Stars to watch at the 2024 UCI Mountain Bike World Championships in Pal Arinsal

Most of the best mountain bike riders will be in Pal Arinsal, and many XCO riders competed in Paris 2024 just a few weeks ago.

The top six men in Paris, including medal winners Tom Pidcock, Viktor KoretzkyAnd Alan Hatherleywill all be competing in the men’s elite XCO race in Andorra. Only the seventh-placed rider from Paris Riley Amos goes away empty-handed because the US star is registered in the U23 category and athletes cannot compete in more than one age group at world championships.

Swiss Stars Nino Schurter And Matthias FlückigerItaly’s Luca BraidotPidcock’s British compatriot Charlie AldridgeFrance’s Jordan Sarrouand New Zealand Samuel Gaze are some of the other top names in a strong field hoping to take home the rainbow jersey.

The situation is similar for the women: the best nine from Paris all ride in Andorra, including podium finishers. Pauline Ferrand-Prévot, Haley BattenAnd Jenny Rissveds. Notably, Olympic champion Ferrand-Prévot has announced that this will be the last mountain bike race of her career before she turns her focus to road racing.

Hungary Blanka Vaswho finished tenth in the XCO race in Paris and fourth in the women’s road race, is the highest-placed Olympian who did not take part, while stars like Puck Pieterse, Evie Richards And Kate Courtney – who did not participate in the race in Paris, but were seen in the handover segment from Paris 2024 to LA 2028 – are expected to compete.

In the downhill, the current World Cup leader Loic Bruni of France and reigning world champion Charlie Hatton of Great Britain in the men’s category and world champion and World Cup leader in the women’s category Valentina Hoell of Austria, you go in as a favorite.