Piper Albrecht was on site at Mairipora to keep you updated on all the action.
The UCI Cross Country MTB World Cup is back for another year, with the first of eight rounds of the season taking place over the weekend in Mairiporan, Brazil. Mairiporan has been holding his MTB events since 2019, making him one of Brazil's most established MTB destinations, but this weekend's competition will be held for the first time as part of the World Cup. it was done.
Evie Richards and Sam Gaze dominated the elite short track race on Saturday, but the main event took place on Sunday, when the sport's strongest athletes took on the first World Cup XCO race of this Olympic year.
Australian photographer Piper Albrecht was on site and took the photos seen below, starting with the elite women's race.
A moment of tense anticipation before the XCO World Cup season begins.But Jenny Lisveds seemed pretty chill.It was an enthusiastic start, with Evie Richards (far left) among the members setting the pace in the early stages.After winning Saturday's XCC race, Richards was keen to continue where he left off.Portugal's Raquel Queiroz is heading to the finish in the middle of the pack.Danish champion Heavy Sophie Pedersen was one of 18 national champions on the starting line.Giada Specia from Italy is active.The top Chinese rider of the day was Zhifan Wu, who placed 34th.Former world champion Jolanda Neff finished fifth on the day.Sheena Frye led Richards in the middle of the race. Richards surpassed Fry by the end of the day, and the two finished 9th and 11th.However, on this day, Sweden's Jenny Risveds broke away from the top group on the final lap.Lisveds has quite a history in Brazil as well. She won the Olympic MTB race here in 2016, and her win Sunday was her first XCO World Cup win in five years.Italy's Chiara Teocchi seemed satisfied with fourth place.Lisbets won over American pair Sabilia Blank and Hayley Batten. Following Teocchi, Neff completed the podium in fifth place.Lisveds' victory puts him in first place overall in the World Cup with seven rounds remaining.
The women's elite race has been decided and it's time for the men to take the stage.
Simon Andreassen waits for the start.The GOAT, Nino Schurter, starts this season as the defending champion in the overall World Cup standings (by the way, he has nine championships and 10 XCO world titles).A quick fist bump between Joshua Dubow (left) and Jordan Saroo (right) before the start.We've seen plenty of Alpecin Deceuninck's denim looks on the road so far this year, and Saturday's XCC winner Sam Gaze brought it to the dirt this weekend.Chilean champion Martin Vidaure jumped off the line and started a good race for him.Adrian Boitsis leads the group up one of the many climbs on the Mairipora course.Anton Cooper recently continued his reign as Kiwi champion for another 12 months, winning his ninth national title. He has also been Oceania champion eight times in a row.Eyes were mixed throughout……But ultimately I couldn't make the winning move on the last lap.Some riders found themselves walking in different places throughout the day.Chris Blevins started out as an unknown racer, but gradually rose to prominence.Shooter crashed early in the race and was unable to finish higher than 35th place by the end of the race.Blevins made his move on the final lap and eventually cleared to maintain a gap to the line. This is America's second Elite World Cup victory, following the 2021 USA Snowshoe Championships.5th place goes to Vidaulle.Blevins won the event over Victor Koretsky, Fippo Colombo, Jordan Salud and Vidaure.
The wait for the next round of the Cross Country World Cup won't be long. The second leg will be held this weekend in Araxa, Brazil, which will also be hosting the 2024 World Cup for the first time.
