The UCI Mountain Bike World Championships for cross-country Olympic (XCO) has seen its fair share of upset victories over the years, however there are some clear favourites for the Elite titles in Nove Mesto na Morave, Czech Republic next week.
On the women's side, Jolanda Neff of Switzerland has not raced much of the UCI World Cup series leading into the UCI World Championships, but she did win the last round in La Bresse, France, as well as taking victory in the European Championships. Neff also won the Nove Mesto round of the UCI World Cup last year, so she clearly can do well on this course.
She will have to watch out for Canadian Catharine Pendrel, who finished second to her in La Bresse. Pendrel is a two-time UCI World Champion (2011 and 2014), and is currently lying second overall in the series. Pendrel won in Nove Mesto in 2011.
Annika Langvad of Denmark, who leads the UCI World Cup at the halfway mark with two victories this season, is having a breakout year, but has struggled with some of the technical aspects of Nove Mesto in the past.
Other names to watch for are Czech favourite Katerina Nash, Norway's Gunn-Rita Dahle Flesjaa, and defending champion Pauline Ferrand-Prévot, of France, who has struggled with illness but is returning to form.
On the men's side, three names have dominated Nove Mesto since the beginning: defending UCI World Champion Nino Schurter, of Switzerland, France's five-time UCI World Champion Julien Absalon, and local Czech hero Jaroslav Kulhavy. Schurter (3 wins) and Kulhavy (2 wins) have won at Nove Mesto every time a World Cup has been held here, with all three regularly on the podium.
Schurter has two wins so far this season in World Cup competition, but Absalon won their last encounter. Meanwhile, Kulhavy has shown that he is recovering from a hand injury with podium appearances in the last two UCI World Cup rounds. Other men to watch for include France's Maxime Marotte and Switzerland's Mathias Flückiger.