dropped on that first climb, they were going so fast. “Coming from a week-long stage race it’s something a little bit different but I was just riding it full, just to pick off riders every time on the climb and it was just my tactic, just ride full gas. “Going into the descent if you’ve got riders in front, you can only lose time so I was trying to time it right so I could make up time on the descents.” “I got there and I was suffering and I looked around and no one was pulling faces so I thought ‘Oh God, these guys have had it easy’ but I just carried on and obviously they were suffering.” Gaze lined up at the start with heavy strapping on his knee and his paltry return means a three-figure deficit remains to Koretzky at the top of the UCI Cross-country Short Track World Cup tree. Schwarzbauer was one of the main protagonists in the early part of the race but faded at the death meaning Blevins jumps up to third in an exciting battle for the final place on the overall podium - just 142 points separate the American from ninth-placed Jordan Sarrou (Team BMC) UNSTOPPABLE PIETERSE SURGES TO SECOND SUCCESSIVE WIN Chiara Teocchi (Orbea Factory Team) hit the front early in the Women’s Elite XCC race with Pieterse distanced before recovering that ground in the first descent. The race-winning selection was made almost immediately with Loana Lecomte (Canyon CLLCTV) and Alessandra Keller (Thömus Maxon) completing a lead quartet after Lotte Koopmans (KMC Ridley MTB Racing) lost control on the brutally steep Red Bull Roots and Rolls section and speared straight into the netting at the corner. And there was barely a moment’s rest from there in a race full of haymakers in the lead group, Lecomte landing the first (albeit glancing) blow when she gapped the rest on the second lap but failed to make the move stick.  Teochchi was shaken loose but the Orbea Factory green continued to light up the front of the race as Anne Tauber bridged across followed shortly by Gwendalyn Gibson (Trek Factory Racing – Pirelli), in a hugely encouraging showing after the American broke her collarbone in Mairiporã (Brazil) at the start of the season and only returned to racing last time out in Val di Sole, Trentino (Italy). Pieterse had been an ever-present at the front but wasn’t able to make it pay as five riders took the bell with Tauber the first to make her move entering the long drag at the start of the lap. It was a brave effort and one that distanced all but her compatriot, who immediately hit the front and crested the top of the climb with a three-second lead. Pieterse’s descent wasn’t the smoothest as she dropped a couple of seconds losing the back end momentarily, but the lead she’d fought so hard to establish meant she had time to celebrate before crossing the line - though promptly collapsing into a fetal position on the Swiss tarmac. But ironically for someone who gave a fisherwoman celebration at the finish, no one else had a chance at reeling Pieterse in, she spent her energy at the perfect moment to dance away from the field with a victory margin of four seconds. “It was very tactical, every time especially on the last part of the climb we went all in then on the descents it stayed quite together and on the road it was just looking at each other,” Pieterse said. “I knew they’d have to push really hard to come back every time and we saved the energy for the climb. Luckily, I could profit off Anna’s attack a bit, I had the feeling I maybe wasn’t the fastest in the descent, I didn’t want to take any big risks. Let’s hope for such good legs tomorrow.” Keller won the sprint behind to strengthen her position in the overall standings while Tauber was overjoyed to secure a podium finish having put a few bike lengths into Lecomte on the run into the finish. Teocchi paid for her early efforts, plummeting down the field in the final couple of laps to eventually finish 24th - three places ahead of Haley Batten (Specialized Factory Racing) who entered the weekend sat second in the overall rankings. Batten was predicted to flourish on the testing course but never featured in the fight at the front, instead dropping further and further back and ceding the runner-up position to Pieterse, who now enjoys a 260-point advantage at the top.  LATE MOVES MAKE THE DIFFERENCE IN UCI U23 UCI XCC WORLD CUP Women’s U23 UCI XCC World Cup leader Kira Böhm (Cube Factory Racing) crashed early in yesterday’s race allowing Emilly Johnston (Trek Future Racing) to close the overall gap to just 26 points with a solo victory. Johnston broke away early with Carla Hahn (Lexware Mountainbike Team) and Madigan Munro (Trek Factory Racing-Pirelli) and though she shook the American early, Hahn matched every acceleration entering the penultimate lap. “I knew that in the sprint she would get me nine times out of ten,” Johnston explained afterwards. “So I had to be away before then. I just gave it the beans up the climb.” And that she did, eventually distancing her rival to win by five seconds with Böhm trailing home ninth, admitting her injuries sustained in the crash had handicapped her fightback. Riley Amos (Trek Factory Racing-Pirelli) revealed his victory in the men’s U23 XCC race was his hardest of the season, as the runaway series leader made it eight wins from nine after breaking clear on the final lap. Amos was made to work for it, with several attacks failing to dislodge his rivals before he threw everything at the long road climb on the final lap. He finally made it count though, crossing the line two seconds ahead of Bjorn Riley (Trek Future Racing) with Luca Martin (Orbea Factory Team) in third. Amos said: “It kept coming back together on the finish, but then with two laps to go I put in a hard dig, because I didn't like how many of us were together. That split us into three or four.” “I just went for it completely. I told myself I couldn’t drop a gear and just held the gear to the top and it was enough.” The UCI Cross-Country Olympic World Cup returns tomorrow to round out the Crans Montana weekend with the men’s and women’s elite races plus the women’s U23 field taking to the trails, in the penultimate round before competitors take on Les Gets (Haute-Savoie, France) and then catch the TGV to Paris and the Olympics.

An early crash by leader Kira Böhm (Cube Factory Racing) in the women’s U23 UCI Cross-Crountry Short Track (XCC) World Cup allowed second place Emilly Johnston (Trek Future Racing) take advantage and seize a first victory of the year.  Johnston attacked Carla Hahn (Lexware Mountainbike Team) late in the race, soloing to the win by five seconds. In the men’s U23 XCC, the almost flawless season of Riley Amos (Trek Factory Racing-Pirelli) continued with his eighth win out of a possible nine. The XCC winner in Val Di Sole, Trentino, Bjorn Riley (Trek Future Racing) finished a close second. JOHNSTON ON CLOUD NINE Emilly Johnston (Trek Future Racing) was overjoyed to take her first victory of the season in Crans-Montana, Switzerland.  “I can’t believe it,” she said afterwards. “I think I’m a bit in awe still.” Johnston escaped early with Carla Hahn (Lexware Mountainbike Team) and Madigan Munro (Trek Factory Racing-Pirelli.) Early efforts to dispense with the German were unsuccessful and by the penultimate lap she still had Hahn hot on her heels. The situation forced her hand. “I knew that in the sprint she would get me nine times out of ten,” Johnston explained, “so I had to be away before then. I just gave it the beans up the climb.”  Despite her high overall position and strong results until today the win had proved elusive. “This year I’ve struggled with knowing if I can do it and believing,” Johnston said. Tactically “I went out there racing to win,” she said, “and I just sent it as hard as I could on every downhill. That definitely helped me out there today.”  She had into this weekend determined to reboot, summing up her approach as “don’t be scared” and “just send it, and it worked. I’m so stoked.” For overall leader Böhm “It was not my best day.”  “I had a crash on the first lap on the last downhill and it cost me a lot of time,” she said. “but after the crash I didn’t feel good [anyway].”  EIGHT OUT OF NINE FOR AMOS Riley Amos’ eighth victory of the season in men’s U23 XCC in Crans-Montana was “the hardest one of the year for me, for sure.” The field stayed largely as one for most of the race’s duration, before breaking into smaller groups in the latter stages. Following a number of failed moves, Amos committed to an attack on the course’s climb on the very final lap. “It kept coming back together on the finish,” he explained afterwards, “but then with two laps to go I put in a hard dig, because I didn't like how many of us were together. That split us into three or four.” The group hesitated on the last lap which was when Amos “just went for it completely. I told myself I couldn’t drop a gear and just held the gear to the top and it was enough.”  Weather conditions ahead of the event had created questions in his mind about how the course would ride. That rendered pre-race decision-making and early tactics even more important. “I was honestly scared before the race because it was so different [to practise.]” he said. “I wasn’t sure how slick it was going to be, or if the lines we practised were going to be good. I went with a safe tyre choice that had a tonne of grip. It was slow on the climb but when we got onto the descent I had a tonne of traction.”  For the opening laps Riley “just tried to follow wheels for the first couple of laps. You don’t want to be too far back in case someone crashes and you miss the split, but I honestly didn’t want to be the trailblazer on those descents.” Amos’ compatriot Bjorn Riley (Trek Future Racing) finished 2nd, with Luca Martin (Orbea Factory Team) in third. Saturday sees the Men’s and Women’s UCI Elite Cross-country Short Track World Cup races from Crans-Montana, Valais, as well as the men’s U23 Cross-country Olympic (XCO) World Cup.  

