UCI MTB World Cup Brazil: How To Watch and Comments From Team RSA

by | Apr 10, 2024 | UCI MTB World Series 2024, Bike, Bike Course Previews, Bike Events & Racing, Bike Racing News, Events, Featured, Sports

Find all the info you need for the Brazilian MTB World Cups and hear from South African athletes about the upcoming races.

Get excited mountain bike fans! The 2024 MTB World Series is finally upon us and the 2 opening rounds will be taking place in Brazil, kicking off the XCO and XCC World Cups. If you think people in Europe love mountain biking, Brazil is next level. This nation last hosted an MTB World Cup in 2022, the opening round, but hasn’t featured in the series since. With 2 new locations for 2024 (Mairiporã and Araxá), it is going to be a hot, fast, and action packed start to the season!

Cover Image: Bartek Wolinksi / Red Bull Content Pool

Mairiporã delivered a superb season opener last weekend with wins going to Jenny Rissveds and Christopher Blevins (XCO), Evie Richards and Sam Gaze (XCC) catch the highlights below from those races! Our South African rider shad some standout results, especially our young U23 racers!

Tyler Jacobs – 6th XCC / 10th XCO
Luke Moir – 19th XCC / 5th XCO

Candice Lill – 27th XCC / 18th XCO
Alan Hatherly – 26th XCC / 8th XCO

Elite Women XCC Highlights
Elite Women XCO Highlights
Elite Men XCC Highlights
Elite Men XCO Highlights

Araxá is now hot on the cards and the track is looking great! Get more details on the track, schedule, and where to watch below.

Practice Action From Araxa

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.

About Mairiporã and Araxá

“From what I remember the crowds are insane. Must be up there with the highest number of spectators for an MTB World Cup. The vibe is really insane. Adding to that, I think Cannondale Factory Racing has a good appeal to the local people which is always well received by us.” These are the words of Alan Hatherly in reference to the experience of mountain bike racing in Brazil. 

Uci Mtb World Cup Brazil: How To Watch And Comments From Team Rsa
When thinking XCO in Brazil, think jungle. (c) Fabio Piva / Red Bull Content Pool

Mairiporã is located just an hour north of São Paulo (which is near the coast of Brazil) at an altitude of 750 masl. The subtropical climate is rainy and warm at this time of year and that could make for some slippery fun in the forests!

Araxá is 250 km north and inland of Mairiporã and a little bit higher, at 1000 masl. Also rainforest and likely even wetter.

Both locations have 5 – 10 mm of rain predicted per day so we could be in for some sloppy conditions!

Which South African riders are racing?

These are the South African riders who will be lining up to race the XCO and XCC races over the next 2 weekends.

Elite Men and Women:

Alan Hatherly – Cannondale Factory Racing
Candice Lill – Faces / Seattle Coffee Co.

U23 Men and Women:

Tyler Jacobs – Trek SA
Luke Moir – Cube Factory Racing

Uci World Cup Brazil 2024 Info And How To Watch Alan Hatherly
Alan Hatherly has gone well here before and says he’s feeling better prepared than ever for 2024. (c) Bartek Wolinski / Red Bull Content Pool

The big man Alan Hatherly is feeling better prepared than ever going into the 2024 World Cup season: “I’m going into the first World Cup with the most amount of preparation, I would say, that I’ve ever had. Normally I do a lot of early season racing which takes you off of the main training plan and puts you on to speed work and top-end sessions which I’ve been able to hold off for quite some time this year.

I’ve only really done the two national XCO’s (one in Paarl and one in Joburg) and then a bunch of road racing, so the racing legs haven’t really been tested much at this point but my preparations have gone really smooth and I’m looking forward to testing that in Brazil. Everything is on track so I’m just really excited to kick off the World Cup season at this point.” – Alan Hatherly

Candice Lill has had a cracking start to 2024, besting Kate Courtney and Greta Seiwald at a recent UCI XCO in Greece and following that up with a powerful ride alongside Mona Mitterwallner at Cape Epic: “I’m really looking forward to racing in Brazil this weekend. I’ve never raced in Brazil so this will be a first-time experience and so far it’s a really different place to racing in Europe! Being in South America it is a lot more similar to Africa actually which is great. It is hot and a lot more rural and things are run a bit more similarly to Africa so in a way I feel I’m at an advantage because I’m used to the conditions and surroundings in this sense. It is also nice to feel like the Europeans are out of their comfort zone for a change!

In terms of where my head is at, I’m feeling the best I’ve ever felt in terms of confidence and the mental space required to race XCO near the front of the field (hopefully). I’m feeling really strong on the bike as well, I had a really good early-season prep and then that finished off well with some really good XCO racing in Greece and also the Cape Epic of course.

The racing in Greece and Cape Epic certainly helped boost my confidence in terms of racing against other people who I always thought were probably faster than me so I think when you prove to yourself that you can be just as strong as them, or even stronger, things start shifting in your mind and everything sort of changes from there. I didn’t come out of Cape Epic completely broken so I was able to recover well and I’m feeling strong. Regardless of what the result is I’m happy with where I’m at and I just want to be able to have fun and enjoy it and ride according to how I believe I can and how I’m feeling.” – Candice Lill

Absa Cape Epic Race Results
Candice Lill leads the pack during Stage 6 of the 2024 Absa Cape Epic (c) Max Sullivan/Cape Epic

Luke Moir got out early to race the UCI Cat 1 event this past weekend on the Mairapora track coming away with P2 in the U23 field! Here’s what he had to say, “Super cool to get a podium in Brazil at the UCI Cat 1 race. I’m still trying to find my feet in XC racing again, it’s been extra hard since breaking my ankle earlier this year and missing out on a couple of races but I’m super stoked to be here!

