Josh Carlson finishes 15th in e-bike World Championships

There has been an eMTB World Championships since 2019, with an open men's and women's category. It's quite a mixed field, with a mix of enduro riders, cross-country racers and this year – even a World Tour road pro. The course is typically a modified XCO course, and in Les Gets some of the descending features became climbs, to test the technical ability of the riders.

Matt Rousu was course side and let us know how it went down.

'There was always the threat of rain here in Les Gets, after all the event is a week long and is held in the French Alps. It started early but the Women’s E-bike race was held in perfect (albeit dusty) conditions.'

'The field was small but the fight for podium positions was fierce, Switzerland would dominate with defending champ Nicole Goeldi taking the stripes again, she also rocked some gold bling on her Trek to show everyone who’s boss.'

The Trek Rail trumps the EXe for racing.

'The women behind her would change positions frequently throughout the race. But in the end it would be Justine Tonso (France) and Nathalie Schneitter (Switzerland) who would take the minor placings.'

'Unfortunately there were no Australians here racing in France for the women's race. It seems like the electronic form of mountain bike racing just hasn’t taken off back home, in fact there were only 7 countries represented in the women’s E-bike race… It’s a shame because it really is a fun event to watch, riding up the XCO descents is always going to be entertaining!

Josh Carlson goes head to head with Peter Sagan

'The men’s event drew a lot more attention due to the appearance of 3 time Road World Champion Peter Sagan. Peter is no stranger to the fatter tyres having been a Junior MTB World Champion way back in 2008 and competing at the 2016 Rio Olympics in XCO. He’s a fantastic individual with a lot of flair and time for his fans.'

'As the warm up area was closing, the rain started to fall and it pretty much didn’t stop until the race was over. The terrain was super difficult to navigate, everywhere out in the open was sodden and slick but the forest areas remained kind of dusty, riders tyres would clog up with the dust making every root and rock like ice.'

'Glasses were discarded and the emotions on the athletes faces was clear, there was nowhere to hide in this race… Our very own Josh Carlson flew the flag proudly for Australia, his beautiful custom bike drawing the attention of every photographer in the start corral.'

'He would do battle with Peter Sagan all race which made it super entertaining to watch/shoot/cheer. An overtaking move in the rock garden was the highlight of the race.'

'What a day! The sky fell down from the very start until the very end, which made the track treacherous to say the least. The climbs had slippery, slippery clay. So you're pedalling up hill with your rear brake on, just trying to stop the wheel spinning.'

'I watched Sagan boot it in front of me and 5 other guys lay it down in front of me because of the mud. So I was trying to modulate the rear. The lower grass section was diabolical. I almost high sided in one of the lower berms when I blew my wheel off the chicken wire.'

'It was just carnage, it was all about survival. I really had to fight in some sections and then just survive in others. The cherry on top of a tough day was battling with Sagan at the finish. We had a couple of overtakes here and there – but I knew if I could see him coming into the final downhill section, I had him.'

'So I rode like a lunatic down there. A couple of times my brakes started squeeling because they were brand new rotors and they were barely burnt in! We came down to the finish and I had a big, gnarly grass corner to go and I was on his wheel. I pushed the issue on the third or fourth last corner and then rode the last few rock gardens like a psycho and got him.'

'I was thinking in my head, 'Am I going to have a spring with Peter Sagan for the E-bike World Championships?'. And I wouldn't have even been mad about it. Anyway, he ran out of talent on the last rock garden and I made it through. We both had a giggle across the finish line and it was a pretty cool little moment.'

Josh would place 15th in the end. France dominated the event taking 5 spots in the top 10 including 1st and 2nd. Defending champion Jerome Gilloux taking the title again with Hugo Pigeon 2nd (he was 2nd last year too) and Joris Ryf (Switzerland) 3rd.