We’re almost at the halfway point of the six back-to-back weekends of the WHOOP UCI Mountain Bike World Series racing, and this weekend’s Crans-Montana, Valais UCI World Cup in Switzerland promises more of the same adrenaline-fueled action. After Val di Sole’s Downhill and Cross-country combo, the focus falls on the Endurance formats at the third new Cross-country Short Track (XCC) and Cross-country Olympic (XCO) venue of the season. While little was known about the two new Brazilian venues that kicked off the season, several high-profile Swiss riders have already got to grips with the Crans-Montana course, having ridden it during last year’s National Championships.  Two hours away by car from Geneva, Crans-Montana, in the canton of Valais, is in the heart of the Swiss Alps, where beautiful backdrops of pine forests and snow-capped peaks can be found around every corner. Riders won’t have a chance to drink in the views while racing though, and with this the penultimate UCI World Cup before the Olympics, expect it to act as a good yardstick for who’s in form heading into the biggest race of the year. Finally, this weekend’s racing could also be an indicator of who’s likely to be a future rainbow jersey wearer, with Crans-Montana, Valais set to host the cross-country Olympic and cross-country team relay races of the 2025 UCI Mountain Bike World Championship. TIGHT, TECHNICAL COURSE While most riders won’t have experienced the Crans-Montana course ahead of this week’s build-up to the UCI World Cup, they’re in for a tight, technical race if last year’s Swiss nationals parcours is anything to go by. Long, drawn-out climbs on narrow singletrack are punctuated by twisting, undulating sections of forest, where exposed roots could cause some interesting developments if there’s a pre-race downpour. The regular lap of the UCI Cross-country Olympic World Cup course is 3.5km with 162m elevation gain, while the UCI Cross-country Short Track World Cup is 1.6km with 72m elevation gain. Both will reward explosive climbers and fearless descenders. OLD GUARD VS FUTURE HEIRS Age is just a number for Nino Schurter (Scott-SRAM MTB Racing Team) and Pauline Ferrand-Prévot (Ineos Grenadiers). While neither have said that they’ll be hanging up their mountain bikes for good at the end of 2024, it wouldn’t be a surprise if this was the last year that we see them stand at the top of a UCI World Cup podium – particularly Ferrand- Prévot, who has said she wants to concentrate on road cycling next year. The multi-time UCI World Champions showed that they’ve still got it in Val di Sole though, winning their 36th and 7th UCI World Cups respectively, and few would bet against them doing the same in Crans-Montana, Valais.  Two riders trying to stop them though will be Tom Pidcock (Ineos Grenadiers) and Puck Pieterse (Alpecin-Deceuninck). Pidcock already has one from one in the XCO format of this year’s WHOOP UCI Mountain Bike World Series and will be aiming to use this weekend’s race to apply his final preparations for defending his Olympic gold medal, with the British multi-discipline rider switching his attention to the Tour de France between now and then. Pieterse meanwhile finished second best to Ferrand-Prévot in Italy, and the 2023 UCI Cross-country Olympic World Cup overall winner will be looking to go one better in Switzerland after putting in a winning performance in the Val di Sole UCI Cross-country Short Track Olympic World Cup. Other riders to keep an eye on are local favourite Alessandra Keller (Thömus Maxon), who did the women’s XCC and XCO double at last year’s Swiss nationals, and current series leader Haley Batten (Specialized Factory Racing), who will be aiming to return to the podium after a disappointing weekend in Val di Sole.  In the men’s, Mathias Flückiger (Thömus Maxon), knows what it takes to win on the course after claiming the XCO national jersey in Crans-Montana, Valais in 2023, while another Swiss star, Filippo Colombo (Scott-SRAM MTB Racing Team), has podiumed in three out of four XCO races so far this season. All of the above will be in contention during the XCC, but a handful of specialists might also have a say in how the spoils are shared. Reigning UCI Cross-country Short-Track World Champion Sam Gaze (Alpecin-Deceuninck) has a 50 per cent win record from the first four UCI XCC World Cups this year, and with the winner of the other two, Victor Koretzky (Specialized Factory Racing), not racing in Crans-Montana, Valais, the New Zealander is the clear favourite.  Others to look out for include Koretzky’s teammate Christopher Blevins (Specialized Factory Racing) and Luca Schwarzbauer (Canyon CLLCTV XCO). In the women’s field, UCI Cross-country Short Track World Cup winner in Mairiporã, Evie Richards (Trek Factory Racing - Pirelli), is getting back to her best after a concussion caused by a crash in Araxá (Brazil) ruled her out for almost two months. Racing gets underway in Crans-Montana, Valais on Friday with the U23 short track. Full schedule and event details are available here.

While the dust has only just settled in Val di Sole - Trentino, the Endurance athletes are gearing up to go again as the WHOOP UCI Mountain Bike World Series rolls into Crans-Montana, Valais, Switzerland for the venue’s first-ever UCI Cross-country World Cup. We look at everything you need to know about the Crans-Montana, Valais round of the WHOOP UCI Mountain Bike World Series races, including when the Cross-country Short Track (XCC) and Cross-country Olympic (XCO) World Cup events are scheduled to take place, who is racing and how to watch. WHEN? The 2024 WHOOP UCI Mountain Bike World Series round in Crans-Montana, Valais starts with the Women’s U23 short track at 14:00 (UTC+2) on Friday, June 21, and concludes with the Men’s Elite cross-country Olympic at 14:30 (UTC+2) on Sunday, June 23. Below are the key timings for race weekend. All times are UTC+2 (EST+6/BST+1/CEST):  Friday, June 21 14:00 – UCI Cross-country Short Track World Cup | Women U23 14:35 – UCI Cross-country Short Track World Cup | Men U23 Saturday, June 22 13:00 – UCI Cross-country Short Track World Cup | Women Elite 13:35 – UCI Cross-country Short Track World Cup | Men Elite 15:30 – UCI Cross-country Olympic World Cup | Men U23 Sunday, June 23 10:00 – UCI Cross-country Olympic World Cup | Women U23 12:00 – UCI Cross-country Olympic World Cup | Women Elite 14:30 – UCI Cross-country Olympic World Cup | Men Elite WHERE CAN I WATCH? You can watch all the action from the WHOOP UCI Mountain Bike World Series round in Crans-Montana, Valais, Switzerland wherever you are in the world. Both the men’s and women's U23 cross-country Olympic races will be broadcast live on the WHOOP UCI Mountain Bike World Series YouTube channel, and for the elite races, tune in to one of the below channels or streaming services:  EUROPE: Austria: discovery+ Belgium: HBO Max, Eurosport 1 Czech Republic: Max, Eurosport 1, Czech TV Denmark: Max, Eurosport 1 France: Max, Eurosport 1 Germany: discovery+, Eurosport 1 Hungary: Max, Eurosport 1 Ireland: discovery+, Eurosport 1 Italy: discovery+, Eurosport 1 Netherlands: HBO Max, Eurosport 1 Norway: Max, Eurosport 1 Poland: Max, Eurosport 1 Portugal: Max, Eurosport 1 Romania: Max, Eurosport 1 Slovenia: Max, Eurosport 1 Spain: Max, Eurosport 1 Sweden: Max, Eurosport 1 Switzerland: Eurosport player, RTS 2, SRF Zwei, RSI la 2, SRF Info UK: discovery+, Eurosport  CENTRAL/SOUTH AMERICA : Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay, Venezuela: Claro Belize, Brasil, Suriname: Staylive Puerto Rico: Max AFRICA: Staylive  NORTH AMERICA: USA: Max Canada: Flosports  ASIA: Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Maldives, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Palau, Philippines, Russia, Sri Lanka, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan : Staylive Indonesia, Macao, Malaysia, Mongolia, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand: Eurosport Asia OCEANIA: Australia: Stan Sport New Zealand: Staylive REST OF THE WORLD: Staylive The full list of official broadcasters is available on our website. Check your local listings for exact details of live coverage, race highlights and special programs. RIDERS TO WATCH The Crans-Montana, Valais course will be a new experience for most of the field, with the high alpine venue’s most high-profile race to date the Swiss national championship in June 2023. On that weekend, Alessandra Keller (Thömus Maxon) did the women’s XCC and XCO double, while Thomas Litscher (Lapierre Mavic Unity) and Mathias Flückiger (Thömus Maxon) were successful in the men’s short track and Olympic formats. One Swiss star who wasn’t riding that weekend was Nino Schurter (Scott-SRAM MTB Racing Team), and after the 38-year-old’s win last time out at Val di Sole, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see the G.O.A.T giving the partisan local fans a win to celebrate.  Tom Pidcock (Ineos-Grenadiers) is likely to be Schurter’s greatest challenger – the Nové Město Na Moravě XCO winner racing his last mountain bike event in Switzerland before a packed summer that will see him ride the Tour de France and attempt to defend his Olympic gold medal at Paris 2024. In the women’s field, Pauline Ferrand-Prévot (Ineos-Grenadiers) is in commanding form, winning her second consecutive XCO win in Val di Sole. Puck Pieterse (Alpecin-Deceuninck) will be attempting to prevent the Frenchwoman from making it three from three, while series leader Haley Batten (Specialized Factory Racing) has a return to the podium in her sights after finishing 8th last time out. In the UCI Cross-country Short Track World Cup, expect Sam Gaze (Alpecin-Deceuninck) and Victor Koretzky (Specialized Factory Racing) to battle it out once again at the front of the men’s field, while Pieterse could face opposition from a resurgent Evie Richards (Trek Factory Racing - Pirelli), who returned to racing last weekend after suffering with concussion since a crash in the second round of the 2024 WHOOP UCI Mountain Bike World Series in Araxá, Brasil. Racing gets underway on Friday, June 21 in Crans-Montana, Valais. Full schedule and event details are available HERE.

