All You Need To Know | Lenzerheide XC & DH Mountain Bike World Cup 2023

by | Jun 8, 2023 | Bike Racing News, Bike, Bike Events & Racing, Events, UCI MTB World Series 2023

Lenzerheide marks the opening round of the 2023 Downhill World Cup and round 2 of the XC World Cup. The downhill track is typically the shortest of the season with times dipping below 3 minutes for the fastest men. Greg Minnaar pulled off a spectacular 3rd place run here in 2022! On the XCO side, this is the track that saw Alan Hatherly earn his career best Elite XCO finish (2nd place) behind Luca Braidot as Fluckiger and Schurter got into a tangle moments from the finish line. Should we expect drama here in 2023? Without a doubt, this is mountain bike racing!

All The Info For Lenzerheide Mountain Bike World Cup Downhill And Xc
Mountain biking is big in Switzerland! (c) Bartek Wolinski / Red Bull Content Pool

The 2023 UCI Mountain Bike World Series

With Discovery Sports, ESO, and Play Sports Network taking over the organizing, promoting, and broadcasting of the UCI Mountain Bike World Cups for 8 years starting from 2023, there are big changes coming about for the riders and fans of “Mountain Bike World Series” as it is now collectively referred to!

Over the course of the season you can expect 8 rounds of Downhill, 8 Enduro rounds, 9 XCO/XCC events, and 4 Marathon World Cups across 3 continents, 10 countries, and 15 venues.

All The Info For Lenzerheide Mountain Bike World Cup Downhill And Xc
It is a fast and furious downhill track that we will see raced this weekend! (c) Bartek Wolinski / Red Bull Content Pool

Where to watch

There will be various places to watch the live streams of particular races of the World Series in 2023, whereas in the past it used to be all on Red Bull TV.

2023 will see an addition of U23 XCO racing, Junior Downhill, and Elite Semi-Final Downhill events being live streamed (and will all be free to view on UCI MTB World Series YouTube). 

“Live broadcasts of the downhill, cross-country Olympic and cross-country short-track elite finals and coverage of all major races from each of the 13 race weekends will be available globally on GCN+*. “

GCN+ can be accessed worldwide through a monthly or annual subscription. Racing coverage and content is available live and on demand via the GCN App, all web browsers, Amazon FireTV, Samsung Smart TV, AndroidTV, Chromecast, Apple AirPlay and Apple TV. “

DSTV is also an option for us as South Africans. See the schedule at the end of the article for channels and times.

Races can also be watched Live and On Demand through Discovery+ though it is the most expensive option.

All The Info For Lenzerheide Mountain Bike World Cup Downhill And Xc
P2 (XCO) and P3 (XCC) for Alan here in 2022. After a rocky start to the 2023 season in Nove Mesto, let’s hope he can return to the form he found here last year. (c) Bartek Wolinski / Red Bull Content Pool

Most affordable way to watch?

An annual subscription to GCN + (done via the cellphone app but then can be used on web or TV App) is R719,99. To subscribe monthly would be R124,99 per month. With 4 months of Downhill and XC racing left (from June to October), you can save a bit by subscribing monthly (R500 for 4 months) to watch the live broadcasts of the Elite Downhill and XC Finals.

There are plenty of other live races from the road cycling world as well as feature films that can be viewed on GCN+ so you may see value in going for the annual sub to have access to that content beyond the 5 months of racing.

Who are the South Africans who are racing?

These are the South Africans who will be lining up to race the Cross-Country and Downhill events in Lenzerheide!

