Find all the info you need for the Fort William UCI Downhill MTB World Cup and how to watch the action from South Africa
After a thrilling start to the XC World Cup season across 2 new locations in Brazil, the 2024 Downhill World Cup will commence in one of the sport’s most ancient and iconic venues. Fort William, or ‘Fort Bill’ as it is fondly called, is situated fairly North in Scotland’s Nevis range known for its cold and wet weather and biting midges.
Thankfully it seems that the weather won’t be too wet this weekend (though a bit of moisture usually helps the dirt hold together better here for more traction) so we could be treated to sunny skies and gorgeous views at the opening round of the season. The semi-finals that were introduced on race day last year have been moved to qualifying day, leaving Sunday as a pure finals day, as it used to be. Read on below for info on the track, some hype videos, who to watch, and how to watch.
Looking for more content to get you buzzing for the 2024 World Cups? Checkout Season 2 of Race Tapes on Red Bull TV. You won’t be disappointed.
The Fort William Downhill World Cup Track
Fort William will be hosting its 19th World Cup Downhill since 2002 (of which Greg Minnaar has won 7!). The track is 2.86km long and drops 550m from the wide open grassland up top through the steep woods below and onto the famous motorway jumps.
Average speeds are high and the track is rough as a goat’s knee. There will be a lot of big hits to soak up as well as repetitive hammering from countless rocks that basically form the base of the track. There are some near corners being worked in up at the top and a new creek gap jump in the woods + some smaller tweaks here and there to keep the track feeling a bit fresh. You can see some of those changes on Adam Brayton’s vlog below (longer POV at the end of the vlog).
While it is a very well known track, a little Amaury Pierron POV clip will be a great reminder of the speed and rugged nature of the track. Here is his Winning Run from 2022.
How to Watch + Event Schedule
To watch the UCI MTB World Elite World Cup XCO and Downhill racing from South Africa, head over to app.staylive.io/cycling/ where you can subscribe to either a monthly or annual account and get access to the Elite XCC, XCO, and Downhill World Cup live streams for the 2024 season.
The U23 XCO racing and Junior Downhill is streamed for free on the UCI MTB World Series YouTube channel.
Vital MTB, Pinkbike, and Sleeper Co will be pushing out all the rad content from between and outside the tape and we cannot wait to see it!
Event Schedule – UCI MTB World Cup Fort William 2024
Saturday 4 May
13:00 – UCI Downhill World Cup – Qualification Women Elite
13:30 – UCI Downhill World Cup – Qualification Men Elite
15:00 – UCI Downhill World Cup – Qualification Women Junior
15:15 – UCI Downhill World Cup – Qualification Men Junior
16:00 – UCI Downhill World Cup – Semi Finals Women Elite
16:30 – UCI Downhill World Cup – Semi Finals Men Elite
Sunday 5 May
12:30 – UCI Downhill World Cup – Finals Women Junior
13:00 – UCI Downhill World Cup – Finals Men Junior
14:15 – UCI Downhill World Cup – Finals Women Elite
15:00 – UCI Downhill World Cup – Finals Men Elite
All times in CAT.
Which South African riders are racing?
These are the South African riders who will be lining up to race the opening round of the 2024 UCI Downhill MTB World Cup.
Elite Men and Women:
Greg Minnaar – Norco Factory Racing
Rory Kirk – Privateer
Junior Men and Women:
Danika Botha – Privateer
Who went well in 2023 and who to watch in 2024?
Out of the 8 rounds of the 2023 UCI Downhill World Cup we saw 7 different winners in the Elite Men and 4 different winners in the Elite Women’s field. You can find their names and win count below.
Elite Men DH Winners 2023
Jackson Goldstone X 2
Jordan Williams
Andreas Kolb
Thibaut Daprela
Loic Bruni
Benoit Coulanges
Oisin O’Callaghan
Elite Women DH Winners 2023
Vali Holl X 4
Marine Cabirou X 2
Rachel Atherton
Nina Hoffmann
See more of those results on Roots and Rain.
Last year Fort William hosted the UCI Downhill MTB World Champs and victory went to Charlie Hatton and Vali Holl. Greg Minnaar suffered an unfortunate puncture and so will be very hungry for redemption on a track that he’s seen 7 World Cup wins on (starting in 2004 with the last win here in 2017), especially on board his new Norco downhill bike.
Other riders to watch:
- Gracey Hemstreet – 2nd year elite rider, Red Bull Hardline winner, teammate with Minnaar on Norco
- Vali Holl – Dominant in 2023 and back on YT bikes (her first pro team) for 2024
- Camille Balanche – returning from injury but on good form
- Tahnee Seagrave – Building great speed after ongoing injuries
- Marine Cabirou – Double winner in 2023, on the podium at World Champs
- Nina Hoffmann – 2022 Fort William World Cup winner, super consistent in recent years
- Louise Anna Ferguson – 2nd at Red Bull Hardline 2024, moving up the ranks of the World Cup.
- Mille Johnset, Phoebe Gail, Jenna Hastongs, Jess Blewitt, Monika Hrastnik, Veronika Widmann, Gloria Scarsi will all be vying for the top 10 finals positions on Sunday!
- Myriam Nicole is coming back from injury and likely to take a little while longer to get up to speed, may not be racing this weekend.
- Reece Wilson – 2020 World Champion back after head injury and looking fast!
- Amaury Pierron – Returning after a long term injury and always a force to be reckoned with
- Ronan Dunne – Podium rider in 2023 on the verge of taking his first World Cup, 2024 Red Bull Hardline Winner
- Oisin O’Callaghan – Up and coming young gun, eager to claim his 2nd World Cup win.
- Charlie Hatton – 2023 World Champ on the Fort William track.
- Andreas Kolb – Building momentum and looking for his 2nd World Cup win
- Thibaut Daprela – Insane raw speed, will be looking to prove himself with his solo race program for 2024 (not on a factory team).
- Ethan Craik – Up and coming rider with a 2nd at Mont Sainte Anne in 2023
- Ryan Pinkerton – 1st year elite and coming off a ripping Junior year
- Jordan Williams – 2nd year elite and eager to replicate his first Elite win from 2023’s opening round.
- Richie Rude and Jack Moir are expected to make a few DH World Cup appearances this year through which rounds are to be confirmed.
- Benoit Coulanges, Bernard Kerr, Troy Brosnan, Loic Bruni, Remi Thieron, Finn Iles, Laurie Greenland, Matt Walker will all be charging hard for the top step as usual!
- Jackson Goldstone will sadly be missing most of the season due to a bad knee injury sustained at Red Bull Hardline
More content from Fort Bill
About the 2024 UCI Mountain Bike World Series
With Discovery Sports, ESO, and Play Sports Network organising and broadcasting the UCI MTB World Series for the next 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 2024 season we will get 7 rounds of World Cup Downhill, 6 Enduro World Cups, 8 XCO/XCC World Cup events, and 4 Marathon World Cups across 3 continents, 10 countries, and 14 venues.
The days of simply logging on to RedBull TV to catch the action are behind us sadly but it seems that there viewership was strong in 2023 and there seem to be more non-endemic companies getting interested in the sport so hopefully it can benefit from that in the long run. Either way, the racing is as good as ever to watch (even if it comes at a cost now to see the action) and the racers will be going full gas every weekend without a doubt.