Pauline Ferrand-Prévot (Ineos Grenadiers) put on another show in the Women’s Elite UCI Cross-country Olympic World Cup in Val di Sole, Trentino. The French favourite opened a gap on UCI Cross-country Short Track (XCC) World Cup race winner Puck Pieterse (Alpecin Deceuninck) on lap two and rode away to victory by almost a minute. In the men’s race the Greatest of All Time, Nino Schurter (Scott-Sram MTB Racing Team) had more of a battle with Alan Hatherly (Cannondale Factory Racing), but raced hard from the start, sealing the win over Hatherly on the final lap.  FERRAND-PREVOT DESTROYS THE FIELD AGAIN IN VAL DI SOLE The women’s elite cross-country riders must have feared another PFP rout, but it was Chiara Teocchi (Orbea Factory Team) who got off to the best start. She accelerated up the inside of the immediate right hand be, with Ferrand-Prévot just behind. On the outside the course was much more slippery, and a number of riders took early tumbles.  As they continued along the start loop, Teocchi was on the front, followed by Alessandra Keller (Thömus Maxon) and Friday’s winner Puck Pieterse. Onto the first proper lap of six, riders opted for different lines up the rocky section, borrowed from the four-track course. A few riders struggled and were forced to put feet down. Ferrand-Prévot had slipped down the order but into the woods she was back up to 4th place. Candice Lill was looking more than up for it.  Five minutes into the race and gaps were already opening up between a top five and the rest, with a few of the riders struggling to negotiate the technical rooty sections, some of which were made more difficult by being off camber. After a long stretch of climbing it was back onto the faster, sweeping section of four-cross that allowed them to gather and take a breath. Before long they were back onto the second climb which had been torn up by the earlier women’s U23 race after a lot of rain fell on the course on Saturday night. That was where Pieterse put in the hurt, as she had repeatedly in Friday’s XCC race. Towards the end of the first lap, Loana Lecompte (Canyon CLLCTV XCO), Pieterse and Ferrand-Prévot had pulled clear of the field. A second group of chasers including Alessandra Keller, Savilia Blunk (Decathlon Ford Racing Team), Lill and Teocchi had formed behind. Ferrand-Prévot was determined to prevent them from coming back, pushing hard out of the saddle at every opportunity, which served to gap Lecompte. It was all Pieterse could do to hold her wheel. The Frenchwoman seemed to have the advantage on the climbs, which Pieterse was able to even it out on with superior technical proficiency on those sections of the course. Heart rates were tipping towards their maximums as they negotiated the Red Bull Roots & Rolls. Ferrand-Prévot continued to make it hard for Pieterse and a small gap between them became a measurable one, already growing to 13 seconds as they arrived at the second climb of the lap. Lecompte formed an alliance with Lill a further 20 seconds back, with everyone outside the top ten more than a minute in arrears. Ferrand-Prévot took a gel as she rode solo onto the third lap, separated from Pieterse by almost the entire length of the straight. Evie Richards (Trek Factory Racing - Pirelli) suffered a crash in the feed zone when she missed a bottle snatch. Half an hour in and Ferrand-Prévot was riding away with the race as she did in Nové Město Na Moravě. Pieterse had second in the bag if she could pace herself sensibly. Lill and Lecompte were in a tussle for the final podium spot with Blunk a bridgeable and steady ten seconds down the track. The approach of lap four revealed that Lill had been able to dispense with Lecompte with big time gaps opening up, showing how selective the Val di Sole course can be - only made more so by the rain which caused both long climb to become even longer. Pieterse managed to stabilise her deficit to Ferrand-Prévot at around 30 seconds, and even eat into it a little in places. Whether that was because she was fatiguing relatively less or Ferrand-Prévot was just taking her foot off slightly was an open question. Two thirds of the race - 16km - completed and the race had blown apart. The time between Ferrand-Prévot in 1st and Keller in 10th was north of three minutes. Lill, for her part, was having the ride of her life and even closing in on Pieterse who had herself dropped ten seconds to the leader over the fourth lap. An hour of racing completed, Pieterse had been able to re-establish her advantage, even as the WHOOP data showed her heart was pounding at upwards of 185 BPM. As she took the bell and a final bottle, Ferrand-Prévot was out of sight, but with her lead not as solid as it had been. A single crash-causing drop of concentration on the final lap would be all it took to evaporate the 30 seconds to Pieterse. No other rider was within a minute of the UCI World Champion. Pieterse began to pay for her effort to keep in touch with the leader on the last lap. She had to work hard and fight her bike on the second climb, as the gap to Ferrand-Prévot ballooned back out to nearly a minute. She was in no danger of losing second place, but the strength of the French rider was irrepressible. Ferrand-Prévot high fived her mechanic as she came to the line, punching the sky to celebrate a second dominant UCI Cross-country Olympic World Cup win in a row. In second Pieterse took plaudits too and could be pleased with her own improvement. Candice Lill was as happy as anyone with her podium, marking herself out as a potential medalist in Paris. Fourth place went to Loana Lecompte, with US national champion Savilia Blunk filling the final step on the podium. As straightforward as the victory looked, “it was not an easy one,” said Ferrand-Prévot afterwards. “Today I was a bit tired, but I was able to take the front and stay in the lead so I’m quite happy with that. It was just about focusing on my own pace and my own tempo and go as fast as possible.”  Lill couldn’t have been happier with her own result. “It’s been a long time coming for me,” she said. “Today feels really triumphant for me and all the people who believed in me.” Haley Batten (Specialized Factory Racing) finished in 8th place to pick up 110 points. She continues to lead the overall competition by 158 points from Keller. Despite only riding two of the four rounds this year Ferrand-Prévot is already up into the top 5. NINO SCHURTER IN CONTROL FROM START TO FINISH IN VAL DI SOLE Seven-time winner in Val di Sole Nino Schurter (Scott Sram MTB Racing Team) promised before the race to “go hard from the start.” UCI Cross-country Short Track World Cup winner on Friday, Sam Gaze (Alpecin-Deceuninck) was a little less ebullient. He would “just ride my own race [and] get from point A to point B as fast as possible.” It would serve, he said, as “a steppingstone to July to see what I can do.” Gaze got a good fast start down the centre, but it was Schurter who was indeed leading through the start loop from Jordan Sarrou (Team BMC) and Alan Hatherly (Cannondale Factory Racing). Schurter roared up the hill, stringing out the field which fought to remain in contact going into the woods.  Martín Vidaurre (Specialized Factory Racing) was another rider who had made a good start to hold onto the three ahead of him, while Gaze had dropped down to 12th. Onto the first proper lap and four riders, Schurter, Sarou, Hatherly and Vidaurre were escaping up the course, with a chase group, containing Gaze, already ten seconds down. Fourth in Nové Město Na Moravě (Czechia), Charlie Aldridge (Cannondale Factory Racing) was struggling on the climbs and down to 50th place. The race was more than 12 minutes old before Schurter looked behind and allowed anyone else to come through to take a pull. Early on the second lap Filippo Colombo (Scott-Sram MTB Racing Team) was riding strongly to claw the chasers back into contention, though their presence caused the front quartet to put the hammer down and draw the gap out again. After two laps the front group was twice as large, as Colombo, Mathis Azzaro (Decathlon Ford Racing Team), Jens Schuermans (Giant Factory Off-Road Team-XC) and first Italian Luca Braidot (Santa Cruz Rockshox Pro Team) made contact with the Schurter-led four. The Swiss great didn’t like that and applied the pressure on the very first climb of lap three. He went even harder on the next and Hatherly was the only rider willing and/or able to go with him. In a flash they had opened out a double-digit lead on Vidaurre with the rest only going backwards. By Lap 4, Braidot had moved into “best of the rest” position, fighting it out with Forster and Azzaro for third. 20 seconds ahead and rising Hatherly was matching Schurter stroke for stroke. Until he wasn’t.  