All The Info For Lenzerheide Mountain Bike World Cup Downhill And Xc
Lenzerheide delivers a great mix of man-made and natural features across the downhill and XC tracks. (c) Bartek Wolinski / Red Bull Content Pool

XC:

Elite:

Alan Hatherly – Cannondale Factory Racing

Candice Lill – Faces / Seattle Coffee Co.

u/23:

Johan van Zyl – Computer Mania MTB Team

Tyler Jacobs – Computer Mania MTB Team

Luke Moir – Trek

Unathi Nxumalo – Pump For Peace Racing

Matthew Scott

Hugo Hahn (NAM)

All The Info For Lenzerheide Mountain Bike World Cup Downhill And Xc
Yet another season of downhill racing for Mr. Minn. We can’t wait to watch him fly! (c) Bartek Wolinski / Red Bull Content Pool

DH:

Elite:

Greg Minnaar – Santa Cruz Syndicate

Christopher Philogene 

Jono Philogene

Rory Kirk

Connor Finnis

Stefan Garlicki

Theo Erlangsen

Junior:

Ross Kew – Propian / 23 Degrees

Alex de Bruin

Keagan Brand

Who was on top in 2022?

DH winners were Amaury Pierron and Myriam Nicole (sitting out this year’s race due to concussion symptoms) and in the XCO racing it was Luca Braidot and Loana Lecomte. The XCC winners were Filippo Colombo and Jenny Rissveds.

All The Info For Lenzerheide Mountain Bike World Cup Downhill And Xc
No Myriam Nicole at the opening round of the 2023 season. (c) Bartek Wolinski / Red Bull Content Pool

About Lenzerheide

We are in Eastern Switzerland, high up in the mountains, for this round of World Cup mountain bike racing. A stop that has become a regular on the circuit over the years and will once again be hosting in 2023.

“Lenzerheide is a high valley alpine resort, located at 1400 metres above sea level in Switzerland. With a stunning view of the Heidsee lake, surrounded by peaks reaching up to 2800 metres, Lenzerheide knows how to impress. Known as the Bike Kingdom, Lenzerheide is a paradise for mountain bikers, offering a wide variety of terrain to explore..” – UCI MTB World Series

The tracks

The DH track is fast and awkward in Lenzerheide. It is 1.9km long and drops 417m. The track features a lot of loose gravel, some exquisite loamy forest sections, big drops and technical rock gardens; it has it all! Going off of last year’s results, it seems the mid to lower segments of the track are most crucial to get right if you want to climb the results board. Course preview below.

Lenzerheide Downhill Course Preview

The Lenzerheide XCO track is 4.3km long and has 200m of elevation gain. That means an 8 lap race will take in 1600m of elevation gain over 34.4km of racing. The track features a good mix of open sections, making room for attacks, and tight technical terrain to test the riders. Have a look at a course preview from last year below.

Lenzerheide XCO Course Preview

The XCC course is 1km long with 38m of elevation.

Event schedule

8 June

17:30 – Cross-country Short Track – U23 Women – no live stream

18:15 – Cross-country Short Track – U23 Men – no live stream

9 June

13:15 – Downhill Final – Junior Women – YouTube

14:00 – Downhill Final – Junior Men – YouTube

15:30 – Downhill – Qualification – Women – no live stream

16:00 – Downhill – Qualification – Men – no live stream

17:45 – Cross-country Short Track – Women – GCN+ – SS206

18:00 – Cross-country Short Track – Men – GCN+ – SS206

10 June

10:45 – Downhill – Semi Final – Women – YouTube – SS206

11:20 – Downhill – Semi Final – Men – YouTube – SS206

13:00 – Downhill – Final – Women – GCN+ – SS208

14:00 – Downhill – Final – Men – GCN+ – SS208

11 June

08:30 – Cross-country Olympic – U23 Women – YouTube

10:30 – Cross-country Olympic – U23 Men – YouTube

13:00 – Cross-country Olympic – Women – GCN+ – SS207

15:30 – Cross-country Olympic – Women – GCN+ – CH950 (OTT 6)

Find more info here on the event and series

Find the supersport TV Guide here

More video content from Lenzerhiede World Cup 2023

Track Walk with Vital MTB – with throwback footage
Wyn TV from Track walk – hear from the top riders!

Event Coverage