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The world’s greatest cross-country racers got here to the Tweed Valley on the weekend chasing rainbows, and what a present they placed on. Right here are some things we observed
**Spoiler alert** In case you haven’t watched the racing and don’t need to know the end result, click on away now. If you wish to know methods to watch the World Champs this 12 months, take a look at this text (you may nonetheless watch the XC and DH on replay).
#1 Hardtails (nonetheless) rule. Final 12 months Ineos Grenadiers riders didn’t even have an official bike to race on – Tom Pidcock rode a blacked-out BMC Fourstroke, whereas Pauline Ferrand-Prevot wasn’t truly on the Ineos workforce final season, paradoxically driving for BMC. This 12 months the chemical giant-backed tremendous workforce has a humiliation of riches obtainable to its riders from sponsor Pinarello. And as she did final 12 months in Les Will get, PFP ploughed a considerably lonely furrow in selecting to trip a hardtail. Particularly the model new and quirkily uneven Pinarello Dogma XC. Whereas the jury’s out on the seems to be, the shortage of rear suspension didn’t harm PFP’s efficiency and she or he completely dominated the race to win by effectively over a minute from compatriot Loana Lecomte. It’d even have been much more if she’d not taken the B-line on a number of events round a few of the options.
Loana Lecomte and Pauline Ferrand Prevot have a good time at UCI XCO World Championships in Glentress, Scotland on August 12, 2023 // Bartek Wolinski / Crimson Bull Content material Pool
#2 Wait… Really full-sus is king! Within the males’s race, the consensus was that full-sus was quickest (or possibly simply extra marketable) and we didn’t spot any riders (definitely among the many sharp finish) racing on a hardtail. For Tom Pidcock that meant Pinarello’s different Dogma XC with 90mm of rear suspension.
Tom Pidcock performs at UCI XCO World Championships in Glentress, Scotland on August 12, 2023 // Bartek Wolinski / Crimson Bull Content material Pool //
#3 Proper turns crush rainbow goals. Off-camber proper hand corners are making a behavior of disrupting World Championship bids. Final 12 months in Les Will get Nino Schurter crashed on one, though it didn’t cease him successful the race. And earlier within the occasion, on the rain-soaked streets of Glasgow, Mathieu van der Poel slid out and into the boundaries, damaging his Shimano BOA shoe, whereas main the street race. Once more this didn’t impact the results of the race, and he went on to say the rainbow jersey. However in Glentress, he’d clearly performed all of his jokers, as a result of a free, off-camber flip onto the start-finish straight put an finish to his goals of successful the full-house of rainbow stripes in a single 12 months (he additionally received the 2023 Cyclo-cross World Championships). What have to be all of the extra galling for MvdP is that he’d made a implausible begin, working his means up from a poor grid place to fifteenth when the incident occurred (Pidock was thirty third at this level). That grid place itself the supply of a lot controversy due to the UCI selecting to advertise superstars Pidcock, MvdP and Peter Sagan on a whim to enhance the possibilities of an thrilling race. Pidcock distanced himself from this transfer, mentioning that he sacrificed weeks of Tour De France preparation to race (and win) early MTB World Cups to safe UCI factors and enhance his grid place for Worlds. Different MTB specialists had been much more vociferous with their displeasure at such random, eleventh hour favouritism.
Nino Schurter performs at UCI XCO World Championships in Glentress, Scotland on August 12, 2023 // Bartek Wolinski / Crimson Bull Content material Pool //
#4 Everybody wants an excellent fan. First there was ex-World DH Champion Tracy Moseley cheering on Evie Richards from the sidelines as she rode to a strong sixth place. Then Evie swapped her Crimson Bull helmet and GB package for a bucket hat and a Union Flag, and sprinted up one of many climbs bellowing encouragement at Tom Pidcock. That’s obtained to be value a number of additional watts, absolutely?
Evie Richards performs at UCI XCO World Championships in Glentress, Scotland on August 12, 2023 // Bartek Wolinski / Crimson Bull Content material Pool //
#5 It sucks if you get the mistaken order on the drive-thru. We’ve all been there; you’re in a busy queue for the drive-thru, you’re drained and hungry, and the workers convey you a bacon and egg muffin, as an alternative of a sausage and egg muffin. It’s annoying, proper? However, what you don’t do is have a large tantrum and take it out on the server. Until you’re Victor Koretzky who had a large McEnroe second by means of the pits on the finish of the 4th lap when his workforce helper provided up a gel. Plainly it wasn’t what Victor had ordered and it obtained thrown furiously on the ground, all captured by the TV cameras, and repeated in slow-motion for max impact.
Tom Pidcock performs at UCI XCO World Championships in Glentress, Scotland on August 12, 2023 // Bartek Wolinski / Crimson Bull Content material Pool //
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