Bike
Feeling like getting into the competitive spirit this season? Here's all you need to know about where, when and how to watch the best mountain bike racing.
Now, it's important not to get too excited, but we're just under a week away from seeing bicycles racing offroad again after three months of relative inactivity for the world's top mountain bike pros.
If this is your first season's worth of mountain biking racing, here's our guide on what to expect in 2022, and if you're already a seasoned watcher it's time to get amped up for what's to come.
01
Urban downhill
Urban downhill (Urban DH) is a spectacular event that sees mountain bikers race individually down a street-based mountainside course with the fastest time winning the race. When we say street-based, we mean exactly that. Expect to see racers going down narrow streets, flights of stairs, over obstacles and navigating past man-made jumps, wall rides and drop-offs.
The heartland of the sport is mainly in Central and South America with popular races in Mexico, Brazil, Chile and Colombia. Red Bull Monserrate Cerro Abajo and Red Bull Valparaíso Cerro Abajo in Colombia and Chile respectively are the most well-known events.
Get an idea of what urban downhill racing is all about by watching this POV of Brook Macdonald riding the Red Bull Valparaíso Cerro Abajo course in 2018:
First Event: Red Bull Monserrate Cerro Abajo, Bogota - February 5
Where to watch: Live on Red Bull TV
Riders to watch: For many years Slovakian Filip Polc dominated the sport but now many young riders are beginning to make a name for themselves. Czech four-cross racer Tomáš Slavík is a two-time winner of Red Bull Valparaíso Cerro Abajo and a winner of Red Bull Monserrate Cerro Abajo also. He's the overwhelming favourite when he races urban downhill.
02
Downhill
Downhill (DH) racing is not for the faint of heart and features the highest speeds and the biggest risks. The premise is simple; get from Point A (generally at the top of a mountain) to Point B (the bottom of the mountain) as fast as your bike will carry you. The person who does it in the shortest period of time wins.
Riders have several days of training sessions to learn as much of the track as possible and, being a mountain sport, it often becomes a battle as to who can make the most sense of an evolving track and any changes in weather.
Downhill racing as a sport is thrilling and over the last 10 years or so has really grown up. The time gaps have never been tighter and (especially in the elite men's field) anyone within the top 20 really has a good chance of winning it.
Jump on board with Brook Macdonald to see just how terrifying downhill as he tackles the UCI Downhill World Cup track in Leogang, Austria:
First event: Mercedes-Benz UCI World Cup, Lourdes – March 27
Where to watch: Live on Red Bull TV
Riders to watch: Loïc Bruni has been downhill's number one man in recent years and is the current World Cup champion. That position still looks strong though fellow Frenchies Amaury Pierron and Loris Vergier have been providing strong competition. Greg Minnaar, Reece Wilson and Thibaut Dapréla are also racers worth noting for the 2022 season. For the women Vali Höll, Myriam Nicole and Marine Cabirou look best placed for honours with Rachel Atherton still not back racing World Cup's following the birth of a baby girl.
03
Cross Country racing
Cross Country Olympic (XCO) is a multi-lap race around a course containing lots of climbs and descents. Red-line levels of fitness are married to extreme technical control. This isn't a sport for the faint-hearted.
First event: Mercedes-Benz UCI World Cup, Petropolis, Brazil – April 10
Where to watch: Live on Red Bull TV
Riders to watch: In the elite women's race, pretty much anyone inside the Top 20! It's some of the fiercest and closest racing on two wheels. Jolanda Neff is a firm crowd favourite, with Yana Belomoina and Emily Batty also having a big following among the fans. The last couple of years have seen Pauline Ferrand-Prévot return to form and dominate racing. The newest stars on the block are Loana Lecomte and Evie Richards. Both recorded maiden World Cup wins in the 2021 season with Richards also becoming the World Champion.
Men's racing was ruled by Nino Schurter. The Swiss rider is a seven-time overall World Cup champion but had an up and down season in 2021 with fellow Swiss racer Mathias Flückiger on top for most of it. Elsewhere the talented biking all-rounders Mathieu van der Poel and Tom Pidcock are riders to watch when they decide to participate in races.
Watch the best sprints from XCO racing in recent years below:
04
Cross Country Short Track
The youngest of the MTB racing disciplines, Short Track (XCC) made its full UCI World Cup debut in 2018 and is run on the Friday evening of all XCO rounds.
It's fairly similar to a criterium in road-racing terms; there's a fast-paced start as the pack attempts to sort itself out and then the tactical battle begins! As a format, it was introduced to determine the starting rows for the main XCO race with the top eight finishers from the XCC race starting on the front row for the XCO. From 2022, the points won at an XCC race will feed into a World Cup Overall title for the discipline as well as still contributing to points for the Overall XCO World Cup title also.
First event: Mercedes-Benz UCI World Cup, Petropolis, Brazil – April 10
Where to watch: Live on Red Bull TV
Riders to watch: The XCC has generally not been to the liking of Schurter. This has allowed riders such as van der Poel and Henrique Avancini to dominate. The 2020 and 2021 seasons brought new names to the XCC fore in the men's with wins for Flückiger and Victor Koretzky among them. In the women's, Evie Richards is strong in XCC with three wins under her belt and may be the queen in waiting in this format of racing.
Learn about the ins and outs of XCO and XCC racing below:
05
Crankworx
Crankworx brings the great and the good of all mountain biking together in one spot for some intense few days of competition across several mountain bike racing and contest formats like downhill racing, dual slalom, speed & style and pump track racing.
Athletes don't keep to one competition format and commit themselves to taking part in nearly every competition going in a bid to win prize money and points for the overall King and Queen of Crankworx title.
First event: Crankworx Innsbruck, dates to be confirmed
Where to watch: Live on Red Bull TV
Riders to watch: With athletes competing across many racing formats an all-rounder who can race but also have some tricks up his or her sleeve are the people who usually climb to the top of the standings. For the men, Adrian Loren and Bas Van Steenbergen routinely do well, while for the women, Vaea Verbeeck is seemingly the woman to beat.
06
Enduro
Enduro is similar to a car rally in terms of the format. There are numerous downhill stages across one or two days of racing, with riders having to make their own way back to the top of the next stage on a strict time limit. Enduro racing blurs many of the hardest parts of all the other disciplines to make something uniquely… well, hard.
One of enduro's big strengths is that the bikes used are warmed-up versions of the full-suspension bikes that most mountain bikers ride every weekend. With a carefully packed riding pack, anyone can race enduro and there are grassroots series and one-off local events all over the planet.
Where to watch: Highlights on Enduro World Series TV
Riders to watch: Sam Hill is the big name when it comes to the men in the Enduro World Series. That said there are plenty of talents capable of taking wins including Richie Rude, Martin Maes and Greg Callaghan. The women's Enduro World Series races have been dominated by Cecile Ravanel since its inception. The women's field is however wide open, and France's Isabeau Courdurier has been stepping into the breach in recent years and winning races. Also, expect Israel's Noga Korem to feature at the top of any race leaderboards.
