All You need To Know, UCI MTB World Cup Les Gets

by | Jul 1, 2021 | Bike, Bike Events & Racing, Bike Racing News

Les Gets in France will host the 4th round of XCO and the 2nd round of the Downhill UCI World Cups this weekend and the action begins with a short track race on Friday evening for the Cross Country Athletes. Find the schedule, location, course, and athlete info below!

Location

All You Need To Know, Uci Mtb World Cup Les Gets
Les Gets is a quaint French town with mountains fit for racing. Photo: Bartek Wolinski / Red Bull Content Pool

Les Gets is located in the French Alps near Mont Blanc and the Swiss border. This year’s event will feature new Downhill and XCO tracks which makes for an exciting weekend of racing! The conditions are wet at the moment and plenty of off-camber sections on the downhill are going to be revealing the masters of bike control. In 2019 it was host to the Downhill World Cup where Amaury Pierron won on Bastille day (Big one for France!) and Tracey Hannah took the ladies win!

The Courses

The fresh downhill track is looking so good! Lots of room for line choices and the high lines are going to be hard to stay on in wet conditions!

Les Gets Downhill Course Preview
Les Gets World Cup Downhill Track Practice

The XCO track is approximately 3.8km long with 140m of climbing per lap. It has a good mix of natural and man made features to test riders and sort out the pecking order. Enjoy the course preview in French below!

UCI World Cup XCO Les Gets Course Preview

Schedule and live stream links

Link to the live stream on Red Bull TV

XCC Short Track Friday at 17:20

Saturday Women’s Downhill Finals at 12:30

Saturday Men’s Downhill Finals at 13:45

Sunday Women’s XCO Finals at 12:00

Sunday Men’s XCO Finals at 14:30

Who to watch – Downhill

Elite Women’s qualifying:

1 – Myriam Nicole: 4:07.804 // 2 – Vali Höll: 4:15.296 // 3 – Camille Balanche: 4:15.460 // 4 – Nina Hoffmann: 4:18.202 // 5 – Eleonora Farina: 4:21.026

Elite Men’s qualifying results:

1 – Loic Bruni: 3:31.464 // 2 – Angel Suarez: 3:32.095 // 3 – Loris Vergier: 3:32.305 // 4 – Reece Wilson: 3:32.334 // 5 – Danny Hart: 3:33.670 // 13 – Greg Minnaar: 3:36:599

Neither of the 2019 downhill winners will be racing this weekend dude to injury (Pierron) and retirement (Hannah) but the competition will be hot nonetheless.

All You Need To Know, Uci Mtb World Cup Les Gets
2019 was dry and dusty but it is not so this year. Loris Vergier will be equally pinned either way! Photo:Bartek Wolinski / Red Bull Content Pool

Loris Vergier is looking very fast at the moment on the Trek Factory Racing team and will be hungry for a win on home turf. Greg Minnaar says he likes the look of the track. It will be great to see a podium appearance for the GOAT! Vali Holl missed out on a win at Leogang due to a crash on the final corner and our bet is that she will be on the top step if she can put down a clean run!

All You Need To Know, Uci Mtb World Cup Les Gets
Vali Holl could take her first World Cup Elite win in Les Gets. Photo: Bartek Wolinski / Red Bull Content Pool

Our Leogang winners Camille Balanche and Troy Brosnan have showed their finesse in the wet conditions and will be dangerous in Les Gets! Saturday afternoon, all will be told. Bring on the action we say!

Who to watch – XCO

In the 2019 XCO it was Nino Schurter and Kate Courtney who won but Loana Lecomte is on a run of 3 from 3 wins this season and looks unstoppable! Tom Pidcock is back in mix at the XCO this weekend and will be tough to beat in Les Gets. Mathias Fluckiger will be the contender to challenge him in 2021 but we have plenty of other fast men including Alan Hatherly (who suffered a mechanical in Leogang) hunting down those podium spots. That battle begins on Friday evening and wraps up Sunday afternoon.

Stay tuned to the WILD AIR TV social channels for updates on the racing!

Event Coverage