Schurter attacked through the feedzone to get a bit of a gap which he carried onto the first climb and extended in the woods. Hatherly seemed to opt to ride tempo rather than blow up by burying himself with an effort to bring Schurter back. Third place to 11th were 48 seconds down but engaged in a very real race of their own for placings. Gaze and Luca Schwarzbauer (Canyon CLLCTV XCO) were the biggest name riders to have missed out. Two laps to go and Schurter was on his way, but not out of sight of Hatherly and not able to ease off. He made it count the most on the climb, drawing out his advantage to 17 seconds, but the South African hadn’t left his legs in the bus either. The main group had been whittled down to six. Into the last fifteen minutes and Hatherly was looking more labored than he had all day, more psychologically beaten than physically. Still, at the bell he was less than 20 seconds behind Schurter. The Italian champion looked to crack the chasing group on the final ascent of the shorter of the two climbs. Only Colombo had enough in the tank to stay with him. Schurter took on the very last climb with his lead being dented, dropping a few seconds here and there but with enough in hand to showboat his way to the finish. Enjoying himself he executed a couple of tail whips on his way to an impressive first UCI World Cup win of the year, eighth career win in Val di Sole. Hatherly came in safely for second. Three riders sprinted for third, of them Azzaro having the fastest kick with Braidot 4th and Colombo 5th. “I’m super happy about this victory,” a smiling Schurter said afterwards. “It’s a really cool course - tactical but also physical… It’s nice to still be able to win at 38, great to still be at the top. It’s a track where riding in the group doesn’t help you very much so my plan was to make it hard from the start.” For Hatherly, “it was quite a wild one. The crucial point was when Nino went when I was in the feedzone taking a bottle. At that point I thought I’d ride at my own steady pace and get back. It ended up being a time trial - Nino versus me. Unfortunately I came off second best, but a close second. I’m really happy, at this point in the season with the [Olympic] Games not far away.” UCI Cross-country Olympic World Cup leader, Victor Koretzky (Specialized Factory Racing) finished in 25th place. THIRD U23 WORLD CUP WIN OF THE SEASON FOR HOLMGREN, SEVENTH FOR RILEY The women’s U23 UCI Cross-country Olympic World Cup was a similarly one-sided affair, as Canada’s Isabella Holmgren won by 1’26 from Olivia Onesti (Trinx Factory Team) and Elina Benoit of Switzerland. “It was a super tough race today with a lot of strong girls,” said Holmgren, “so I’m really happy to come away with the win. I didn’t come in with any expectations. It was a bit more slippery than the rest of the week, so I just really tried to stay focused on the descents, take my time, and stay safe while smashing the climbs.” Despite finding it more difficult, series leader and Friday’s UCI Cross-country Short Track World Cup race winner Kira Böhm (Cube Factory Racing) was “really proud” of her personal performance and final result. “Today was super super hard,” she said. “I had a feeling I couldn’t push to the limit today but on the last lap I could do it. I think I went from 10th to 5th.”  A tight, hard fought men's race ended with series leader Riley Amos (Trek Factory Racing-Pirelli) taking his second win of the weekend, after Friday's XCC. It was another American 1-2 with Bjorn Riley (Trek Future Racing) runner-up again, and Finn Treudler (Cube Factory Racing) in third. Amos counted himself lucky to come out on top for the 7th time this season: “Every time it's been by the smallest of margins that I've got it,” he said. “I'm so lucky that everything’s gone according to plan, no mechanicals and with great legs every time.” The racing, he added, “was so hard early. Luca (Martin) was so close to getting it last year I think he just went out with a vengeance today, driving the pace so hard. I settled the pace down for a couple of laps then Finn (Treudler) tried to slide up and block us into the downhill, so I had to match him over the top of one of the climbs and that was the split that drove it. Then I had a small gap and when you're given a gap you have to take it.” Next weekend, the WHOOP UCI Mountain Bike World Series heads to a new venue. Located in the stunning Swiss canton of Valais, Crans-Montana is a special stop this season, with the UCI Mountain Bike World Championships in Valais just over a year away. Its vineyards, forests, lakes and waterfalls will provide a scenic backdrop for a new round of the UCI Cross-country World Cups.

Tahnée Seagrave (Canyon CLLCTV FMD) celebrated her 29th birthday in the finest possible style - by taking her first UCI World Cup Downhill win in three years on Val di Sole’s notorious Black Snake track. Also rolling back the years and blowing everyone else away was 2018 champion Amaury Pierron (Commencal/Muc-Off By Riding Addiction) on his to the course for the first time since breaking his back.  DELIGHT FOR SEAGRAVE ONCE AGAIN IN VAL DI SOLE A 2.1km long with 555m of drop “physical and gnarly” was how Josh Carlson described Val di Sole’s notorious Black Snake track ahead of finals. As the sun stayed hidden and clouds came over “treacherous” was another that could be added to the mix. Due to an injury sustained this morning, the fastest of the women’s semi-finalists Jess Blewitt (Cube Factory Racing), was unable to take her place as the last rider out of the gate. With a few drops of rain falling on the course, Valentina Roa Sánchez (Transition Factory Racing) was therefore the first of eleven. The Colombian national champion was riding her first final as an elite woman on arguably the most difficult course on the circuit. Sánchez carried good speed, picked good lines through the trees, and rode steady to set a solid time of 4’46.7 - five seconds quicker than she managed the day before. French rider Lisa Bouladou showed how easy it was for the course to trip a rider up, losing it in the early section and riding steady to the finish. Monika Hrastnik (Dorval AM Commencal) took a deep breath and charged towards a serious time. The Slovenian was quickest at the top and only got quicker as she descended. By the fourth split she was 13 seconds up and had added one more to it by the line to take her place in the hotseat. Phoebe Gale (Canyon Collective) showed no fear and only struggled physically towards the bottom, losing momentum over the biggest rocks on what was otherwise a clean run. Arms straining, she sprinted to the finish and into provisional second place. The next rider to hit the ground was Lisa Baumann (Commencal Les Orres.) Baumann fell twice in the second sector and was unable to regain contact with the fastest times of the early riders. Nina Hoffmann (Santa Cruz Syndicate) has had a difficult start to the season and came into the Val di Sole final with low expectations. She executed a solid but not spectacular ride to produce her best result of the year since Fort William. Despite struggling to find her flow in the qualifying rounds, Tahnée Seagrave (Canyon CLLCTV FMD) wasn’t in Val di Sole just to make up the numbers. She attacked the top part of the course with an intent that had been missing on Friday. Two seconds in hand over Hrastnik, fatigue seemed to catch up with the Brit a bit, as she lost a sliver of time in the third and fourth sectors. Nonetheless she kept it relaxed and steady, riding her own race all the way to the finish to comfortably claim the hotseat. Second in Leogang, Anna Newkirk (Beyond Racing) wanted to prove it was no fluke but had a hard time on the attritional parts of the track, dropping several seconds to Seagrave in every sector. Fearless to the finish, she could manage no better than 6th place provisionally and shook her head in disappointment. As the fog rolled over the top of the hill, Marine Cabirou (Scott Downhill Factory) hit the track. She wasn’t in touch with Seagrave at the top of the course but got closer further down. By split three she was enjoying her run, had built a platform, and was less than one second down at the 4th check. On the gas to the line, Cabirou missed out on top spot by just 0.3 seconds. Time for rainbows in the fog, Valentina Höll (YT Mob) was just 0.5 seconds off the lead at the first check. Looking good until she wasn’t, a mistake on the rocks caused a slip that sent her toppling heavily to her right. Mercifully uninjured, Höll regained her composure but even on the downhill was always facing an uphill task to take back 8 seconds. An impressive mid-section put her within reach of the podium, pulling back seconds to leave her in 4th at the final check. With a couple of drops to go, she sprinted for the line into 4th. After two great rides in qualifying Myriam Nicole (Commencal/Muc-Off By Riding Addiction) was riding with fire. At the first split she was where she needed to be - 3rd, just 0.5 seconds off Seagrave’s super-fast start. Nicole attacked the lower half of the visibly deteriorating track but had lost a second to Seagrave at the second check. At the Oakley rock garden, she picked good lines and charged into sector three, but was flagging - at the third check she had slipped to provisional 4th place. Four seconds was too much to make up. Tahnée Seagrave could barely believe it. She leapt out of the hotseat - back on top of the podium for the first time since Les Gets in 2021. “I didn’t think it was possible today,” she said. “I was so far behind yesterday. I had so much work to do and I haven’t turned something like that around in a long time. I think today we saw Tahnée who used to race like this. I’m stoked.” The result puts her into second place in the UCI Downhill Women’s Elite World Cup standings, 229 points behind Valentina Höll. Marine Cabirou is in third place, just nine points behind Seagrave. PIERRON PUTS A DIFFICULT YEAR BEHIND HIM “I think today could be Amaury’s day” said Reece Wilson (Trek Factory Racing Gravity) ahead of the men’s UCI Downhill World Cup final, of the French rider who came first in the semi and who would be last to go. Another Frenchman, Antoine Vidal (Commencal Les Orres) was also the first rider onto the rocks, pedaling hard out