We’re barely recovered from the excitement of the UCI MTB World Champs in Val di Sole last weekend, we hope Minnaar has recovered from the celebrations, and we are into a weekend of World Cup XCO and Downhill in Switzerland at Lenzerheide! This will be the penultimate round of World Cup events for 2021. Here are all the things you need to know.
WHERE AND WHEN TO WATCH
The UCI MTB World Cup events will be streamed on Red Bull TV . Alternatively, you can follow the live timing here.
Friday 3rd:
17:20 – Short Track Cross Country Finals
Saturday 4th:
12:30 – Women’s Elite Downhill Finals
13:45 – Men’s Elite Downhill Finals
Sunday 5th:
12:00 – Women’s XCO Finals
14:30 – Men’s XCO Finals
WHO TO WATCH
Of course Greg Minnaar is in the downhill spotlight at the moment and Lenzerheide is a track that he has won at before. This year it is looking pretty fast and straight forward without too much room for interpretive line choices which may not favour the GOAT but he will definitely be riding a high from last weekend! The likes of Loris Vergier, Thibaut Daprela, Loic Bruni, and Benoit Coulanges will be eager to knock him off the top step. Coincidentally, they’re all French. Troy Brosnan looks like he’s found his groove again having not featured too much since his win in round 1. Guaranteed fireworks on Saturday!
We are still suspense for Vali Holl to put down a clean finals run to win her first Elite World Cup! The battle for the top step in the women’s downhill continues. Myriam Nicole, Cami Balanche, Tahnee Seagrave, Marine Cabirou, and Monika Hrastnik could put down a winning run, and a few others! Great to see a strong women’s field this year!
On the Cross Country Track, Matthias Flueckiger leads the standings but Shurter seems to have figured out how to win again in 2021 after a few finished fourth into the the top 10. Alan Hatherly is on podium form and we have high hopes for his race on Sunday! 7th in the standings at the moment with Sarrou and Cooper ahead. Could he sneak into the top 5 with 2 rounds to go?
Loana Lecomte hasn’t seen a podium since her last win in Les Gets this year. The young star had a 4 race winning streak and sat out the World Champs due to sickness. Could she come back swinging in Switzerland? Jolanda Neff is back on pace but could be feeling hometown pressure and well as competitor pressure from Evie Richards the World Champ! Sunday will reveal all.
THE LOCATION AND TRACKS
Lenzerheide sits in Eastern Switzerland at an altitude of 1500m above sea level. There looks to be a chance of rain this weekend which could make the XCO course even more difficult, as it is already one of the more technical on the circuit, and the downhill finals quite spicy! Hopefully the rain won’t upset things too much but it doesn’t seem to be too much of a downpour predicted. Have a look at the course previews below.
