So what is going on in the world or mountain bike racing this weekend?
Everyone is probably well aware of the UCI XC World Cup in Nove Mesto by now, provided you haven’t been living under a rock. Crankworx Innsbruck is also currently running with a host of events from Slopestyle to Downhill racing.
On the local shores, the 3rd round of the Western Cape XCO Cup will be taking place at the Paul Cluver wine farm in Elgin. Provincial colours points will be up for grabs and as the first XCO race since March, we’re sure that the riders will be itching to flex their legs a bit! Everyone from Nippers to Elites to Grand Masters will be racing. The results will definitely reveal who has been putting in the hard yards during lockdown and who’s been eating too much banana bread! Gauteng Cycling XCO Cup round three will also be underway this weekend at the incredibly technical and punchy Thaba Trails. This will be their final Cup race ahead of SA Champs next month.
Photo: Bartek Wolinski / Red Bull Content Pool
On the international scene, the World Cup XC riders are going straight out of round one and into round 2! Later this afternoon racers will be taking on the short track course which will determine their qualification position for Sunday’s XCO race. Candice Lill, Mariske Strauss, Cherie Redecker, Alan Hatherly, and Dan van der Walt will be out on track again repping the flag for us. Give it stick guys and girls!
Race times and live stream links below.
Friday 2 October: Men’s and Women’s XCC Short Track 2 @ 4:50pm
Sunday 4 October: Women’s XCO 2 @ 11:30am
Sunday 4 October: Men’s XCO 2 @ 3pm
Photo: Samantha Saskia Dugon / Red Bull Content Pool
Over at Crankworx Innsbruck, the Dual Slalom, Pumptrack and Slopestyle are all wrapped up! Speed and style will go down this afternoon and the Men and Women’s Downhill will be aired live on Red Bull TV at 1:30pm on Sunday.
Plenty of big names are lining up including Brook Macdonald who has made a full recovery from a broken spine at last years Downhill World Champs in Canada. Brook won the Innsbruck Downhill last year and will be sure to come back with a bang this year! The South African contingent of Theo Erlangsen, Niko Velasco, Stefan Garlicki, Matt Lombardi and Sharjah Jonsson are all out there to give it a go as well! It will certainly be interesting to see how they stack up. The are plenty of big names such as Adrien Dailly, Martin Maes, Laurie Greenland, Bernard Kerr, and the Masters brothers who will be lining up to race on Sunday many of whom are going to be testing their speed ahead of the World Champs in Leogang. We always love a good Downhill and this one looks like it won’t disappoint!
Stefan Garlicki did a course purview a couple week ago if you want to see what racers are going to be faced with in terms of track.
All that’s left to do now is sit back and enjoy the action!
Have a good weekend,
J-Dogg.
