Whoop UCI Mountain Bike World Series Starts Today
The first round of XCC and XCO racing is this weekend in Mairiporã Brazil
Round one of the 2024 Whoop UCI MTB World Series kicks off today at a new venue in Mairiporã, Brazil1. The track, which hosted races last year, is a “fast, rolling course through the forest that will require strength and sharp tactics to get the better of the rest of the field,” according to David Lappartient, UCI President.
Racing starts today with the U23 short-track events, which, unfortunately, are not televised. [update: Bulletin subscriber Matt W. emailed to let me know that although coverage of the U23 XCC isn’t available, U23 XCO and Jr DH events are on the World Series YouTube page, here.]
Televised coverage begins tomorrow on Max with the elite short track followed by the U23 men’s race. This is a change from years past when elite athletes raced short track on Friday to give them at least 24 hours of rest before the XCO events. Warner, the new organizer of the World Cup Series, moved the elite short track races to Saturday in an apparent bid to attract more spectators to the XCC by having it on the weekend instead of Friday before many fans arrived. It will be interesting to see if this change leads to more athletes opting out of XCC competition.
Mairiporã is in Atlantic time, one hour ahead of the US Eastern time zone. Adjust the schedule below accordingly:
Although we don’t have start sheets for the short-track event because the grid participants are subject to change, we can review the eligibility requirements for XCC participation. For those keeping score at home, these are found in UCI reg 4.10.001 and were updated Jan 2024.
A maximum of 40 riders per gender already registered and confirmed for the XCO event taking place during the same weekend shall be allowed to start in the XCC event. The riders shall be selected as per article 4.10.0032 to reach a total number of 40 riders per gender. No online registration is required for the XCC event. The same bike must be used for XCC and XCO. For XCC, the minimum tyre width must be 45mm.
Regarding the XCO cross-country race, here are your start lists. The highest-ranking missing rider is World Champ Tom Pidcock, ranked 7th in the world, who is currently racing on the road. You can see below there is also a gap for the 13th-ranked rider. That’s Riley Amos, who is racing in the U23 event.
For the women, Puck Pieterse, ranked first in the world, is skipping Brazil to continue racing on the road. Pieterse has the luxury of doing this because even in an Olympics year, the Netherlands is all but ensured two spots, and it would be a wild development if Pieterse were not selected for the Dutch squad. Also missing is 13th-ranked Samara Maxwell, who posted on Instagram two weeks ago that she was skipping Brazil because she has “some things to work on with my brain.”
Elite Men
Elite Women
U23 Men
U23 Women
As far as the Olympics watch goes, which I discussed in this post, here are the current Nation rankings.
MTB Olympic Qualification Men's Ranking
MTB Olympic Qualification Women's Ranking
Finally, if you really want to get in the weeds, here are the U23 athletes eligible to race in the elite category. Puck Pieterse, Mona Mitterwallner and Fem van Empel have made the permanent decision to race elites for the women. Adrien Boichis has opted in for the men.
The former MTB World Cup is now the Mountain Bike World Series. According to UCI reg 4.9.001, the UCI Mountain Bike World Series is made up of the UCI World Cup in the race types: Cross-country (see Chapter X), Downhill (see Chapter XI); Marathon (see Chapter XII), Enduro (see Chapter XIII).
4.10.003: The start order is determined as follows:
A. XCC men elite and women elite, XCC men under 23 and women under 23
1. riders ranked in the top 16 of the most recently published XCO World Cup standings (not applicable for the first UCI World Cup round of the season)
2. as per the most recently published UCI XCO individual ranking Riders with injury status shall be integrated in the start order in accordance with article 4.10.011.
Riders with pregnancy status shall be integrated in the start order in accordance with article 4.10.012.
What did Rob Warner do last year? I really missed him on the mtb coverage.