The world’s fastest cross-country mountain bikers go once more this week as the UCI Mountain Bike World Cup series reaches its climax in Canada.
Three of eight titles are already secured across the men’s and women’s Olympic and short-track categories in elite and U23 but five will go down to the wire in Mont-Sainte-Anne, Quebec in the eighth and final round of the 2023 season.
The only cross-country Olympic title already in the bag is the women’s elite which Dutch rider Puck Pieterse (Alpecin Deceuninck) has claimed. However, the other podium spots are still in the balance so expect a fight between Austrian Mona Mitterwallner (Cannondale Factory Racing Team) and Frenchwoman Loana Lecomte (Canyon CLLCTV) who lie second and third in the standings respectively.
Both Short-Track U23 titles are decided with Switzerland’s Ronja Blöchlinger (Liv Factory Racing) and France’s Adrien Boichis (Trinity Racing MTB) having wrapped those up at the seventh round in Snowshoe.
Of the five still up for grabs the men’s elite cross-country Olympic is among the tightest with four riders in touch. With a maximum of 330 points available in the elite races - 80 for first place in short track and 250 for first place in Olympic - Nino Schurter (Scott-SRAM MTB Racing Team) leads the table but he’s just 89 points ahead of Frenchman Jordan Sarrou (Team BMC) and 167 in front of Switzerland’s Matthias Flückiger (Thömus Maxon). Luca Schwarzbauer (Canyon CLLCTV) is also in touch some 220 behind Switzerland’s Schurter.
In the elite men’s short track, Schwarzbauer is well out front and could only be caught by Sarrou who trails the German by 190 points with a maximum of 250 on the table.
In the women’s short track, three riders could still be crowned series champion. There are a maximum of 250 points on offer and Pieterse leads Swiss rider Alessandra Keller (Thömus Maxon) by 80 points and Britain’s Evie Richards (Trek Factory Racing XC) by 194.
In the U23 cross-country Olympic, the women’s title race is wider open than the men’s with three riders still in the chase. With 165 points still up for grabs, Blöchlinger leads Denmark’s Sofie Heby Pedersen (Wilier-Pirelli Factory Team XCO) by just 41 points and World Champion Samara Maxwell of New Zealand by 75.
In the U23 men, Boichis is 160 points clear of Canadian Carter Woods (Giant Factory Off-Road Team - XC) with 165 points available.
The cross-country racing starts on Thursday, October with the U23's Cross-country Short Track - full schedule and events details are available here.
You can find where to watch all of the racing action live in Mont-Sainte-Anne here.