of the gate. Vidal, who has recently switched from Enduro to Downhill, rode loose and brave, staying low. A slip in the final sector cost him what was otherwise a clean run. He crossed the line to set a first fastest time of 4’04 - seven seconds slower than he managed in the semi-final. Greg Minnaar (Norco Factory Racing) the 2021 UCI World Champion who crashed at Fort William was riding well, almost dead level with Vidal but just ahead at the top of the track. He lost a few seconds lower down, but no major errors meant he went into the hotseat by almost six seconds. After saying he had been a bit disappointed with his qualifying times Richie Rude (Yeti/Fox Factory Race Team) blew the cobwebs off and everyone before him away. He kept it clean and rode hard to gain time at every split, keeping his momentum to go into the lead by three seconds. The times kept tumbling and although Greg Williamson (Madison Saracen Factory Team) took a while to get going, when he was fast, he was rapid. The British rider took two more seconds off the impressive time set by Rude. The first big crash of the day came from Bodhi Kunh (Trek Factory Racing Gravity) who ejected while hurtling through the woods in the second sector. He was able to get back on his bike to at least record a time. Dante Silva (Canyon CLLCTV Pirelli) was a massive two seconds quicker than anyone at the first split, but had he gone too hard too early? He lost some of that in each of the next sectors, reclaimed a fraction in the fourth, and lost too much in the final stretch of track. Second place for him showed quite how strong Williamson had been in the finale. Luke Meier Smith (Giant Factory Off-Road Team - DH) was aggressive high up the hill to set the fastest first intermediate time but found it harder the further he progressed through the course. It was perhaps a sign of how the weather was beginning to affect the lower slopes. Jacob Jewitt (Pivot Factory Racing) didn’t seem to mind the rain, making no mistakes and mincemeat of every part of the course. He was in touch until he was ahead, leaving it late but finishing even faster than Williamson, crossing the line two seconds to the good. Thibaut Daprela showed gains, marginal or maximal, could be found on all sections of the track. Daprela chipped away at Jewitt’s time, gaining a tenth here and there, to sneak into the hotseat by a fifth of second. Danny Hart (Continental GT Racing) went quickest at the top of the hill and was charging by the middle. He was looking intense and swinging towards the finish, with less than 0.1s in hand at the final time check. Furious pedaling doubled that by the line as he took the lead with 3’51.5. “It’s nice to see number 1 as you go over the line,” he said afterwards. The day’s only DNF was that of Oliver Davis (Santa Cruz Syndicate) who went a little too far to the right and caught a slippery section of rock to go down hard in the second section. The next man on track Ryan Pinkerton (Mondraker Factory Racing) went down even earlier, on the final corner of the very first stretch. Reigning UCI World Champion Charlie Hatton (Continental Atherton), who has never finished higher than 7th in Val di Sole, made a few mistakes here and there at the top of the track but nothing to put him completely out of contention. He made up some of the two second deficit on the lower rock garden, helping him to go into 4th with a time of 3’53. “The course is so so hard,” he said. “One section in the trees is dry and you come into the open and it’s incredibly slippery.” The course was beginning to seriously slip and slide as Dylan Maples (Commencal/Muc-Off By Riding Addiction) hurtled his way across it. He seemed to find better grip in the mid-section than many of the riders before him - though a second-and-a-half down at split one, by the third he was 0.7s up. He seemed to be getting stronger and braver as he went, flying over the final drop and sprinting into the hotseat by 1.2 seconds. Dakotah Norton (Mondraker Factory Racing) started as he meant to go on, with a 47 seconds dead first sector, giving him an early lead of almost 2.5 seconds. He opted for lines no-one else had dared, linking it all together to build on that strong start. Norton drifted on the final bend, powering to the line six seconds up. His 3’43.9 was quicker than anyone had managed in the semi and the first time with a chance of a podium spot or better. “I was really nervous going up and knew it would be super slippery and easy to push past the limit,” he said as he watched the racing unfold. An unusually early start for UCI Downhill World Cup leader Loïc Bruni (Specialized Gravity), who had a great qualifying run and then crashed in the semi-finals. The Val di Sole monkey appeared not to be leaving his back and though his run was good it didn’t quite click for him the way it had in Leogang. He picked up good speed in the lower section to stay in second, coming into the arena and stopping the clock 3.3 seconds down on Norton. His was still the second fastest time of the day. Into the final ten riders, where three minutes between starts became five. The first of the top ten was Simon Chapelet (Cube Factory Racing). Visibility at the top of the track was severely reduced and the Frenchman had a wild first section, crossing the line 11 seconds down in 13th. Oisin O’Callaghan (YT Mob) looked calm and composed as he came down the mountain, threading the needle through the high trunks. He picked up speed the further through the course he went, possibly too much as he almost went over his bars but just about kept it together. Never quite close enough but with a good enough run to guarantee himself another top ten finish. With three to go, the podium was Norton, Bruni, and Ronan Dunne (Mondraker Factory Racing.) Troy Brosnan (Canyon CLLCTV Factory Team) is no stranger to the Val di Sole podium himself and evidently had decided to send it from top to bottom. His start was just two tenths off that of the leader, and he was still in touch at the second split, despite almost losing the front end. Brosnan needed to keep building to remain competitive and was hitting every one of his entrances and exits to achieve just that. At check four he was 1.7 seconds down and held it to move into second place and dislodge Ireland’s Ronan Dunne from the top three. Finn Iles (Specialized Gravity) was calm as can be as he came out of the gate, his WHOOP heart rate monitor recording his pulse as just 122 BPM. He was the only rider to go quicker than Norton at the first split, 0.6 seconds up but just lost a bit of speed into the second sector. He successfully beat the slipperiest early parts of the course and was still up - just - at halfway. He gained a bit, but a slip cost him almost 1.5 seconds. He charged to the bottom but had too much to make up. Bridesmaid last year, second was the best he would be able to manage again. Only Amaury Pierron (Commencal/Muc-Off By Riding Addiction) could deny Norton. After breaking his back in 2023 he was making the most of every moment. Pierron’s start was as clean and confident as he could have hoped for, giving him a full second over Norton at the first check. He executed everything as perfectly as possible in the second sector, going 2.7 seconds quicker at split 2 while showing he was willing to risk it all to gain everything. Pierron added another second in the third sector, losing no speed whatsoever and putting the bike exactly where he wanted it to go. He crossed the line to claim an enormous win by a massive 4.9 seconds. Afterwards the rider was in disbelief: “It’s insane,” he said. “This week marks the one year since surgery on my broken neck. I’ve been through so much this year. It was really bad, but I never gave up, kept dreaming… To win a World Cup on the toughest track is insane… This track was super technical - it was not much full gas, flat-out, it was more of a smart race with good lines. It was really hard mentally and physically. I couldn’t be more stoked.” ALRAN AND HULSEBOSCH WIN MEN’S AND WOMEN’S JUNIOR DOWNHILLS The Men’s Junior UCI Downhill World Cup Final was won by Pierron’s team-mate Max Alran (Commencal/Muc-Off By Riding Addiction) with Asa Vermette (Frameworks Racing) second and Mylann Falquet (Goodman Santacruz) in third. It was a second win in a week for Alran. “That was so fun but really hard,” he said afterwards. He described the track as “a warzone. The holes are so big and if you want to push it’s physically so hard.” The women’s race was practically an all-Kiwi affair as Eliana Hulsebosch (Union - Forged By Steel City Media) topped the podium by 10 second with compatriots Sacha Earnest (Trek Factory Racing Gravity) and Erice van Leuven (Commencal Les Orres) second and third. Hulsebosch was overjoyed to take her first ever win at this level: “I’ve felt good all season,” she said. “It’s just been getting used to the World Cup stage. Finally got that mental state and I’m feeling really good, just out here riding my bike. I don’t really know what I did, I just wanted to get down and have fun. I did that and it worked.” Saturday sees the UCI Cross-Country Olympic (XCO) World Cup Finals from Val Di Sole, Trentino. Friday’s UCI Cross-country Short Track (XCC) World Cup delivered elite wins for Alpecin-Deuninck’s Puck Pieterse and UCI World Champion Sam Gaze. In the U23 races, UCI XCO World Cup leaders Riley Amos (Trek Factory Racing - Pirelli) and Kira Böhm (Cube Factory Racing) will be looking to do the double, after they won their respective XCC races on Friday.