The track is running super fast, it’s going to be a really fast race. I’m looking forward to it and excited to be back at a World Cup XCO, especially now being with the Cube Factory team and having all the support that comes with that around me. I’m really keen for the season to start!” – Luke Moir

Rising 2nd year U23 old star Tyler Jacobs is on a new team for 2024 and eager to see where she sizes up in the U23 field: “I’m very excited to test myself at the first World Cup after seeing a lot of progress this base season. I’m trying not to have expectations, as there’s really no way to know where I’ll be at the moment, but rather just to go out there and give it my all. Racing in the U23 international field is next level, it’s a lot bigger than South African racing, and awesome for pushing your limits!” – Tyler Jacobs

Uci Mtb World Cup Brazil: How To Watch And Comments From Team Rsa
Tyler has a new program around her for 2024 after racing with the Computer Mania Team and she is ready to prove herself against the world’s best. (c) Josh Metclaf

Who were the winners at the world cups in 2023? 

Out of the 8 rounds of the 2023 UCI World Cup we saw 6 different winners in the Elite Men’s XCO (4 in the XCC) and 4 different winners in the Elite Women’s XCO (7 in the XCC). You can find their names and win count below for a recap.

Elite Women XCO Winners
Puck Pieterse (NED) X 3
Loana Lecomte (FRA) X 2
Mona Mitterwallner (AUT) X 2
Laura Stigger (AUT)

Elite Women XCC Winners
Laura Stigger (AUT) X 2
Jenny Rissveds (SWE)
Pauline Ferrand Prevot (FRA)
Ronja Blochlinger (SUI)
Alessandra Keller (SUI)
Puck Pieterse (NED)
Evie Richards (GBR)

Elite Men XCO Winners
Tom Pidcock (UK) X 2
Nino Schurter (SUI) X 2
Lars Forester (SUI)
Matthias Fluckiger (SUI)
Victor Koretzky (FRA)
Jordan Sarrou (FRA)

Elite Men XCC Winners
Luca Schwarzbauer (GER) X 3
Victor Koretzky (FRA) X 3
Tom Pidcock (GBR)
Jordan Sarrou (FRA)

See more on those results from the XCO and XCC on Roots and Rain.

Last time we were in Brazil (2022) it was our very own Alan Hatherly on the top step in the XCC and Nino Schurter in the XCO (equalling Julien Absalon’s win record) while Rebecca McConnell and Pauline Ferrand Prevot claimed the Women’s XCO and XCC wins respectively.

The Mairiporã MTB World Cup Track

“The courses are very ‘bike park’ style,” according to Alan Hatherly, “super fast with big berms everywhere to carry speed and all the major obstacles are very ‘man made’. There are also some big jumps from what I remember which is super cool, it’s always cool to have that kind of course in the World Cup lineup to balance the complete season’s worth of courses. You get the super technical muddy and rocky stuff in Europe and then this balances it all out a bit.

The XCC track is 636 m long with 44 m of elevation gain. We’re not sure yet how technical it will be but these tracks are usually fairly wide and not too technical to facilitate close racing and opportunities to move up the ranks.

The XCO track is 4.46 km long and gains 231 metres. The ground looks fast and most of the features will allow for high speed riding! There are a few solid technical features that will slow things down a bit, some of which may have faster B Lines than the A Lines. It will be interesting to see how the top riders pick their lines. You can get a feel for what is in store from the two videos below.

The Araxa MTB World Cup Track

The Araxa Track features a lot less climbing than last weekend’s but packs in some awesome technical features with a lot of natural features keeping it raw (as you can see in the practice video further up the article). The course has one main climb and descent (with a some short ups and downs scattered throughout) and some flatter riding around the start finish area. What is really exciting to see is that the course features a lot of different line options which will make for an exciting race in terms of overtakes and general strategy. With more new venues set for 2024, hopefully this is a trend that we will see more of.

The track is reported to be dry and fairly loose at the moment with a couple of more slick sections. There isn’t expected to be too much more rain for the weekend so that should stay consistent. Comments from the riders have been very positive and I should be a great test of skill for the world’s best!

Each lap is 3.6km in length with 164m of climbing so we can expect some fast racing on course! Check out the course map and a course recce from one of the pro teams below!

Uci Mtb World Cup Brazil: How To Watch And Comments From Team Rsa
Screenshot
Araxa XCO Track Course Preview

How to Watch the 2024 UCI MTB World Cup from South Africa

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 livestreams for the 2024 season.

The U23 XCO racing and Junior Downhilll is streamed for free on the UCI MTB World Series YouTube channel.

Event Schedule – UCI MTB World Cup Brazil 2024

Friday 19 April

19:00 – UCI Cross-country Short Track World Cup – Women U23
19:35 – UCI Cross-country Short Track World Cup – Men U23

Saturday 21 April

17:00 – UCI Cross-country Short Track World Cup – Women Elite
17:35 – UCI Cross-country Short Track World Cup – Men Elite
19:30 – UCI Cross-country Olympic – Men U23

Sunday 22 April

15:00 – UCI Cross-country Olympic – Women U23
17:15 – UCI Cross-country Olympic – Elite Women
19:30 – UCI Cross-country Olympic – Elite Men

All times in CAT.

About the 2024 UCI Mountain Bike World Series

With Discovery Sports, ESO, and Play Sports Network 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 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.

Event Coverage