Mega Gallery from the 2022 XCO MTB World Championships

Photos: Matt Rousu 

After the carnage that was Saturday night, Les Gets woke early for the U23 and Elite Cross-Country title races. U23 women would start first, with the race starting at 9am. Not much happens at 9am on a Sunday in a European alpine town, but the world's best U23 women were going bar to bar on the short 3.39km XCO course in Les Gets. Their race was 5 laps long.

JUST TAKE ME TO THE DOWNHILL COVERAGE!!

U23 XCO Women World Championships

After a firey start, a leading group began to form. By the second lap Swiss Ronja Blochlinger was leading, riding strongly and whipping the jumps, with German Luisa Daubermann just behind. Line Burquier from France, Puck Pieterse from The Netherlands and Italy's Giada Specia rounded out a top 5 who were going clear.

Riders behind were far from dropped, and in time Denmark's Sofia Pederson was catching and in the end the top 7 were all together on the longer climb on lap 2, with grades upto 17%!

By the end of the lap, Line Burquier was going clear and Specia was moving up. Line's advantage would grow in the 3rd lap, as Ronja (SUI) was going backwards. Specia was struggling with the pace and Pieterse was into second place.

Later in lap 4 Pederson was moving into 4th. Ronja was still going backwards and was passed by Germany's Daubermann, who had drifted back earlier. Into the last lap Line Burquier had a 51 second gap over Puck Pieterse who was 10 seconds ahead of Pederson. Line won by 43 seconds, showing talent to burn.

'Yes I am so happy and I gave all of myself in this race.' Burquier said in her post race interview. 'I will keep all this moment and enjoy myself.' The crowd grew through the race as the locals awoke and had a coffee and croissant before getting trackside, and that local support helped the French rider.

'I am so proud to win with all my family, my friends and the french people. They pushed me the whole race.'

Zoe Cuthbert and Izzy Flint were not able to start due to food poisoning. Katherine Hosking finished 39th and Holly Lubcke was 53rd. All results are online.

U23 XCO Men World Championships

With 105 riders in the start chute, this race was going to be hectic. More hungover French fans and mountain bike super fans were emerging from their chateaus, vans and from the forest itself, lining the compact course.

From the start, Martin Vidaurre (Chile), Carter Woods (Canada), Mathis Azzaro (France), Charlie Aldridge (Great Britain) and Sam Fox (Australia) were at the front.

Through the roots section, the huge field got spaced out. The front 4 got away but dabs meant riders were off and running, all through this section further back in the field. But later in the first lap the front group was all together.

Azzaro was testing Vidaurre but the Chilean was riding a strong race. Woods was gapped, and then Fontana and Avondetto from Italy were chasing. Amos from the USA and Aldridge were next back with Sam Fox just behind.

Come lap 3, Vidaurre attacked, and quickly gained 16 seconds on one climb. Azarro, Avondetto and Fontana were chasing and eventually Avondetto got across. Avondetto then attacks on a climb and leads on lap 4. Was this part of Vidaurre's plan? To settle? He looked tired!

Avondetto gets the lead, Azzaro was in second. Vidauure in reverse, Schutti (SUI) moved into third. Avondetto won solo, Azzaro won silver for France and Schutti won bronze. 

Sam Fox finished 13th, Cam Wright was 30th, Dom was 82nd, and Tom Cheesman came 85th. Full results are online.

'It's amazing. I still can't believe it!' said Avondetto at the finish.  'It was a good race. I suffered a bit at the start as I couldn't follow Martin when he attacked. When I saw he wasn't so far in front I felt a bit better. I tried to push and was happy to hold it to the finish.'

French rider Azzaro was just stunned by the experience.

'It's amazing to see this crowd. Yesterday in Downhill we saw a big day. This morning with the title for Line in women's and me in second place… it's beautiful.'

The French crowd played a big part in Azzaro's silver medal, llifting him around the course.

'It's the best feeling I've ever had on the bike. Hearing all the fans it was maybe 50W more in my legs, it was beautiful!'