In the Women’s Elite UCI Cross-country Short Track World Cup races, multiple accelerations from Puck Pieterse (Alpecin-Deceuninck) depleted the hill and set the Dutch rider up for the win over Pauline Ferrand-Prévot (Ineos Grenadiers). A closer men’s race saw five riders approach the finish together, with UCI World Champion Sam Gaze (Alpecin-Deceuninck) out-sprinting the rest to the line.  PUCK PIETERSE PUTS ALL TO THE SWORD A bad start from Alessandra Keller (Thömus Maxon) in the middle saw her drop down from the front row of the grid. Jenny Rissveds (Team 31 Ibis Cycles Continental) in contrast, exploded off the line, while Italian riders Chiara Teocchi (Orbea Factory Team) and Martina Berta (Santa Cruz Rockshox Pro Team) also wasted no time in the opening loop.  UCI World Champion Pauline Ferrand-Prévot (Ineos Grenadiers) found herself boxed in going into lap two, and a little further down the pack than she would have wanted. Teocchi led from Rissveds up the hill but at a steady pace, which meant the field was more bunched than strung out going into the third lap of ten. After a cagey first five minutes, riders began to jostle for position, as Puck Pieterse (Alpecin-Deceuninck) muscled her way to the front and began to wind up the pace. Evie Richards (Trek Factory Racing - Pirelli) and Ferrand-Prévot knew they would need to be alert to not lose position. Midway through the fourth lap Pieterse put in the first visible attack, stretching out the field. Approaching halfway through the race, Rissveds experienced a problem that saw her slip out of the top ten but was able to recover and regain her place among the elite of the elite. Teocchi seemed determined to control the pace, returning to the front with five laps remaining. Lap 6 brought the first appearance at the head of the race from US National Champion Savilia Blunk (Decathlon Ford Racing Team.) Pieterse looked to use her as a launchpad, putting in another attack that did significant damage and allowed a front group of five to briefly pull clear. That became twelve riders with three laps to go, as Pieterse eased off the gas, but it was surely a lull at best. Another kick from the Dutch rider on the short but punchy mid-loop climb was one that only Ferrand-Prévot and Blunk could handle. With just a couple of minutes of racing to go, the Frenchwoman had ominously not shown her hand for a second. By the bell Teochhi had been able to close the gap to the front and it was almost anyone’s race. Pieterse, who had spent most of the race at the front, had one more chance to break the bunch but taking it only played into the hands of Ferrand-Prévot. The UCI World Champion’s one and only move came in the closing metres and meant it would be a two-up sprint between Pieterse and Ferrand-Prévot. The Dutch rider had the more explosive kick and proved she had succeeded in her early and continual efforts to hurt her rival.  Five seconds behind Savilia Blunk was able to win the race behind for 3rd, beating South African Candice Lill who achieved her best result of the season so far. Afterwards Pieterse spoke proudly of the improvement she had made from the previous WHOOP UCI Mountain Bike World Series round to this one: “I think Nove Mesto wasn’t my weekend, I wasn’t there yet,” she said. “Here I played my own tactic by riding on the front. I’m so happy I could play it smart in the final and take the win in the end.” “I thought I would use everything in the course that was hard to spread out the field and make sure I was racing for the podium” Ferrand-Prevot suggested she possibly could have played things differently: “It was fast but a comfortable pace,” she said, “and I was waiting waiting waiting, but in the end I was waiting too long. Puck attacked many times and was so strong. In the end she deserved the win.” TACTICAL MASTERCLASS FROM GAZE TO TAKE SECOND WIN IN RAINBOWS With the wind picking up, the sun shining and game faces on, the elite men’s XCC got underway. The UCI World Champion Sam Gaze got off the line quickest, leading Simon Andreassen (Cannondale Factory Racing) and Filippo Colombo (Scott-Sram MTB Racing Team) into the first corner. Victor Koretzky (Specialized Factory Racing) had a bit of early work to do, and he made a point of doing it. Nino Schurter (Scott-Sram MTB Racing Team) had successfully elbowed his way into the top five by the end of lap one. On lap two Colombo looked to stretch things out, as Gaze played a more cautious game. Charlie Aldridge (Cannondale Factory Racing) led over the line for the start of the third circuit as the early fight for position began in earnest. After five minutes of racing Gaze had not spent a second out of the top three. The fourth push up the hill was where Luca Schwarzbauer (Canyon CLLCTV XCO) emerged, before handing a turn to Schurter and Jordan Sarrou (Team BMC). Schurter began to boss things. The race was eight wide as the riders began their fifth lap with few having been shelled. This time up the hill Luca Braidot (Santa Cruz Rockshox Pro Team) launched a bold but very serious attack, pulling out to a visible and measurable lead over the field by the line. That gap only looked larger and was only increasing as the riders behind looked around at each other.  Four laps from the end and Braidot was nine seconds to the good. Sebastian Fini (Lapierre Mavic Unity) was doing the donkey work behind, as none of the rest were willing to spend energy they may want later. Despite the valiant effort, Braidot could not have hoped to hold out for that long on his own. He was gradually being brought back over the next couple of rotations and the catch came just before lap 9 of 11. That was when Schurter decided to play a hand, throwing in a few chips with a testing rather than committed acceleration, that served more to up the pace. Aldridge and Alan Hatherly (Cannondale Factory Racing) were two of those who could not stay with the main field at that speed. At the bell there were six riders left in contention, as Jens Schuermans (Giant Factory Off-Road Team - XC) hurt everyone with a massive effort on the climb. He ended up leading out the five riders who sprinted it out for the win.  Sam Gaze had the strongest, longest kick, taking the win from Koretzky and Schuermans, with Nino Schurter in 4th. For Gaze the win felt “really good. It’s been a lot of work over the last weeks, and I wasn’t 100% sure what to expect coming here,” he said. “I’m just really happy to pull it off, have a good feeling and have as much fun racing my bike.” Koretzky, who remains the overall leader in the UCI Cross-country Short Track World Cup, was delighted with his podium. The Frenchman has recently been suffering from Covid.   “I’m really happy,” he said afterwards. “If before the race I’d finish second, I would say ‘yes.’ I’m looking forward to resting and having 100% of my lungs.” BÖHM AND RILEY CONTINUE TO RULE THE ROOST IN THE U23 CATEGORY In the women’s U23 UCI Cross-country Short Track World Cup, leader Kira Böhm (Cube Factory Racing) took her third victory of the season. Böhm outsprinted Isabella Holmgren (Lidl-Trek), the only other rider to win a UCI World Cup cup round in 2024, into second, with Emilly Johnston (Trek Future Racing) beating Olivia Onesti (Trinx Factory Team) to third. “It was so much fun today,” said Bohm afterwards. “The first two laps were actually quite chilled and then the last two laps were super hard. The last lap was super hard especially, it was all out. Issy made it super hard for me today.” The men’s U23 race was won by Bjorn Riley (Trek Future Racing) with a successful solo attack two laps from the end. “I've never attacked in a World Cup before, so two laps to go I just tried,” said an elated Riley afterwards. “I was scared everyone was going to catch me on the flats but when I looked back at the end of the last climb, and I saw how big the gap was, it blew my mind.” Second place was his fellow American Riley Amos (Trek Factory Racing-Pirelli) with Oleksandr Hudyma (KMC Ridley MTB Racing Team) in third. Saturday sees the UCI Downhill World Cup Finals from Val Di Sole, Trentino. The qualifiers and semi-finals raced today delivered drama and surprises, demonstrating that early season dominance is no guarantee of continued success.  Neither Loïc Bruni (Specialized Gravity) nor Valentina Höll (YT Mob) will be last to go in their respective finals on Sunday. Höll was pushed into third in her semi-final by a world class run from Jess Blewitt (Cube Factory Racing) while an early slip from Bruni in his own semi will mean a much earlier start for him in the final than he’s used to. Both the men’s and women's UCI Downhill World Cup Junior Finals will be broadcast live on the WHOOP UCI Mountain Bike World Series YouTube channel. For the Elite races, check the channels or streaming service available in your country.

