This weekend marks the final round of the UCI Mountain Bike Marathon World Cup (XCM) in the WHOOP UCI Mountain Bike World Series, as riders line up in Mt Van Hoevenberg – Lake Placid, New York, USA, for the third and final long-distance Endurance event in the format’s season.
Although the most recent race in the series was June’s Mont Blanc Ultra Somfy in Megève, Haute Savoie, France, riders haven’t had the whole summer off. In fact, last weekend saw Snowshoe, West Virginia, USA host the UCI Mountain Bike Marathon World Championships, where Simon Andreassen (Denmark) and Mona Mitterwallner (Austria) won the 2024 titles. Both fields were packed full of Cross-country Olympic (XCO) format riders, but this weekend’s clash with the UCI XCO World Cup race means it’s one for the marathon purists at the second new venue for the format in this year’s series.
While Mt Van Hoevenberg – Lake Placid is making its UCI World Cup debut, the area has some serious mountain bike marathon credentials, and the nearby town Wilmington hosts the annual 100K and 50K Wilmington Whiteface mountain bike races.
ROLLERCOASTER COURSE
The foothills of Mt Van Hoevenberg are the setting for the race, but with the 2024 series titles up for grabs, riders will be focused on the task at hand for the duration of the 100km course.
The race will see riders complete three laps of the same 33.3km course, tackling 721m of elevation gain per loop and giving fans plenty of opportunities to catch the action. The climbing starts as soon as riders leave the Lake Placid race village, with the first half of each lap containing four monster ascents before it becomes a bit more undulating north of the bobsled course.
RABENSTEINER VS PÁEZ AND NJEMČEVIĆ VS LOOSER
The three-race nature of the 2024 UCI XCM World Cup series means every position and UCI point counts in the contest for the overall series win.
Hector Leonardo Páez took the victory in Mègeve, Haute-Savoie (France), but will rue his 13th place at the season opener in Nové Mĕsto Na Moravĕ (Czechia) – the Colombian 60 points behind the more consistent Fabian Rabensteiner (Willier Vittoria Factory Racing) in the standings. The former had the better UCI XCM World Championships, finishing in 12th compared to the Italian’s 21st, but Rabensteiner – the reigning UCI XCM World Series title holder – knows how to close out a series win from here.
Other riders to watch out for include Andreas Seewald (Canyon Sidi MTB Team), the German national champion finishing fourth last week and second last time out in Megève, Haute-Savoie; and Samuele Porro – the Italian coming third in both UCI XCM World Cups this year and 10th in the UCI XCM World Championships.
The women’s title is even tighter than the men’s, with just 40 points separating Lejla Njemčević and Vera Looser. Both have tasted success in this year’s series, with the Bosnian edging it because of marginally better results in the race she didn’t win. It would take both to not finish for third-place Janina Wüst (Buff Megamo Team) to be within a realistic chance of leapfrogging them to take the series, so expect a tussle for the race win and the series between last year’s overall winner and the Namibian.
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 Mt Van Hoevenberg-Lake Placid, USA wherever you are in the world. There will be live timings on the official WHOOP UCI Mountain Bike World Series website and top stories from the UCI Mountain Bike Marathon World Cup to be published on the YouTube channel on Thursday, October 3rd.
The UCI Mountain Bike Marathon World Cup gets underway in Mt Hoevenberg-Lake Placid at 7:45 (UTC-4) on Sunday, September 29 with the Women’s Elite, followed by the Men’s Elite at 8:55 (UTC-4) – full schedule and events details are available here.
