Val di Sole beckons for the 2021 UCI Mountain Bike World Championships, where this legendary Italian mountain biking venue will see rainbow jerseys presented to the winners of six formats, testing the best of the men and Women Elite and Juniors: cross-country Olympic (XCO), cross-country Short Track (XCC), cross-country Team Relay (XCR), E-Mountain Bike cross-country (E-MTB), downhill (DHI) and four-cross (4X).
Athletes have assembled from around the planet, and after course inspections and training on Monday and Tuesday 23-24 August, medals and rainbow jerseys will be awarded from Wednesday 25 to Sunday 29 August.
First up, on Wednesday is the cross-country Team Relay. Can the Swiss open the UCI World Championships with a win? Or might France retain the title they won in 2020 at Leogang, Austria? Switzerland won the three previous events, and France won the three before that. In fact you have to go back to 2005 for a win outside of the Swiss, French and Italians, and that was Spain! What’s clear is all the competing nations will be keen to make an early mark on the medals table.
While Swiss star Jolanda Neff is still on a high from her Olympic win, Nino Schurter has been rocking and rolling – and whooping with the kind of joy an exhilarating trail can provide – in training.
Pauline Ferrand-Prévot (FRA) is overcoming her disappointment at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 by re-asserting herself as European Champion.
The team relay is followed on Thursday 26 by the Junior Women XCO race in the morning and Junior Men XCO early afternoon. Then the Elite XCC rainbow jerseys will be awarded at the UCI Mountain Bike World Championships for the first time. The 20-minute short course format has brought a thrilling new element to the Mercedes-Benz UCI Mountain Bike World Cup, with the quickfire racing pushing the pulse of riders and fans alike. It’s going to make a great addition to the overall excitement in Val di Sole and with riders such as UCI World Cup XCC winners Ferrand-Prévot, Loana Lecomte (FRA), Haley Batten (USA) and Tokyo 2020 silver medalist Mathias Flückiger (SUI) at full pace, it’s one not to miss!
In the E-Mountain Bike Cross-country the French riders have high hopes, with both Jérôme Gilloux (2020 runner up behind GBR’s Tom Pidcock) and Mélanie Pugin (reigning UCI World Champion) topping their respective 2021 UCI World Cup standings mid-season after six races. Both will face tough opposition from Swiss riders – Joris Ryf and Nathalie Schneitter, who each took victories at the last World Cup in Charade / Clermont-Ferrand (FRA). Théo Charmes (FRA) and Sofia Wiedenroth (GER) are amongst the other riders to watch.
They all face a tough challenge on the 2.25km course designed specifically to test the E-MTB riders’ handling skills and strategic use of power assistance. There’s a technical rock garden, a climb shared with the Val di Sole XCO course, the super-steep ‘Power Hill’, and a descent on the DHI track that brings in part of the 4X course. Master all this and you’re in with a chance of a rainbow jersey!
The Four-cross rounds out the Friday night fun with the fast, elbow-to-elbow elimination format whittling the field down to the best four women and men to shoot out the big finals to try to lay claim to the medals and jerseys.
There were no UCI Four-cross World Championships in 2020. The last time they were staged, in 2019, riders of five different nationalities made up the top five in both the men’s and women’s competitions when reigning UCI World Champions Romain Mayet (FRA) and Romana Labounkova (CZE) were crowned in Val di Sole. Britain’s Elliott Heap and Natasha Bradley were both runners-up that day, but it’s also worth keeping an eye on their compatriot Scott Beaumont.
The weekend starts with the Under-23 XCO races. Look out for winners of different rounds of the Mercedes-Benz UCI World Cup: Simone Avondetto (ITA), Amos Riley (USA), Carter Woods (CAN) for the men and, in the women's racing, 19-year-old Austrian Champion and new U23 European Champion Mona Mitterwallner up against the likes of France's Loana Lecomte, Elite winner of four UCI World Cup rounds so far this season.
These are followed on Saturday afternoon by the Elite XCO races. In the Women’s racing, Switzerland’s Olympic medal trio, led by Jolanda Neff, will be looking to confirm. In the Elite Men’s race, reigning UCI World Champion Jordan Sarrou (FRA) will try to defend his rainbow jersey but will also face plenty of competition, not least from the Swiss camp with Olympic silver-medallist Mathias Flückiger and fourth-placed Nino Schurter. More details of main contenders can be found here.
On Sunday the gravity stars return with the Juniors followed by the Elites in the thrills, spills and nail-biting competitions that the downhill finals traditionally deliver. Our downhill preview is here.
More details, including live timings can be found here.