The opening day of the WHOOP UCI Downhill World Cup in Val di Sole, Trentino (Italy) delivered drama and surprises, demonstrating that early season dominance is no guarantee of continued success. Neither Loïc Bruni (Specialized Gravity) nor Valentina Höll (YT Mob) will be last to go in their respective finals on Sunday. Höll was pushed into third in her semi-final by a world class run from Jess Blewitt (Cube Factory Racing) while an early slip from Bruni in his own semi will mean a much earlier start for him in the final than he’s used to. From her opening run in Val di Sole, you’d have thought Myriam Nicole (Commencal/Muc-Off By Riding Addiction) had never been away. The Frenchwoman, who has podiumed here six times over the course of her career, including three victories, missed last year’s event due to injury. Nevertheless, Nicole took to the track like she knew every bump and bend both blindfold and backwards, setting a stunning benchmark time of 4:35.308. The rider in second in that opening heat Jess Blewitt (Cube Factory Racing) had put in such a formidable run of her own that she might have justifiably expected the time to hold up. More than three seconds separated the kiwi from Camille Balanche (Dorval AM Commencal) in third. Balanche will have been delighted by her own opening effort which saw UCI Downhill World Champion Valentina Höll (YT Mob) pushed into fourth place. Balanche had a harder time in the semi-final. A crash in sector 2 left her no choice but to leave the course and ride down to the finish. At the top the tables were turned in the semi-final, as Blewett stormed down the track as if she was late for a train. She was fastest of anyone out of the gate and only slipped back slightly in the middle part of the course. Blewett must have kept more in the tank that the rest, however. Virtually level with Höll and Nicole at the final checkpoint, She gained almost 2.5 seconds between there and the finish. Her semi-final time was almost four seconds quicker than her opening heat. Nicole couldn’t quite repeat the first-round brilliance that gave her the quickest run of anyone all day, but her 4’39.4 was good enough for second place, and for keeping the looming threat of Valentina Höll contained. For her part Höll put in such a blistering second sector - which put her fastest by three seconds at the split - it seemed as if she was going to cruise to victory. The half a second she lost to Hewett in the penultimate sector was always going to be hard to make up, and in the end the risks taken towards the line cost her more time. It means she will start 3rd from last in the final, tomorrow afternoon. Three seconds further back Marine Caribou (Scott Downhill Factory) put in a solid ride for 4th place. Meanwhile Phoebe Gale (Canyon CLLCTV FMD) got one over on older team-mate and close friend Tahnee Seagrave, as the British rider struggled to find her rhythm on the course.  WILL THE MEN’S EVENT LOOKS BE ANOTHER BATTLE OF THE BOYS FROM SPECIALIZED GRAVITY? It certainly looked that way from the opening heat. A few days ago Loïc Bruni (Specialized Gravity) called Val di Sole’s ‘Black Snake’ run “one of those tracks where I've never found the right feeling.” He certainly found a groove in his opening timed run, denying his junior team-mate maximum points by 0.11 seconds. Seventh place in the overall standings Dakotah Norton (Mondraker Factory Racing) produced an above expectations ride for 3rd in the opening heat, while 2nd in the standings Luca Shaw (Canyon CLLCTV FMD) had a more difficult descent. Shaw had been tipped by a few of his rivals as a possible winner of the round but was six seconds off the pace on the first round. 9th place is his second worst result this season. The last rider to squeak through to the semis was Kye A’hern (Kenda NS Bikes UR Team), qualifying in 60th place by three tenths of a second over Antoine Rogge (Lapierre Zipp Collective). In the semifinals the 15th rider to start Simon Chapelet (Cube Factory Racing) set the first fast time with 3.52.5 but it was one that was never likely to hold up. His spell in the hotseat was short-lived, as first Joe Breeden (Intense Factory Racing) then Andreas Kolb (Continental Atheron) undercut him. The first seriously quick time was set by Amaury Pierron (Commencal/Muc-Off By Riding Addiction), however. Pierron’s 3’44.3 was four seconds better than anyone had managed in the qualifying round. The penultimate rider to go, Finn Iles had Pierron by more than a second at the third split, only to lose twice that in the fourth sector. That meant he would have to settle for second at best. The only rider who might challenge was Bruni, but the Frenchman once again fell victim to the problems that have beset him here in the past.  He was in touch, but not winning, at the first split. A crash in sector 2 was one he could not recover from. It cost him 8 seconds over that sector, which multiplied to more by the finish. It means he will start the final with 23 riders behind him.

Valentina Höll (YT Mob) might be in possession of a commanding overall lead after three rounds of the women’s UCI Downhill World Cup, but her rivals still have their eyes on first prize.  “We’re still pretty early in the season,” says second place Tahnee Seagrave (Canyon CLLCTV FMD). “It would just take one race where Vale crashes and doesn’t get any points to catch her up again. I’m not in the race for second.”  Although Höll won by seven seconds in Saalfelden Leogang – Salzburgerland, Seagrave, who will turn 29 on Saturday, suggests that’s the trend points towards tighter results: “When you see the results sheet, you can see that we’re super close - not last week because everyone had issues - but Fort William was the closest it’s ever been.” “We will fight to the end,” agrees Marine Cabirou (Scott Downhill Factory), currently in third position in the series. “The women's races are always tighter, she adds. “It’s crazy, we all fight for the win in every race.  Cabirou has good reason to believe she can win in Val di Sole, having finished on every UCI World Cup podium here since 2019. The French rider denies having “the special key to success, but it’s a track that I like. It’s technical, so that’s maybe why I always have a good result here.” The men’s side finds Loïc Bruni (Specialized Gravity) with a similarly insurmountable lead at the top. One of Bruni’s closest rivals is his own team-mate, Finn Iles. Isles had a difficult time in Saalfelden Leogang - Salzburgerland. He crashed on Friday and decided to sit out Saturday’s qualifying runs. Nonetheless he managed to fly down the track and put in a strong time that was only bettered by Bruni. “I never really felt like I was going to win on Sunday but for him to come down and put that much time into us was pretty frustrating,” Isles says ahead of round 4. The Canadian isn’t bitter, however, and in fact enjoys the rivalry that has built up between the pair: “Being on the same team, he has a little bit of an older brother relationship with me - anything you can do I can do better. It makes me work harder, be more driven and to want to be a better racer. He’s been a good mentor to me. It’s hard to be mad when someone’s just better than you that day. It’s more reflective - how can I do better?” After Iles finished second a year ago in Val di Sole, he is looking forward to returning to the infamous ‘Black Snake’ in hope of going one better:  “It’s really physical but I feel like my preparation is really strong and the way I ride my bike suits this track,” he says. “It’s quite similar to a lot of the stuff I ride back home, with the roots and the rocks and how rough and physical it is. I think it’s a good track for me, and I really enjoy it because I like it when it’s harder and fast. Coming down this track on a race run is hard but it’s a lot of fun too. When I’m having fun I thrive.” Winning the UCI Cross-country Short Track World Cup in Val di Sole in 2023 gave Luca Schwarzbauer (Canyon CLLCTV XCO) the confidence that “I can perform more or less on any short track course… I think with the right tactic and with the right legs I can be strong here again, but first I have to get my stuff together. The characteristics should suit me okay.” Schwarzbauer, who sits in 9th place in the standings but less than 100 points behind 2nd, can’t see past one man for the UCI Cross-country Olympic World Cup victory in Trentino: “It’s so so tight at the moment [in the overall standings] but there’s one guy who is always at the top. Nino [Schurter] won last year on the long distance and if I have to pick one it’s probably him. It’s the easiest answer.”  While taking the season one weekend at a time for Schwarzbauer, like almost all riders this year, the Olympics is seldom far from his mind. He is, however, determined not to talk up his chances too much. “A[n Olympic] medal is the biggest goal an athlete in our sport can have… It’s maybe a bit too much but I think it should be the goal. If I say I go for top ten the motivation is not high enough to give 100%. When everything comes together, and that’s what we have to hope for, I think I have the physical and mental abilities, but there are for sure some riders who can have bigger hopes.” Like Schwarzbauer, UCI World Cup U23 Cross-country leader Riley Amos (Trek Factory Racing - Pirelli) is similarly excited about Paris 2024 but is similarly managing his own expectations, while talking up those of another American. “Chris [Blevins] has shown that on the right day he can beat the best in the world,” says Amos. “I’m getting there but this year it was a goal just to get to go. LA ‘28 is my goal at this point. I’m going to soak it in and enjoy the moment.” In his own competition Amos’ pick for the weekend is a Frenchman: “I think Luca Martin will be really strong. Last year he was so strong, but he had a mechanical on the last lap that was a heartbreaker. I know he’ll be fired up to come take it from me this week.” Of the female cross-country riders, all home eyes will be on Martina Berta (Santa Cruz Rockshox Pro Team). Berta put in a great ride in Val di Sole last year to finish 2nd. “I didn’t expect last to be that strong,” she says. “I was working well and knew a podium was a possibility. But you never know on the day, when everybody looks strong. This year there will be a lot of crowds, and friends and people that I know really well. It’s a good motivation and I’m really excited to race here in Italy.” Her pick for victory the weekend? No surprises that she opts for the great Pauline Ferrand-Prévot (Ineos Grenadiers), who dominated the UCI Cross-country Olympic World Cup in Nové Město na Moravě, winning by more than a minute from Haley Batten (Specialized Factory Racing.) “I think Pauline will be strong again this weekend,” says Berta. Racing gets underway tomorrow, June 14 in Val di Sole, Trentino. Full schedule and event details are available HERE.