Swiss Luca Schutti was 4th in 2021 and went one better with Bronze this year.

'I'm very happy with 3rd. I was chasing this podium for 4 years. I'm really really happy with this result.'

'I'm really happy, just to feel like a had a good race was really nice,' said Sam Fox after his race. 'I had a really good start, that's something I have been struggling with lately. Just to tick that off the list was nice.'

'I really wanted to get out of the carnage, I knew it was going to be chaos in the roots and the trees. So just to be able to get up the front where the guys know how to ride was important. I know it's at altitude here so these guys have a habit of going ballaistic off the startline and popping later on. So I settled into my pace.'

'I settled into the top 10 but a stupid little mistake put me back a bit. Otherwise it was a perfect race. Hopefully I can continue this onto elite next year.'

Elite women XCO World Championships

The women's field was pretty stacked, although Jenny Rissveds was out with illness. Pauline Ferrand-Prevot has focused on World Champs in France and skipped numerous World Cups, as had Loana Lecomte. Jolanda Neff won in Mont Sainte Anne and was in top form. Alessandra Keller has won in Snowshoe and Anne Terpstra was also in winning form. And of course Bec McConnell had won the first 3 XCO World Cups! Evie Richards was back to racing and was the defending World Champ and recent Gold medal winner at the Commonwealth Games. Who could bring the fight?

It was a great start by Gairult from France. Bec was around the top 5 but Pauline Ferrand Prevot up from 22nd to lead by 10 sec a quarter of the way into the first lap. She had opted to race her BMC TwoStroke hardtail, to favour the climbs and handle the descents.

The bunch hit the roots and, PFP was leading but Neff was catching, with Haley Batten, Lecomte and Italy's Martina Berta all there – a very talented top 5. Evie Richards, Terpstra and Keller were chasing.

Crowds were going wild, Pauline Ferrand-Prevot was reaping the rewards of her singular focus that saw her skip World Cups and train at altitude. Could Neff catch her? JoJo can descend but PFP can really climb. Loana was climbing past Jojo, but PFP was ruling on her hardtail – although it did look pretty rough!

Pauline had 22 seconds on second place Loana LeComte coming into the second lap. Bec McConnell was 13th coming into the second lap. At the front, Haley Batten and Alessandra Keller attacked LeComte – but PFP was riding away and edging towards a 50 second advantage, halfway into the 2nd lap of 6.

LeComte was struggling on the long climb on the second climb, as Keller and Batten were edging away. But she was fighting. Martina Berta settled into 6th place behind Neff. But in lap 4 in the pits with a mechanical – it was hard to see what was wrong but the mechanic had removed her cranks… Evie Richards moved into 6th.

In lap 4 Jolanda was coming back and took it to Keller and Batten, passing in the jumps and berms with Loana back in 5th. For the last lap, Pauline goes out with 1:33 lead. The French superstar attacked the final lap, putting more time into Jolanda Neff, riding a wave of support around the track. Loana Lecomte had caught up to Alessandra Keller and almost binned it when trying to make a pass on Keller.

In the end Pauline won her 4th XCO title solo, with Jolanda Neff in Silver and Haley Batten had a stand out ride for Bronze.

'It was a super hard day,' PFP said at the finish interview. 'I made the choice to go with the hardtail as I knew I could go faster on the climb. It was risky and I wanted to go full gas from the start. I made it and I can't believe it!'

'Right now I can't realise it, it's like a dream. I really want to see my parents and friends – and a big party tonight.'

Bec McConnell finished 27th, full results are online.

Elite Men XCO World Championships

The heat of the day arrived and it was time for the Elite men to go into battle on the course in Les Gets. It's hard to pick a favourite, with riders like Schurter, Valero Serrano and Braidot (amongst others) all having won World Cups this year. Australians Dan McConnell and Cam Ivory were in the start, but were starting right near the back in the massive field.

It was a dust storm as the Elite men hit the afterburners, and Avancini from Brazil was quick to move to the front, as is his custom.

Tituoan Carod moved into the lead for France but he ended up leaning into Avancini while slipping out in a corner, entering some rock steps into the forest – it was the perfect opportunity for Nino Schurter to move into the lead.

