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This is what you need to know about the Les Gets MTB World Championships
The biggest one-off races in mountain biking sport takes place in France. Here's everything worth knowing about the race for the coveted rainbow jersey in Les Gets.
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This is it then, the big one – the UCI Mountain Bike World Championships. If you’re new to cycling, then it may at first seem odd that you can win a world championship in one race, but, well, you can, and when you do, you get to put the rainbow stripes on the rest of your jerseys for life. This year we're in Les Gets, France, for the Worlds.
This will be the second time that Les Gets has hosted the World Championships, with that appearance coming back in 2004. Back then the French location was a regular fixture on the UCI mountain bike racing calendar. Les Gets disappeared from the UCI calendar after the 2004 Worlds but regained its spot in 2019 when it became a World Cup location. Racing at the World Cup in Les Gets took place in 2019 and 2021.
Les Gets draws in plenty of MTB visitors in the summer
© Bartek Wolinski/Red Bull Content Pool
01
What's the schedule for this year's World Championships
The selected events below from the 2022 UCI MTB World Championships will be shown on Red Bull TV. The live stream is, however subject to a geo-block. If a stream isn't showing when you click on the links below, a local broadcaster has the rights in your country.
- August 26 – XCC World Championships (not being shown on Red Bull TV)
- August 27 – Women's Downhill World Championship
- August 27 – Men's Downhill World Championship
- August 28 – Women's Cross-Country World Championship
- August 28 – Men's Cross-Country World Championship
02
Why are the Worlds so special?
National federations select riders, so some familiar names that ride on the World Cup circuit may not be running at the Worlds if they haven't been selected. The British and French downhill squads, in particular, are very competitive to get into. Racers also go down the track in their national jerseys instead of their sponsors' shirts.
Being a world champion is a huge deal in mountain biking and the race carries with it more kudos than any other. For one year after the World Championships race, the winner of the World Champs gets to wear a special jersey that signifies them as the World Champion. They can wear that jersey at any race they take part in as long as they are racing that discipline. This jersey is usually white and has the colours of the rainbow in a band on it.
6 min
Why are the World Champs different?
Eliot Jackson is back on track in Val di Sole to explain the ins and outs of the UCI MTB World Championships.
2021 saw the introduction of a Short Track (XCC) World Championships for the first time. Christopher Blevins of the United States and Sina Frei of Switzerland took the wins in the men's and women's competitions respectively. With the XCC World Championships being a success in Val di Sole, the UCI is continuing on with the format at the Worlds.
03
What are the downhill and cross-country tracks like?
The modern UCI-grade downhill track can be found on the Mont Chéry side of the Les Gets resort. In 2021 in preparation for the World Championships, the racers were treated to a redesigned course from the course that was run in 2019. The very top of the 2.5km course starts with a high-speed section out in the open before going into the woods. The 2021 course included a steep and techy section in the woods as well as a road gap jump that looks simple but can be easily overshot.
Check out the 2022 Worlds downhill course with Laurie Greenland:
4 min
DH course preview with Laurie Greenland
Laurie Greenland takes us down the fast French hillside of Les Gets.
Les Gets had an all-new XCO course sculpted out of the hills for the return of World Cup racing in 2019. That course was 3.8km long with 140m of climbing. The track used elements of the Dual Slalom and Speed & Style courses constructed for the Crankworx Festival [that used to take in Les Gets] in the course design. For 2021, the course evolved ever so slightly, including the introduction of a rock garden and the addition of some new technical sections.
3 min
Les Gets XCO track explanation with Anne Terpstra
Get a breakdown of the reworked XCO track from Dutch rider Anne Terpstra ahead of the competition in Les Gets.
Competing athletes
04
Where exactly are we?
You'll find Les Gets in the Chablais region in the province of Haute-Savoie, an area close to France's border with Switzerland. As a result, the Mont Blanc mountain range dominates the panoramas as you travel in the area.
Majestic mountains loom over Les Gets
© Bartek Woliński/@wolisphoto
Like most venues and locations on the Mercedes Benz UCI Mountain Bike World Cup, Les Gets is a year-round resort for those who love their sport. In the summer, biking rules and when it comes to winter, the skiers come to town to use the Chavannes and Mont Chéry slopes that sit on either side of Les Gets village. Les Gets itself is a quaint and pretty village that gets very busy with tourists in season and is bound to be full when the World Cup comes to town.
Competing athletes
05
Who's going to win the 2022 Worlds?
There's a full list of countries representing in both downhill and cross-country at the 2022 Worlds. To find out who is riding for their countries, go here.
Downhill
All eyes will be on the French men and women to bring home the glory in front of home fans. Amaury Pierron is the stand-out Frenchman given his domination of the 2022 Mercedes-Benz UCI Mountain Bike World Cup, and he's won here previously in 2019. Thibaut Dapréla took the win at the 2021 World Cup in Les Gets but hasn't been on the pace this season.
Loïc Bruni would dearly love to win in front of his French fans
© Bartek Woliński
Four-time World Champion Loïc Bruni normally goes all in when it comes to the Worlds but he's hampered going into these Champs with possible shoulder soreness having dislocated his shoulder at the last World Cup race in Mont-Sainte-Anne. Loris Vergier and Benoit Coulanges are also part of a strong French squad.
In Myriam Nicole, the French have a woman who knows how to perform consistently well at Worlds. The 2021 World Champion has been riding well this season but luck has often deserted her. Elsewhere look out for Vali Höll of Austria and Nina Hoffmann of Germany as the ladies most likely to challenge for the title. Camille Balanche of Switzerland is out with a collarbone break.
Myriam Nicole with her 2021 World Champs gold medal
© Bartek Wolinski/Red Bull Content Pool
Competing athletes
Cross-country
Predicting XCC races can be a lottery at the best of times so with a rainbow jersey on the line it may be won by an athlete who may specifically target the XCC over the XCO race while some riders won't race the XCC to concentrate on the XCO.
XCC racing is short, fast and furious
© Bartek Woliński/Red Bull Content Pool
The men's XCO race is one of the most interesting races at the Worlds. Olympic Champion Tom Pidcock is racing at the Worlds as he looks to become a World Champion in two distinct UCI bike disciplines in the same year. Pidcock won the cyclo-cross Worlds in January this year. The young British cyclist is coming into the Worlds with little race action in mountain bike but did race the European Championships this past weekend and won. He had been training on his mountain bike since he finished the Tour de France, a race where he won the iconic Alp d'Huez stage.
Pidcock won two World Cups in 2022 before going back to road racing
© Bartek Wolinski/Wolisphoto
Nine-time World Champion Nino Schurter didn't have a great season in 2021 but still managed to win the Worlds last year. Mathias Flückiger who opted not to travel to the last two World Cup races in Snowshoe and Mont-Sainte-Anne, will not be racing as he has been provisionally suspended after testing positive for a banned substance.
Three-time women's World Champion Pauline Ferrand-Prévot of France and her countrywoman Loana Lecomte missed the North American races. Both have trained extensively at home in France and have targeted winning the World title in front of home crowds. At the European Championships this past weekend, Lecomte took the victory with Ferrand-Prévot second, so it looks like their decision not to go to those races were vindicated.
Ferrand-Prévot has trained to be in her best condition for the Worlds
© Bartek Wolinski/@wolisphoto.
They are joint-favourites to take the gold medal in the women's race. Current World Champion Evie Richards and her Trek teammate Jolanda Neff are fully fit again and could be the outliers to look out for from the rest of the field. However, in Richards' case, she goes to the Worlds with very little racing in her legs.
Be sure to download the free Red Bull TV app and catch the MTB action on all your devices! Get the app here
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