After seven fast and furious rounds, the WHOOP UCI Mountain Bike World Series has reached its halfway point. After letting the Enduro riders have a turn in Saalfelden Leogang – Salzburgerland last weekend, the Cross-country crew are set to make a comeback at one of the most celebrated locations in the sport. The Downhill riders have patched themselves up after their own hard-fought battles and are ready to go again on the infamous ‘Black Snake’ trail. We look at everything you need to know about the Val di Sole, Trentino round of the WHOOP UCI Mountain Bike World Series calendar, including when the Cross-country Olympic (XCO), Cross-country Short Track (XCC), and Downhill (DHI) Worlds Cups are scheduled to take place, who is racing and how to watch. WHEN? The 2024 WHOOP UCI Mountain Bike World Series round in Val di Sole, Trentino, Italy starts tomorrow with the Women’s Downhill qualification at 14:00 (UTC+2) and concludes with the Men’s U23 UCI Cross-country Olympic at 16:00 (UTC+2) on Sunday, June 16. Full schedule available here. WHERE CAN I FOLLOW THE ACTION? You can watch the action from the WHOOP UCI Mountain Bike World Series round in Val di Sole, Trentino wherever you are in the world. For all races, there will be live timings on the official WHOOP UCI Mountain Bike World Series website and highlights on the WHOOP UCI Mountain Bike World Series’ Instagram and Facebook channels, with top stories from the race weekend on YouTube. The Elite races of the UCI Cross-country Olympic and Short Track World Cups will be broadcast live. To follow the action, tune in to one of the below channels or streaming services. UCI Cross-country Olympic World Cup  EUROPE Austria: discovery+ Belgium: HBO Max, Eurosport 2 Czech Republic: Max, Eurosport 2 Denmark: Max, Eurosport 2 France: Max, Eurosport 2 Germany: Max, Eurosport 2 Hungary: Max Ireland: discovery+ Italy: discovery+, Eurosport 2, RAI Play Netherlands: HBO Max, Eurosport 2 Norway: Max, Eurosport 2 Poland: Max, Eurosport 2 Portugal: Max, Eurosport 2 Romania: Max, Eurosport 2 Slovenia: Max Spain: Max, Eurosport 2 Sweden: Max, Eurosport 2 Switzerland: Eurosport player UK: discovery+  CENTRAL/SOUTH AMERICA : Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay, Venezuela: Claro (not live) Belize, Brasil, Suriname : Staylive Puerto Rico : Max AFRICA: Staylive NORTH AMERICA: USA : Max,   Canada : Flosports ASIA: Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Maldives, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Palau, Philippines, Russia, Sri Lanka, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan : Staylive Indonesia, Macao, Malaysia, Mongolia, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand: Eurosport OCEANIA : Australia : Stan Sport,  New Zealand: Staylive REST OF THE WORLD: Staylive UCI Cross-country Short Track World Cup  EUROPE: Austria: discovery+ Belgium: HBO Max, Eurosport 2 Czech Republic: Max, Eurosport 1 Denmark: Max, Eurosport 1 France: Max, Eurosport 2 Germany: discovery+, Eurosport 1 Hungary: Max, Eurosport 1 Ireland: discovery+, Eurosport 1 Italy: discovery+, Eurosport 1, RAI Play Netherlands: HBO Max, Eurosport 1 Norway: Max Poland: Max, Eurosport 1 Portugal: Max, Eurosport 1 Romania: Max, Eurosport 1 Slovenia: Max, Eurosport 1 Spain: Max, Eurosport 1 Sweden: Max, Eurosport 1 Switzerland: Eurosport player UK: discovery+, Eurosport 1 CENTRAL/SOUTH AMERICA : Argentina, Belize, Bolivia, Brasil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Uruguay, Venezuela: Staylive (not live) Puerto Rico : Max AFRICA: Staylive NORTH AMERICA : USA : Max, Canada : Flosports ASIA : Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Maldives, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Palau, Philippines, Russia, Sri Lanka, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan : Staylive Indonesia, Macao, Malaysia, Mongolia, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand: Eurosport OCEANIA : Australia : Stan Sport, New Zealand : Staylive LIVE TIMING: live.ucimtbworldseries.com UCI Downhill World Cup  Both the men’s and women's UCI Downhill World Cup Junior Finals will be broadcast live on the WHOOP UCI Mountain Bike World Series YouTube channel, on Saturday June 15. For the Elite races, tune in to one of the below channels or streaming services: EUROPE: Austria: discovery+ Belgium: HBO Max Czech Republic: Max, Eurosport 2 Denmark: Max, Eurosport 2 France: Max, Eurosport 2 Germany: Max, Eurosport 2 Hungary: Max Ireland: discovery+ Italy: discovery+, Eurosport 2, Rai Sport Netherlands: HBO Max, Eurosport 2 Norway : Max, Eurosport 2 Poland : Max, Eurosport 2 Portugal: Max, Eurosport 2 Romania: Max, Eurosport 2 Slovenia: Max Spain: Max, Eurosport 2 Sweden: Max, Eurosport 2 Switzerland: Eurosport player UK: discovery+ CENTRAL/SOUTH AMERICA : Argentina, Belize, Bolivia, Brasil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Uruguay, Venezuela: Staylive Puerto Rico : Max AFRICA: Staylive NORTH AMERICA :   USA : Max, Canada : Flosports ASIA : Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Maldives, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Palau, Philippines, Russia, Sri Lanka, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan : Staylive Indonesia, Macao, Malaysia, Mongolia, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand: Eurosport China: Zhibo OCEANIA : Australia : Stan Sport,  New Zealand : Staylive TUNE IN TO MAX European fans are now able to watch the WHOOP UCI Mountain Bike World Series on Max. Already available in the U.S, the enhanced streaming service has now been extended to selected European markets, with more to follow later this summer. Max has something for everyone, combining HBO Max’s can’t-miss boxsets, Discovery’s real-life entertainment and Eurosport’s world-class sports. It will be the WHOOP UCI Mountain Bike World Series’ new streaming home for the remaining UCI Mountain Bike World Cups of the year, and the only place to stream every event, medal, and world record at the Olympic Games Paris 2024. RIDERS TO WATCH The first three rounds of the UCI Cross-country Olympic and Short Track World Cup 2024 have provided a good idea of the riders to beat this weekend. In the women’s field, none fits the bill better than Pauline Ferrand-Prévot (Ineos Grenadiers.) Following her dominant victory in Nové Město na Moravě, and with her home Olympics just six weeks away, Ferrand-Prévot will be looking to make a statement. Hoping to deny the French rider airtime will be XCO series leader Haley Batten (Specialized Factory Racing) who has only once been off the podium this season, and not since the first round Short Track in Mairiporã, Brazil back in April. Similarly consistent and targeting a second win of the year will be Switzerland’s Alessandra Keller (Thömus Maxon), while Last year’s winner in Val di Sole, Puck Pieterse (Alpecin-Deceuninck), will be aiming for the double. Italian National Champion Martina Berta (Santa Cruz RockShox Pro Team) exceeded her own expectations by finishing behind Pieterse a year ago and is now reconsidering whether the course might suit her after all. The overall standings of the men’s side of the same event might make it look like a one horse race, with Victor Koretzky (Specialized Factory Racing) a massive 170 points ahead of the pack on, but 20th in the XCO in Nové Město na Moravě proved that he’s human after all. Koretzky’s team-mate Christopher Blevins is his closest challenger, though just 31 points separate Blevins in 2nd from the great Nino Schurter (Scott-Sram MTB Racing Team) in 6th. Schurter was a comfortable second two weeks ago, but he’s been inconsistent compared to the likes of Sam Gaze (Alpecin-Deceunick) and Alan Hatherly (Cannondale Factory Racing.) On the UCI Downhill (DHI) World Cup, the elite women must be wondering what they have to do to beat Valentina Höll (YT Mob.) Höll’s immaculate ride at home in Austria last weekend means she leads the overall competition by nearly 300 points. Tahnee Seagrave (Canyon CLLCTV FMD) is her closest competition and would be closer but for a big crash in Sunday’s final. The only woman other than Höll to stand atop a podium this season is Marine Cabirou (Scott Downhill Factory) and the French woman will believe she can do it again. Among the DHI men, although Loic Bruni (Specialized Gravity) is looking unstoppable, the 30-year-old has never won on the notorious Trentino track, finishing a lowly (for him) 14th last year. Best placed to beat him might be his team-mate, Finn Iles. The Canadian silver medalled behind compatriot Jackson Goldstone on the Black Snake in 2024. If not Iles, then maybe Luca Shaw (Canyon CLLCTV Factory Team.) The US national champion has been Mr Consistency this season, as the only rider to finish every race - qualifiers, semis, and finals - inside the top ten. Racing gets underway tomorrow, June 14 in Val di Sole, Trentino. Full schedule and event details are available HERE.