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.
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.
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.
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)
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
