Pal Arinsal & Vallnord - Andorra
Downhill & Cross Country (XCO/XCC)
The World Championships actually take place within the World Series season, but there is a slight difference.
The race-day formats will differ slightly and the race will not contribute points to the World Series overall standings- instead, there will be medals for the top three riders in each category, and the winner will take home the coveted ‘Rainbow Jersey’ in addition to their gold medal.
The winner will have the honour of wearing the ‘the stripes’, as they are affectionately known, for the rest of the race season. It’s go big or go home in this special event, and every rider in the field wants to win it.
Downhill
Downhill mountain biking is a format that sees the world’s fastest men and women race their bikes down a gravity fed track, and it’s quite literally the fastest time on finals day that wins the event. A controversial new format was introduced in 2023 that saw the introduction of semi-finals; a round that takes place after qualifying, and before the finals day runs which means riders are doing three runs at close to race-pace. It’s high risk, high reward, the racing is always fantastic and the atmosphere is pure electric.
Cross Country
XC was the original form of mountain bike racing, and remains one of the most popular disciplines to this day. Confusingly, we can break down XC into three categories; XCO, XCC and XCM.
XCO is the pinnacle of the sport and sees a large group of riders do a mass start, then race a natural off-road circuit littered with features both man-made and natural.
XCC is basically a short circuit version that allows riders to qualify for the first three rows of the XCO.
XCM, or cross country marathon, sees riders competing on vast stretches of single track in a super long point-to-point race.
Pretty much all XC races are fast, furious and extremely exciting, so check it out if you haven’t already!