The tight, slow switchbacks under the trees were absolutely littered with roots. This area forced errors in every event, and Nino dabbed and everyone (so, over 100 riders) behind was off and running.

On the long climb of the lap Schurter and Carod were at the front but Vlad Dascalu, Filipo Colombo and Jordan Sarou were chasing. Christoper Blevins, Davide Serrano Valero and Thomas Litscher made it a strong group of 7 by lap 2.

Sam Gaze (NZ) moved into 4th and then 3rd, and Olympic Champion Thomas Pidcock (Great Britain) was storming through the field into 10th. Luca Braidot of Italy was making contact with the front group.

The root fest forced Sarrou to dab, and Hatherly (South Africa) and Pidcock were now well into the top 10, closing in on the lead.

Sam Gaze crashed out on lap 3, either over shooting the landing on a step up or maybe not bringing a whip back, it was hard to tell. Pidcock passed Hatherly and then attacked the front group: Braidot, Schurter, Serrano, Sarrou, Hatherly all followed. Schurter crashed on a fast off camber grass corner in the chase, but the front group was moving! Serrano, Pidcock and Braidot weren't hanging around after Nino slid in an unforced error.

Serrano was making it hard, attacking Nino and Braidot went with him but Pidcock was off the wheel. Sarrou and Hatherly were still in touch (20sec back). On lap 5 Pidcock was back, but hurting! It was beocming clear the selection was well and truly made. Valero was leading in the tech sections, which really let him maintain control and not be disrupted by anyone's mistakes.

Swiss Guerini was moving up, past Hatherly and with Sarrou, it was a chase group of 3. At the start of lap 6 Nino attacks, Valero chases, Braidot was digging in but Pidcock was still at the back. But he was getting dropped. Schurter and Serrano ended up away with a clear gap. Pidcock was clearly tired, having a slow and awkward crash in the rooted forest section.

Pidcock pulled into the pits with a rear flat and Guerrini overtook – Pidcock was off and chasing!

On the final lap Schurter lit it up on the climb off the line, with Valero Serrano glued to his wheel. Braidot trailed by 7 seconds and Pidcock was 32 seconds off Nino – and pushing hard.

Valero Serrano attacked into the rocks again, wanting to lead, but Nino was having none of it. That pace was distancing Braidot in third – who needed to make sure Pidcock wouldn't catch. But he got tangled in the same tree squeeze as lap 6 – he clearly looked dejected.

Valero Serrano and Schurter were still wheel to wheel. Nino was leading and the lines the Spaniard needed to take to pass were slower. Would it be impossible? Nino attacked into the jump line, taking lots of speed into the big berms and step ups. Serrano looked to settle, with 30m now to close to Schurter.

Nino crossed the line solo – barely believing he just won his 10th World Title!

David Vallero Serano won silver, congratulating Nino right away. Luca Braidot won Bronze. Pidcock came in 4th, over a minute down – he'd completely shut it down. This wasn't the race he wanted. Guerrini finished 5th,

DanMcConnell finish 25th, meaning he moved up about 50 places in the race. Dan's got a lot of talent but that achievement is outstanding, he was 5:18 down but on the lead lap. It's certainly a result that can justify another season on the world stage, Cam Ivory finished 82nd, and all results are online.

'It's insane,' said Nino Schurter in his post-race interview. 'I couldn't believe it that I did it again. It was a tough race, I really tried to take it from the start to make it hard, so Pidcock couldn't make it across.'

Coming into the final part of the last lap, Schurter knew he needed to attack.

'I tried to force Valero to make a mistake and luckily he did in one of the last techincal bits and I could get away. I still can't believe it! This place is magic for me. I won my first title here in 2004, and now I have won as the oldest rider for my 10th title.'

Italian Luca Braidot was happy with his finish.

'This is my first podium at World Championships so I'm super happy. I would have loved to do more but the two guys in front were stronger. The track was super hard and the atmosphere was amazing. I'm happy with my race, I gave my best.