What To Expect: UCI MTB World Champs 2022 – Les Gets, France

by | Aug 24, 2022 | Bike, Bike Events & Racing, Bike Racing News

The annual UCI MTB World Champs has indeed arrived in Les Gets, France. The race day that will plague every rider’s mind in 365 day cycles. The one shot they will get each year to earn a spot in the history books and their chance to sport the coveted rainbow stripes on their race kit until the they go up for grabs again a year later. The French crowds are going to be on absolute best for for this special event . There is immense depth in the fields of contenders for each title, we have an insane week of racing on our hands. Find the detail on the week’s racing, the list of South African Riders lining up to race in Les Gets and the schedule below.

What To Expect: Uci Mtb World Champs 2022 - Les Gets, France
The time has once again come where the coveted rainbow stripes will be fought for and in 2022 Les Gets will be the battle ground! PC: Bartek Wolinski / Red Bull Content Pool

The Tracks

We saw a brand new 2.5km downhill track with 545m of elevation loss from Les Gets in 2021 and for 2022 World Champs there will be yet more new changes to take riders between the newer and classic sections of trail that make their way down the mountain. Some of the more dangerous features from 2021 have been adapted (such as the left turn road gap) to reduce the rate of crashing and injuries but we can expect highly technical off camber racing and mind bending corners. The course has been closed off even to the French federation riders this year so it should make for a relatively even playing field! Thursday is qualification day and Saturday afternoon brings the race.

Check out the World Champs DH track with Laurie Greenland

On the XCO front we are expecting a similar course from 2021. 3.8km in length with 140m of climbing per lap. The course did gain a couple of new features between 2019 and 2021 so there may be some new addition for 2022 as well! All round it is known for having plenty of highly technical features and gets particularly slippery in the rain of which there appear to be a few showers over the weekend. You can have a look at Emily Batty’s 2021 course preview of the track below for an idea of what is to come.

Les Gets 2021 Track With Emily Batty and Laurie Arseneault

South African Rider List
Junior Women XCO
Tyler Jacobs – SA Champ

Junior Men XCO
Justin Swanepoel – SA Champ
Massimiliano Ambrosi
Ernest Roets
Jordan Boshoff

Junior Men DH
Keagan Brand – SA Champ
Philip van Schalkwyk

u23 Women XCO
Rimari Sutton – SA Champ

u23 Men XCO
Tristan Nortje – SA Champ
Keagan Bontekoning
Johan Van Zyl
Luke Moir
Jaeden Terlouw

Elite Women DH (qualifying result – top 30 qualify)
Sabine Thies – SA Champ (26)
Frankie du Toit (30)

Elite Men DH (qualifying result – top 80 qualify)
Greg Minnaar – Defending World Champion + GOAT (9th)
Johan Potgeiter – SA Champ (89)
Chris Philogene (51)
Rory Kirk (57)
Theo Erlangsen (48)

Elite Women XCO
Candice Lill – SA Champ
Mariske Strauss

Elite Men XCO
Alan Hatherly – Ranked 4th in the world
Phil Buys – SA Champ
Arno Du Toit
Wessel Botha
Matthew Lombardi (E-MTB Race)

What To Expect: Uci Mtb World Champs 2022 - Les Gets, France
Our defending World Downhill Champ, Greg Minnaar. It is still incredible to think that he has been racing in the rainbow stripes over the last year. What an achievement that was. World Champs race no. 26 coming right up! PC: Red Bull Content Pool / Bartek Wolinski

The Schedule
Thursday
10:30 – Junior DH Qualifying
11:45 – Elite DH Qualifying
15:00 – Junior Women XCO Finals
17:00 – Junior Men XCO Finals

Friday
10:00 – Women’s E-MTB Finals
11:30 – Men’s E-MTB Finals
17:00 – Elite Women’s XCC Finals
17:45 – Elite Men’s XCC Finals

Saturday
9:30 – Junior DH Finals
13:10 – Elite Women’s DH Finals (Supersport OTT 6)
14:30 – Elite Men’s DH Finals (Supersport OTT 6)

Sunday
09:00 – u/23 Women XCO Finals (Ch 206 – DSTV)
10:45 – u/23 Men XCO Finals (Ch 206 – DSTV)
13:00 – Elite Women XCO Finals (TBC)
15:15 – Elite Men XCO Finals (TBC)

Last year there was a sneaky live stream that wasn’t geoblocked on the UCI Website. It doesn’t appear to be visible yet and may not pop up but we’ve left the link there incase.
You can watch the live stream on Red Bull TV if you use a VPN to place your IP address outside of South Africa.
DSTV channel World Champs content included in the above schedule.

More World Champs Content

World Champs Track Walk with Vital MTB
Got to love the custom bikes from World Champs!
Get the inside line on the competition during track walk with Wyn Masters